CHAPTER 50
Volume II: The City of Bridges THE EMPTY THRONE
Besides a talent for commerce, a true Ariminumese has an intuitive ability to navigate bureaucracy. The dense tiers of government are a topic as urgent for foreign merchants as the tides and currents of the lagoon are for sailors. Like any intricate work of art, it takes time and study to reveal its overall shape.
At the top is the Doge, who presides over the Signoria. Unlike the Signoria of other cities, Ariminum’s is a ceremonial body with few executive powers. It consists of seven Councillors13 and the three Heads of Forty, the leaders of the Senate. The Senate is made up of a select hundred and twenty ‘good’ men. Beneath the Senate is a Maggior Consiglio which rejoices in one thousand and one members. Participation in this last branch is restricted to those patrician families listed in the Golden Book.14
These ornate arrangements, though certainly picturesque, conceal the reality from foreigners. Real power in Ariminum is invested in a small side-branch of the Senate known as the Consiglio dei Dieci.15