These editions of reports sent back by Venetian ambassadors to the Great Council of the Republic in the sixteenth century were edited by Eugenio Alberi (1807-78) and published between 1839 and 1863. As Alberi notes in his preface, a law of 1296 decreed that all embassies and legations should submit a written report to the Council at the end of their mission, and the surviving records provide an invaluable resource for both political and economic historians. The fifteen volumes are divided into three series, on relations with European states outside Italy; with other Italian states; and with the Ottoman Empire. The final volume in the series, published in 1863, is an appendix containing a preface outlining the history of the reports; a chronology of the sixteenth century; genealogies of the ruling families; additional material for each of the three series; and a chronological index of the ambassadors.