The article aims to study the different representations of the Genoese in Marino Sanudo Torsello’s Liber secretorum fidelium Crucis. The exposition begins from Sanudo’s pro-Venetian attitude to analyse some excerpts of his Liber in which the Genoese take on the stereotypical features of the enemy, and then deals with passages of less univocal interpretation, which reveal Sanudo’s ability to detect, with relative objectivity, errors and shortcomings of his compatriots. Finally, sections of the Liber that offer an almost neutral view of the two rival peoples are examined, going so far as to announce the collaboration between the two cities with the common goal of recovering the Holy Land. In conclusion, the references to the Genoese in the Liber allows to throw light on the most original features of Sanudo’s work, and to delve into its complex dynamics, between pragmatism and idealism, patriotism and Christian universalism.
