118 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA
Bulgarian inroads; the Genoese were equally cut off because the Venetians excluded them from the Bosporus. The field therefore lay open to the Ragusans alone, and they were very favourably received by the Tsar John Asen II. (1218-1241),1 who called them “his well-beloved and trusted guests.” The Bulgarian trade was partly carried on by sea and partly overland through the Balkans.
   From Italy and Sicily the Ragusans obtained most of their breadstuff's, and in exchange they brought Eastern and Slavonian goods to those countries. Among the new treaties with Italian towns we may mention those with Rimini (1235),2 with Taddeo, Lord of Ravenna and Cervia (1218-1238),3 with Ancona in 1256 and 1292,4 with Fermo in 1288;5 with Trani, Bari, Molfetta, and Barletta the old treaties were renewed at various times, and in the Reformationes we find numerous allusions to the special envoys sent to Apulia to collect grain. A large storehouse was built in the city with fifteen large dry wells to contain an adequate provision of grain in time of war.6 Constantinople, Smyrna, Durazzo, Anti-vari, the Bojana valley, and to a lesser extent the Slavonic principalities, were resorted to for the same purpose. With Florence, too, Ragusa traded, and although there was no regular commercial treaty between the two cities, the Bardis and other Florentine merchant princes sent agents to Ragusa from time to time.
  1	Caloian or Kalioannes.	2 Mon. Slav. Mer., i. 79.
   3	Ibid., 83.	4 Ibid., in, 248, 251.	6 Ibid., 236.
6 It still exists in the upper part of the town, but is now used as a
 depot for military stores.