That's also my headcanon for the Renaissance: when Constantinople fell in 1453, there was a lot of impetus for skilled emigration, and as the italian cities had

That's also my headcanon for the Renaissance: when Constantinople fell in 1453, there was a lot of impetus for skilled emigration, and as the italian cities had been the traditional trade partners, they were a logical place for incoming high human capital "Martians"* to wind up, fresh off the boat but rapidly reconstituting their networks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople#Impact_on_the_Renaissance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople#Impact_... * compare the translatlantic wave of the 1930s?