During the War of Cyprus (1570-1573), the Venetian Republic tried a rather unusual alliance plan. The idea was to form an alliance with the Persian Safavid Empire and fight together against the Ottoman Empire, the enemy with whom Venice was contending for the island of Cyprus. It may seem strange that in the late 16th century a Catholic trading power would think of allying itself with a Muslim power; however, there was a very practical reason behind it. The Persians were indeed Muslims, but they were Shiites - that is, they belonged to the second most widespread current within Islam - whereas the Ottomans were Sunnis, belonging to the Muslim majority current. This schism (Shia-Sunnis) was of ancient origin, having been created immediately after Muhammad's death; the question was ‘who will be the Prophet's successor?’. For the Sunnis, the caliph (from khalifa, ‘successor’) had to be elected by the ‘umma (the community of the believers), while for the Shiites the successor was identified as Ali, Muhammad's cousin and husband of his daughter Fatima. The Venetians therefore tried to take advantage of this confessional cleavage, knowing the hatred one side had for the other. Therefore, in March 1570, the Council of Ten sent to Qazvin - the then capital of the Safavid Empire - an agent named Vincenzo degli Alessandri, whose task was precisely to put pressure on Shah Tahmasp I (r. 1524-1576) and persuade him to enter into an unholy alliance - namely, an alliance between Christians and Muslims - against the Ottoman Empire. Venice knew very well that it needed the help of the Persians, especially for a simple geopolitical reason: since the Safavid Empire lay to the east of the Ottoman Empire - and shared long borders with it - there was the possibility of closing the Ottomans in a chokehold on both sides. The Venetians would exploit their naval superiority, while the Persians would fight by land, causing enormous military and logistical difficulties for the Ottomans. Unfortunately, the project did not find a successful conclusion due to the Shah's unwillingness and Venice lost the war.