In medieval and early modern Barcelona there was a strong hatred of the Genoese. Commercial enemies during the late medieval Catalan expansion across the Mediterranean, the Catalans had to coexist politically with them during the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Spanish Monarchy and the Republic of Genoa forged closer political and commercial ties. Resentment towards them, however, did not disappear: for the Catalans, the Genoese were "white Moors". On 9 April 1624, an incident in a chapel led to an armed confrontation between Genoese and Catalan sailors on the Barcelona quay. This was not the first time. In 1591, a riot had already threatened to destroy the houses of Genoese residents in Barcelona after a squadron of Genoese galleys bombarded the quay. In 1624, after the dispute between sailors of one nation and the other, the population rioted and moved towards the Montcada street, where the house of the Giudice family, one of the main Genoese families in Barcelona, was located. The riot, made up of a large group of women, stormed the house and looted everything they could, throwing books, furniture and galley sails inside into the fire. Shortly afterwards, the rioters raided one of the city's bastions, seized the artillery and fired on the galleys. The disturbance was finally quelled thanks to the intervention of royal ministers, local authorities, and religious orders. Several arrests and executions took place over the following days.