They take place in the 15th century, and are fictional (although they chronicle many historical events), but I cannot recommend highly enough the 'House of Niccolo' series by Dorothy Dunnett to anyone who is interested in the Mediterranean (and to a lesser extend, Scotland, the Baltic, etc) of that era.
Because on weekends anything that happens to pique the curiosity of hackers has a much better chance to float above the usual mix of industry news, release announcements, and startup hype.