"venice, italy" a Venice Travel Page by doug48

venice was founded in the 6th century AD by refugees fleeing the army of attila the hun. the area on the mainland near the venice lagoon was originally inhabited by the veneti and venice was named after that tribe. in the 3rd century BC the romans had settlements in verona and padova. over the centuries venice became a major seafaring power and acquired territory on the mainland as far west as verona. in 697 AD paoluccio anafesta was elected venice's first doge. this was the begining of a thousand year republic. in 828 AD venetian merchants sailed to alexandria egypt and stole the body of st. mark who became the patron saint of venice. the basilica san marco was built to enshrine the remains of st. mark. in 1095 venice provided ships and supplies to support the christian armies in the first crusade. the crusades won venice important trading colonies in the middle east. however, venice betrayed christiandom by it's siege and sack of constantinople in the 4th crusade. this event weakened byzantium to the point that it was later conquered by the moslem turks.

in the years 1348-1349 the black plague killed half the population of venice. in 1380 venice declares war with the city state of genoa. venice defeats genoa in the battle of chioggia and gains maritime supremacy in the adtiatic and the mediterranean. in 1489 caterina cornaro marries the king of cyprus. she poisoned her new husband and ceded cyprus to venice.in the late 15th and early 16th centuries venice's power and wealth was at it's zenith. pope julius II was jealous of of venice's power so he formed an alliance with holy roman emperor maximillian in 1508. this alliance was known as the league of cambrai and pope julius attacked the veneto. fortunately for the venetians pope julius died and his successor pope leo X was too busy trying to finance the renovaton of st. peter's basilica to wage war with venice. the ottoman empire became a serious threat to venice's middle eastern interests and the turks drove the venetians out of cyprus in 1570. venice enlisted the help of the christian world and defeated the turks in the famous battle of lepanto in 1571.

in the 18th century venice's role as an economic power began to decline. the 1700 and 1800's were known as venice's age of decandence. this was the time of casanova, keats & shelley and byron. wealthy people from all over europe came to venice to party. this was also the time of the end of the venetian republic. in 1797 napoleon surrounded the city and doge lodovico manin abdicated. napoleon looted the city of many of it's art treasures. a number of these works of art are in the louvre today. napoleon granted the rule of venice to austria. the austrian rule of venice would last until 1866. fortunately for venice it was spared attack in both WWI and WWII, thus preserving it's wonderful architecture. venice is an unique city in the world and it is a delightful place to visit.

a good book about the history of venice is, john julius norwich, "a history of venice", pub: vintage books/random house

an excellent guide book is "venice & the veneto", dk eyewitness travel guides. (www.dk.com)