Visit Venice Italy Sources of visit venice italy resources from the Web

In Venice the office of doge was first instituted about 700, replacing tribunes that had led the cluster of early settlements in the lagoon, according to the chronicler John the Deacon, author of the Chronicon Venetum ("Chronicle of Venice"), written about 1000 CE. Whether or not the first doges were technically local representatives of the Emperor at Constantinople, the doge like the Emperor held office for life and was similarly regarded as the ecclesiastical, the civil and the military leader, in the power structure termed caesaropapism. The doge's prerogatives were not defined with precision, and though the position was entrusted to members of the inner circle of powerful Venetian families, after several doges had associated a son with themselves in the ducal office, this tendency towards a hereditary monarchy was checked by a law which decreed that no doge had the right to associate any member of his family with himself in his office, or to name his successor. After 1172 the election of the doge was finally entrusted to a committee of forty, who were chosen by four men selected from the Great Council, which was itself nominated annually by twelve persons. After a deadlocked tie at the election of 1229, the number of electors was increased from forty to forty-one.

The Grand Canal is Venice's largest waterway. It forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city.

By 1450, more than 3,000 Venetian merchant ships were in operation, and most of these could be converted when necessary into either warships or transports. The government required each merchant ship to carry a specified number of weapons (mostly crossbows and javelins) and armor; merchant passengers were also expected to be armed and to fight when necessary. A reserve of some 25 (later 100) war-galleys was maintained in the Arsenal. Galley slaves did not exist in medieval Venice, the oarsmen coming from the city itself or from its possessions, especially Dalmatia. Those from the city were chosen by lot from each parish, their families being supported by the remainder of the parish while the rowers were away. Debtors generally worked off their obligations rowing the galleys. Rowing skills were encouraged through races and regattas.

One of the ceremonial duties of the doge was to celebrate the symbolic marriage of Venice with the sea. This was done by casting a ring from the state barge, the Bucentaur, into the Adriatic. In its earlier form this ceremony was instituted to commemorate the conquest of Dalmatia by Doge Pietro II Orseolo in 1000, and was celebrated on Ascension Day. It took its later and more magnificent form after the visit of pope Alexander II and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I to Venice in 1177. On state occasions the Doge was surrounded by an increasing amount of ceremonial, and in international relations he had the status of a sovereign prince.

In Venice the gondola is usually propelled by one or two oarsmen (known as gondoliers) who stand facing the prow, or by poling. A gondola for passengers has a small open cabin, for their protection against the sun or rain. A sumptuary law of Venice required that gondolas should be painted black, and they are customarily so painted now.

The Congress of Vienna combined the territories of Lombardy (ruled by Austria in 1713-96) and Venetia (under Austrian rule since 1797) under the Austrian Habsburg dynasty. The Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia was was held by Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, who ruled from 1815 to 1835. Ferdinand I of Austria ruled from 1835 to 1848.