"Nothing in the story of Venice is ordinary. She was born
dangerously, lived grandly, and never abandoned her brazen
individualism."
-- James Morris, from the World of Venice (1959)
6th Century BC the Veneto occupied by the Euganei and the Veneti (the
latter people ultimately gave their name to the region)
3rd Century BC Romans conquer the Veneto
89 BC inhabitants of the Veneto given full Roman citizenship
421 Legendary founding of Venice, by Romans fleeing the Goths
621 Work starts on cathedral on Torcello (island in the Venetian
lagoon, once a rival to Venice)
828 Venetian merchants steal the bones of St. Mark from
Alexandria
832 First Basilica San Marco consecrated
1095 First Crusade; Venice prospers selling ships and supplies
1171 The six districts (sestieri) of Venice established
1204 By diverting the Fourth Crusade, Venice conquers Byzantium (and
its capital, Constantinople). Booty includes the famous four bronze horses of San
Marco plus about one million pounds sterling in treasure, seven times the revenue
of the kingdom of England at the time. Venice is now the undisputed ruler of the
eastern Mediterranean.
1310 Council of Ten formed with a constitutional government
1325 Names of the city's ruling families are inscribed in the Golden
Book
1348-9 Plague kills half the city.
1380 Venice defeats Genoa in naval battle
1498 Vasca da Gama rounds Cape Horn to India, ending Venice's monopoly
on trade with the East. Beginning of Venice's decline.
1516 Council of Ten locks Jews in the Ghetto
1630 Plague cuts population to 100,000
1718 End of maritime empire; Venice surrenders Morea to the Turks
1797 Napoleon conquers the Veneto, ending 11 centuries of
independence. Napoleon lets the Jews out of the Ghetto.
1798 Napoleon trades the Veneto to the Austrians for Lombardy; the
Austrians stuff the Jews back into the Ghetto
1846 Rail causeway links city to mainland.
1866 Austrians defeated, Venice becomes part of Italy. Jews let out of
Ghetto.
1912 Thomas Mann writes Death in Venice
1915-18 Venice somewhat damaged in fighting between Austria and
Italy
1926 Porto Marghera, an industrial park with aluminum smelting, oil
refining, and other factories, annexed to the City of Venice. The lagoon is
beginning to be lost to landfill.
World War II The historic center of Venice is mostly left alone by the
Germans and Allies.
1960 Marco Polo airport built on landfill in the lagoon, part of an
entire 25% of the lagoon that had been filled in for industrial purposes.
Combined with dredging of channels for big ships, Venice's buffer against tides
is weakened.
1966 Worst flood in history of city. Streets and houses are submerged
to a depth of more than six feet.
1995 Venice's population falls to 70,000 with an average age of about
50. Two-thirds of the population of "Greater Venice" now lives in drier houses on
the mainland.
1996 La Fenice is torched by
electricians trying to avoid being fined $500,000 for failure to
complete a rewiring job. The opera house was rebuilt and reopened in 2004.
