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Venice

Venecia (ES)
Venise (F)
Venice (GB)
Venezia (I)
Venetië (N)
Veneza (PO)

Today's capital of the Italian province of Venice and the Veneto region is situated on around 120 small islands in the Laguna Veneta. It is built on stilts and has 160 canals with 400 bridges. Venice was already a maritime power in the 8th century. The independent city republic was formed in the 11th century under the leadership of the Doges. Around 1000, Venice began to subjugate the coasts of Istria and Dalmatia (present-day Croatia), and during the Crusades a colonial empire developed in the Balkans as far as Asia Minor. In 1203, Constantinople was conquered and the Byzantine Empire destroyed. Among other things, the island of Crete and what is now Lebanon came into temporary possession. For over 400 years, many Ionian islands on the west coast of Greece were dominated between 1386 and 1797. Towards the end of the 15th century, Cyprus was added, which belonged to Venice until 1571. Twice in the course of history, the famous port city of Monemvasia on the Peloponnese peninsula was also under the rule of the city-state for a longer period.

Venedig - Hauptkanal mit Gondeln und Stadt im Hintergrund

In the 16th century, the manufacture of glass products in Venice had developed into a true mastery. Many artistically designed glass products, including wine glasses, were exported throughout the world at that time. In the 15th century, Venice had 200,000 inhabitants and possessed a huge merchant and war fleet. After long battles, however, it finally succumbed to the numerically far superior Turkish power in the 17th century. French troops under Emperor Napoleon (1769-1821) abolished the state of Venice in 1797. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815 it became part of Austria (Lombard-Venetian Kingdom) and in 1866 part of Italy. In the Middle Ages, Venice had no vineyards or viticulture of its own. However, the city, along with Genoa, became an important transhipment point for wine imported from the Aegean islands, Crete (especially sweet wine), Tyros (Lebanon) and from various areas of Italy (Lombardy, Marche) and sold to Constantinople and Europe (England, Flanders, Paris). See also under Italy.

Picture: by Gerhard Bögner on Pixabay

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