VENICE, GULF OF

Italian Golfo Di Venezia, northern section of the Adriatic Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean Sea), extending eastward for 60 miles (95 km) from the Po River delta, Italy, to the coast of Istria, in Slovenia and Croatia. It receives the Po, Adige, Piave, and Tagliamento rivers. Marshes, lagoons, and sandspits border the gulf's shores as far as Trieste, Italy, where the low plateau of the Istrian Peninsula begins. A northeast wind, called the bora, causes rough seas and creates shipping hazards in the gulf. The rise of the city of Venice as a maritime power at the northwestern end of the gulf gave special importance to Adriatic shipping routes in the Middle Ages. Modern ports along the gulf, apart from Venice, include Pula and Rovinj (both in Croatia) and Trieste, which is located on a northeastern inlet, the Gulf of Trieste. History The early period Origin of the city Uniquely among Italy's chief cities, Venice came into being after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. The Lombard hordes, whose incursions into northern Italy began in AD 568, drove great numbers of mainlanders onto the islands of the lagoon, previously the homes of itinerant fishermen and salt workers. The isolated communities, literally islands of Veneto-Byzantine civilization, became part of the Exarchate of Ravenna when it was created in 584. When the mainland Byzantine city of Oderzo fell to the Lombards in 641, political authority was shifted to one of the islands in the Venetian lagoon. The first elected doge, or duke, was Orso, chosen in an anti-Byzantine military declaration in 727, but he was succeeded by Byzantine officials until about 751, when the Exarchate of Ravenna came to an end. There followed decades of internal political strife among various settlements vying for supremacy and between pro- and anti-Byzantine factions; also involved were attempts by church authorities to acquire temporal influence. Finally the doge Obelerio and his brother Beato formed an alliance with the Franks of Italy and placed Venice under the authority of the Italian king Pippin (d. 810), in order to free themselves from Byzantine control. Pro-Byzantine reaction to this event under the doges of the Parteciaco family led to the transfer of the seat of government to the Rialto group of islands, by then the centre for exiles in the factional fighting. Though a Franco-Byzantine treaty of 814 guaranteed to Venice political and juridical independence from the rule of the Western Empire, it did not confirm any effective dependence on the Byzantine Empire, and by 840841 the doge was negotiating international agreements in his own name. The unusual legal and political position of the small independent situated duchy, situated in territorial isolation between two great empires, contributed greatly to its function as a trading intermediary. A long succession of serious disputes between leading families concerning the office of doge did not halt the rapid development of trade. Increase in private wealth led to the gradual achievement of internal stability by creating a broader ruling class that was capable of putting a limit to the power of the doge. Gradually a national consciousness developed. Beginning in the late 9th century, the doges were chosen by popular election, though the right was frequently abused during times of civil strife. Finally the group of Rialto islands was solemnly transformed into the city of Venice (civitas Venetiarum). The new order The final collapse of family faction rule led to a change in the system of government, inaugurated by Doge Domenico Flabanico (103242). He restored to the people the sovereign right to elect the doge, but the term populus was in practice restricted to the residents of the Rialto and, more narrowly, to a select group of nobles. The executive organ was the ducal curia, and the legislative assembly was summoned to approve the doge's acts. A new church was built for St. Mark, symbol of the Venetian spirit, under Doge Domenico Contarini (104370), an energetic defender of the religious independence of the duchy.