Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1309
For openly defying Rome's orders, Venice is excommunicated from the Church for the irst time.
Through its wealth and negotiation skills, Venice convinces Rome to relent.
1310
With rebellion afoot, a temporary security force called the Consiglio dei Dieci (Council of Ten) is con-
vened; it lasts almost ive centuries, efectively running Venice for two.
1348-49
A horriic bout of the Black Death hits Venice, killing some 60% of the population. Venetian doctors
observe that the worst-hit areas are by Dorsoduro's docks, where rats arrive.
1386
A Jewish cemetery is established on the Lido, with land granted by the state. The cemetery remains
in use until its abandonment with Mussolini's racial laws in 1938.
1403
The world's irst quarantine stations are established with proceeds from Venice's salt monopoly, sav-
ing lives by limiting contact with the bubonic plague.
1444
The second Rialto bridge collapses under spectators watching a wedding lotilla. After 148 years and
huge cost overruns, Antonio da Ponte provides a spectacular stone replacement.
1470
Cyprus is the latest of Venice's conquests, which stretch across the mainland to Bergamo, through
the Aegean to Crete, and to Middle East trading outposts in Jafa, Beirut and Alexandria.
1492
Genoese Cristoforo Colombo's voyage kicks of the age of discovery and Venice's long slide into ob-
solescence, as the Portuguese and Spanish bypass its customs controls.
1494
Aldo Manuzio founds Aldine Press, introducing mass-market paperbacks, including Dante's
Divine
Comedy
. By 1500, one in six books published in Europe is printed in Venice.
