A Brief History of Venice...
In the I century BC, Venetia indicated a region governed by the Roman Empire and included the current Veneto, Istria, Trentino and Friuli regions. When the Lombards came to Northern Italy in 568, the population fled towards the Adriatic coast and the islands to escape them. This is how Venice was founded, starting from the first inhabited nucleus at Malamocco. When power was transferred to the Rialto area, a state was born, and once the body of St. Mark, the city’s patron saint, was recovered in 828, Venice declared its independence. Venice ceased to be independent on 12th May 1797, when Napoleon gave the Veneto state to Austria under the Treaty of Campoformio. Subsequently, in 1866, Venice shall become part of the Kingdom of Italy. During its 1100 years of life, the Most Serene Republic extended its dominion to most of the Adriatic coastline, to the Greek islands and Crete. On the mainland, it ruled over Friuli and, towards the Po plain, over Bergamo and Brescia and part of Romagna.