Renaissance Venice
In the early 16th century Venice was the third largest city in the world, following the largest city, Constantinople and the second largest, the Aztec city of Technochtitlan.

The ruler of Venice, called the Doge, was elected from the aristocracy. There were 134 families with 2700 members of the Venetian aristocracy in 1500. Members of this class were recorded in the Libro D'Oro - The Golden Book. Only those men whose names were inscribed in the book were eligible to be elected Doge.

Beneath the aristocracy in Venice were the Cittadini Originarii. This class of people who were full citizens of the Republic and its territories but were not able to vote to elect the Doge.

It was also possible for the Cittadini Originarii to climb into the elevated position of aristocracy by donating 100,000 Ducats (a denomination of currency) to the State and buying themselves a place in the Libro D'Oro.

The common people of Venice lived in houses on unpaved roads away from the center of the city. As the lowest level of Venetian society they had all the rights of a citizen but they could not vote and positions that were open to them in governing Venice were very limited.




By 1529, the Ottoman Empire extended to the east of Italy and along the southern Mediterranean to Morocco. To the north, the Hapsburg Empire controlled Germany and the Netherlands. To the northwest, France was ruled by Francis I. Venice steered a course between these three great powers and managed to remain an independent city-state. In the years between 1575 and 1577, Venice was gripped by a plague, which not only filled the hospitals but also several old ships were towed out into the lagoon as hospitals. When it was over, more than 50,000 Venetians had died and by 1581, its population had been reduced from almost 190,000 to a little over 124,000.

Venice was the first Italian city to put the moveable type printing press to use and became the center of the European book trade. Venice was also located next to the University of Padua, where the study of science, medicine and the law produced doctors and lawyers. Galileo taught mathematics at the University for 18 years. Despite its publishing fame and its contributions to the math and science of the Renaissance, Venice was never able to promote Renaissance values as well as Florence. The price the city paid for independence, and perhaps in plague victims, placed it second to Florence in Renaissance innovations in art and architecture.