Details

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “The Doges Who Shaped Venice”
Presented by Dr. Dennis Romano
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

The position of the doge in the governance of Venice was always paradoxical. As a princely figure at the head of a republican regime, the doge offered both benefits and dangers – benefits as a unifying symbol of state; dangers that he would subvert the regime and transform Venice into a monarchy.  This webinar examines three doges who profoundly shaped Venice and its history.  The first, Giustinian Partecipazio, ruled in the early ninth century.  He accepted the (stolen) body of Saint Mark and endowed the church that was built to hold Mark’s relics.  In so doing, Partecipazio linked the dogeship with the saint and made San Marco into Venice’s state church and epicenter of the city.  Enrico Dandolo is the doge who, as part of the Fourth Crusade from 1202-4, conquered the Byzantine empire and created Venice’s vast maritime empire, the source of Venice’s great riches.  In the fifteenth century, Francesco Foscari turned from sea to land.  During his reign, Venice became a powerful state on the Italian mainland.  But Foscari paid a price – in 1457 he was forcibly deposed from the dogeship.  His deposition reinforced the message that the doge would be the servant, not the master, of the state. Visual evidence of all three reigns still can be found in the San Marco/Ducal Palace complex.

The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.

Please note:

• Your participation is confirmed once you have purchased your ticket. You will receive the Zoom link to join the presentation circa 30 minutes before the start time.
• VIDEO RECORDING of the webinar will be available for unlimited streaming at your convenience for 7 days after the event.

Lecturer

Dennis Romano is the Dr. Walter Montgomery and Marian Gruber Professor of History emeritus at Syracuse University.  A specialist in medieval and Renaissance history, he has written numerous books and articles including “The Likeness of Venice:  A Life of Doge Francesco Foscari, 1373-1457” (Yale University Press, 2007) and, most recently, “Venice:  The Remarkable History of the Lagoon City” (Oxford University Press, 2024).  A former Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellow, he has also held fellowships at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the National Humanities Center, and the Folger Shakespeare Library.  He is an honorary fellow of Ateneo Veneto (the Venetian Athenaeum).  He lives in Washington, DC.