Timeline of Venice

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Venice, Veneto, Italy.

Prior to 19th century



 * 421 CE – Church established on Rialto. First mention of Poveglia.
 * 452 – "Consular government adopted."
 * 697 – Paolo Lucio Anafesto becomes Doge of Venice.
 * 774 – Catholic diocese established on Olivolo, comprising Dorsoduro, Luprio, and Rialto.
 * 814 – Venetian seat of government relocated to Rialto per Treaty of Ratisbone.
 * 828 – Mark the Evangelist designated patron saint of city.
 * 836 – Doge's Chapel built.
 * 902 – St Mark's Campanile construction begins.
 * 1094 – St Mark's Basilica consecrated.
 * 1097 – Market established on Rialto.
 * 1131 – Church of San Clemente is the first established settlement on the Isola di San Clemente.
 * 1157 – Bank established.
 * 1173 – Rialto Bridge made of wood opened, designed by Nicolò Barattieri.
 * 1204 – Fourth Crusade embarks from Venice.
 * 1228 – Fondaco dei Tedeschi built.
 * 1264 – Bridge built across Grand Canal.
 * 1291 – Glassmakers relocate to Murano.
 * 1297 – Legislative body formally established.
 * 1333 – Botanical garden planted.
 * 1348 – Plague.
 * 1360 – Ponte della Paglia (bridge) built (approximate date).
 * 1386 – Jewish burial ground granted on the Lido.
 * 1394 – Public clock installed.
 * 1423
 * Lazaretto (quarantine) established on the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio.
 * Francesco Foscari becomes doge.
 * 1430 – Santi Giovanni e Paolo church rebuilt.
 * 1447 – Scuola degli Albanesi founded.
 * 1469 – Printing press in operation.
 * 1475 – De honesta voluptate et valetudine cookbook published.
 * 1495 – Printer Aldus Manutius in business.
 * 1500 – Jacopo de' Barbari's woodcut View of Venice is published
 * 1501 – Petrucci's Harmonice Musices Odhecaton (songbook) published.
 * 1507 – Cinque Savi alla Mercanzia (trade board) established.
 * 1514 – Fire on Rialto.
 * 1516 – Jewish ghetto in Cannaregio established.
 * 1520 – Palazzo dei Dieci Savi built.
 * 1527 – Jacopo Sansovino "appointed public architect."
 * 1541 – Sempiterni compagnie founded.
 * 1548 – Population: 158,069.
 * 1558 – Establishment of a permanent postal connection between Venice and Kraków, capital of the Kingdom of Poland.
 * 1565 – Theatre built.
 * 1569 – 13 September: Arsenal explodes.
 * 1575 – Fondaco dei Turchi established.
 * 1575–77 – Plague.
 * 1587 – Banco della Piazza di Rialto (bank) opens.
 * 1591 – Rialto Bridge built of stone.
 * 1600 – Bridge of Sighs built.
 * 1613 – Monteverdi becomes maestro di cappella of St Mark's Basilica.
 * 1630
 * 1629–31 Italian plague strikes Venice.
 * Accademia degli Incogniti founded.
 * 1637 – Teatro San Cassiano (opera house) opens.
 * 1642 – Premiere of Monteverdi's opera L'incoronazione di Poppea.
 * 1645 – Coffee house in business.
 * 1649 – Premiere of Cavalli's opera Giasone.
 * 1678 – Italian Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi is born on 4 March.
 * 1682 – Dogana built.
 * 1706 – Population: 140,256.
 * 1720 – Vezzi porcelain begins
 * 1720 – Caffè Florian in business.
 * 1741 – Il Nuovo Postiglione newspaper begins publication.
 * 1744 – Joseph Smith becomes British consul.
 * 1750 – Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia founded.
 * 1755 – Teatro San Benedetto (theatre) opens.
 * 1761 – Gozzi's L'Osservatore Veneto begins publication.
 * 1764 – Cozzi porcelain begins
 * 1778 – Notizie del mondo newspaper begins publication.
 * 1785 – Population: 139,095.
 * 1792 – La Fenice opera house built.
 * 1797 – Republic of Venice ends; Austrians in power per Treaty of Campo Formio.

19th century

 * 1805 – French in power per Peace of Pressburg.
 * 1812 – Ateneo Veneto founded.
 * 1814
 * Austrians in power again.
 * Ala Napoleonica section of Piazza San Marco built.
 * 1815 – General Archive of Veneto established.
 * 1830
 * City becomes a free port.
 * Museo Correr (museum) established.
 * 1842 – Milan–Venice railway begins operating; Venezia Mestre railway station opens.
 * 1844
 * Premiere of Verdi's opera Ernani.
 * Mental asylum established on Isola di San Clemente.
 * 1848
 * March: Republic of San Marco established.
 * 27 October: Battle of Mestre.
 * 1853 – Premiere of Verdi's opera La Traviata.
 * 1854 – Accademia bridge built.
 * 1857 – Population: 118,173.
 * 1859 – Venice becomes part of the Italian confederation of Austria, per Treaty of Villafranca.
 * 1861 – Venezia Santa Lucia railway station opens.
 * 1866 – Venice becomes part of the Kingdom of Italy per Treaty of Vienna (1866).
 * 1868 – Regia Scuola Superiore di Commercio (business school) established.
 * 1870 – Artificial creation of the island of Sacca Sessola completed.
 * 1871 – Population: 128,901.
 * 1876
 * Liceo e Società Musicale Benedetto Marcello established.
 * L'Adriatico newspaper begins publication.
 * 1880 – 16 June: John Cross, on honeymoon with English novelist George Eliot, jumps from their hotel room into the Grand Canal in an episode of mental disorder.
 * 1881 – Population: 132,826.
 * 1883
 * Lido and Malamocco annexed to city.
 * 13 February: German composer Richard Wagner dies at Ca' Vendramin Calergi of a heart attack, age 69.
 * 1887 – Il Gazzettino newspaper begins publication.
 * 1889 – 12 December: English poet Robert Browning dies at his son's home Ca' Rezzonico, age 77.
 * 1892 – Conversion of Sacca Sessola into a hospital for contagious diseases is begun.
 * 1895 – Venice Biennale begins.
 * 1897 – Population: 155,899.

20th century

 * 1906 – Population: 169,563.
 * 1907 – Venezia FC (football club) formed.
 * 1910 – 27 April: Futurist poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti issues the manifesto Contro Venezia passatista ("Against Past-loving Venice") in the Piazza San Marco.
 * 1913 – Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo (stadium) opens.
 * 1917 – Marghera becomes part of Venice.
 * 1922 – Mental asylum established on Poveglia.
 * 1923 – Pellestrina becomes part of Venice.
 * 1924 – Burano, Ca'Savio, and Murano become part of Venice.
 * 1926
 * , Favaro,, Mestre, and become part of Venice.
 * Nicelli Airport begins operating.
 * 1927 – A.C. Mestre football club formed.
 * 1929 – 19 August: Russian-born ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev dies in Venice and is buried on the Isola di San Michele.
 * 1931 – Harry's Bar in business.
 * 1932 – Venice Film Festival begins.
 * 1933 – Ponte della Libertà (bridge) opens.
 * 1937 – Collegio Navale della Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (naval school) established.
 * 1940 – Università Iuav di Venezia (architecture institute) founded.
 * 1945 – Operation Bowler.
 * 1949 – Cinema Teatro Corso built in Mestre.
 * 1956 – Venice Conference.
 * 1958 – Hotel Cipriani in business.
 * 1966 – 4 November: 1966 Venice flood: highest acqua alta.
 * 1970 – Veneto regional administration implemented.
 * 1972 – 1 November: American poet Ezra Pound dies in the Civil Hospital and is buried on the Isola di San Michele.
 * 1978 – Società Filologica Veneta founded.
 * 1980 – June: 6th G7 summit held.
 * 1981 – Venice hosts the 1981 European Karate Championships.
 * 1987 – June: 13th G7 summit held.
 * 1993 – Massimo Cacciari becomes mayor.
 * 1996 – 29 January: La Fenice opera house is destroyed by fire.
 * 1999 – City master plan created.
 * 2000
 * Paolo Costa becomes mayor.
 * Sacca Sessola sold to a multi-national company for conversion into a private tourist hotel complex.

21st century

 * 2003 – Buildings on Isola di San Clemente refurbished as a luxury hotel complex.
 * 2005 – Massimo Cacciari becomes mayor again.
 * 2006 – Veritas (water/trash municipal entity) established.
 * 2008 – Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia established.
 * 2010 – Giorgio Orsoni becomes mayor.
 * 2013 – Population: 259,263 comune; 865,421 province.
 * 2014
 * June: Mayor Orsoni arrested.
 * 29 September: Clooney-Alamuddin wedding.
 * 2015 – held; Luigi Brugnaro becomes mayor.
 * 2019 – 12 November: Second highest acqua alta hits an already flooded city.
 * 2020 – the city of Venice is hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism is blocked and the Carnival of Venice is closed early.
 * 2021 – 1600th Anniversary of the Foundation of Venice.