This text presents a concise overview of the history of Venice from the fifth century AD to the present day. The main theme is the unique place that Venice has
Ranging from the days of the 6th century--when the early lagoon-dwellers lived "like sea-birds, in huts built on heaps of osiers" to the exquisite city of 18th-
For six centuries the Republic of Venice was a maritime empire, its sovereign power extending throughout much of the eastern Mediterranean – an empire of coas