Page 50 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Venice & The Veneto

48  INTRODUCING VENICE AND THE VENE T O

The Queen of the Adriatic

By the 16th century, Venice held a monopoly on
Mediterranean trade and had colonized the whole of Sails were a
northeastern Italy, from the Adriatic to the Alps. Keeping hazard in battle,
hold of such a vast empire meant being in a constant state but could be
utilized for a
of war. The League of Cambrai, dedicated to destroying swift escape.
Venice, was formed in 1508 by the most powerful men in
Europe, Pope Julius II and the Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian. Their troops sacked the cities of the Veneto,
but the region remained loyal to Venice’s relatively
benign rule. Far more of a threat were the Turks.
They carved out the Ottoman Empire from 1522,
driving Venice from the eastern Mediterranean
and eventually taking Cyprus in 1570.

Oarsmen sat in cramped
conditions with less than
60 cm (2 ft) of space; each
Galileo’s Telescope team was led by a foreman.
Galileo, professor at Padua
University from 1592 to 1610,
demonstrated his telescope to
Doge Leonardo Donà in 1609.

Battle of Lepanto
Venice led the combined
forces of the Christian world
in this bloody victory over
the Turks, fought in 1571.

1514 Fire 1516 Jews confined to the Venetian Ghetto. 1585 First 1592 Galileo Monteverdi
destroys the End of League of Cambrai wars performance at appointed (1567–1643)
original timber 1570 Cyprus lost Vicenza’s Teatro professor of
Rialto Bridge 1518 to the Turks Olimpico (p174) mathematics at
Tintoretto 1528 Paolo Padua University
born Veronese born
1500 1550 1600
1571 Battle of Lepanto: 1595 Shakespeare’s
1501 Doge Leonardo 1529 Death of decisive victory for the Romeo and Juliet
Loredan, great Luigi da Porto of western fleet, led by
diplomat, begins Vicenza, author of Venice, over the Turks 1577 Palladio designs the Redentore
20-year rule the story of church (p158) to mark the end of the
Romeo and Juliet plague that took 51,000 lives

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