Venice
Italy
The "Serenissima." A maritime republic built on water that dominated Mediterranean trade for centuries. Home to Marco Polo, Vivaldi, and some of the finest painting in Western art.
Associated figures
Frederick Barbarossa
Holy Roman Emperor who spent his reign fighting to assert imperial authority over the wealthy cities of northern Italy and the papacy. He led six campaigns into Italy, convened the great Diet of Roncaglia, and died on the Third Crusade, becoming one of the most legendary medieval rulers in German memory.
Marco Polo
Venetian merchant and explorer whose account of his travels through Asia, including seventeen years at the court of Kublai Khan, introduced Europeans to the civilizations of the East. His book, Il Milione (The Travels of Marco Polo), became one of the most influential travel accounts ever written.
Dante Alighieri
Author of the Divine Comedy, widely considered the greatest literary work of the Middle Ages and one of the supreme achievements of world literature. By writing in the Tuscan vernacular rather than Latin, Dante helped create the Italian language and established the principle that great literature could be written in the common tongue.
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was the quintessential Renaissance polymath - painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, anatomist, and scientist. Creator of the "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper," he filled thousands of notebook pages with visionary designs for flying machines, anatomical studies, and engineering projects centuries ahead of their time.