The mini Venices around Europe
If there’s one thing we know about Venice, it’s that it’s unique. What other city is built on water, or packed with its signature flamboyant architecture?
It turns out, quite a few.
The Republic of Venice — or the Most Serene Republic of Venice, to give it its full name — existed for 1,100 years, from 697 CE to 1797 CE, when Napoleon conquered the city.
It’s an astonishing length of time for a period when upheavals, coups and conquerings were regular events.
And as it gained in power, it built a pseudo empire along the Adriatic — not so much on the Italian side, but on the eastern coast, in countries such as modern day Slovenia, Croatia, Albania and Greece. Its tentacles even stretched as far as Crete and Cyprus.