THE "MAGGIOR CONSIGLIO" Venice together with Florence were the two commercial and political poles of the country. What the trading power of Venice was then, is still imaginable today by those of us who, going around the city, find themselves faced by opulent and grand buildings, by works of art in a disproportionate number as well as hidden riches that, in any other place, would be the honour not of one city alone but of an entire nation. What the political power of Venice was (it is now just a museum-city, in the good and in the bad sense of the word), can be discovered from books. But what was the form of Government of this city-state ? The election of the first Doge goes back to 697 AD. In those times, it was the expression of faction prevailing in that moment. In time it assumed a republican order dominated, however, by the richest families or those that boasted of illustrious ancestors. In this way, a hereditary nobility was formed, inside which (this is the peculiar aspect) no differences of rank existed. The organ representing the sovereign body of the Republic and uniting all those who could enter it was the "Maggior Consiglio" (Highest Council). Venice interpreted by a contemporary artist. In 1297, the operation called "Serrata" (Closure) ratified the right of access to the Council only to old existing members or their descendants. In practice, an aristocratic Republic was born. Presuppositions were so created for long stability of the Government, which only on two occasions underwent attacks from inside the system, immediately dominated. The Venetian custom had established that the "right" to be part of the governing class correspond to an equally strong sense of "duty". This class of government did see that public interest prevailed over private interest. This was its strength. Its weakness consisted in its incapacity or impossibility to face and resolve completely new and revolutionary challenges. In fact, when the effects of the French revolution were being felt in Italy and, in 1797, Napoleon arrived as far as Venice, the "Maggior Consiglio" resigned. Symptomatic is the fact that it was forced into doing so, not by an enthusiastic adhesion of "its people" to these disturbances, but by structural weakness. The small Republic of Venice was no longer able to challenge the big European powers. Venice and its territory (the regions of Veneto and Friuli) passed into French hands, then into Austrian hands and then into those of the new born Italian state. This last passage, for Venice, meant a sentence to death. Venice in an engraving of 15th century.