So far as European politics are concerned, the latter years of the republic are made memorable by one important event : the resis tance which Venice, under the guidance of Fra Paolo Sarpi, offered to the growing claims of the Curia Romana, advanced by Pope Paul V. Venice was placed under interdict (16°6), but she asserted the rights of temporal sovereigns with a courage which was suc cessful and won for her the esteem and approval of most European sovereigns.
But the chief glory of her declining years was undoubtedly her splendid art. Giorgione, Titian, Sansovino, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese and Palladio all lived and worked after the disastrous wars of the league of Cambrai. During these years Venice be came the great pleasure-city of Europe.
United Italy.—The end of the republic came when the French Revolution burst over Europe. Napoleon was determined to de stroy the oligarchical Government, and seized the pretext that Venice was hostile to him and a menace to his line of retreat while engaged in his Austrian campaign of 1797. The peace of Leoben left Venice without an ally. The Government resolved to offer no resistance to the conqueror, and the doge Lodovico Manin abdi cated on May 1797. On Oct. 17, Napoleon handed Venice over to Austria by the peace of Campo Formio, and between 1798 and 1814 she passed from France to Austria and Austria to France till the coalition of that latter year assigned her definitely to Aus tria. In 1848 a revolution broke out and a provisional republi can Government under Daniele Manin (q.v.) maintained itself for a brief space. In 1866 the defeat of Austria by the Prussians led to the incorporation of Venice in United Italy. (H. F. BR.) The New Port of Marghera.—By the beginning of the 19th century Venice had felt the need of a bigger port for her increas ing trade and the necessity of some outlet for her growing popula tion. It was everything not to shackle her progress and, at the same time, not to disfigure one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Many makeshift works which proved inadequate were carried out before the World War, such as the building of the auxiliary port of Bottenighi on the mainland. At last, in 1917, a great scheme for a big port, with modern conveniences and an adjacent industrial area, was laid before the Orlando Government, approved, and the work begun at once. But the disaster of
Caporetto brought it to a standstill. It was only in 1923, under the Government of Mussolini, that the work could be resumed, and, - within the space of six years, carried forward to a remark able extent owing, in great part, to the invaluable collaboration of the chancellor of the exchequer (1926-28), Conte Volpi di Misurata, a Venetian, who had been one of the original pro moters of the scheme. This new port of Marghera is on the main land and, when finished, it is estimated that it will cover an area three times as large as that of Genoa. Moreover, it is the first in Italy where railway trucks can be loaded and unloaded on the quays, which are in direct communication with Mestre station. It has a yearly potentiality in loading and unload ing of at least i,000 tons of merchandise to every 3 ft. of port frontage. The three industrial zones lying to the north, west and south of the commercial port have nearly all been secured by business firms, and some 4o factories are ready for use (1928), while as many again are being built. Each zone has exit to the sea by means of canals; for example, the northern zone communicates with the sea by the Cowie Industriale Nord. In the vicinity lies the Porticciolo dei Petrolii, the first example in Italy of a port built exclusively for inflammable merchandise.
A garden-city is being built on the Mestre-Padua road, to be linked up with the industrial area and will accommodate some 50,000 inhabitants. In short, Venice is determined not to live only on the glory of her past; and she still looks upon the Adriatic as mare nostrum.
Population.—The necessity of a well-planned outlet on the mainland for Venice can be gauged by the following statistics. Directly after the war the population of Venice stood at 147,00o; by Jan. 1928 it had risen to 207,400. The average density of popu lation in Italy is 126 inhabitants to a square kilometre; whereas that of Venice is 204 to the same area. Venetian families are patriarchal : nearly 11% are composed of ten or more members; 32% of six to nine members. The birth-rate of Venice, calculated at 33 per 1,000, is double that of the rest of Italy. Her death-rate is 17.7 per 1,000, while the average rate in Italy is 19 per 1,000.