Annexation of Veneto by Italy The
Venetian Republic existed for 1100 years, from 697 to 1797 (submitted to
Byzantium until the 9th century), and was one of the world's first modern republics. After defeating the
Republic of Genoa in a
series of wars, it became the most powerful
Mediterranean maritime power, and at its height extended its rule from large parts of the
Po Valley to the coastal regions and islands of present-day
Slovenia,
Croatia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Montenegro,
Albania, and
Greece. Venice was a leading power of the Western world in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1797, after a long decline, through the
Treaty of Campo Formio,
Napoleon traded what remained of the Republic with Austria in exchange for other territories. In 1848, Venetians, led by
Daniele Manin, rebelled against Austrian rule and established the
Republic of San Marco. Manin, who opposed the proposed unification by some Venetians with the
Kingdom of Sardinia, resigned, but returned to lead the opposition against Vienna in 1849. Venetian territories with the former Duchy of Mantua and Friuli were annexed to Italy in 1866, five years after
Italian unification and the creation of the
Kingdom of Italy under the
House of Savoy in 1861. Veneto's unification with Italy resulted from the
Austro-Prussian War, won by the
Prussians, Italy's allies. In the Italian unification process, the conflict is known as
Third War of Independence. Austria lost Venetia, ceded to
Napoleon III of France, who in turn ceded it to Italy. Austria refused to give Venetian territories directly to Italy because the Austrians had crushed the Italians during the war, defeating them on land during the
Battle of Custoza (24 June) and on sea during the
Battle of Lissa (20 July).
Giuseppe Garibaldi's
Hunters of the Alps had some success against the Austrians at the
Battle of Bezzecca (21 July), but the Italian government ordered Garibaldi to withdraw when Prussia and Austria concluded an armistice. With the
Peace of Prague (23 August), Austria agreed to Venetia's incorporation into the Kingdom of Italy. The same point was repeated in the
Treaty of Vienna (12 October), achieved with the mediation of France. Austria first ceded the Venetian territory to France (under a treaty signed by General
Karl Moering, on behalf of
Franz Joseph I of Austria, and General
Edmond Le Bœuf, on behalf of Napoleon III) as a compensation for French neutrality during the war. According to the treaty, France ceded Venetia to Italy "under the reservation of the consent of the people duly consulted". Whether an option other than becoming Italian was available is unclear, nor was the treaty precise on how to consult the people. Venetia was already under Italian control after the French government renounced it on 19 October. This increases doubt about the real importance of the
plebiscite, and leading historians suggest that the referendum in Venetia was held under military pressure, as a mere 0.01% of voters (69 out of more than 642,000 ballots) voted against annexation and a mere 0.1% (567 ballots) were null, and that it was ultimately
rigged. Some historians, who investigated into the historical archive of the Austrian foreign ministry, also suggest that the referendum was a mere administrative affair to Italy, just to formalise the sovereignty on a territory already under its possession, and that the local population had no real choice. The plebiscite could have been a mere demonstration to gain legitimacy after Italy's bad conduct during the so-called Third War of Independence. The Kingdom of Italy adopted Italian as the official language. Venetians, like several other regional communities, largely rejected that and continued to use the
Venetian language. Linguistic nationalism became part of Venetian culture, and during the last decades of the 19th century, some revolts against
southern Italian bureaucrats occurred. After its incorporation into Italy, Venetia was so poor that millions of Venetians had to emigrate to the
Americas, especially
Brazil and
Argentina (three million left their homeland from 1870 and 1910), without losing their heritage, so even today, many Venetian descendants in
Latin America, most notably in two Brazilian southern states,
Rio Grande do Sul and
Santa Catarina, speak Venetian as their mother tongue. Precursors of the present-day Venetist movement date back to before
World War II and were both left- and right-wing. In 1920
La Riscossa, a Venetian newspaper close to the
Socialists and the
Republicans, espoused the need for a "united elective governorate with autonomous and competent technical and administrative organs" as an alternative to the "central political rule"
Guido Bergamo, a Republican member of the Chamber of Deputies elected in Veneto, wrote that "the Venetian problem is so acute that from today on we will preach the rebellion of Venetians. Citizens, let's not pay taxes, not recognise the central government in Rome, chase away prefects, retain the money from direct taxes in Veneto". Shortly after
Italico Corradino Cappellotto, a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the
Italian People's Party, launched the first Venetist party forth of the
1921 general election: the
Lion of Saint Mark won 6.1% of the votes in the province of Treviso. After the
takeover of
Benito Mussolini, who among other things proposed to eradicate the local languages in favour of Italian language widespread, the rise of Fascism, World War II, and the birth of the
Italian Republic, Venetist ideas lost ground, in an era in which the "myth of the indivisibility and the unity" of the country was strong even in Veneto. In the
1948 general election Christian Democrats won 60.5% of the vote in Veneto. Since 1919, Venetia plus the newly annexed territories from Austria, which included
Trentino and
South Tyrol, were called the Three Venices (
Tre Venezie, whereof
Triveneto), meaning
Venezia Euganea (
Veneto plus large chunks of
Friuli),
Venezia Giulia (the eastern part of current
Friuli-Venezia Giulia) and
Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and South Tyrol). or giving also Veneto an autonomous statute.
Comeback of Venetist ideas Venetist ideas made a comeback in the 1960s, when the
Venetian Regionalist Autonomous Movement (MARV) campaigned for the institution of the
ordinary regions (including Veneto), prefigured by the Italian Constitution. The ordinary regions were finally instituted in 1970. Since the 1970s, Veneto experienced a dramatic economic boom due to a new production model based on small enterprises. The high burden of taxes and bureaucracy, associated with the increasing frustration with the inefficient and overstaffed Italian government in Rome, that continued to channel northern taxes as massive development aid to the corrupt and backward southern regions, was the key element, along with linguistic and historical claims, that led to the formation of
Liga Veneta (LV) in January 1980. One of the regional leaders of
Christian Democracy (DC),
Antonio Bisaglia, early understood Veneto's demand of more autonomy and that his party, the dominant force in
Venetian politics since 1946, would have been the main victim of the rise of LV as both parties competed for the support of the middle class. He thus proposed the evolution of the DC into a regional party on the model of the
Christian Social Union in Bavaria. In 1982, Bisaglia tellingly declared, "Veneto would be mature for a federalist state, but this state, centralist and bureaucratic [as it is], will never concede autonomy to my region". Opposition from Rome and Bisaglia's sudden death in 1984 stopped the plan of a regional DC on the "Bavarian model".
Giancarlo Galan, regional leader of
Forza Italia and
President of Veneto from 1995 to 2010, made a similar proposal in 2008, taking example mainly from the
South Tyrolean People's Party, but his "Forza Veneto" remained just an idea. The LV, whose leader in the 1980s and early 1990s was
Franco Rocchetta, made its main electoral debut in the
1983 general election, when it garnered 4.3% in Veneto, resulting in two elects to the
Italian Parliament. The party suffered many splits in its first decade of life and became a large political force only after its federation with other regional leagues, notably including
Umberto Bossi's
Lega Lombarda, which resulted in
Lega Nord (LN) in 1991: in the
1996 general election, the party was Veneto's largest with 29.3%. However, clashes between Bossi and hardcore Venetists led to several splits; in 1994, Rocchetta left in protest, but more damaging was the 1998 split led by
Fabrizio Comencini and
Alessio Morosin, who launched
Liga Veneta Repubblica (LVR). As a result, in the
2001 general election, the LV garnered a mere 10.2% of the vote, its worst score since 1987, while the LVR gained 4.9%. As the latter faded, the LV returned to gain ground in the
2005 regional election, despite the meteoric success of
North-East Project (PNE). More recently, a string of separatist parties, notably including
Venetian Independence (IV), emerged. Both in 1992 and 2000 the Italian
Constitutional Court rejected proposals for an autonomy referendum, brought forward by the
Regional Council of Veneto. In the
2010 regional election the LV, in steady rise since 2001, was by far the largest party in the region with 35.2% of the vote, while its leader
Luca Zaia was elected President of Veneto by a landslide 60.2%. The combined result of Venetist parties was 37.6%, the highest so far. In the
2020 regional election, the LV set one more record by winning 61.5% of the vote (combined result of party list, 16.9%, and Zaia's personal list, 44.6%) and Zaia was re-elected President by a landslide 76.8% of the vote, more than any other candidate in any other region of Italy. Minor Venetist lists and parties (Venetian Autonomy List — sponsored by the LV and including
Liga Veneta Repubblica —, the
Party of Venetians,
Venetian Left and Veneto for the Autonomies) obtained a further 4.1% of the vote. As a result, 34 out of 51 seats in the Regional Council were controlled by Venetists, 33 by LV members. In the
2025 regional election, LV's
Alberto Stefani was elected to succeed to Zaia, by garnering 64.4% of the vote. The LV, which fielded only one list, was still the largest party with 36.3% of the vote. Other two Venetist parties,
Resist Veneto and Liga Veneta Repubblica, which obtained 5.0% and 1.8%, respectively, won representation. ==Recent developments==