Have you ever wondered why Venice, the floating city par excellence, has always been nicknamed the “Serenissima”?
Very often we use words or idioms without thinking how they came into our everyday habits and customs. In this article we will reveal the reason why the Veneto capital was, and still is, called this way.
Venice once was one of the four maritime republics: the institutions of its government were divided on several levels, the highest one was represented by the Doge.
He was the highest political office and embodied the glory and authority of the Republic. His powers, however, were limited to driving the army and the fleet into wars; full sovereignty in fact resided in the Maggior Consiglio, a fundamental organ of the state.
Although the Doge played a minor role compared to other organizations in the Republic, he was given the nickname of “serenissimo”. This is indeed one of the possible hypotheses that respond to the riddle we tried to solve in this article. It seems that the title given to the doge was then taken as a cue by the city itself!
But there is a second school of thought according to which the Maritime Republic would become the “Serenissima”. The Venetian Republic was in fact a solid institution that reigned the seas uncontested thanks to its nautical skills and political vanguard.
In addition to being thriving for the wealth it held, it is said that Venice was particularly tolerant of foreignerswho came to the city for commercial reasons. Thanks to the incorruptible justice system in force at the time, a true climate of peace and serenity was established in the city, for which the lagoon would continue to boast this name in the centuries that followed.
There is therefore no certainty about the real reason why Venice was nicknamed the “Serenissima”, even if the most quoted is that which sees it connected to the idea of the doge nicknamed in the same way.
One thing is certain: now that the arcane has been semi-unveiled, don’t you feel a little more “serene”?
