During the 1400s, Venice had created defences against the recurring outbreaks of the plague, and they kept Venice mostly safe for the following centuries. Mostly safe.
The story of Bianca Cappello tells us something about the institutions of the Republic of Venice, the agility of its government, and of early modern diplomacy.
Bianca Cappello had eloped to Florence with her lover, whom she soon after married. She then became the mistress of the prince regent of the Duchy of Florence. Her husband took a mistress of his own, but her family murdered him on Blanca’s doorstep. Does all that sound bad? Well, it’s getting worse.
In 1563, a young Venetian noblewoman eloped with her lover, never to come back to Venice again. She went on to have an eventful, and highly unusual life, in Florence.
The decline of Venice didn’t end with the loss of statehood. Attempts at modernising Venice have failed, and the result is an economic monoculture of mass tourism, and a constant demographic decline.
