By: Paul Schroeder, Zack Kongdara, Owen Lass, Connor Robertson

-Venice a major city located off the shore of the north side of Italy -The surrounding waters is the Laguna Veneta which also connects to the Mediterranean Sea

-The island is connected to the mainland by Ponte della Libertà (Freedom Bridge), which is 3.85 Kilometers long (not 17th century) -In the 17th century to be able to get back to mainland -The city itself is heavily riddled with canals passing through the island. The biggest canal being the Grand Canal which sees a lot of traffic

-With the island containing this many canals everyday life relied heavily on the use of gondolas to quickly get through the city -Some of the most important landmarks include Basillica de San Marco, the Rialto Bridge Piazza San Marco are a few to name.

- The theatre became a very popular after the ban of all theatre ended in the 1600s -After the ban it began with street performers showing their plays for a small fees to nobles which eventually turned public and many theatres were created

-In addition to theatre music was another big part of Venetian culture -From the organs played at churches every Sunday to the opera in the theatres music was heard all around the city -Even in orphanages the children were taught to sing and play instruments so that one day they could become a musician as a trade

-The government was a republic which is a form of democracy -All citizens were at the mercy of the government - The ruler was called the Doge and spoke for the people

-Doges came from wealthy families -People picked the Doge through a long processes where a large group of potential leaders through voting was then reduced to a final 41 which voted for the Doge

-During the 17th century, trade in Venice was booming, for many reasons: -They had control of most of the east coast of Italy and were the only major trading city on the east coast of Italy -They had a major fleet of ships because they had no need for land defence

-The main commerce of Venice was exporting grain, wine, wood, salves from mainland Italy, and salt from its surrounding lagoons to the middle east and Asia, and taking spices silks and textiles in return