Venice is a city whose history conjures up all sorts of images, memories and feelings, but how many of us think of Greece when we talk about Venice?
Gondolas cutting through water, the impossible beauty of St. Mark’s Square, maybe the mystery of Carnival masks and the many museums—these are the classic images. Venice feels like the heart of Italy floating on a mesmerizing lagoon.
But if we step back and think—if we pull back the curtain of pure Italian romance and aestheticism, we can see the foundations of this marvellous city, which hide something distinctly Greek. It’s not always obvious, but the story of Venice is intimately connected and runs parallel to Greek history in ways that might surprise you; from its art to its cultural and political history, and even how it saved some of Western civilization’s masterpieces.
When Greeks and Venetians shared the same world
You’ve got to remember, Venice wasn’t born in a vacuum. It clawed its way out of the epicentre of the old Roman world, as this was fading in the West. But the Eastern half of the mighty Roman Empire, today known as the Byzantine Empire centered on Constantinople, was still very much alive and kicking—and it spoke and felt Greek. Although the Eastern Roman Empire was the continuation of Roman power, its culture, language and soul were deeply Greek.
Venice started off in the Byzantine orbit, kind of like Byzantium’s slightly inexperienced but ambitious young brother. You can’t miss this connection when you stand admiring in awe the front of St. Mark’s Basilica. Those incredible golden mosaics of its interior dazzle your eyes, along with the curves of its domes and all the intricate details. That’s pure Byzantine artistry, a direct line back through Constantinople to the Hellenistic world. It is, in other words, Greece, filtered through the Eastern Roman lens, embedded right into the heart of Italy, in Venice.
How Venice became a safe haven for Greeks
Venice, eventually struck out on its own, building a formidable maritime empire that dominated the Mediterranean world of the Middle Ages. And guess where their ships often ended up? Sailing all over the Greek islands and the coastline of modern-day Greece.
For centuries, places like Crete (Candia, as they called it—holding it for a very long time), Cyprus, Corfu, the Cyclades and other, numerous spots in the Aegean Sea were Venetian territory. This meant Venetians and Greeks were living side-by-side, trading, cooperating, arguing, fighting, revolting, even hating and loving but surely influencing each other. Think Venetian governors trying to run Crete, sailors picking up Greek phrases in port towns, artistic ideas travelling back and forth on merchant ships from the ends of the Eastern Mediterranean to Venice’s heart in northeastern Italy. You can still see numerous Venetian fortresses “guarding” Greek harbors today, a remnant of this bygone and long, shared chapter.
Ancient Greece and the Renaissance miracle
Then comes a pivotal moment, perhaps Venice’s most direct link to the ancient Greek world. It’s the 15th century and the Byzantine Empire is on its last breath as the Ottomans are about to take over. When Constantinople finally falls in 1453, chaos ensues. Scholars, holding onto precious scrolls, had no option but to flee the burning city. There were many options for them to choose from, but many headed straight for Venice. Why? It was relatively stable, powerful and known to be a hub connected to the Greek world for decades if not centuries. Imagine these well-educated men arriving, carrying bundles of ancient Greek manuscripts—Plato, Aristotle, Homer, the classics, everything that Byzantium had carefully preserved for a thousand years.
A Greek cardinal named Bessarion even gifted his massive personal library of these texts to the city, planting the seed for the amazing Biblioteca Marciana. Suddenly, Venice wasn’t just a trading powerhouse; it had become ground zero for the rediscovery of ancient Greek thought. Printers like Aldus Manutius set up shop, churning out editions of these classics that spread like wildfire across Europe, kickstarting the Renaissance that changed Europe and the world forever. Venice essentially became, without even realising it, a crucial bridge, carrying the intellectual treasures of ancient Greece over into the modern West, the foundations of which were gradually being established.
So, next time you think of Venice, picture this hidden layer of history and culture, that so easily goes unnoticed. Venice is a city built on wooden piles in a lagoon, but also on layers of history deeply infused with Greece—through the lost and persecuted grandeur of the Byzantine Empire and through centuries of ruling Greek lands, to the dramatic rescue of the wisdom of ancient Greece.