At the Doge's Palace, in Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy

 "The Doge's Palace, or Palazzo Ducale, in Venice, Italy, was the seat of power of one of the world's most powerful city-states."

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(in Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy) Doge's Palace was constructed in 1340 and is in the Venetian Gothic architectural style. (Historically, Doge's Palace was the home of the Doge of Venice.) The word doge is synonymous with "chief," a title reserved for the head magistrate of either Venice or Genoa. {Doge's Palace is one of the best landmarks in all of Europe.)

+This structure was the meeting place of the governing councils and ministries of the republic. In its successive rebuildings, the palace incorporated characteristics of Gothic, Moorish, and Renaissance architecture. Doge, (Venetian Italian: “duke”), was the highest official of the republic of Venice for more than 1,000 years (from the 8th to the 18th century) and symbol of the sovereignty of the Venetian state. In Venice the office of doge (from Latin dux, “leader”) originated when the city was nominally subject to the Byzantine Empire and became permanent in the mid-8th century. According to tradition, the first doge was Paolo Lucio Anafesto, elected in 697. From the 12th century the aristocracy placed strict limits on the doge. Newly developed constitutional bodies took over many of the functions of government, and the doge on taking office had to swear an oath that restricted his freedom of action. During the same period, the doge was chosen from among the ruling families of Venice and held office for life. The last doge, Ludovico Manin, was deposed when Napoleon conquered northern Italy in 1797.

+ Among the most famous doges were Enrico Dandolo (doge, 1192–1205), who promoted the Fourth Crusade, and Francesco Foscari (doge, 1423–57), under whom Venice first undertook conquests on the Italian mainland. The name doge was also given to the principal civil official of Genoa, the office being modeled on that of Venice and instituted in 1339 to help end disorders among factions in the city. From 1384 to 1515 the popular elements of Genoa controlled the office of doge except for periods of foreign domination. In 1528 the office was reinstituted but restricted to aristocrats who held it for a term of two years. This office, like that of Venice, ended with French control of the peninsula.

+ Renaissance architecture, reflecting the rebirth of Classical culture, that originated in Florence in the early 15th century. Renaissance architects found a harmony between human proportions and buildings. Filippo Brunelleschi is considered the first Renaissance architect. (Leon Battista Alberti’s Ten Books on Architecture, inspired by Vitruvius, became a bible of Renaissance architecture.) From Florence the early Renaissance style spread through Italy. Donato Bramante’s move to Rome ushered in the High Renaissance (ca. 1500–20). Mannerism was characterized by sophistication, complexity, and novelty rather than the harmony, clarity, and repose of the High Renaissance.