"quaranta"

If Florence had the Medici family, then Venice's founders were the Participazio family.

During the Participazio family's rule, Venice had already developed to its present scale. The family's first doge, Agnello, was born in Heraclea but moved to Rialto at an early age. By building bridges, canals, breakwaters, fortifications, and stone structures, he expanded Venice out toward the sea.

Agnello was succeeded by his son Giustiniano. It was he who stole St. Mark's relics from Alexandria and brought them back to Venice, where the people made him the republic's patron saint.

In Venice's early days, internal family strife was fierce, with all manner of forces backing them from behind. The first Venetian doge to be assassinated, Orso Ipato, had been elected by the citizens' assembly. He opposed having his successor appointed by the Byzantine Empire, and many believed that his death had been orchestrated by Eutychius, Bishop of Ravenna.

The assassin who killed him was never caught. The Orseolo family was extremely prominent in Venice, and killing one of their members who served as doge was not something that could simply be let go. For four years after his death, neither Constantinople nor the citizens' council elected a new doge, with a military commander performing the doge's duties in the interim.

The Orseolo family had also intermarried with the King of Hungary. By now, it was difficult to find any trace of those ancient families, but the houses they had once lived in still remained.

The Orseolo Hotel Severus had booked was once the family's residence. The rooms were quite ordinary, and some of the windows were even painted on. The Doge of Venice had been so short of money that he had imposed a window tax.

But the location was excellent, only a five-minute walk from St. Mark's Square.