On October 4th, the Bucintoro was dispatched to Chioggia to meet Marin Faliero, recalled from his Roman legation to assume the ducal cap of Venice. The great State barge set forth, but such a dense fog enveloped the city that it was deemed prudent to disembark into smaller boats.

In a sinister omen, the gondola carrying Faliero failed to land at its customary point by the Ponte della Paglia and instead brought the future Doge ashore between the red columns of the Piazzetta—a place traditionally associated with executions.

A Promising Beginning Shadowed by War

Despite the ominous beginning, Faliero’s rule opened on a hopeful note. He signed a truce with Genoa, allowing Venice precious time to regroup and consolidate her fleet.

Once the truce expired, Nicolo Pisani, accompanied by his son Vettore, sailed toward the Ionian Isles in search of the Genoese admiral Doria. The Genoese, however, refused direct engagement. Pisani withdrew to winter quarters at Portolungo, in the Morea, behind the island of Sapienza.

Doria seized his opportunity. With a brilliant manoeuvre, he positioned part of his fleet between the Venetians and the shore. Attacked from front and rear, the Venetian forces were routed with catastrophic losses—no fewer than six thousand men were taken prisoner.

Pisani and his lieutenant Quirini escaped with the remnants of the fleet, only to face impeachment and degradation upon their return to Venice.

Venice Responds with Resolve

Even under the shadow of disaster, Venice displayed her customary fortitude. With admirable restraint, the Signory urged all podestà, consuls, and agents to remain steadfast and called for men and ships in defence of the fatherland.

Eight thousand ducats were sent to Genoa to alleviate the suffering of the captives. Before spring allowed further military action, a new truce was arranged through imperial mediation.

Yet while Europe awaited peace, it was instead stunned by shocking news:
a Doge of Venice had been tried and executed.

The Enigma of the Trial

The chroniclers provide detailed narratives of the drama, yet to Petrarch, who was on terms of close intimacy with Faliero, and to other contemporaries, the affair remained shrouded in mystery.

No official record of the trial survives.

A Proud and Fiery Temper

Marin Faliero was known for his violent and impetuous character. While serving as podestà of Treviso, he was said to have struck a bishop for keeping him waiting during a religious procession.

During Carnival, following the traditional festivities in St Mark’s Square, Faliero hosted a lavish banquet and dance in the ducal palace. Among the guests was a young nobleman, Michel Steno, who, inflamed by wine, behaved disgracefully and was expelled by the Doge’s orders.

In a fit of rage, Steno scrawled an obscene insult upon the ducal chair:

“Marin Falier della bella mujer tu la mantien e altri la galde.”

Brought before the Quarantia, Steno received a punishment the Doge considered insultingly mild.

From Insult to Conspiracy

The following day, another noble, Marco Barbaro, struck Admiral Ghisello in the face with a clenched fist, inflicting a bloody wound. The Admiral appealed directly to the Doge for justice.

Faliero responded bitterly, pointing to the insult written against him and the leniency shown to Steno.

Ghisello replied:

“Messer lo dose, if you will make yourself lord of Venice and have all those cuckold nobles cut to pieces, I am ready to help you.”

These words fell upon willing ears.

A vast conspiracy was formed to make Faliero despot of Venice.

The Plot Unfolds

Secret meetings were held within the palace. Sixteen leaders were each to raise an armed force of forty men, unaware of the true objective.

On Wednesday, April 15th, a rumour was to be spread that the Genoese had entered the lagoons. The alarm bell of St Mark’s would summon the nobles to the Piazza—where they were to be slaughtered. Faliero would then be proclaimed lord of Venice.

To inflame popular hatred, hired ruffians roamed the city by night, committing outrages while calling out the names of noble families.

Betrayal and Revelation

According to Sanudo, divine providence intervened. One conspirator, Beltrame Bergamasco, secretly warned Nicolo Lioni, urging him not to leave his house on the 15th.

Suspicion grew. Beltrame was detained, questioned, and eventually the matter was brought before the Council of Ten. Arrests quickly revealed the full extent of the plot—and the Doge’s own involvement.

Judgment of the Doge

The Council of Ten acted decisively. Armed forces were summoned, exits sealed, and at dawn on April 16th, a Zonta of twenty of the oldest and wisest nobles was convened to try the Doge.

Faliero offered no defence.

He was sentenced to death.

Execution and Erasure

On April 17th, stripped of his ducal robes and dressed in black, Marin Faliero was led to the landing of the staircase in the palace courtyard—the very place where he had sworn to uphold the Constitution seven months earlier.

With a single stroke, his head was severed.

The executioner’s sword was displayed to the crowd as the cry rang out:

“The great judgment has been done on the traitor.”

That night, Faliero’s body was carried by torchlight to burial at San Zanipolo.

No written record of the sentence exists. In the place where it should appear are the words:

“Ñ. S[=c]batur” — “Let it not be written.”

A year later, his portrait was erased, replaced by a black veil bearing the inscription:

Hic est locus Marini Faletro decapitati pro criminibus.

A City That Remembered

The leaders of the conspiracy were hanged from the palace columns, iron gags in their mouths.
April 16th, the Feast of St Isidore, was declared a public festival.

As late as 1520, Sanudo records seeing in procession the white damask cloth, still stained with blood, that had been used at the execution.

Thus ended the life—and memory—of Marin Faliero, the Doge who sought to become a tyrant.