Italian city Venice is founded with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo di Rialto on the islet of Rialto.
The refugees weren't building a temporary shelter — they were hammering wooden pilings into a malarial swamp. Attila the Hun's armies had driven them from the mainland, and these desperate families from Padua and Aquileia chose 118 mudflats in a lagoon as their sanctuary. They consecrated San Giacomo di Rialto, their first church, on what they called Rialto — the "high bank" that was barely above water at high tide. Within centuries, this refugee camp became the richest trading power in the Mediterranean, its merchant fleet controlling the spice routes to the East. Sometimes running away builds an empire.
March 25, 421
1605 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on March 25
Liu Yu didn't just conquer Guanggu — he executed every member of the Southern Yan royal family he could find. The 410 siege was personal: Murong De's dynasty ha…
Refugees fleeing barbarian invasions established Venice at high noon, seeking safety among the shifting mudflats of the Venetian Lagoon. By choosing this isolat…
Pope Constantine ascended to the papacy, inheriting a church deeply embroiled in the Monothelite controversy. His subsequent journey to Constantinople to meet E…
The pope walked 1,400 miles to meet an emperor who'd been mutilating his predecessors. Constantine became the 88th pope in 708, then did something no pontiff wo…
He didn't want to be emperor in the first place. Tax collectors in 715 had dragged Theodosios III from his minor bureaucratic post and forced the purple robes o…
He didn't fight for it. Theodosius III, Byzantine emperor for barely two years, simply handed over his crown to Leo III and walked into a monastery. No battle, …
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