The House of Celsi was a patrician family in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. Its most notable members were doge

Lorenzo Celsi Lorenzo Celsi ( 1310 – 18 July 1365) was a Venetian statesman who served as the 58th Doge of Venice, from 16 July 1361 until his death on 18 July 1365. Biography He was the son of a rich Celsi family, and was previously noted for leading a ...

and soldier Bartolomeo Celsi. Traditionally held to have originated in

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

, the family is first documented in 1122 with Vitale Celsi's mention in a pact between the Baresi and

Domenico Michiel Domenico Michiel (died ) was the 35th Doge of Venice from 1116 or 1117 to his resignation in late 1129 or early 1130. In August 1122 Domenico Michiel led a Venetian fleet of 100 vessels and around 15,000 men for the campaign in the Holy Land. ...

. Paolo Celsi was one of those who elected doge

Orio Mastropiero Orio Mastropiero (died 13 June 1192), forename sometimes rendered as Aurio and surname as Malipiero, was a Venetian statesman who served as the Doge of Venice from 1178 to 1192. He was elected by the Council of Forty in 1178 following the retire ...

in 1178, whilst in 1202 Pietro Celsi commanded the gallies in

Enrico Dandolo Enrico Dandolo (Anglicised as Henry Dandolo, and Latinised as Henricus Dandulus; – May/June 1205) was the doge of Venice from 1192 until his death in 1205. He is remembered for his avowed piety, longevity, and shrewdness, and his role in the ...

's reconquest of

Zara Zara may refer to: Businesses * Zara (retailer), a fashion retail company based in Spain * Zara Investment Holding, a Jordanian holding company * Continental Hotel Zara, Budapest, Hungary People and fictional characters * Zara (name), primari ...

. Nicolò Celsi was recorded as

Procurator of Saint Mark The office of Procurator of Saint Mark ( Venetian: Procurador de San Marco) was one of the few lifetime appointments in the government of the Venetian Republic and was considered second only to that of the doge in prestige. Da Mosto, ''L'Archivio d ...

in 1268 and as having died in 1277. Few or no other members of the family played a part in Venetian public life and Lorenzo Celsi's election as doge in 1351 after a bright political and military career was unexpected. Lorenzo arranged for his father Marco to be made a Procurator of Saint Mark in 1363. The family's public role declined again after that dogeship, although the brothers Giacomo, Giovanni and

Bartolomeo Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo is a masculine Italian given name, the Italian equivalent of Bartholomew. Its diminutive form is Baccio. Notable people with the name include: * Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo (1824–1860), Italian paleobotanist and ...

fought in the military operations leading up to the

Battle of Lepanto The Battle of Lepanto was a naval warfare, naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League (1571), Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states arranged by Pope Pius V, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of t ...

(1571). Other members of the family went on to administrative roles, such as Marcantonio Celsi, count and captain of Sebenico (1708) and then supervisor of Veglia (1714), and Marino, supervisor of

Salò Salò (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia in the region of Lombardy (northern Italy) on the banks of Lake Garda, on which it has the longest promenade. The city was the Governance#Seat of government, seat of government of th ...

(1708). The family line went extinct on the death of Francesco Maria Celsi in 1789.

References

{{reflist Venetian noble families