Elisabetta Querini (November 12, 1628 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 ...
– January 19, 1709 in Venice) was the
Dogaressa
Dogaressa ( , , ) was the official title of the wife of the Doge of Venice. The title was unique for Venice: while the heads of the Republic of Genoa were also called Doge, the wives of the Doges of Genoa were not called ''Dogaressa'', nor did ...
of Venice by marriage to the Doge
Silvestro Valier
Silvestro Valier or Valiero (Venice, 28 March 1630 – Venice, 7 July 1700) was the 109th Doge of Venice, reigning from his election on 25 February 1694 until his death six years later. The Morean War between the Republic of Venice and the Otto ...
(r. 1694–1700).
Early life
Elisabetta was born as the daughter of the procurator Paolo Querini of the
Stampalia branch of the family and his wife Bianca Ruzzini, from whose family the Doge
Carlo Ruzzini
Carlo Ruzzini (11 November 1653 – 5 January 1735) was a Venetian diplomat, statesman, and the doge of Venice from 1732 to 1735.
Biography
Ruzzini was born in Venice, the eldest child of wealthy parents, Marco Ruzzini and Caterina Zeno.
By the ...
emerged. The
Querini family
The Querini family or Quirini was an old Venetian patrician family. They claimed an ancient Legacy of the Roman Empire, Roman heritage, but their traceable history goes back to the 11th century. The family divided into many branches.
Notable me ...
lived in a palace near Santa Maria Formosa, now the headquarters of the Fondazione Querini Stampaglia.
In addition to 10 houses near the family palace, Elisabetta owned land near Padua, in Polesine and near Verona, as well as a foundry near Mira. On 8 August 1649, she married the 19-year-old Silvestro Valier, son of Doge Bertuccio Valier. She brought a dowry of 40,000 ducats into the marriage.
[Andrea Da Mosto: I dogi di Venezia, Mailand 2003. P. 441.]
Dogaressa of Venice
On February 25, 1694, Silvestro was elected doge. On March 4, Elisabetta was crowned dogaressa with great pomp in the Doge's Palace with a gold corno studded with precious stones, which was forbidden by a law of 1645. After the election of the doge, both generously distributed silver oselle to the people, and they also made themselves popular with the people by organizing festivals and entertainments.
Later life and death
After the death of her husband in 1700 as a widow, Elisabetta oversaw the construction of a huge funerary monument at
San Zanipolo, where she was buried next to the two Valier Doges. The Valier Tomb, built between 1705 and 1708 based on a design by
Andrea Tirali, is the last of the great Doge's tombs in Venice.
Elisabetta died without children. She bequeathed part of her fortune to her cousin Giovanni Antonio Ruzzini, father of eleven children and brother of the future Doge Carlo Ruzzini. She ordered a thousand masses for herself in her will. She gave legacies to a number of relatives, friends, churches and charitable institutions, including a sum of 10,000 ducats to the Ospedale der Zitelle.
Gallery
File:Interior of Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Venice) - Elisabetta Querini Giovanni Bonazza.jpg, Elisabetta Querini by Giovanni Bonazza
References
* Staley, Edgcumbe:
The dogaressas of Venice : The wives of the doges', London : T. W. Laurie, 1910
1628 births
1709 deaths
17th-century Venetian people
17th-century Venetian women
Querini family
17th-century Italian nobility
Dogaressas of Venice
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