Nicolò da Ponte

Portrait of Nicolò da Ponte by Palma Giovane.

Nicolò da Ponte's coat of arms.

Nicolò da Ponte (15 January 1491 - 30 July 1585) was the eighty seventh Doge of Venice from 1578 to 1585. He reigned in a fairly quiet period.

Life

Da Ponte was born in Sant’Agnese in Venice to the patrician Antonio da Ponte and his wife Regina Spandolino, who was originally from Constantinople. The da Pontes had just gone through a period of severe financial difficulties after the Ottoman conquest of Negroponte, where it owned considerable property, but the marriage of his father with a Greek suggests that he still maintained business interests in the East.

Despite these difficulties da Ponte received an excellent education, training with the famous Ignazio Danti and studying philosophy at the University of Padua. But he did not finish his studies, perhaps because of the outbreak of the War of the League of Cambrai. He received a doctorate in medicine in Venice (1514).

Like all young Venetian aristocrats, he began a promising cursus honorum (having significant physical and intellectual gifts) that saw him elected to the Collegio dei Savi, but he suddenly cut this career short. It seems that in the twenty years between 1512 and 1530 he was engaged in trade and was so successful that he was able to build a sumptuous palace in San Maurizio and amass a fortune estimated at 150,000 ducats. At the same time he successfully cultivated cultural interests. In 1521 he replaced Sebastian Foscarini for two years as a lecturer in philosophy at the School of Rialto.

In 1520 he married Arcangela Alvise Canal, with whom he had two children, Antonio and Pauline. His son predeceased him in 1558, and when Nicolò died he left his property to his nephew, also named Nicolò. The latter died in 1590 without heirs, leaving this branch of the Da Ponte extinct.

Reign as Doge

In 1570 da Ponte became a Procurator of San Marco, and on 3 March 1578, he was elected as Doge in a long and conflict-ridden election that required 44 ballots.

Although he was in his late 80s when elected Doge, he had a very active reign that lasted more than seven years. Young politicians looked to him during the internal crisis of 1581-82 that led to the reform of the Council of Ten. On several occasions he distinguished himself for his anti-clericalism. He died in July 1585 at age 94.

(The above is a translation of the article on Italian Wikipedia.)

External links

• Giuseppe Gullino Da Ponte, Nicolò in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.

Doges of Venice
Byzantine period (697–737) Paolo Lucio Anafesto Marcello Tegalliano Orso Ipato
Regime of the magistri militum (738–742) Domenico Leoni Felice Cornicola Teodato Ipato Jovian Ceparius John Fabriacus
Ducal period (742–1148) 8th century Teodato Ipato* Galla Lupanio* Domenico Monegario* Maurizio Galbaio Giovanni Galbaio* 9th century Obelerio degli Antenori*† Agnello Participazio Giustiniano Participazio Giovanni I Participazio* Pietro Tradonico† Orso I Participazio Giovanni II Participazio♦ Pietro I Candiano‡ Pietro Tribuno 10th century Orso II Participazio Pietro II Candiano Pietro Participazio Pietro III Candiano Pietro IV Candiano† Pietro I Orseolo♦ Vitale Candiano♦ Tribuno Memmo Pietro II Orseolo 11th century Otto Orseolo* Pietro Centranico* Domenico Flabanico Domenico I Contarini Domenico Selvo* Vitale Faliero Vital I Michele 12th century Ordelafo Faliero Domenico Michele Pietro Polani * deposed     † executed or assassinated     ‡ killed in battle     ♦ abdicated
Republican period (1148–1797) 12th century Domenico Morosini Vitale II Michele Sebastiano Ziani Orio Mastropiero Enrico Dandolo 13th century Pietro Ziani Jacopo Tiepolo Marino Morosini Reniero Zeno Lorenzo Tiepolo Jacopo Contarini Giovanni Dandolo Pietro Gradenigo 14th century Marino Zorzi Giovanni Soranzo Francesco Dandolo Bartolomeo Gradenigo Andrea Dandolo Marino Faliero† Giovanni Gradenigo Giovanni Dolfin Lorenzo Celsi Marco Cornaro Andrea Contarini Michele Morosini Antonio Venier 15th century Michele Steno Tommaso Mocenigo Francesco Foscari* Pasquale Malipiero Cristoforo Moro Nicolò Tron Nicolò Marcello Pietro Mocenigo Andrea Vendramin Giovanni Mocenigo Marco Barbarigo Agostino Barbarigo 16th century Leonardo Loredan Antonio Grimani Andrea Gritti Pietro Lando Francesco Donato Marcantonio Trivisan Francesco Venier Lorenzo Priuli Girolamo Priuli Pietro Loredan Alvise I Mocenigo Sebastiano Venier Nicolò da Ponte Pasquale Cicogna Marino Grimani 17th century Leonardo Donato Marcantonio Memmo Giovanni Bembo Nicolò Donato Antonio Priuli Francesco Contarini Giovanni I Cornaro Nicolò Contarini Francesco Erizzo Francesco Molin Carlo Contarini Francesco Cornaro Bertuccio Valiero Giovanni Pesaro Domenico II Contarini Nicolò Sagredo Alvise Contarini Marcantonio Giustinian Francesco Morosini Silvestro Valiero Alvise II Mocenigo 18th century Giovanni II Cornaro Alvise III Mocenigo Carlo Ruzzini Alvise Pisani Pietro Grimani Francesco Loredan Marco Foscarini Alvise IV Mocenigo Paolo Renier Ludovico Manin* † Marino Faliero (1354–55) was convicted of treason, executed and condemned to damnatio memoriae * Francesco Foscari (1423–57) was forced to abdicate by the Council of Ten * Ludovico Manin (1789–97) was forced to abdicate by Napoleon