Lodovico Manin
| Ludovico Manin | |
|---|---|
Ludovico Manin, portrait by Bernardino Castelli
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| 120th Doge of Venice | |
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In office 10 March 1789 – 12 May 1797 |
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| Preceded by | Paolo Renier |
| Succeeded by |
Office abolished (Fall of Venice, annexation to the Austrian Empire) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Ludovico Giovanni Manin 14 May 1725 Venice, Republic of Venice |
| Died | 24 October 1802 (aged 77) Venice, Habsburg Empire |
| Resting place | Church of the Scalzi, Venice, Italy |
| Spouse(s) | Elisabetta Grimani (m. 1748–92); her death |
| Parents | Lodovico Alvise Manin and Maria Basadonna |
| Alma mater | University of Bologna |
| Profession | Merchant |
| Religion | Catholic Church |
Ludovico Giovanni Manin (IPA /.ma'niŋ/, 14 May 1725 – 24 October 1802) was a Venetian politician, a Patrician of Venice and the last Doge of Venice. He governed Venice from 9 March 1789 until 1797, when he was forced to abdicate by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Lodovico Manin was the eldest of five sons of Lodovico III Alvise (1695–1775) and Lucrezia Maria Basadonna, the great-granddaughter of cardinal Pietro Basadonna. He attended the University of Bologna and was a boarder at the College of St. Xavier noble: there he printed some propositions of natural law, which he incurred in this period. When he began public life, was quickly noticed for his generosity, his honesty, his kindness and above all his wealth. He married Elisabetta Grimani (d 1792) on 14 September 1748; she bore him a dowry of 45,000 ducats. Elisabetta had been educated in a monastery in Treviso and was in poor health since childhood. She gave him no children.
At twenty-six he was elected captain of Vicenza, then to Verona where he had to cope with the flood of 1757, finally Brescia. In 1764 he was appointed procurator of San Marco de ultra. Fond of religious meditations in 1769 he asked and obtained permission to not hold an office because of ill health and bad hearing. In 1787 he was chosen to honor Pope Pius VI as he crossed the possessions of Venice and the Pope rewarded him knighted and awarded a number of spiritual privileges.
As the eldest son he owned Villa Manin di Passariano, that was inherited by his nephew, Lodovico Leonardo I (1771–1853) the son of his brother Giovanni (1736–1774) and Caterina (Pesaro), the heiress of a wealthy noble Israelite family who claimed to come from Cyrus the Great.
Lodovico was elected Doge of Venice on 9 March 1789, approximately four months before the start of the French Revolution, on the first ballot (the electoral assembly was composed of 41 members). His traditional coronation ceremony required him to throw coins to the Venetians, which cost more than 458,197 Lira, less than a quarter of which was paid from the funds of the Republic of Venice, the rest coming out of his own pocket. By the year 1792, he had allowed the once great Venetian merchant fleet to decline to a mere 309 merchantmen.
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