Dandolo

Dandolo is the name of a prominent Venetian patrician family, one of the older noble houses associated with the Republic of Venice. The Dandolo lineage produced several senior officials and played a significant role in the political, military, and cultural life of Venice from the medieval period onward. The family is best known for two members who served as doges of Venice and for their involvement in the republic’s expansion of influence in the eastern Mediterranean.

Enrico Dandolo (c. 1107–1205) served as Doge from 1192 until his death. He is remembered for his leadership of Venetian participation in the Fourth Crusade and for the pivotal role Venetians played in the 1204 capture of Constantinople, which heightened Venice’s commercial and political reach in the Byzantine world. His death followed the crusade’s later campaigns, and he became a symbolic figure of Venetian power during that era.

Andrea Dandolo (died 1354) was Doge from 1343 to 1354. He is also recognized as a historian and chronicler, and his writings provide valuable sources on Venice and its broader world in the 14th century.

Beyond the doges, other Dandolo family members held various offices and contributed to Venice’s governance and diplomacy. The family’s legacy is reflected in historic buildings associated with it, such as Ca’ Dandolo, a notable palace on the Grand Canal. After the decline of the Republic of Venice, the prominence of the Dandolo family diminished, though the name remains attached to Venetian history and archival material.