Delfin (family)

Dolfin
Dolfin
Venetian nobility
	Arms of the family
Parent family	Gradenigo
Country	Papal States; Republic of Venice; Habsburg monarchy; Kingdom of Italy
Current region	Italy
Founded	V century
Founder	Giovanni Gradenigo
Titles	Bishop (non-hereditary); Cardinal (non-hereditary); Patriarch; Doge of Venice (non-hereditary); Dogaressa (non-hereditary); Count of the Austrian Empire; Count of the Kingdom of Italy; Knight of the Holy Roman Empire;

The Delfin family (Dolfin in venician, sometimes Italianized as Delfin, Delfino, Delfini, and Dolfini) is a thousand-year-old noble family originally from Venice, whose origins date back to the medieval period because they were present even before the Serrata del Maggior Consiglio of 1297.^[1]^[2] Already included in the patriciate as an old house and one of the twelve apostolic families,^[3] the founders of the Venetian state, it is considered one of the richest, most powerful, and oldest in its history.^[4]

Parent family

Gradenigo

Country

Current region

FoundedV century

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Members of the family distinguished themselves for their role in the political and military institutions of the Republic, where they acquired great prestige. One of these was, for example, Giovanni Dolfin, who served as the 56th Doge of the Republic of Venice, the only member of the family. As Venetian patricians, over the centuries, the family's descendants held important political roles in the Republic, such as procurators of Saint Mark and governors of cities and lands under Venetian rule, numerous members of the Quarantia and the Senate, land and sea generals, and diplomatic roles such as bailiffs and ambassadors for most countries in continental Europe. Numerous other members of the family were men of the church in the service of the Pope as bishops, patriarchs, and cardinals.

They were also influential and skilled traders, who knew how to manipulate the economic dynamics of thalassocratic Venice, especially through marital alliances as strategic tools to consolidate economic and political power. The family included the Dolfin branch, known as "dal Banco", which owned the bank of the same name. As the lone heir of his father's wealth, Zuanne Dolfin was a successful business man, who married a member of the evenly powerful Vendramin family, and could afford to hire the principal architect of his city Jacopo Sansovino to design his Palazzo (Palazzo Dolfin Manin)^[5] situated near the Rialto Bridge between its commercial and political center. Oover the centuries, they owned numerous residences both in Venice and the areas controlled by the Serenissima.

Like the Gonzagas in Mantua, the fame of the Dolfins in Venice and in Italy is above all linked to their patronage of the culture of architecture, literature, sculpture and painting. In fact, they requested the services of the major exponents of what is today called the Venetian school, including Giovanni Bellini, Francesco Sansovino, Titian, Giambattista Tiepolo, Niccolò Bambini, Bernardo Strozzi, and many others. The family also had a modest influence in the musical field: both as patrons, having requested the services of composers such as Antonio Vivaldi, Antonio Martinelli, and Francisco José de Castro, and as concert organizers, owning numerous theaters in the major cities of the Serenissima. Some literary works have been dedicated to some members of the family. Examples are La donna di garbo and La bella selvaggia by Carlo Goldoni and La metamorfosi della modestia by Giuseppe Beccarelli.