The kidnapping of brides

The historical event

On February 2nd, the feast of Mary’s purification, it was customary in Venice to celebrate the various weddings of noble families together at the same time. The brides during the solemn ceremony presented a casket containing a conspicuous dowry and wore a precious trousseau that was specially lent to them by the Republic of Venice.
In 932 some Istrian pirates, led by Gaiolo, learned that the day before the ceremony the participants would have gathered at the church of San Pietro a Castello, and that during all the celebrations they would have been unarmed. They then manage to infiltrate the guests and during the night between 1 and 2 February with a surprise attack they steal all the skills and kidnap the 12 girls dressed in their precious kits, then fleeing quickly by ship.
The Venetians are shocked by the incident but in a short time the Doge Pietro II Candiano organizes a fleet and begins the hunt for the pirates who are surprised, thanks to the help of Caorle’s faithful allies, at the beach where today PORTO SANTA MARGHERITA is located and , after an epic fight, they are all passed over to arms. The Venetians then manage to return to Venice with the 12 freed brides and with the treasures of their gifts intact.

This historical episode is at the origin of the oldest Venetian festival still celebrated today, called “Festa delle Marie” and for 1000 years the place where the battle took place was known as “lido delle damsels” or “port of the damsels” , which today has been renamed as Porto Santa Margherita.

Historical context of the event

During the 5th century, at the same time as the fall of the Roman Empire, the incursions of the barbarians who had managed to violate the northern borders of the empire began also in the north-east of Italy. The most ferocious attack by the barbarians was led by the famous Attila, king of the Huns, who forced the populations of Aquileia, Altino, Oderzo, Concordia and the surrounding countryside to escape in the lagoon area, especially in the area of the “Rio Alto”, a group of islets where town of Venice is now located.

The lagoon areas between Veneto and Friuli served as a defense for the Republic of Venice against attacks from the north and were also exploited to create the so-called “valleys”, area into the lagoon closed by embankments or barriers to be used as a fishing reserve for self-sustenance in case of famine or war.

Before the 10th century, however, the Adriatic Sea was still not safe for the newly formed Republic of Venice. Between Venice and the nearby coasts of Istria and Dalmatia occupied by slavian populations, including the Narentani, there were great tensions due to mutual commercial claims and pirate attacks against Venetian ships along the trade routes were frequent along all the coasts of the Adriatic from Polesine to Zadar.

The “Rape of the Maidens” takes place in a historical moment of very high tension: the naval blockades and the political alliances between Istria, the Margrave of Friuli and the royals of Hungary, who also aspired to control the upper Adriatic, against Venice put the very existence of the Republic at risk. The defeat of the pirates by the Venetian fleet, aided by the Caorlotti faithful, certainly helped to guarantee a long period of relative safety for the Republic. In fact, shortly after the episode, in the year 945, the so-called “Pace di Rialto” was signed in which Venice recognized the monopoly of trade routes in Istria and Trieste.

Venice will then be able to definitively guarantee control of the Dalmatian coasts in the first half of the 1400s, after 500 years of wars.