House of Donà
Venetian noble family
The House of Donà is an old patrician family of Venice which produced three doges of Venice. The family has existed since at least the late twelfth century. Until the sixteenth century, the family were merchants. During that period, they bought land, which supported the family through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Around and throughout the nineteenth century, the family's wealth was significantly diminished due to the influences of the French Revolution and industrialisation.
The dalle Rose branch (the main branch) of the family, which produced two of the Donà doges of Venice, survives to this day. In the second half of the twentieth century, the Donà dalle Rose included a number of businesspeople, most notably the founders of the Costa Smeralda’s Porto Rotondo, brothers Luigi and Nicolò Donà dalle Rose.
Members
Notable members of the dalle Rose branch of the family have included:
Pietro Donà: archbishop, humanist, and patron of art (c. 1390–1447)
Girolamo Donà: diplomat, historian, and humanist (c. 1456–1511)
Francesco Donà: 79th Doge of Venice (1545–1553)
Leonardo Donà: 90th Doge of Venice; also Venetian Ambassador both in the Vatican and in Constantinople, as well as a supporter of Galileo Galilei (1606–1612)
Pierdonato Donà dalle Rose: World War II aviator decorated with the Gold Medal of Military Valor (1914–1941)
Notable members of the dalle Trezze branch of the family have included:
Nicolò Donà: 93rd Doge of Venice (1539–1618)
Seats
The family has had a number of seats, including:
Palazzo Donà dalle Rose (present, primary)
Palazzo Donà Brusa
Palazzo Donà Balbi
Palazzo Donà Giovannelli
Palazzo Donà-Ottobon
Citations
Bibliography
Davis, James C. (1975). A Venetian Family And Its Fortune: 1500 – 1900. American Philosophical Society.
“House of Donà” enters the record as venetian noble family. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what House, Donà and Venetian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3036219. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1390, 1447, 1456 and 1511.
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