Marino Falieri, doge of Venice, the most celebrated of the several doges of the same family, born about 1275, beheaded April 17, 1355. In 1346 he rendered eminent services to the republic as commander-in-chief at the siege of Zara in Dalmatia, which was taken after a splendid victory over Louis the Great of Hungary. Subsequently he was Venetian ambassador at Genoa and Rome. In 1354 he was summoned home from Rome, and elected doge although nearly an octogenarian. Within a month the entire Venetian fleet of 61 vessels was captured by the Genoese, with a loss to the former of 4,000 men killed and nearly 6,000 prisoners. Hardly had the new doge succeeded, Jan. 5, 1355, in concluding a four months1 truce with Genoa, when a contest broke out in his own palace, which proved fatal to himself. A young nobleman of Venice, Michele Steno, enamored of one of the dogessa's maids of honor, on occasion of one of the balls given during carnival, took liberties with her which, although excusable under the excitement of the season, gave umbrage to the doge, who ordered Steno to leave the palace.

The young man, exasperated by this treatment, avenged it by writing upon the chair of the doge the following words: Marino Falieri dal-la bella moglie, altri la gode ed egli la man-tiene ("Marino Fallen's beautiful wife is supported by him, but enjoyed by others). The doge's wrath knew no bounds, and as the senate and the councils refused to treat the affair as a question of state, and the criminal court sentenced Steno to only a brief term of imprisonment and a year's exile, Falieri determined to wreak vengeance by exterminating the whole body of the nobility, who were hated by the populace as tyrants. The day fixed for the consummation of this design was April 15, 1355, but the conspiracy was discovered on the evening previous; the doge was arrested, and after a full confession of his guilt, he was sentenced to death and beheaded. In the council hall of the palace, where the portraits of the doges of Venice are religiously preserved, a black drapery covers the spot intended for that of Falieri, bearing the inscription: Spazio di Marino Falieri, decapitato. The fate of the doge has been a favorite theme with poets.

Byron made it the subject of a tragedy, giving in the notes a full account of Falieri's life.