Did You Know?
In Venice the Year Began on 1 March Until 1797
Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar in 1582. Venice adopted the new dates. It did not adopt 1 January as New Year's Day.
The Republic used its own reckoning, marked M.V. — more veneto, "according to the customs of Venice" — in which, following the ancient Roman practice, the year began on 1 March.
The consequence is that January and February always belonged to the previous year in Venetian documents. February 1700 in the rest of Europe was February 1699 more veneto. A letter dated 26 January 1421 elsewhere is dated 26 January 1420 in Venice.
The Republic could do this because it did not need permission. Venice's institutional line ran from the Roman Empire through Byzantium — a provincial administration that had become sovereign — and it did not depend on the Roman church for its legitimacy. So when Rome changed the calendar, Venice took the new dates but carried on with its own New Year.
It carried on for 215 years, until the Republic itself fell in 1797. Britain, which rejected the new calendar outright, held out for 170.
The clock: and the number that governs Venice today is also a matter of when you count.
The historic centre had 174,808 residents in 1951. By 1975 it was 104,000. By 1995, 71,000. By 2015, 55,000. In 2025 it was 47,625 — a fall of more than 70% in seventy years, and more than 120,000 people gone from the six sestieri and Giudecca.
In 1960, for the first time since the city's founding in the seventh century, the mainland became more populous than the islands.
Against that: Venice has the second-highest ratio of tourists to inhabitants in Europe. In 2025 the city charged day-trippers an entry fee on 54 peak days, and more than 720,000 people paid it, raising €5.4 million.
Seven hundred and twenty thousand paying visitors, across fifty-four days, in a place where fewer than forty-eight thousand people live. That is about fifteen day-trippers for every resident — and it only counts the ones who paid.
A city that spent two centuries insisting January belonged to last year now has a population that depends entirely on which day you ask.
Sources
- Wikipedia, *More veneto* (M.V. sign; the year begins on March 1; Venice adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1582 but kept 1 March as New Year; it lasted until 1797; February 1700 = February 1699 M.V. example)
- History Walks in Venice (the Venetian state's lineage ran directly from the Roman Empire through Byzantium; the Roman church was the main reason for starting the year on 1 January; 26 January 1421 = 26 January 1420 M.V. example)
- Statista (peak of 174,800 in 1951; 47,625 in 2025; mainland overtaking islands in 1960; tourism contribution of 1.67 billion euros; more than 1,260 hotels)
- InTrieste / Venessia.com (104,000 in 1975, 71,000 in 1995, 55,000 in 2015; more than 720,000 payments in 54 busy days in 2025, 5.4 million euros)
- Sage Journals (72% decline from 1951 to 2022)