10 Facts About Francesco Morosini

Francesco Morosini was the Doge of Venice from 1688 to 1694, at the height of the Great Turkish War.

Francesco Morosini was one of the many Doges and generals produced by the Venetian noble Morosini family.

Francesco Morosini was eventually forced to surrender the city, and was accused of cowardice and treason on his return to Venice; however, he was acquitted after a brief trial.

In 1685, at the outbreak of the Morean War, Francesco Morosini took command of a fleet against the Ottomans.

Francesco Morosini briefly captured Athens but was unable to hold it, and attempted a failed siege of the former Venetian fortress of Negroponte.

Francesco Morosini's fame reached such heights that he was given the victory title Peloponnesiacus, and was the first Venetian citizen to have a bronze bust placed during his own lifetime in the Great Hall, with the inscription Francisco Morosini Peloponnesiaco, adhuc viventi, Senatus.

When he conquered the Acropolis in early 1688, Francesco Morosini attempted to loot Athena's and Poseidon's horses and chariots from the western pediment of the Parthenon, but the sculptures fell on the ground and smashed.

Francesco Morosini took the Piraeus Lion as a war trophy to the Venetian Arsenal.

Francesco Morosini embarked on a final campaign in 1693, but was again unsuccessful in taking Negropont, and returned to Venice after sacking some minor coastal towns.

Nini, the cat of which Francesco Morosini was notably fond, was embalmed along with a mouse between her paws.