Veneto

This article is about the region of Northern Italy. For other uses, see Veneto (disambiguation) and Venetia.

Veneto Vèneto (Venetian) Venetia
Region
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 45°44′00″N 11°51′00″E
Country	Italy
Capital	Venice
Largest city	Verona
Government
• Type	Presidential system
• Body	Regional Government
• President	Alberto Stefani (LV–Lega)
• Legislature	Regional Council
Area
• Total	18,345.36 km2 (7,083.18 sq mi)
Population  (2026)
• Total	4,857,460
• Rank	4th in Italy
• Density	264.779/km2 (685.774/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	English: Venetian Italian: veneto (masculine), veneta (feminine)
Languages
• Official	Italian
• Partially recognised	Venetian
• Minority languages	Cimbrian, Ladin, Friulian (recognised) Emilian (Ferrarese dialect) (other)
GDP
• Total	€201.246 billion (2024)
• Per capita	€41,468 (2024)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	IT-34
HDI (2022)	0.914 very high · 9th of 21
NUTS Region	ITD
Website	www.regione.veneto.it

The city of Venice, ranked many times as the most beautiful city in the world. It is the primary tourist destination and the capital of Veneto.

Lake Alleghe near Belluno

Cortina d'Ampezzo

The Piave River

The Venetian Lagoon at sunset

Flamingos in the delta of the Po river

Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the north-east of the country. It is the 4th most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,857,460 as of 2026. Venice is the region's capital while Verona is the largest city.

Veneto was part of the Roman Empire until the 5th century AD. Later, after a feudal period, it was part of the Republic of Venice until 1797. Venice ruled for centuries over one of the largest and richest maritime republics and trade empires in the world. After the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna, the former Republic was combined with Lombardy and re-annexed to the Austrian Empire as the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, until that was merged with the Kingdom of Italy in 1866, as a result of the Third Italian War of Independence and of a plebiscite.

Besides Italian, most inhabitants also speak Venetian. Since 1971, the Statute of Veneto has referred to the region's citizens as "the Venetian people". Article 1 defines Veneto as an "autonomous Region", "constituted by the Venetian people and the lands of the provinces of Belluno, Padua, Rovigo, Treviso, Venice, Verona, and Vicenza", while maintaining "bonds with Venetians in the world". Article 2 sets forth the principle of the "self-government of the Venetian people" and mandates the Region to "promote the historical identity of the Venetian people and civilisation". Despite these affirmations, approved by the Italian Parliament, Veneto is not among the autonomous regions with special statute, unlike its north-eastern and north-western neighbours, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol respectively.

Veneto is home to a notable nationalist movement, known as Venetian nationalism or Venetism. The region's largest party is Liga Veneta, a founding component of Lega Nord. The current President of Veneto is Alberto Stefani (Liga Veneta–Lega Nord), elected in 2025. An autonomy referendum took place in 2017: 57.2% of Venetians turned out, 98.1% voting "yes" to "further forms and special conditions of autonomy".

Having been for a long period in history a land of mass emigration, Veneto is today one of the greatest immigrant-receiving regions in the country, with foreign-born residents making up 13.9% of the population, the 7th-largest share among all regions.