Introduction
What is the Venice State Archive?
Firstly, I would say that the Venice State Archive is one of the biggest and beautiful archives in the world. Archivio di Stato di Venezia is one of the most valuable sources for historians who research the Mediterranean history and the Venetian Republic. The Venice State Archives were established in 1815 under the name of Archivio generale veneto (Venetian General Archives) in the Frari district. Between 1817 and 1822, the documents produced over a thousand years by the offices of the Serenissima, originally kept in the Doge’s Palace, the Procuratie Marciane or the palaces of Rialto, were transferred to the new institute. During the Napoleonic era, they had been moved to three different locations. In subsequent years, the archives produced during the Napoleonic period and by the Austrian governments were also added.
Since 1866, the archives produced by the Italian state offices located in Venice have been flowing in. The collection, which spans approximately 80 km of shelving, consists of over 800 fonds, some of which contain hundreds of other archives, as is the case with trade guilds, confraternities and notaries. The number of fonds is therefore likely to increase as these sources are catalogued within the information system. In the Venice State Archive, the documents date back to the 1200s and in terms of topic, stretch from the Eastern Mediterranean trade, Venice’s colonial territory, Venice’s terraferma, and diplomacy to the Senate register.
While I was studying as a visiting scholar at Ca’Foscari University between 2023 and 2024 for my PhD thesis, I found an opportunity to conduct research in the Venetian State Archive. Since I worked on Venetian Crete between 1204 and 1453, I delved into the documents about Crete, such as the Duca di Candia and the Notai di Candia. In addition to prosperous archival documents and books, working in the environment of the Frari Church, which dates back to the Middle Ages, is a wonderful feeling. Working alongside internationally renowned scientists in your field also makes you feel valued. For me, another advantage of working in the world’s best archive was being able to work on the same topics as my wife, who is also a Venetian Crete historian.
Finally, I would like to talk about the procedures for operating the archive. There are some rules, but they are not strict in the Venice State Archives. When you visit the Venice State Archive for the first time, you will be registered in the archive system by the archive staff along with your passport. You will be able to access the archive system to request documents using the username and password provided to you. After registering in the system, you will be able to start requesting records from the computers located next to the archive staff desk. You are entitled to receive three files per day, but you will need to wait approximately half an hour for the document to be given to you while you are there. However, if you request it from the system one day in advance, the document you want will most likely be ready the next day. Working days and hours are Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., except on Fridays when the hours are limited to 2:30 p.m. Regardless of the rules and working hours, the staff at the State Archives of Venice are very helpful and friendly, so you can be assured that technical issues will be addressed.
Every experience I had with the medieval documents at the State Archives of Venice was amazing, both for the staff and the academics.
VenetianCrete 
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