Giovanni Dolfin

Giovanni Dolfin (c. 1303–1361) was the 57th Doge of Venice, elected on 13 August 1356 while defending Treviso against a besieging Hungarian army. Refused safe conduct, he broke through the encirclement to reach Venice for his enthronement.

As doge he kept fighting Louis I of Hungary, but defeat at Nervesa in 1358 forced the Treaty of Zadar, by which Venice lost Dalmatia, Zara and Split while keeping naval predominance in the Adriatic.

In 1358–1359 Padua forced Venice to stop trading with Egypt, deepening an economic crisis. Dolfin had lost one eye in battle, and he died in 1361 and was buried in San Giovanni e Paolo.