Giovanni Soranzo

Giovanni Soranzo (c. 1245–1328), a former admiral and diplomat, was elected the 51st Doge of Venice on 13 July 1312. In 1296, during the war with Genoa, he led a fleet to the Bosphorus, captured an enemy galley and raided Caffa in Crimea.

As podestà of Ferrara in 1308–1309 he faced Pope Clement V, who placed Venice under interdict before taking the city, and he failed to recover the lower Po. In 1310, after the failed Tiepolo conspiracy, he negotiated Baiamonte Tiepolo's surrender. His dogate repaired relations with the papacy, and he received Dante in Venice in 1321.