Zorzi

The Zorzi, also called Giorgi, were a Venetian noble family whose fortunes were made in the Latin states of Greece. One of their number, Marino Zorzi, a former ambassador to Rome, was elected the fiftieth doge of Venice in August 1311 after the revolt of Bajamonte Tiepolo, but reigned only eleven months and died in July 1312 with a reputation for sanctity.

The family's Greek dominion was the Margraviate of Bodonitsa, a Frankish fief founded in 1204 to guard the pass of Thermopylae, which passed from the Pallavicini to the Cornaro and then, in 1335, to Nicholas I Zorzi. His successor Francis ruled it for nearly forty years. The Ottoman Turks conquered Bodonitsa in 1414 under Nicholas II, and though Nicholas III retained the margravial title, the lands were never recovered. He married his daughter Chiara to Nerio II, Duke of Athens, and she later governed the duchy as regent for her young son Francesco I, carrying Zorzi blood into the last court of Latin Athens.