Veneto

Veneto ( or, or Venetia, Latin: Venetia, Venetian: Vèneto; also called Venezia-Euganea) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fifth in Italy. The region's capital and largest city is Venice.

Veneto, as part of the Republic of Venice, had been an independent state for more than a millennium. The Republic wasn't restored at the Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic Wars and was annexed by the Austrian Empire, until it was ceded to the Kingdom of Italy in 1866, as a result of the Third Italian War of Independence. Venice ruled for centuries over one of the largest and richest maritime republics and trade empires in the world. Due to this rich cultural legacy and a unique identity, the regional statute describes Venetians as a "people".

Once the heartland of the Venetian Republic, Veneto is today among the wealthiest, most developed and industrialised regions of Italy. Having one of the country's richest historical, natural, artistic, cultural, musical and culinary heritages, it is also one of the most visited regions of Italy, with about 60 million tourists every year (2007).

Besides Italian, most inhabitants also speak Venetian. 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 454,453 foreigners (9.30% of the regional population) in 2008, the most recent of which are Romanian and Moroccan.

The region is home to a notable regionalist/nationalist movement. The region's largest party is the Venetist/Padanist Liga Veneta, a founding member of Lega Nord, Italy's third largest party. The current President of Veneto is Luca Zaia (Liga Veneta–Lega Nord), elected in 2010 with 60.2% of the vote.