Mayor of Venice
Sindaco di Venezia
Incumbent Luigi Brugnaro since 15 June 2015
Seat	Ca' Farsetti
Appointer	Electorate of Venice
Term length	5 years, renewable once
Inaugural holder	Daniele Renier
Formation	1806
Deputy	Andrea Tomaello
Salary	€85,000 annually
Website	Comune di Venezia

The Mayor of Venice (Italian: sindaco di Venezia) is an elected politician who, along with the Venice City Council of 36 members, is accountable for the strategic government of the municipality of Venice, Veneto, Italy.

The current office holder is Luigi Brugnaro, a centre-right wing independent businessman who has been in charge since 2015. The last election took place in 2020.

According to the Italian Constitution, the Mayor of Venice is a member of the City Council, but the six borough presidents are not considered Mayors because they are not the heads of separate municipalities.

The Mayor is elected by the population of Venice. In addition to electing the Mayor, the citizens of Venice also elect the members of the City Council. The City Council has the power to set policy guidelines for the Mayor and to remove him from office through a vote of no confidence.The Mayor is entitled to appoint and release the members of his government.

Since 1993, the Mayor of Venice has been elected directly by the city's voters. In cities with a population over 15,000, the voters can either choose the Mayor directly or vote for a party in the Mayor's coalition. If no candidate receives at least 50% of votes, the top two candidates go to a second round after two weeks. The election of the City Council is based on a direct vote for a candidate with a preferential vote system: the candidate with the most preferences wins. The number of the seats for each party is determined proportionally.

The seat of the City Council is the city hall Ca' Loredan on the Canal Grande.

Podestà of Venice were appointed since 1806 to 1866 by the rulers of the city during the early- to mid-19th century: Napoleon and the Habsburgs.

• 1806–1811 – Daniele Renier
• 1811–1816 – Bartolomeo Gerolamo Gradenigo
• 1817–1818 – Marco Molin
• 1818–1827 – Francesco Calbo Crotta
• 1827–1834 – Domenico Morosini
• 1834–1837 – Giuseppe Boldù
• 1838–1857 – Giovanni Correr
• 1857–1859 – Alessandro Marcello
• 1860–1866 – Pierluigi Bembo

In 1860, the nascent Kingdom of Italy created the office of the Mayor of Venice (Sindaco di Venezia), chosen by the City council:

	Mayor		Term start	Term end	Party
1		Giambattista Giustinian (1816–1888)	1866	1868	Right
2		Giuseppe Giovanelli (1824–1886)	1868	1870	Right
3		Antonio Fornoni (1825–1897)	1870	1875	Right
(1)		Giambattista Giustinian (1816–1888)	1875	1878	Right
4		Dante Di Serego Alighieri (1843–1895)	1878	1888	Right
5		Lorenzo Tiepolo (1845–1913)	1888	1890	Right
6		Riccardo Selvatico (1849–1901)	1890	1895	Left
7		Filippo Grimani (1850–1921)	1895	1919	Right
8		Davide Giordano (1864–1954)	1919	1924	ANI
Fascist Podestà (1926–1945)
1		Pietro Orsi	1924	1929	PNF
2		Ettore Zorzi	1929	1930	PNF
3		Mario Alverà	1930	1938	PNF
4		Giovanni Marcello	1938	1943	PNF
5		Giovanni Battista Dall'Armi	1943	1945	PFR
Liberation (1945–1946)
9		Giovanni Ponti (1896–1961)	1945	1946	DC

From 1946 to 1993, the Mayor of Venice was chosen by the City Council.

	Mayor		Term start	Term end	Party	Coalition	Election
1		Giovanni Battista Gianquinto (1905–1987)	25 June 1946	21 January 1951	PCI	PCI  • PSI	1946
2		Angelo Spanio (1892–1976)	21 January 1951	13 January 1955	DC	DC	1951
3		Roberto Tognazzi (1899–1974)	13 January 1955	28 May 1960	DC	DC  • PSDI	1956
4		Giovanni Favaretto Fisca (1902–1986)	28 May 1960	12 May 1970	DC		1960
						DC  • PSI  • PSDI	1964
5		Giorgio Longo (1924–2020)	12 May 1970	21 December 1975	DC		1970
6		Mario Rigo (1929–2019)	21 December 1975	18 January 1985	PSI	PCI  • PSI	1975 1980
7		Nereo Laroni (1942–2019)	18 January 1985	11 March 1987	PSI	PCI  • PSI  • PRI	1985
8		Antonio Casellati (1928–2020)	11 March 1987	25 January 1988	PRI	PCI  • PSI  • PRI  • FdV
9		Costante Degan (1930–1988)	25 January 1988	12 February 1988	DC	—
(8)		Antonio Casellati (1928–2020)	12 February 1988	11 May 1990	PRI	PCI  • PSI  • PSDI  • PRI  • FdV
10		Ugo Bergamo (b. 1951)	11 May 1990	1 June 1993	DC	DC  • PSI  • PSDI	1990
Giovanni Troiani, Special Prefectural Commissioner (1 June 1993 – 9 December 1993)[a]

Notes

Since 1993, the Mayor of Venice has been chosen through direct elections every five years, under new local administration laws:

	Mayor of Venice		Took office	Left office	Party	Coalition		Election
11		Massimo Cacciari (b. 1944)	9 December 1993	17 November 1997	Ind		Alliance of Progressives (PDS-PRC-FdV)	1993
			17 November 1997	25 January 2000[a]			The Olive Tree (PDS-PPI-PRC-FdV)	1997
Corrado Scivoletto, Special Prefectural Commissioner (25 January 2000 – 30 April 2000)
12		Paolo Costa (b. 1943)	30 April 2000	18 April 2005	Dem DL		The Olive Tree (DS-PPI-SDI-PdCI)	2000
(11)		Massimo Cacciari (b. 1944)	18 April 2005	8 April 2010	DL PD		DL  • UDEUR  • DS	2005
13		Giorgio Orsoni (b. 1946)	8 April 2010	13 June 2014[b]	PD		PD  • FdS  • FdV PSI  • IdV	2010
Vittorio Zappalorto, Special Prefectural Commissioner (13 June 2014 – 15 June 2015)
14		Luigi Brugnaro (b. 1961)	15 June 2015	26 September 2020	Ind CI		FI  • UDC and right-wing independents	2015
			26 September 2020[c]	Incumbent			L  • FdI  • FI and right-wing independents	2020

Notes

The election took place in two rounds: the first on 21 November, the second on 5 December 1993.

Results

Candidate		Party	Coalition	First round		Second round
				Votes	%	Votes	%
	Massimo Cacciari	Ind	Progressives	89,034	42.29	107,497	55.37
	Aldo Mariconda	LV	LV−LN	55,971	26.50	86,643	44.63
	Giovanni Castellani	DC	DC-LAV-PS	49,224	23.38
	Bruno Canella	MSI-DN		6,048	2.87
	Others			10,455	4.96
Eligible voters				270,305	100.00	270,305	100.00
Voted				224,180	82.94	205,517	76.03
Blank or invalid ballots				13,628		11,377
Total valid votes				210,552		194,140

Summary of the 1993 Venice City Council election results

Parties and coalitions				Votes	%	Seats
		Democratic Party of the Left (Partito Democratico della Sinistra)	PDS	33,997	20.59%	16
		Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Comunista)	PRC	10,738	6.50%	5
		Federation of the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi)	FdV	9,901	6.00%	4
		Socialist Progress (Progresso Socialista)	PS	5,824	3.53%	2
		Alliance Venice-Mestre (Alleanza Venezia-Mestre)	AVM	2,244	1.36%	1
		The Network (La Rete)	LR	1,996	1.21%	0
Cacciari coalition (Left-wing)				64,700	39.18%	28
	Liga Veneta−Lega Nord		LV–LN	49,350	29.88%	10
		Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana)	DC	20,384	12.34%	5
		Lega Autonomia Veneta	LAV	8,387	5.08%	1
		Venice-Mestre Pact (Patto Venezia-Mestre)	PVM	4,891	2.96%	1
		Others		2,949	1.79%	0
Castellani coalition (Centre)				36,611	22.17%	7
	Italian Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Italiano)		MSI-DN	5,580	3.38%	1
	Others			8,909	5.39%	0
Total				165,150	100%	46
Votes cast / turnout				224,180	82.94%
Registered voters				270,305
Source: Ministry of the Interior

The election took place on 16 November 1997.

Results

Summary of the 1997 Venice City Council election results Parties and coalitions Votes % Seats Democratic Party of the Left (Partito Democratico della Sinistra) PDS 30,052 23.22% 12 Italian People's Party (Partito Popolare Italiano) PPI 12,287 9.49% 5 Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Comunista) PRC 11,135 8.60% 4 Federation of the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi) FdV 10,506 8.12% 4 Others 13,193 10.20% 5 Cacciari coalition (Centre-left) 77,173 59.63% 30 Forza Italia FI 14,608 11.29% 6 National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale) AN 11,039 8.53% 4 Christian Democratic Centre (Centro Cristiano Democratico) CCD 4,501 3.48% 1 Pizzigati coalition (Centre-right) 30,148 23.29% 11 Liga Veneta–Lega Nord LV–LN 14,224 10.99% 5 Others 878 0.68% 0 Fabris coalition 15,102 11.67% 5 Others 7,003 5.41% 0 Total 129,426 100% 46 Votes cast / turnout 189,592 72.02% Registered voters 263,237 Source: Ministry of the Interior

Candidate Party Coalition First round Votes % Massimo Cacciari Ind The Olive Tree 116,751 64.58 Mauro Pizzigati FI Pole for Freedoms 37,436 20.71 Giovanni Fabris LV LV–LN 18,488 10.23 Others 8,110 4.49 Eligible voters 263,237 100.00 Voted 189,592 72.02 Blank or invalid ballots 8,807 Total valid votes 180,785

The election took place in two rounds: the first on 16 April, the second on 30 April 2000.

Results

Candidate		Party	Coalition	First round		Second round
				Votes	%	Votes	%
	Renato Brunetta	FI	House of Freedoms	64,956	38.99	53,686	44.04
	Paolo Costa	PPI	The Olive Tree	62,755	37.67	68,229	55.96
	Gianfranco Bettin	FdV	PRC-FdV	27,086	16.26
	Others			11,785	7.06
Eligible voters				246,962	100.00	246,962	100.00
Voted				177,510	71.88	124,370	50.36
Blank or invalid ballots				10,928		2,455
Total valid votes				166,582		121,915

Summary of the 2000 Venice City Council election results

Parties and coalitions				Votes	%	Seats
		Forza Italia	FI	34,261	25.30%	13
		National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale)	AN	9,489	7.01%	3
		Lega Nord	LN	5,212	3.85%	1
		United Christian Democrats (Cristiani Democratici Uniti)	CDU	2,807	2.07%	1
		Christian Democratic Centre (Centro Cristiano Democratico)	CCD	2,428	1.79%	0
		Sgarbi Liberal List (Liberal Sgarbi)	LS	1,139	0.84%	0
Brunetta coalition (Centre-right)				55,336	40.86%	18
		Democrats of the Left (Democratici di Sinistra)	DS	28,984	21.40%	13
		Italian People's Party (Partito Popolare Italiano)	PPI	10,630	7.85%	4
		Italian Democratic Socialists (Socialisti Democratici Italiani)	SDI	7,058	5.21%	3
		Party of Italian Communists (Partito dei Comunisti Italiani)	PdCI	2,604	1.92%	1
		Others		976	0.72%	0
Costa coalition (Center-left)				50,252	37.09%	[a]21
		Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Comunista)	PRC	10,440	7.71%	5
		Federation of the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi)	FdV	4,724	3.49%	1
		Others		4,192	3.10%	1
Bettin coalition (Left-wing)				19,356	14.30%	[b]7
	Others			10,499	7.75%	0
Total				135,433	100%	46
Votes cast / turnout				177,510	71.88%
Registered voters				246,962
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Notes

1. ^ Even if the coalition didn't receive the majority of votes, no other alliance was able to obtain overall more than 50% of votes. Once its mayoral candidate won the second round, the coalition was awarded the majority bonus granted by the electoral law to the alliance whose candidate is elected mayor.
2. ^ As a result of the pre-electoral agreement with the center-left coalition for the second round.

The election took place on two rounds: the first on 3–4 April, the second on 17–18 April 2005.

Results

Candidate		Party	Coalition	First round		Second round
				Votes	%	Votes	%
	Felice Casson	DS	The Olive Tree	60,837	37.68	62,974	49.47
	Massimo Cacciari	DL	DL-UDEUR	37,488	23.22	64,315	50.53
	Cesare Campa	FI	House of Freedoms	32,726	20.27
	Raffaele Speranzon	AN		10,021	6.21
	Augusto Salvadori	PNE		6,905	4.28
	Alberto Mazzonetto	LN		5,419	3.36
	Others			8,069	4.99
Eligible voters				233,316	100.00	233,316	100.00
Voted				168,087	72.04	129,885	55.67
Blank or invalid ballots				6,622		2,596
Total valid votes				161,465		127,289

Summary of the 2005 Venice City Council election results

Parties and coalitions				Votes	%	Seats
		Democrats of the Left (Democratici di Sinistra)	DS	26,531	21.15%	6
		Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Comunista)	PRC	8,509	6.78%	1
		Federation of the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi)	FdV	4,882	3.89%	1
		Party of Italian Communists (Partito dei Comunisti Italiani)	PdCI	2,661	2.12%	0
		Italy of Values (Italia dei Valori)	IdV	2,544	2.03%	0
		Italian Democratic Socialists (Socialisti Democratici Italiani)	SDI	1,630	1.30%	0
		Others		4,463	3.56%	1
Casson coalition (Left-wing)				51,220	40.84%	10
		Forza Italia	FI	25,726	20.51%	5
		Union of the Centre (Unione di Centro)	UdC	3,966	3.16%	0
Campa coalition (Centre-right)				29,692	23.67%	5
		The Daisy (La Margherita)	DL	16,855	13.44%	26
		Union of Democrats for Europe (Unione Democratica per l'Europa)	UDEUR	1,784	1.42%	2
Cacciari coalition (Centre-left)				18,639	14.86%	[a]28
	National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale)		AN	8,490	6.77%	1
	Salvadori List–North-East Project (Progetto NordEst)		PNE	5,141	4.10%	1
	Lega Nord		LN	4,955	3.95%	1
	Others			7,280	5.80%	0
Total				125,417	100%	46
Votes cast / turnout				168,087	72.04%
Registered voters				233,316
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Notes

1. ^ Even if the coalition didn't receive the majority of votes, no other alliance was able to obtain overall more than 50% of votes. Once its mayoral candidate won the second round, the coalition was awarded the majority bonus granted by the electoral law to the alliance whose candidate is elected mayor.

The election took place on 28–29 March 2010.

Results

Summary of the 2010 Venice City Council election results Parties and coalitions Votes % Seats Democratic Party (Partito Democratico) PD 37,027 28.89% 17 Italy of Values (Italia dei Valori) IdV 8,628 6.73% 4 Federation of the Greens–Bettin List (Federazione dei Verdi) FdV 4,816 3.76% 2 Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano) PSI 4,800 3.75% 2 Federation of the Left (Federazione della Sinistra) FdS 4,244 3.31% 1 Others 6,177 4.82% 2 Orsoni coalition (Centre-left) 65,692 51.26% 28 The People of Freedom (Il Popolo della Libertà) PdL 29,179 22.77% 10 Lega Nord LN 14,297 11.16% 4 Brunetta List (Lista Brunetta) LB 8,499 6.63% 2 Others 2,381 1.86% 0 Brunetta coalition (Centre-right) 54,356 42.41% 17 Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle) M5S 4,189 3.27% 1 Others 3,928 3.07% 0 Total 128,165 100% 46 Votes cast / turnout 151,554 68.64% Registered voters 220,791 Source: Ministry of the Interior

Candidate Party Coalition First round Votes % Giorgio Orsoni PD PD-IdV-FdV-FdS-PSI 75,403 51.13 Renato Brunetta PdL PdL-LN-PP 62,833 42.61 Marco Gavagnin M5S 4,608 3.12 Others 4,621 3.13 Eligible voters 220,791 100.00 Voted 151,554 68.64 Blank or invalid ballots 4,089 Total valid votes 147,465

These elections were held on two rounds: the first on 31 May, the second on 14 June 2015.

Results

Candidate		Party	Coalition	First round		Second round
				Votes	%	Votes	%
	Felice Casson	PD	PD-SEL-FdV-PSI-CD	46,298	38.02	47,838	46.79
	Luigi Brugnaro	Ind	FI-AP	34,790	28.57	54,405	53.21
	Davide Scano	M5S		15,348	12.60
	Gian Angelo Bellati	LN		14,482	11.89
	Francesca Zaccariotto	FdI-AN		8,292	6.81
	Others			2,567	2.11
Eligible voters				211,720	100.00	211,720	100.00
Voted				126,631	59.81	103,827	49.04
Blank or invalid ballots				4,854		1,584
Total valid votes				121,777		102,243

Summary of the 2015 Venice City Council election results

Parties and coalitions				Votes	%	Seats
		Casson List (Lista Casson)	LC	19,991	17.10%	4
		Democratic Party (Partito Democratico)	PD	19,667	16.83%	4
		Left Ecology Freedom-Greens (Sinistra Ecologia e Libertà - Verdi)	SEL-FdV	1,845	1.58%	0
		Venice Common Good (Venezia Bene Comune)	VBC	1,562	1.34%	0
		Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano)	PSI	618	0.53%	0
		Democratic Centre (Centro Democratico)	CD	365	0.31%	0
Casson coalition (Centre-left)				44,058	37.69%	8
		Brugnaro List (Lista Brugnaro)	LB	24,352	20.83%	17
		Forza Italia	FI	4,405	3.77%	3
		Popular Area (Area Popolare)	AP	1,870	1.60%	1
		Others		2,818	2.41%	1
Brugnaro coalition (Centre-right)				33,445	28.61%	[a]22
	Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle)		M5S	15,009	12.84%	3
	Lega Nord		LN	13,997	11.97%	2
	Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia)		FdI	7,847	6.71%	1
	Others			2,530	2.16%	0
Total				116,886	100%	36
Votes cast / turnout				126,631	59.81%
Registered voters				211,720
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Notes

1. ^ Even if the coalition didn't receive the majority of votes, no other alliance was able to obtain overall more than 50% of votes. Once its mayoral candidate won the second round, the coalition was awarded the majority bonus granted by the electoral law to the alliance whose candidate is elected mayor.

These elections were scheduled to take place in June 2020 but then were postponed to 20–21 September 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Results

Summary of the 2020 Venice City Council election results Parties and coalitions Votes % Seats Brugnaro List (Lista Brugnaro) LB 37,914 31.67% 14 Lega L 14,806 12.37% 5 Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia) FdI 7,855 6.56% 2 Forza Italia FI 3,255 2.72% 1 Others 1,148 0.96% 0 Brugnaro coalition (Centre-right) 64,968 54.28% 22 Democratic Party (Partito Democratico) PD 22,962 19.18% 8 Green Progressive Venice (Venezia Verde Progressista) VVD 5,907 4.93% 1 Italia Viva IV 4,308 3.60% 1 Italia in Comune–Volt (Italia in Comune–Volt) IC–V 952 0.80% 0 Others 789 0.66% 0 Baretta coalition (Centre-left) 34,918 29.17% 10 Land and Water 2020 (Terra e Acqua 2020) 4,847 4.05% 1 Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle) M5S 4,716 4.05% 1 Party of Venetians (Partito dei Veneti) PdV 4,228 3.53% 1 All the City Together! (Tutta la Città Insieme!) 4,104 3.42% 1 Others 1,906 1.59% 0 Total 119,687 100% 36 Votes cast / turnout 128,025 62.23% Registered voters 205,720 Source: Ministry of the Interior

Candidate Party Coalition First round Votes % Luigi Brugnaro Ind FI-L-FdI 66,750 54.14 Pier Paolo Baretta PD PD-IV-EV-IC-V-PSI 36,092 29.27 Marco Gasparinetti Ind 5,005 4.06 Sara Visman M5S 4,822 3.91 Others 10,631 8.61 Eligible voters 205,720 100.00 Voted 128,025 62.23 Blank or invalid ballots 4,656 Total valid votes 123,300

The office of the Deputy Mayor of Venice was officially created in 1993 with the adoption of the new local administration law. The Deputy Mayor is nominated and eventually dismissed by the Mayor.

Notes

• "Elenco Podestà/Sindaci del Comune di Venezia". City of Venice. Retrieved 22 June 2021.