Troops of the Republic of Venice capture Udine, ending the independence of the Patria del Friuli.

The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 by Paolo Lucio Anafesto, over the course of its 1,100 years of history it established itself as one of the major European commercial and naval powers. Initially extended in the Dogado area, during its history it annexed a large part of Northeast Italy, Istria, Dalmatia, the coasts of present-day Montenegro and Albania as well as numerous islands in the Adriatic and eastern Ionian seas. At the height of its expansion, between the 13th and 16th centuries, it also governed Crete, Cyprus, the Peloponnese, a number of Greek islands, as well as several cities and ports in the eastern Mediterranean.

Udine is a city and comune (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Regional decentralization entity of Udine. As of 2025, it has a population of 98,320 in the commune, and 176,000 with the urban area.

The Patria del Friuli, also known as the Patriarchal State of Aquileia, was the territory under the temporal (political) rule of the Patriarch of Aquileia, and one of the ecclesiastical states within the Holy Roman Empire. It was created in the second half of the 11th century, and existed up to the first half of the 15th century. As in the case of other ecclesiastical states, its territory was not identical with jurisdictional borders of the Patriarchate of Aquileia. In 1420, the Republic of Venice acquired and consequently annexed the territory, thus depriving the Patriarch of Aquileia of his temporal powers. Under Venetian rule, the region continued to be administered for some time under its own laws and customs.