Through a confusion that was finally cleared up by the work of the American scholar H. A. DeWind, it was long thought that there was an Anabaptist movement in Northern Italy that centered in Venice and flourished about the middle of the 16th century. There was even a report of an "Anabaptist Synod" held at Venice in 1550. DeWind has shown that the group thought to be Anabaptist and even labeled as such by its enemies was a radical evangelical, and finally anti-Trinitarian group, which had nothing to do with true Anabaptism. This invalidates much of the work of Karl Benrath (see bibliography).
Antonio Rizzetto, Giulio Gherlandi, and Francesco della Saga, fleeing from Italy, reached Moravia, where they became Hutterite converts, the latter two joining the Hutterite group at Pausram. Returning to Italy as Anabaptist missionaries, all three were finally imprisoned and executed at Venice, Gherlandi in October 1562, Rizzetto and della Saga in February 1565. The Venetian Archives contain valuable materials on these three Anabaptists and others as well as on the anti-Trinitarian movement as a whole.
DeWind, Henry A. "Italian Hutterite Martyrs." Mennonite Quarterly Review XXVIII (1954): 163-85.
"Wiedertäufer im Venetianischen um die Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts." Theolpgische. Studien und Kritiken. LVIII (1885): 9-67.
|Author(s)||Harold S Bender|
 Cite This Article
Bender, Harold S. "Venice (Provincia di Venezia, Italy)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 29 Jul 2015. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Venice_(Provincia_di_Venezia,_Italy)&oldid=85695.
Bender, Harold S. (1959). Venice (Provincia di Venezia, Italy). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 29 July 2015, from http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Venice_(Provincia_di_Venezia,_Italy)&oldid=85695.
Herald Press website.
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