I ask because the non-binding referendum took me by surprise, and I was wondering if there were any previous instances of this. If, for example, Bavaria declared a desire to secede from Germany, it wouldn't be hugely surprising, due to such instances as the post-WWI Bavarian Socialist Republic or the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, along with numerous others I'm forgetting or don't know about. But I hadn't heard anything about Venice until the other day.
If this is too close to current events, let me know and I'll take this down, but I'm hoping the time period I chose (Unification of Italy to an arbitrary end date loosely based on the start of the Long Peace) is sufficiently distant (ie: Before 1994) for it to be okay.
Thanks for any information you give, and thank you for this awesome subreddit!
Edit: As /u/allak noted, Venice and the surrounding region of Veneto was not added to Italy until 1866 as a result of the Austro-Prussian Seven Week's War. So a better time period would be 1866 to 1951, as has been so helpfully pointed out. Props to /u/allak for catching this!
Just a correction: the Veneto region (of which Venice is the capital) was not included in the Kingdom of Italy at its formation in 1861.
It was ceded from the Austrian Empire to Italy in 1866, after the end of the Austro-Prussian War (in which Italy was an ally of Prussia).
Actually Austria, who was NOT defeated on the field by Italy, did give Veneto to France (who brokered the peace), and then France did give it to Italy.
So your question would have to cover the period from 1866 to 1951, if you only consider the time in which Veneto has been part of Italy.