When I read about Venetian history, there are plenty of references to aristocratic families being the ones who dominated the Republic's government through monopolizing election as Doge and membership of the various legislative bodies. However, were these families noble in the sense of an hereditary nobility with a codified elevated social position familiar from the rest of Europe? Or were they families that consistently dominated the city through inherited wealth and the accompanying political power? Basically, I'm interested to know if references to Venetian nobility mean an actual hereditary nobility or are simply a shorthand for a wealthy aristocracy.
Thanks in advance!
In Venice, nobility never meant the same as in other places of Europe. Venetians nobles were wealthy merchants with voting rights and political roles, not feudal landowners with local jurisdiction and military responsibilities. The key event to answer your question is the 1297 Serrata del Maggiore Consiglio (the lockout of the Great Council). It is at this moment that certain wealthy and politically-active families separate themselves and make membership to the Council a hereditary right, thus fashioning an aristocratic order. Later, in 1315, the Libro d'Oro (golden book) was created to record the names of those who were eligible nobles, further codifying the aristocratic social structure of the Republic.
A couple of good sources you can access in google books:
Thomas Madden summarizes this in his (very accessible) Venice: A New History. See here relevant page.
See also Patricia Fortini Brown's work, especially Privates Lives in Renaissance Venice, if you are interested in how this new class functioned in the cultural context of the Republic. She also writes on the serrata and the Venetian social order in her Venetian Narrative Painting in the Age of Carpaccio, see page 13 and onwards