The Seigniory of Venice , in Italian Serenissima Signoria , was the supreme body of the government of the République of Venice, and the name by which it was indicated.

It was consisted:

• the doge
• the the Small Council ( Minor Consiglio ), created in 1175 and composed of the six advisers of the doge;
• three chiefs of the court of the Quarantie, supreme jurisdiction created in 1179.

It was considered that the true top of the State was consisted the Seigniory, and not by the doge: the Seigniory represented the sovereignty of the republic. Thus, with died of the doge, one pronounced the formula ritually: if E morto it Doge, No Signoria (“if the Doge died, the Seigniory is not it”).

The term of Serenissima Signoria was employed with part of 1423 to indicate the government of the republic, to replace the older term of Commune Veneciarum .