Giovanniccia Candiano, also called Giuliana, was Dogaressa of Venice by her marriage to the Doge Pietro IV Candiano (r. 959–976), mother of Vitale Candiano.V. Piva, Il Patriarcato di Venezia e le sue origini, I, Venezia 1938, pp. 94 ss.
Life Giovanniccia CandianoW. Lenel, Venetianisch-istrische Studien, Strassburg 1911, pp. 69 ss. (cfr. recens. di P. Paschini, in Mem. stor. forogiuliesi, VIII , pp. 209-12 was not a member of the aristocracy and was previously divorced when Pietro entered into a relationship with her, and when he made her dogaressa after his installation, it caused a scandal and a social boycott which damaged the reputation of the doge. Eventually, Pietro was convinced to divorce her and imprison her as a nun in the convent of San Zaccaria.
She has been the subject of legends and myths. She is a part of a famous deck of cards featuring the dogaressas of Venice, as the Four of Hearts.Monastery of St. Zachariah; Intake Registry Archive, Vol. 961-962, entered: Giovanniccia Candiano, Dogaressa of Venice, (cf. Lenel, p. 71 n. 1), as in a document of August 26, 963, issued by the Patriarch of Grado. (original text in Italian)
Sources Staley, Edgcumbe: , London: T. W. Laurie, 1910
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