The Sanudo (sometimes spelled Sanuto) were a Venetian noble family. The earliest known member was Marco Sanudo (1043–1096), but the family is sometimes said to descend from the older Candiano. The family went extinct in the 19th century.[1] A branch ruled the Duchy of the Archipelago from 1204 until 1566.[2] Other branches include:
Family legend had it that the Sanudo were among the families who elected the first doge, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, in 697. Their founder was supposedly a certain Tommaso Candiano Sanudo, a Roman senator from Padua who, fleeing the raids of Attila the Hun, found refuge in the lagoon in 421. The family then settled in Eraclea, later moving to Malamocco and governing the populations present there as tribunes.[1][2]
Angelo Sanudo (died 1262), the second Duke of the Archipelago from 1227
Cristina Sanudo, Dogaressa of Venice by marriage to the Doge Cristoforo Moro (1462–1471)
Florence Sanudo (died 1371), daughter and successor as the seventh Duchess of John I, Duke of the Archipelago, in 1362, reigning with her second husband until her death