Most Serene Republic

Modern states

Historical states

• Republic of Venice, a city-state that existed from 697 to 1797 based in the city of Venice with continuously controlled territory along the eastern Adriatic and Greece at its strongest period. "La Serenissima" was also popularly used as a specific reference to the Venetian government or state authorities.
• Republic of Genoa, an independent state based in present-day Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast from ca. 1100 to 1805. Long just plain "Republic", the honorific "Most Serene" was only added after the election of the first Doge of Genoa. Even so, to distinguish their government from its ancient rival to the east, the Genoese rarely used the "Most Serene" designation, opting more frequently for the appellation "Superb Republic", a nickname allegedly coined by Petrarch in 1358.
• Republic of Lucca, a city-state that existed from 1119 to 1799 based in the city of Lucca, in northern Tuscany, Italy. Lucca was the third largest Italian city state with a republican constitution to remain independent over the centuries.
• Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, an elective monarchy in Central and Eastern Europe, existing from 1569 until 1795.