What language is spoken in Venice, Italy?

The two primary languages spoken in Venice, Italy are modern Italian and an older Venetian dialect. The Venetian language and modern Italian share common roots in Late Latin, but they have distinctly diverging linguistic branches. Spanish and French are the nearest linguistic relatives to Venetian.

The Venetian local dialect is limited to the area surrounding Venice and a few international regions with a high density of Venetian immigrants. Several other minority dialects are spoken throughout the north of the country. The linguistic diversity of Italy comes from the era of city-state dominance before its modern unification in 1861. Modern Italian is based on the local dialect of the Tuscan region.