Vitale Faliero Dodoni and usually known in English as Vitale Falier was the 32nd Doge of Venice

Doge of Venice

The Doge of Venice , often mistranslated Duke was the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the person selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city...

 from 1084 until his death in 1095.

He was a member of a noble Venetian family, probably from Fano

Fano

Fano is a town and comune of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort 12 km southeast of Pesaro, located where the Via Flaminia reaches the Adriatic Sea...

. A member of the minor consiglio (the council of doge's advisers), he was elected Doge in the revolt that overthrew Domenico Selvo

Domenico Selvo

Domenico Selvo was the 31st Doge of Venice, serving from 1071 to 1084. During his reign as Doge, his domestic policies, the alliances that he forged, and the battles that the Venetian military won and lost laid the foundations for much of the subsequent foreign and domestic policy of the Republic...

 in December 1084, probably initiated by Faliero himself, among others. He is the first Doge whose image is known, being allegedly portrayed next to the high altar of St. Mark's Basilica.

When he became Doge, Venice was supporting the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 in the war against the Normans under Robert Guiscard

Robert Guiscard

Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...

 (see Siege of Durazzo). In the spring of 1095, the Venetian fleet obtained a great naval victory at Butrinthos (in modern-day Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

) that avenged Selvo's defeat at Corfu. The recovery in the prestige of the city is testified by the visit of Emperor Henry IV, to whom it was allied during the Investiture Controversy

Investiture Controversy

The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest was the most significant conflict between Church and state in medieval Europe. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a series of Popes challenged the authority of European monarchies over control of appointments, or investitures, of church officials such...

 against the pope, for the consecration of St. Mark's church, the rebuilding of which was completed at this time.

During the latter part of his reign the city was hit by an earthquake, a seastorm, and a heavy famine.

Faliero died in December 1095. His son Ordelafo

Ordelafo Faliero

Ordelafo Faliero de Doni was the 34th Doge of Venice. He was the son of the 32nd doge, Vitale Faliero de' Doni. He was a member of the Minor Council , an assembly formed from members of the so-called "apostolic families" that, in oligarchical Venice, assumed the governmental functions of...

 became a subsequent Doge.

Sources