Venezianico

Venezianico was born at the end of 2017 from the idea of two brothers, Alberto and Alessandro Morelli, then in their early twenties and just out of Ca' Foscari University in Venice. Before launching the business, the two spent months visiting watchmaking workshops, independent suppliers and small Italian and Swiss manufactures, trying to truly understand how a mechanical watch is made before attempting to make one. The idea for the brand, they themselves explain, took shape while looking at the gilded Renaissance cross on top of the Clock Tower in St Mark's Square: an architectural detail that has marked the city's time for centuries and became the inspiring symbol of an entrepreneurial project. The name initially chosen for the company was Meccaniche Veneziane, and its public debut came in June 2017 with a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the first model, the Nereide diver: the €15,000 target was exceeded more than eleven times over, with almost €170,000 raised from 606 backers around the world.

The success of the first campaign paved the way for two more Kickstarter fundraisers in the following years, for a total of around $800,000 invested in the company's growth, and allowed the Morelli brothers to quickly expand the range with new collections, including the elegant Redentore, inspired by the Palladian architecture of the Serenissima. In 2022 the company officially changed its name to Venezianico, a name that more strongly declares its bond of identity with the lagoon city, while production continued to grow: in 2021 turnover stood at around €2.7 million with about 14,000 watches made in a year, and in 2023 the pieces produced exceeded 20,000, distributed in over 100 countries through direct e-commerce and authorised retailers.

In recent years Venezianico has accelerated further: turnover rose to €7.4 million in 2023, exceeded €11 million in 2024 and approached €15 million in 2025, the year in which the brand also presented the V5000, its first proprietary mechanical calibre, developed over two years together with the Italian manufacture OISA and engineer Fausto Berizzi, whose past includes houses such as Lemania and Vaucher. From a small company born from a student project, Venezianico has thus become one of the most dynamic independent Italian watchmakers in the industry, while keeping intact its bond with its home city, which continues to provide the name and inspiration for every collection.