History of the Republic of Venice of the Sea" ceremony was established in this period. Orseolo died in 1008. Venice's control over the Adriatic was strengthened by an expedition by Pietro's son Ottone in 1017, by which time Venice had assumed a key role in balancing power between the Byzantine and Holy Roman Empires. During the long Investiture Controversy, an 11th-century dispute between Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Pope Gregory VII over who would control appointments of church officials, Venice remained neutral, and this caused some attrition of support from the Popes. Doge Domenico Selvo intervened in the war between the Normans of Apulia and
Gulf of La Spezia Islands in the gulf include Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto. The poet and dramatist Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned in the gulf in 1822. Gulf of La Spezia The Gulf of La Spezia (Italian: "Golfo della Spezia" or "Golfo dei poeti") is a body of water on the north-western coast of Italy and part of the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, specifically of Ligurian Sea. It measures some 4.5 (length) by 3-3.5 (width) kilometers. The gulf is named for the Italian city of La Spezia, located at its middle point, which is also the main military and cargo port in the gulf, including several