Venice (Image via Nino Barbieri)

Italy’s legal authority in Rome has denounced the referendum vote as illegitimate and unconstitutional. A Venetian spokesperson said that they would draft more formal legislation. The BBC reported before the vote that there had been very little coverage in Italy’s national media. 

SEE ALSO: More U.S. Sanctions, Crimea Closer to Accession 

The vote has historical roots. Venice, once a powerful city-state, was its own republic during the Italian Renaissance. The vote, reminiscent of separatist movements in both Spain’s Catalonia and Scotland, comes just a week after Crimea successfully voted to secede from Ukraine, and was legally added to Russian via due process of treaty and ratification. 

Read more at The Atlantic, The BBC, and PolicyMic.   

Follow Executive Producer Sarah Geisler on Twitter.