Serrata del Maggior Consiglio in the context of "Concio (Venice)"

The Great Council or Major Council (Italian: Maggior Consiglio; Venetian: Mazor Consegio) was a political organ of the Republic of Venice between 1172 and 1797. It was the chief political assembly, responsible for electing many of the other political offices and the senior councils that ran the Republic, passing laws, and exercising judicial oversight. Following the lockout (Serrata) of 1297, its membership was established on hereditary right, exclusive to the patrician families enrolled in the Golden Book of the Venetian nobility.

The Great Council was unique at the time in its usage of lottery to select nominators for proposal of candidates, who were thereafter voted upon.

The Delfin family (Dolfin in venician, sometimes Italianized as Delfin, Delfino, Delfini, and Dolfini) is a thousand-year-old noble family originally from Venice, whose origins date back to the medieval period because they were present even before the Serrata del Maggior Consiglio of 1297. Already included in the patriciate as an old house and one of the twelve apostolic families, the founders of the Venetian state, it is considered one of the richest, most powerful, and oldest in its history.

Members of the family distinguished themselves for their role in the political and military institutions of the Republic, where they acquired great prestige. One of these was, for example, Giovanni Dolfin, who served as the 56th Doge of the Republic of Venice, the only member of the family. Numerous other members of the family were men of the church in the service of the Pope as bishops, patriarchs, and cardinals. Over the centuries, the family's descendants held important political roles in the Republic, such as procurators of Saint Mark and governors of cities and lands under Venetian rule, numerous members of the Quarantia and the Senate, land and sea generals, and diplomatic roles such as bailiffs and ambassadors for most countries in continental Europe.