In the early parts of the nineteenth century, Napolean and France had taken over the Italian Penisula including Venice. Napolean made some changes to the Arsenal of Venice including updating and modernizing the area to match the shipbuilding system of the French Empire.  The Arsenal of Venice also became the base of operations of the Adriatic Sea for the French fleet.  Source: http://arsenalofvenice.weebly.com/history-of-the-arsenale.html. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or less