I'm really looking forward to playing the Venetians. First off, because I really like Venice, as a city, and also the Venetian Republic and their history in general. In the game it's also the challenge of having a small kingdom, which does not have many avenues of expansion, being surrounded by Milan, Papacy, Hungary, HRE, Sicily, Byzantium. You have to be really careful and build up your economy with great care. Merchants fit perfectly into their style of play and I'm really looking forward to try to dominate the world financially instead of militarily.
It also gives me the opportunity to rectify some of the faults the Serenissima made, concentrating immedieatelly on the New World and not allowing some Spanish or Portugese to claim naval supremacy over my Venetian navies.

Cheers!

Ituralde