In April 1355, the elderly Doge of Venice, Marino Falier, who was over eighty years old, secretly conspired with commoners, including many sailors, to orchestrate a plot against the state. His intention was to exploit the common people's anti-noble sentiments to overthrow the patrician-led political system and establish a lordship in its place. At that time, in Italy, lordships had already replaced most communes and republics, and even in Venice, there were those who desired a similar change. 

Furthermore, Venice was losing a war against Genoa, and many, especially sailors, blamed the patricians, believing that a lord's rule would be more effective. Falier tasked a naval officer, Bertuccio Isarello, with finding twenty commoners, each willing to recruit forty men for the conspiracy. Among the conspirators, only five knew that the Doge himself was at the helm of the plot. 

The plan was set for the night of April 15. Armed conspirators would gather in St. Mark’s Square, where the Doge would announce the arrival of a Genoese fleet, prompting the patricians to rush to the square. At that moment, the conspirators would kill the patricians and spread the news among the populace. The Doge would then be proclaimed lord, the nobility abolished, and political offices assigned to commoners.

However, on the night before the plan's execution, the Doge, possibly swayed by the opinion of a wealthy commoner friend, issued an abrupt counterorder. This caused disappointment and confusion among the conspirators, and news of the plot reached patrician Nicolò Lion. The nobles began hunting down the conspirators, arresting many. Initially, no one suspected the Doge's involvement. Only under torture did one of the arrested conspirators reveal his name.

Faced with the confessions, Falier admitted his responsibility. The Doge was stripped of his ducal cap and executed by beheading on the steps of the Doge's Palace, the very place where he had sworn a year earlier to serve and defend the Republic.