Venice

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There are some fascinating bits about the Venetian language. The word 'Arsenal' which was the name for the Venetian shipyard which used assembly-line techniques (celebrated by Dante in the Inferno) to produce, at peak, a fighting galley every day, comes from the arabic 'dar es sinaa' which means 'house of art'. The Arabic word 'sikka' (a die) became 'zecca' (a mint) and thence 'zecchino' (a coin) which is the origin of the Venetian unot of currency, the sequin. (The City: 17)

Venice holidays 2023/2024 | British Airways Venice holidays 2023/2024 | British Airways

That’s an awfully good phrase to hang it on, in that I don’t think there is another city that has remained as much as it was, say, 150 years ago. That’s unusual and it’s because of the extraordinary topography in that Venice has no suburbs. Almost every other city of any importance or size that one knows has a centro storico and then either there’s a downtown, or there are suburbs that dilute. The book introduced me to an amazing man called Giuseppe Volpi. He was called the ‘Last Doge’ and I’d never heard of him. He was a businessman of terrific acumen and was made Count of Misurata by Mussolini. He also became governor of Tripolitania, which is Libya. He set up the Venice Film Festival and the Biennale and massively changed tourism in Venice as well as setting up a lot of industries. So he set up Marghera, which is both negative in that it has caused terrible petrochemical pollution, but also provided employment. He had a huge effect on changing the place. I like mysteries so I’ve read quite a few of Donna Leon’s books over the years, just because there are so many of them. When I was reading your travel guide to Venice and you mentioned the name of a place, I kept going, ‘Oh, yes, I know that name. Brunetti is always walking along there.’ Brunetti is a most sympathetic hero who one can only identify with, with his children and his wife who is an academic, a Jane Austen scholar or something highly convincing like that. The children are busy writing their homework, while he’s sorting out gory crimes. There’s also the most marvelous lady, a Miss Moneypenny figure who is a constant through the books, who’s always tutting and letting him in to go and see his superiors. There’s not an overarching dramatic narrative as exciting as the Cruz Smith book, but these books do immerse you in Venice. She’s American, but her complete fluency in the ways of Venice allows us to dive in with her.Reading the whole of The Stones of Venice is unbelievably stiff and solid, but this edition is one of two or three very good, filleted versions of it with commentaries. It’s got such a bearing not just on how you read Venice, but on how you read our own built environment. There’s the Gothic Revival, which turns into the Arts and Crafts movement. It’s at the root of a lot of socialist ideas. William Morris is writing News from Nowhere at the same time as he is trying to help campaign for Venice to be looked after properly. It’s a powerful document. It’s a book that says Venice is not just a beautiful playbox, it’s also a crucible of ideas that have had a massive effect on Northern European culture and social life. Themis-Athena wrote: "Good grief. There are still PLENTY of books on this list that don't seem to have anything to do with Venice whatsoever! For more cheap hotels in Venice Italy, consider The Gritti Palace a Luxury Collection Hotel Venice. This luxury five-star hotel offers one of the most beguiling views overlooking the Grand Canal, plus the Gritti Epicurean School, Riva Yacht experiences and the Gritti SPA branded by Sisley Paris. There is, I think, an easy explanation for the vast difference in quality and style between the two books. Trieste and The Meaning of Nowhere was written in 2002, one of her later works. The World of Venice, on the other hand, was written in 1960. I don't think she'd yet found her unique and lovely way of bringing together the eloquent travel essay, the quirks of history, and the expert tour guide into one unified whole. Many characterisations and generalisations are the of-their-time sort; there are commonplace references to housemaids and housekeepers that sound, in this voice, like a hangover from pre-war Britain; there's apparent romanticisation of Italian corruption as quaint; locals described "like figures from a Goldoni comedy". Indeed the Venetians in the book seem a little too much like a scene which Morris describes being filmed for TV:

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If you’ve got someone to woo, then a 40-minute gondola ride through the quiet canals from Bacino Orseolo will seduce even the stoniest of hearts. Trips start from 80 euros – the official city rate – rising to 100 euros from 19:00. The average gondola costs nearly 40,000 euros to buy, each smart watercraft being painstakingly assembled from 280 hand-made pieces, using eight types of wood. Before we get to the books you’ve recommended, what do you feel someone visiting Venice needs to know about the city and what drives it? Is it the phrase that comes up in your book, ‘ com’era dov’era’? The earliest of all state banks, the Banca Giro, was opened on the Rialto in the twelfth century." (The City: 19) It is also a bit of a historical guide as it was originally written 60 or more years ago. Morris updated it a few times, but the last of those was almost 30 years ago, and even in as apparently timeless cities as Venice, things change, so again little use as a practical tool.Perhaps the best way to navigate the Grand Canal is to take the 40-minute Line 1 vaporetto ride from Piazzale Roma to San Zaccaria. The magnificent palazzos lining the canal showcase the wealth of families during the height of the Venetian Republic, from the 13th to the 18th centuries. Don’t want to splash out on a gondola ride? You can have a similar (though less private) experience and cross the canal for just a few euros on a traghetto gondola ferry. But there's a problem. The book, like the city, is frozen in time. Jan Morris's Venice is very much of the 1950s. First published in 1960, which at the time of writing makes it more than 64 years old. And while much of Venice hasn't changed in that time, there is a sense that we are reading two histories - Jan's history of Venice plus her own history.

Books Set in Venice (303 books) - Goodreads

San Marco, the city’s unofficial centre, is home to the stunning Byzantine architecture of St Mark’s Basilica and the world-renowned La Fenice Theatre. Despite the high density of visitors, the area’s historic design and epic scenery are unforgettable. Castello is home to a picturesque waterfront and old markets. Discover local naval heritage at Museo Storico Navale, explore narrow streets to see laundry drying in the breeze and visit beautiful churches, tiny bars and second-hand bookshops. Dorsoduro, full of iconic architecture and stunning palazzos, is quieter than San Marco, yet has fantastic restaurants and hip bars. The old industrial quarter’s vibrant student scene is ideal for a cheap night out.What about the Venetian artists, Mantegna, Tiziano, Giorgione etc. is there a lot to see of their work in Venice? Themis-Athena wrote: "Yes. Sorry for cluttering the list with her books, but she really WAS one of the first authors who came to my mind for books with Venice as a setting!" Let’s get to your final book, which is a book in Donna Leon’s Inspector Brunetti crime fiction series, Death in a Strange Country. Do we not know them well, whenever we live, the aesthetic conservers on the one hand, the men of change on the other? Which of these two philosophies is the more romantic, I have never been able to decide." (The City: 22)