A Book Recommendate For Venice Visitors

[DameAtSeaII]

I also posted this in the Gondola thread.....and our roll call.

 

I wanted to share this with you. Two years ago, before going to Venice for the first time, someone recommended this book to me:

 

If you have not already read it......consider it. It will enrich your Venice experience. It is all about the romance with city of Venice, it's political struggles.....the ins and outs. It gives great detail to the social structure of the city. I was fascinated. It centers around the story of the 1996 destruction by fire of La Fenice Opera House. So, if we do go there for a performance, this book is a must. I actually think it's a must regardless because it made me embrace little things that I saw, that I might otherwise have missed.....or dismissed. It reads like a novel, but is non-fiction, and is quite funny in parts.....you learn all you will ever care (or NOT) to know about rat poison.....LOL!......the what/why/when/where/how it's effective ..... impress your friends with this knowledge at your next gathering. LOL!

 

TinaLee has read it....or is reading. I'm not sure if Cory has gotten to it, as yet....busy last semester of college. Thank heavens I downloaded it to my MP3 and listened as I walked 2 yrs. ago, because for ME, it would have been a very tedious read in book form.

 

I am betting that Tina (CHIME IN HERE, TINA) does not quite see why I loved this book so much.......but she WILL, when Venice comes alive for her as we wander it's passages and soak up the ambiance. Though I enjoyed the book at the time, I did not fully appreciate it myself until I, too, was THERE. One case in point.....the evening that 4 of us hopped on the vaparetto at St. Marks to cruise the Grand Canal up to the Rialto Bridge. We stood on the open platform in both directions.......soaking up the city.......sights, sounds, smells. On the return trip, it was dusk......the lights of the city and it's buildings popped to life. In the book there are many descriptions of the gala parties in the mansions along the canal. When we passed THIS scene.....the book sprang to LIFE for me.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos....but the lighting and the zoom didn't produce great results.

 

I seriously do not think I would have even noticed it had it not been for the book. It literally took my breath away and made my eyes POP open. It is a moment that I will never forget.

 

I know it's available on Amazon and Penguin Press ....here is a synopsis of the book:

 

The author of the record-breaking bestseller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil unveils the enigmatic Venice as only he can

 

It was twelve years ago that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil achieved a record-breaking four-year run on the New York Times bestseller list. John Berendt's inimitable brand of nonfiction brought the dark mystique of Savannah so startlingly to life for millions of people that tourism to Savannah increased by 46 percent. It is Berendt and only Berendt who can capture Venice—a city of masks, a city of riddles, where the narrow, meandering passageways form a giant maze, confounding all who have not grown up wandering into its depths.

 

Venice, a city steeped in a thousand years of history, art and architecture, teeters in precarious balance between endurance and decay. Its architectural treasures crumble—foundations shift, marble ornaments fall—even as efforts to preserve them are underway. The City of Falling Angels opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians. Arriving in Venice three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective—inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-city—while gradually revealing the truth about the fire.

 

In the course of his investigations, Berendt introduces us to a rich cast of characters: a prominent Venetian poet whose shocking "suicide" prompts his skeptical friends to pursue a murder suspect on their own; the first family of American expatriates that loses possession of the family palace after four generations of ownership; an organization of high-society, partygoing Americans who raise money to preserve the art and architecture of Venice, while quarreling in public among themselves, questioning one another's motives and drawing startled Venetians into the fray; a contemporary Venetian surrealist painter and outrageous provocateur; the master glassblower of Venice; and numerous others-stool pigeons, scapegoats, hustlers, sleepwalkers, believers in Martians, the Plant Man, the Rat Man, and Henry James.

 

Berendt tells a tale full of atmosphere and surprise as the stories build, one after the other, ultimately coming together to reveal a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting. The fire and its aftermath serve as a leitmotif that runs throughout, adding the elements of chaos, corruption, and crime and contributing to the ever-mounting suspense of this brilliant book.

 

Dame here again.......sorry for being so long-winded, but I am passionate about this book AND the city of Venice. If any others have already read it...chime in here with YOUR opinions, too!

[denisey]

We are not going to Venice, but I picked this book up as something to read our our TransAtlantic cruise (5 sea days!) to get ready for Italy in general! Nice to hear it recommended!

 

Thanks!

[waiting2retire]

Thanks so much Dame :) , and how timely... I will be in Venice for the first time in September, and I love to read! This gives me a place to start...

 

Bonnie

[CleoPat]

I'm going to be in Venice in April and I had already ordered this book from Barnes & Noble! Looked interesting. Happy to hear of another cruiser who enjoyed it.

[Cruise Junky]

Thanks for the recommendation, found it on the bargain rack for $7.99 today. Can't wait to go back to Venice.

[PsychDoc]

Thanks so much, Dame, for the Venice book recommendation. I am going to get it right away - could be perfect reading for the flight from the U.S. to Venice.

[mountainmare]

You will all LOVE this book!!! Enjoy!!

[auntdot]

Any other great recommendations??

 

Thanks so much, Dame. Got the book from the library and am thoroughly enjoying it! I think I now get the significance of your first photo! With only two days post cruise in Venice, we were not going to try and get to Murano - but I think I've changed my mind!!

 

Thanks again!!

Dorothy

[retiring soon]

Thanks Dame for the beautiful pictures & recommending the book. I just finished it & now am wishing Oct would be here sooner! His "Midnight" book

made me visit Savannah on the way to Florida.

Another good book about Italy is "Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham about a US football player who goes to Italy to play. I don't like football but thoroughly enjoyed this book too. Ciao.

~Jo~ :)

[DameAtSeaII]

Thanks Jo......I have not read a Grisham book in quite a while. I will definitely pick this one up.

 

Thanks to all of the others, too. I am so glad you are enjoying the book.

[wanderlust1]

The book sounds interesting. I can't wait to visit Venice this year!!!

[yldwest]

I read this book last summer before going to Venice in Oct...LOVED it & I agree that it enhanced my trip! Loved knowing a little more about the way "real people" in Venice live & the history, etc. Had I not known about the fire at the Fenice from the book- I would've walked right past this building w/out even really knowing what it was...