Fact and Fiction - Books About Venice
Italy's 'floating museum' brought to life in wriiten form
But with so many books on the market, which ones are the best? From historical fact and travel writing to modern day crime fiction, there is something for every taste.
Venice by Jan Morris
Having travelled and written extensively about the city, Morris’s classic, affectionately charts its progress from swamp land to living museum. Comprehensively written from a travellers, rather than a travel expert’s, perspective, it is propelled entirely from Morris’ love of the city she first visited with her family when she was James Morris, before a sex change operation that changed her life. An engaging travelogue written by a true fan.
The Commissario Brunetti Series by Donna Leon
Award-winning crime writer and Venetian resident Leon points her pen towards corpulently corrupt government officials, environmental concerns and murder among the gondoliers, featuring her popular detective Brunetti. Look around any bookstore in Venice and Leon’s presence cannot be overlooked.
Miss Garnet’s Angel by Salley Vickers
Vicker’s novel about a sheltered British teacher who falls in love with Venice, then a man, is rather like a cultured Shirley Valentine, embroidered with historical detail and a tangible taste of Venezia. When she encounters some paintings in a local church telling the story of Tobias and the Angel, she sets out to explore the story further, ultimately aiding her own journey of self-discovery.
Death In Venice by Thomas Mann
Set across the Venice lagoon in Lido, Mann’s modern classic about the obsessive love of an older man for a young boy has set tongues wagging for decades, though the book, which never addresses the homosexual subtext directly, is largely about one man’s decline amid the decaying beauty and climbing temperatures of a city touched by cholera.
City Of Falling Angels by John Berendt
Berendt’s book is less interested in ordinary Venetians, though there are a few dotted about, than peeping behind the curtains of the super rich, who spend fortunes while speculating on how to save Venice from sinking into the lagoon. Starting with the inferno that engulfed the Fenice Theatre in 1996, Berendt uses his high class connections to secure interviews with the city’s movers and shakers; once home to millionaire art collector Peggy Guggenheim, Ezra Pound and his mistress, Olga Rudge; many of the current crop are less well known internationally but have some interesting stories to tell. The ‘Falling Angels’ of the title refer to the city’s state of disrepair but Berendt’s book proves that there is still plenty of elegant magic to this atmospheric city.
Venetian Mask
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