Preface

Perhaps no city in the world holds the allure of Venice, with its endless maze ofnarrow alleys and waterways. An obligatory stop on the Grand Tour, the love ofJohn Ruskin, Henry James, Mary McCarthy, and other celebrated writers, droves ofartists, scholars, and tourists continue to explore its calliand campi year after year. The floating city brings sighs ofutter astonishment as sky and sea paint the landscape, changing the palette inrhythm with breaking light. Domes, rooftops, and towers glint and glaze in thesummer, retreating mysteriously like ghostlike forms during the dark and mistywinter. All the while the water mirrors the atmosphere, yielding tantalizingglimpses of Byzantine, Islamic, and Gothic styles.

Over the ages, Venice has been a beacon of hope for many: to the original islandsettlers, it augured refuge; to Crusading adventurers, it was a pilgrim stop anda place to book passage to the Holy Land; to laborers, it promised employmentopportunities; to pleasure seekers, it offered spectacle, gambling, and sexualexperimentation; to gentlemen on the Grand Tour, it was a finishing school tostudy the Venetian constitution, view monumental art, and savor Baroque music;to expatriates, it provided new ways of life; to scholars, it became a place topreserve or reinterpret the past; to artists, writers, and composers, it offereda source of inspiration and a place to seek solace and consolation. Now thefloating labyrinth is one of the most visited cities in the world, luringtourists with its artistic patrimony, film festivals, Carnival celebrations, andavant-garde art expositions.