Venice · A Traveller's Reader by Norwich, John Julius -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Copyright Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Map of the city Venice

From Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto the fourth, by Byron From Portraits of Places by Henry James

Landfall

1 No one has described the first landfall better than James (now Jan) Morris; from Venice

Early Beginnings

2 The first clear picture we have of the early Venetians; from a letter from Cassiodorus, the Praetorian Prefect of King Theodoric the Ostrogoth, AD 523 3 The Venetians’ address of welcome to Longinus, the military commander of Justinian, in 565 4 The island of Torcello was one of the most important Venetian lagoon settlements, but in the ninth century focus shifted to the Rialto, where it has remained ever since; from The Stones of Venice by John Ruskin

First Impressions

5 A traveller’s account of Venice from the fourteenth century: Simon Fitz-Simon’s visit in 1323; from a manuscript in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 6 A seventeenth-century Scot describes the city to his sister, the Countess of Erroll, on 25 February 1695; from Letters from James Drummond, Earl of Perth . . . 7 Edward Gibbon hated Venice. But then he was a classicist through and through, and such a reaction was, perhaps, only to be expected; from a letter written 22 April 1765 in his Letters edited by J. E. Norton 8 Disraeli saw it very differently, as he wrote to his father in September 1826; from Letters of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield 9 To Charles Dickens, his first sight of Venice in 1844 had the effect of a bombshell; from The Letters of Charles Dickens edited by Kathleen Tillotson 10 Rupert Brooke, aged nineteen, writes from Padua in 1906; from Letters, chosen and edited by G. Keynes

The Doges’ Palace

11 A great fire destroys a large part of the Doges’ Palace in 1483; from Annali Veneti by Senator Domenico Malipiero. Translated by John Julius Norwich 12 Pietro Casola, on a tour of the half-completed Palace in 1494, was unhappy about the decision not to adopt Nicolò Trevisan’s plan; from Canon Pietro Casola’s Pilgrimage by M. Margaret Newett 13 A banquet given in the Palace for King Henry III of France in 1574; from Venice, its individual growth from the earliest beginnings to the fall of the Republic by Pompeo Molmenti translated by Horatio F. Brown 14 An English traveller is amazed by the system of electing Doges in 1618; from Letters and Dispatches from Sir Henry Wotton to James the First and his Ministers in the years 1617–20 15 Once elected, a new Doge proceeded immediately to his investiture, the ceremonies of which are described by Dr John Ray, FRS; from Observations . . . made on a journey through Part of the Low Countries, Germany, Italy and France, 1673 16 The President de Brosses describes an election in the Maggior Consiglio, or Great Council, in 1739; from Selections from the Letters of de Brosses translated by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower 17 Richard Lassels was greatly struck in the mid-seventeenth century by the armoury in the Doges’ Palace; from The Voyage of Italy 18 Precautions against insurrection taken by the Venetian rulers in 1688; from F. N. Misson’s A New Voyage to Italy 19 On 3 October 1786 Goethe watched the administration of justice in the Doges’ Palace; from J. W. Goethe’s Italian Journey 20 Mark Twain, visiting the Doges’ Palace in the 1860s, is less moved by the art and architecture than by what he conceives as the machinations of the most sinister of police states; from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain 21 The story of the condottiere known as Carmagnola, of whom treachery was suspected in 1432; from A History of Venice by John Julius Norwich 22 Thomas Coryat is much taken with Antonio da Ponte’s new prison building of 1589; from Coryat’s Crudities 23 Details of the prisons of the Serenissima; from Venice, its individual growth from the earliest beginnings to the fall of the Republic by Pompeo Molmenti translated by Horatio F. Brown 24 Casanova’s account of his arrest and imprisonment in the piombi on 26 July 1755; from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt translated by Arthur Machen 25 Charles Dickens writes with horror about Venetian prisons; from The Letters of Charles Dickens edited by his sister-in-law and his eldest daughter 26 The last days of the Republic in 1797; from Venice: The Greatness and the Fall by John Julius Norwich 27 By the nineteenth century the Doges’ Palace had already become the tourist attraction it is today; from Henry James’s Letters edited by Leon Edel and from his Italian Hours

The Basilica of St Mark

28 The theft of the body of St Mark from Alexandria in 828; the story is told by Martino da Canale, translated by Horatio F. Brown in his Venice, an historical sketch of the Republic 29 The body of St Mark is miraculously discovered after the destruction of the Basilica by fire in 976; the story is told by Flaminio Corner, translated by John Ruskin in The Stones of Venice 30 The formal reconciliation between Pope Alexander III and the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa; an eyewitness description of the ceremony from De Pace Veneta Relatio. Translated by John Julius Norwich 31 Geoffrey de Villehardouin reports how Doge Enrico Dandolo obtained the approval of his closest advisers for Venice’s participation in the Fourth Crusade, and records Dandolo’s speech to the assembly in St Mark’s; from Villehardouin’s La Conquête de Constantinople edited by Edmond Faral. Translated by John Julius Norwich 32 Pietro Casola witnesses the great procession in St Mark’s on the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1494; from Canon Pietro Casola’s Pilgrimage by M. Margaret Newett 33 John Evelyn in 1645 finds much to admire in the Basilica but was, one feels, ultimately unimpressed; from The Diary of John Evelyn edited by William Bray 34 To Charles de Brosses, arch-classicist, the Gothic style was barbarous, the Byzantine even worse; from Selections from the Letters of de Brosses translated by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower 35 A visitor more enthusiastic about the Basilica’s visual splendours was William Beckford in 1780; from his Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal 36 Another visitor from England, at about the same time, was more interested in the contents of St Mark’s Treasury; from A View of Society and Manners in Italy by John Moore MD 37 John Ruskin’s dazzling description of the Basilica of St Mark begins, rightly, with the approach to the Piazza from the west; from The Stones of Venice 38 Henry James evokes the magic of St Mark’s in 1881; from his Italian Hours 39 At this time, however, James was deeply concerned about restoration work on the outside of the building; from The Letters of Henry James edited by Leon Edel 40 The basilica of St Mark’s: Mark Twain’s surprising comparison; from A Tramp Abroad 41 In Venice – the best descriptive book on the city ever written – James (now Jan) Morris describes St Mark’s

St Mark’s Square and the Piazzetta

42 Ducal processions in the Piazza in the thirteenth century; by Martino da Canale, translated by Horatio F. Brown in his Venice, an historical sketch of the Republic 43 Celebrations in the Piazza to mark the putting down of the Cretan Rebellion in 1364; described by Petrarch, from The Life of Petrarch by Mrs Dobson 44 The Corpus Christi procession in the Piazza, as witnessed by Fra Felix Fabri; from Felix Fabri translated by Aubrey Stewart 45 A description of St Mark’s Square at the end of the sixteenth century; from An Itinerary . . . by Fynes Moryson, Gent. 46 Thomas Coryat, in Venice in 1608, describes many details of St Mark’s Square, particularly Sansovino’s loggetta at the base of the Campanile; from Coryat’s Crudities 47 The execution of Antonio Foscarini in St Mark’s Square in 1622 was one of the great scandals of Venetian history; as reported in Reliquiae Wottonianae . . . by the Curious Pencil of the Ever Memorable Sir Henry Wotton Kt, Late Provost of Eton College 48 The Scottish traveller William Lithgow arrives in Venice in 1609 or 1610, and disembarks at the Piazzetta in somewhat dramatic circumstances; from his Rare Adventures and Painefull Peregrinations 49 John Evelyn’s sightseeing in 1646 was to include an execution by guillotine – preceding the French Revolution by nearly a century and a half; from The Diary of John Evelyn edited by William Bray 50 There was, however, a less splendid aspect of the Piazza; from Letters from Italy . . . in the years 1765 and 1766 by Samuel Sharp 129 51 The situation had clearly not improved when Mrs Hester Piozzi – formerly Thrale, and bosom friend of Dr Johnson – visited Italy in 1784–5 with her new husband; from her Glimpses of Italian Society 52 An eighteenth-century visitor finds St Mark’s Square full of crowds and cafés; from Letters from Italy . . . in the Years 1770 and 1771 by Anna, Lady Miller 53 Foreign visitors mingle in St Mark’s Square in 1780; from William Beckford’s Italy, with sketches of Spain and Portugal 54 The Piazza witnesses the day of Venice’s deepest humiliation in 1797; from A History of Venice by John Julius Norwich 55 Richard Wagner praises the ‘unique and quite unparalleled splendour’ of St Mark’s Square in 1858; from Richard to Minna Wagner: letters to his first wife translated by William Ashton Ellis 56 Wagner discovers also that the Piazza has a ‘superb acoustic’, especially for performances of his own music; from My Life by Richard Wagner translated by Andrew Gray 57 Coffee and pigeons in St Mark’s Square in 1851; from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Letters to Mrs David Ogilvy, 1849–1861 edited by Peter N. Heydon and Philip Kelley 58 Social life in the Piazza during the Austrian occupation; from Venetian Life by William Dean Howells 59 The collapse of the Campanile in St Mark’s Square in 1902; from Venice by James (now Jan) Morris

The Rialto

60 The rivalry and rift between Giorgione and Titian over the painting of the frescoes on the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in 1505; from Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects by Giorgio Vasari translated by Gaston du C. de Vere 61 The Rialto and its bridge in 1594; from An Itinerary . . . by Fynes Moryson, Gent. 62 In the mid-eighteenth century, as today, the time to go to the Rialto market was early in the morning. Casanova explains why; from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt translated by Arthur Machen 63 The rewards of an early-morning visit to the market are great, and are eloquently described by Elizabeth David; from her Italian Food 64 The Gobbo di Rialto, and the fish market; from Venice by James (now Jan) Morris 149 65 The delights of the Merceria in 1608 – and two fatal accidents at the Clock Tower; from Coryat’s Crudities by Thomas Coryat 66 The Merceria in 1646 sounds a good deal more attractive than it is today; from The Diary of John Evelyn edited by William Bray 67 And in 1771 it still excited the admiration of visitors; from Anna, Lady Miller’s Letters from Italy . . . in the Years 1770 and 1771

Palaces and Hotels

68 A fifteenth-century Frenchman admires the buildings of Venice; from The Memoirs of Philip de Commines edited by Andrew R. Scoble 69 The delights of living in a house on the Grand Canal in 1537; from Aretino, Selected Letters translated and with an introduction by George Bull 70 The history of the Palazzo Foscari during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; from Venice, its individual growth from the earliest beginnings to the fall of the Republic by Pompeo Molmenti translated by Horatio F. Brown 71 Charles de Brosses in 1739 is not overly impressed by the comfort of private palazzi; from Selections from the Letters of de Brosses translated by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower 72 Lady Miller, in 1771, can for once find little to complain about in her accommodation; from her Letters from Italy . . . in the Years 1770 and 1771 73 Thomas Moore tells of his first arrival in Venice in 1819 and of the warm welcome given him by Byron, who brings him to the Palazzo Mocenigo; from Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life by Thomas Moore 74 The palaces of Venice in general, and the Barberigo Palace in particular, seen in 1824; from Notes of a Journey Through France and Italy by William Hazlitt 75 The aura of melancholy decay that surrounds Venice’s palazzi has always pleased visitors with a romantic turn of mind; from Lady Blessington’s The Idler in Italy 76 Effie Ruskin writes to her mother in 1850 of a visit to the Palazzo Mocenigo to see Donna Lucia, the Countess Mocenigo; from Effie in Venice by Mary Lutyens 77 The Palazzo Grassi, and other palazzi, in 1852; from The Journals and Correspondence of Lady Eastlake edited by Charles Eastlake Smith 78 Richard Wagner settles comfortably into the Palazzo Giustinian in the summer of 1858; from My Life by Richard Wagner translated by Andrew Gray 79 On 28 September 1858 Wagner describes his apartments to his wife Minna; from Richard to Minna Wagner: letters to his first wife translated by William Ashton Ellis 80 The fifteenth-century Palazzo Barbaro is occupied in 1892 by Henry James; from The Letters of Henry James edited by Leon Edel 81 Henry James made the Palazzo Barbaro the setting for part of his novel, The Wings of the Dove, where it appears as the Palazzo Leporelli 82 Henry James expatiates on the advantages of the Palazzo Barbaro over anything smaller; from The Letters of Henry James edited by Leon Edel 83 The Cà Rezzonico was bought in 1888 by Robert Browning’s son Pen, as Browning wrote to a friend; from Letters of the Brownings to George Barrett edited by Paul Landis with the assistance of Ronald E. Freeman 84 Browning was staying in the Cà Rezzonico when he died in 1889; from More than Friend, the letters of Robert Browning to Katharine de Kay Bronson edited by Michael Meredith 85 Undated letter from Rowland Burden-Muller, giving a vivid picture of life among the English colony in Venice in Edwardian days

Churches

86 Fra Felix Fabri visits the church of SS Giovanni e Paolo in 1480; from Felix Fabri translated by Aubrey Stewart 87 Four hundred years later, John Ruskin examines the monuments in SS Giovanni e Paolo; from The Stones of Venice 88 A rare description of the Church of S. Giorgio dei Greci in 1654; from The Voyage of Italy by Richard Lassels 89 An early-morning tour of Venetian churches in 1780; from Italy, with sketches of Spain and Portugal by William Beckford 90 Mrs Piozzi misses an opportunity at S. Giorgio Maggiore in April 1785; from her Glimpses of Italian Society 91 The effect of colour on S. Giorgio Maggiore, seen in the nineteenth century; from Henry James’s Italian Hours 92 John Ruskin compares the two plague churches, Palladio’s Redentore and Longhena’s Salute; from The Stones of Venice 93 Mendelssohn is more impressed with the art than the music in the Frari in 1830; from Letters from Italy and Switzerland by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy 94 In the Frari, Ruskin saves his most withering scorn for the tomb of Doge Giovanni Pesaro, dating from 1669; from The Stones of Venice 95 The church of S. Giustina was the scene of an annual visit by the Doge on 7 October, the Saint’s day and the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto; from J. W. Goethe’s Italian Journey (1786) 96 The church of the Gesuiti – the opinion of William Dean Howells in the 1860s; from his Venetian Life 97 The glorious Tintorettos in the Scuola di S. Rocco, described by Henry James in 1880; from his Italian Hours 98 Two pictures in S. Giovanni Crisostomo appeal to Henry James; from his Italian Hours

The Riva

99 Petrarch describes the triumphant return of the Venetian fleet after it had put down the Cretan Rebellion in 1364, as he saw it from his house on the Riva; from Petrarch’s Epistolae de rerum familiaribus et variae. Translated by John Julius Norwich 100 The story of the bequest of Petrarch’s library to the Republic, in return for a house on the Riva; from The Life of Petrarch by Mrs Dobson 101 Stendhal, in a gondola off the Riva in 1817, deplores the Austrian occupation of Venice; from Rome, Naples and Florence, translated by Richard N. Coe

The Arsenal

102 The earliest description of the Venetian Arsenal is found in the twenty-first canto of Dante’s Inferno; the translation is by Dorothy L. Sayers 103 A well-to-do Spanish visitor in 1438 is particularly impressed by the Arsenal; from Pero Tafur, travels and adventures 1435–1439 translated by Malcolm Letts 104 A sixteenth-century Englishman is amazed by the scale of operations in the Arsenal; from The History of Italy by William Thomas 105 By the beginning of the seventeenth century the Arsenal was one of the principal tourist sights of the city, as Thomas Coryat describes; from Coryat’s Crudities 106 John Evelyn in 1645 is somewhat less breathless; from The Diary of John Evelyn edited by William Bray 107 Dr John Moore, in the Arsenal in 1777 with the young Duke of Hamilton, judges the Bucintoro to be unseaworthy, though much admired by landsmen; from A View of Society and Manners in Italy by John Moore MD 108 In fact, the Bucintoro was by no means invariably admired by landsmen either, as Lady Miller noted; from Letters from Italy . . . in the Years 1770 and 1771 by Anna, Lady Miller

The Ghetto

109 It was in 1516 that the Venetian government decided that the Jews should be segregated in the New Foundry, popularly known as the Ghetto; from the Diarii of Marin Sanudo. Translated by John Julius Norwich 110 Thomas Coryat, visiting the Ghetto in 1608, sees a Jewish community for the first time; from Coryat’s Crudities 111 A scene in a Venetian synagogue in the first half of the seventeenth century – the celebration of the Rejoicing of the Law; from Personalities and Events in Jewish History by Cecil Roth 112 John Evelyn attends a Jewish wedding in the Ghetto in 1646; from The Diary of John Evelyn edited by William Bray 113 Richard Lassels in 1654 is unimpressed by a Venetian rabbi; from The Voyage of Italy 114 The American Consul, William Dean Howells, visits the Ghetto in the 1860s; from Venetian Life by W. D. Howells

The Grand Canal, Canals and Gondolas

115 Pietro Aretino describes his view of the Grand Canal in a letter addressed to his friend Titian in May 1544; from Aretino, Selected Letters, translated and introduced by George Bull 116 Fynes Moryson marvels at the canals of Venice in 1594; from An Itinerary . . . by Fynes Moryson, Gent. 117 By the 1730s the air of Venice strikes a German visitor as considerably less ‘wholesome’ than Fynes Moryson found it; from Travels through Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy and Lorrain by Johann Georg Keysler 118 The President de Brosses is enraptured by the gondolas in 1739; from Selections from the Letters of de Brosses translated by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower 119 The gondoliers of Venice in the mid-eighteenth century; from Letters from Italy . . . in the years 1765 and 1766 by Samuel Sharp 120 The traditional singing of the Venetian gondoliers, which seems to have been something of an art form in itself; from J. W. Goethe’s Italian Journey (1786) 121 Mrs Piozzi comments on a different skill practised by gondoliers, in 1785; from her Glimpses of Italian Society 122 An English traveller in 1789 pays his lodgings on the Grand Canal what he clearly considers the highest of compliments; from Travels in France and Italy by Arthur Young 123 The hazards of living on the canals; from ‘The Flesh is Frail’; Byron’s Letters and Journals edited by Leslie A. Marchand 124 On 25 September 1869 Henry James wrote to his brother William about gondolas and the canals; from The Letters of Henry James edited by Leon Edel 125 In his Italian Hours, Henry James pursues the matter further 126 Many first-time visitors found the journey from Fusina in a covered gondola deeply depressing: among them was Richard Wagner; from My Life by Richard Wagner translated by Andrew Gray 127 But he was greatly impressed by the folksongs of the gondoliers; from My Life by Richard Wagner translated by Andrew Gray 128 Mark Twain, arriving in Venice in 1868, put up a stiff resistance to gondolas – but was seduced in the end; from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain 129 The old art of sail-painting in Venice was declining by the late nineteenth century, as Horatio F. Brown laments; from his Life on the Lagoons 130 Aschenbach, like Horatio Brown, finds the gondola’s armchair the most comfortable seat in the world; from Death in Venice by Thomas Mann translated by H. T. Lowe-Porter 131 The twentieth-century gondoliers of Venice; from Venice by James (now Jan) Morris

The Lagoon and the Islands

132 Anna, Lady Miller journeys to Venice by boat from a village near Ferrara, via the Po and the Lagoon; from Letters from Italy . . . in the Years 1770 and 1771 by Lady Miller 133 Casanova narrowly escapes shipwreck in the Lagoon in 1755; from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt translated by Arthur Machen 134 Byron swims from the Lido to the Salute and thence the whole length of the Grand Canal; from ‘The Flesh is Frail’, Byron’s Letters and Journals edited by Leslie A. Marchand 135 Arriving in Venice before the building of the causeway; from The Stones of Venice by John Ruskin 136 The Lagoon and its islands in the late nineteenth century; from Italian Hours by Henry James 137 A visit to Murano, already famous for glass-making, in 1608; from Coryat’s Crudities by Thomas Coryat 138 A visit to the Murano glass foundries in 1621; from Epistolae Ho-Elianae, or Familiar Letters by James Howell edited by J. Jacobs 139 On his first visit to Murano, in 1654, Richard Lassels seems to have been quite unaware of the glass-making; from The Voyage of Italy 140 Few visitors to Venice, even in the eighteenth century, got away without a visit to a glass foundry; from Selections from the Letters of de Brosses translated by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower 141 The making of looking-glasses in 1780; from A View of Society and Manners in Italy by John Moore MD 142 The early settlements on the islands of the Lagoon by refugees from the mainland, and in particular the settlement of Torcello; from Venice: an Historical Sketch of the Republic by Horatio F. Brown 143 A visit to the Lido in 1849; from Effie in Venice by Mary Lutyens 144 Venetian funerals, and the cemetery church and island of S. Michele; from Venice by James (now Jan) Morris 145 The Armenian monastery on the island of S. Lazzaro is visited by Byron in 1816; from Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life by Thomas Moore 146 Twelve years later, Byron’s memory was still cherished at the monastery, as Lady Blessington discovered; from An Idler in Italy by the Countess of Blessington 147 William Beckford visits Torcello in 1780; from his Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal 148 The most superb description of Torcello remains that of John Ruskin, in The Stones Of Venice 149 In a letter to her mother dated 24 February 1850, Effie Ruskin describes a picnic on Torcello; from Effie in Venice by Mary Lutyens 150 The magical quality of the light on the Lagoon and at Torcello; from Italian Hours by Henry James 151 Alexander Herzen, with his old friend Giuseppe Garibaldi, visits the island of Chioggia in February 1867; from Herzen’s My Past and Thoughts translated by Constance Garnett 152 When Frederick Rolfe first came to Venice in 1908, the Lagoon entranced him; from The Quest for Corvo by A. J. A. Symons

Life, Customs and Morals in Venice

153 St Peter Damian attributes the death of Maria Argyra to divine retribution for her sybaritic Oriental ways; from his Opuscula. Translated by John Julius Norwich 154 Canon Pietro Casola discovers that a lying-in is a great social occasion in fifteenth-century Venice; from Canon Pietro Casola’s Pilgrimage by M. Margaret Newett 155 Visitors to Venice from the fifteenth century onwards were always impressed – and shocked – by the clothes of the inhabitants; from Canon Pietro Casola’s Pilgrimage by M. Margaret Newett 156 Thomas Coryat is impressed by the uniform dignity of the clothes of Venetian men in 1608; from Coryat’s Crudities 157 A traveller in 1714 observes an unusual use for sleeves; from A New Voyage to Italy by F. N. Misson 158 Fashions for men, it seems, did not change much between the time of Coryat and 1766; from An Account of the Manners and Customs of Italy, with Observations of the Mistakes of Some Travellers with Regard to that Country by Joseph Baretti 159 Thomas Coryat in 1608 comments on Venetian ladies’ décolletages, and their habit of bleaching their hair; from Coryat’s Crudities 160 John Evelyn also finds Venetian women’s cioppini ridiculous; from The Diary of John Evelyn edited by William Bray 161 But Richard Lassels decides in 1654 that cioppini are, after all, no bad thing; from The Voyage of Italy 162 Hints for travellers to Venice in 1594; from An Itinerary . . . by Fynes Moryson, Gent. 163 Torture in Venice in 1608; from Coryat’s Crudities 164 An execution in 1741; from The Letters of Horace Walpole 165 The state of Venetian convents in 1685; from Letters containing an Account of what seem’d most remarkable in travelling thro’ Switzerland, Italy and some Parts of Germany by G. Burnet, DD 166 Spectator sports in the Campo Santo Stefano in 1608, as described by Thomas Coryat; from Coryat’s Crudities 167 The battles on the bridges in the 1720s; from Travels through Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy and Lorrain by Johann Georg Keysler 168 Another venerable piazza tradition, the Forza d’Ercole, witnessed in 1739; from Selections from the Letters of de Brosses translated by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower 169 In the eighteenth century, Casanova finds himself a suitable casinò and makes sure it comes up to his standards; from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt translated by Arthur Machen 170 Eighteenth-century social life in Venice tended to revolve around the casinò, but William Beckford was unimpressed; from Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal 171 Laws affecting women in eighteenth-century Venice; from Letters from Italy . . . in the Years 1770 and 1771 by Anna, Lady Miller 172 The theatre in Venice does not greatly appeal to an eighteenth-century English traveller; from A View of Society and Manners in Italy by John Moore MD 173 A French ambassador to Venice in the 1750s finds visits to the theatre a diplomatic necessity; from Memoirs and Letters of the Cardinal de Bernis translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley 174 A visiting singer is warned by the manager of the theatres about the danger of political indiscretion; from Reminiscences by Michael Kelly 175 Venetian social customs in 1739; from Selections from the Letters of de Brosses translated by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower 176 The Cavaliere Servente, or Cicisbeo; from Letters from Italy . . . in the Years 1770 and 1771 by Anna, Lady Miller 177 On Venetian morals in the early nineteenth century, few people were better qualified to report than Byron; from Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life by Thomas Moore 178 Festive window-dressing has always been something of a speciality in Venice: it impressed Mrs Piozzi in 1785; from her Glimpses of Italian Society 179 The economics of living in Venice in the late eighteenth century; from Travels in France and Italy by Arthur Young 180 The economics of living in Venice in the early nineteenth century; from ‘The Flesh is Frail’, Byron’s Letters and Journals edited by Leslie A. Marchand 181 The dream-like charm of Venice in 1872; from The Letters of John Addington Symonds edited by H. M. Schneller and R. L. Peters

Music in Venice

182 Thomas Coryat describes a concert given in 1608 at the Scuola di S. Rocco; from Coryat’s Crudities 183 A night at the Venice opera in 1645; from The Diary of John Evelyn edited by William Bray 184 One of the first foreign travellers to mention the four great Venetian orphanages as centres of music was the German Johann Georg Keysler in 1730; from his Travels through Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy and Lorrain 185 The music of Vivaldi, and the singing at the orphanages, in 1739; from Selections from the Letters of de Brosses translated by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower 186 Going behind the scenes at the Mendicanti, in 1743, Jean Jacques Rousseau got a nasty shock; from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau 187 Of all surviving travellers’ reports, perhaps the most authoritative is that of Dr Burney, who was in Venice in 1770; from The Present State of Music in France and Italy by Charles Burney, Mus. D. 188 ‘A Toccata of Galuppi’s’ by Robert Browning, from Men and Women, 1855 189 An English visitor to the Mendicanti in 1780 finds the all-female orchestra entertaining; from Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal by William Beckford 190 A German visitor of about the same time, however, responds with a mixture of admiration and tetchiness; from J. W. Goethe’s Italian Journey 191 Mrs Piozzi seems to have been accorded privileged treatment in 1784; from her Glimpses of Italian Society 192 The opera at the Fenice on the first day of Carnival – St Stephen’s Day – in 1816; from The Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life by Thomas Moore 193 Thirty-five years later to the day, Effie Ruskin also goes to the first night of the opera at the Fenice, as she writes to her mother; from Effie in Venice by Mary Lutyens

Courtesans

194 Venetian courtesans in the sixteenth century; from Lives of the Courtesans: Portraits of the Renaissance by Lynne Lawner 195 Thomas Coryat speaks of the Venetian courtesans with first-hand knowledge; from Coryat’s Crudities 196 Coryat also makes an interesting discovery about what was, to any young courtesan, one of the primary occupational hazards; from Coryat’s Crudities 197 Venetian prostitutes in 1687; from F. N. Misson’s A New Voyage to Italy 198 Rousseau has, in 1744, what he was always to consider a lucky escape; from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau 199 A few days after Byron’s arrival in Venice in 1816 he is already writing of the effect his young landlady has upon him; from ‘The Flesh is Frail’, Byron’s Letters and Journals edited by Leslie A. Marchand 200 The story of Byron’s stormy affair with Margarita Cogni, better known as La Fornarina; from Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life by Thomas Moore

Eating and Drinking

201 Francis Misson, in 1687/8, was one of the many for whom eating and drinking in Venice were something of a nightmare; from his A New Voyage to Italy 202 Despite the number of wells, both the quality and at times the available quantity of water gave cause for anxiety; from Samuel Sharp’s Letters from Italy . . . in the Years 1765 and 1766 203 Venetian food seldom found favour with foreigners, as Lady Miller wrote on 6 June 1771; from her Letters from Italy . . . in the Years 1770 and 1771 204 Venetian specialities in 1817; from William Rose’s Letters from the North of Italy quoted in George Bull’s Venice, the Most Triumphant City

Ceremonies

205 The Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaeologus arrives in Venice in 1438 and is escorted from the Lido by the Doge and a fleet of ships; from Chronicon by George Phrantzes edited by E. Bekken. Translated by John Julius Norwich 206 The festivities held in 1495 to celebrate the Venetian Republic’s signature of a new international alliance; from The Memoirs of Philip de Commines 207 In 1782, the Venetians welcome the future Tsar Paul I, travelling with his wife under the romantic aliases of ‘Count and Countess of the North’; from Venice, its individual growth from the earliest beginnings to the fall of the Republic by Pompeo Molmenti translated by Horatio F. Brown 208 Ruskin describes the welcome accorded to the Emperor Franz Josef in 1851, in St Mark’s Square; from his Letters from Venice 1851–52 edited by J. L. Bradley 209 The entry of King Victor Emanuel into Venice on 10 September 1864; from The Fourth Generation, Reminiscences by Janet Ross 210 An eye-witness account of the Sposalizio del Mar in 1654; from Richard Lassels’ Voyage of Italy 211 The Ascension Day celebrations in 1730; from Travels through Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy and Lorrain by Johann George Keysler 212 The Regatta in Venice; from Venice, its individual growth from the earliest beginnings to the fall of the Republic by Pompeo Molmenti translated by Horatio F. Brown 213 The regatta of 1740; from The Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu edited by Lord Wharncliffe 214 Mark Twain succumbs to a moonlight festival on the water; from The Innocents Abroad 215 The celebrations in connection with the marriage of Jacopo, son of Doge Francesco Foscari, to Lucrezia Contarini in 1441; from Venetian Life by William Dean Howells 216 A grand Venetian wedding in 1771; from Letters from Italy . . . in the Years 1770 and 1771 by Anna, Lady Miller 217 Carnival, from Boxing Day till Shrove Tuesday, has always been the most famous of Venice’s festivities: an account of Carnival in the mid-seventeenth century; from The Diary of John Evelyn edited by William Bray 368 218 Masks have always been a feature of Carnival, as they were in 1688 when Francis Misson described their uses; from A New Voyage to Italy 219 An expatriate Scot at the end of the seventeenth century condemns the Carnival as ‘madness’; from Letters from James Drummond, Earl of Perth . . . 220 The irresistible frivolity of Carnival in 1867 – the first Carnival after Venice was freed from Austrian domination; from Alexander Herzen’s My Past and Thoughts translated by Constance Garnett 221 The last of the really great balls to be given in Venice was the so-called Beistegui Ball of September 1951; from Susan Mary Alsop’s To Marietta from Paris

Envoi

‘Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee’ by William Wordsworth ‘O, Venice! Venice!’ by Lord Byron

Plates Section Bibliography Index

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