A sweeping and comprehensive history of Venice--from its formation in the early Middle Ages to the present day--that traces its evolution as a city, city-state, regional power, and overseas empire. No city stirs the imagination more than Venice. From the richly ornamented palaces emerging from the waters of the Grand Canal to the dazzling sites of Piazza San Marco, visitors and residents alike sense they are entering, as
fourteenth-century poet Petrarch remarked, "another world." During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Venice was celebrated as a model republic in an age of monarchs. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it became
famous for its freewheeling lifestyle characterized by courtesans, casinos, and Carnival. When the city fell on hard times following the collapse of the Republic in 1797, a darker vision of Venice as a place of decay, disease, and death took hold. Today tourists from around the globe flock to the world heritage site as rising sea levels threaten its very foundations. This comprehensive account reveals the adaptations to its geographic setting that have been a constant
feature of living on water from Venice's origins to the present. It examines the lives of the women and men, noble and common, rich and poor, Christian, Jew, and Muslim, who built not only the city but
also its vast empire that stretched from Northern Italy to the eastern Mediterranean. It details the urban transformations that Venice underwent in response to environmental vulnerability, industrialization, and mass tourism. Alongside the city's commercial prominence has been its dramatically changing political role, including its power as a city-state, regional stronghold, and overseas empire, as well as its impact on the development of fascism. Throughout, Dennis Romano highlights the
city's cultural achievements in architecture, painting, and music, particularly opera.This richly illustrated volume offers a stunning portrait of this most singular of cities.
A sweeping and comprehensive history of Venice--from its formation in the early Middle Ages to the present day--that traces its evolution as a city, city-state, regional power, and overseas empire. No city stirs the imagination more than Venice. From the richly ornamented palaces emerging from the waters of the Grand Canal to the dazzling sites of Piazza San Marco, visitors and residents alike sense they are entering, as
fourteenth-century poet Petrarch remarked, "another world." During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Venice was celebrated as a model republic in an age of monarchs. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it became
famous for its freewheeling lifestyle characterized by courtesans, casinos, and Carnival. When the city fell on hard times following the collapse of the Republic in 1797, a darker vision of Venice as a place of decay, disease, and death took hold. Today tourists from around the globe flock to the world heritage site as rising sea levels threaten its very foundations. This comprehensive account reveals the adaptations to its geographic setting that have been a constant
feature of living on water from Venice's origins to the present. It examines the lives of the women and men, noble and common, rich and poor, Christian, Jew, and Muslim, who built not only the city but
also its vast empire that stretched from Northern Italy to the eastern Mediterranean. It details the urban transformations that Venice underwent in response to environmental vulnerability, industrialization, and mass tourism. Alongside the city's commercial prominence has been its dramatically changing political role, including its power as a city-state, regional stronghold, and overseas empire, as well as its impact on the development of fascism. Throughout, Dennis Romano highlights the
city's cultural achievements in architecture, painting, and music, particularly opera.This richly illustrated volume offers a stunning portrait of this most singular of cities.
Introduction
Part One: Medieval Venice
Ch. 1 Before Venice
Ch. 2 To Rialto
Ch. 3 Ducal Venice
Ch. 4 Between Empires and Beyond the Sea
Ch. 5 From Ducal to Communal Rule
Ch. 6 The Fourth Crusade and the Creation of a Mediterranean
Empire
Ch. 7 Society and Politics in the Thirteenth Century
Ch. 8 The Consolidation of the Patrician Regime
Ch. 9 Calamity and Survival
Part Two: Renaissance Venice
Ch. 10 The Early Renaissance and the Turn toward Italy
Ch. 11 Taming the Lion
Ch. 12 The Industrial and Ceremonial City
Ch. 13 Late Renaissance Venetian Society
Ch. 14 Roman Venice and the End of the Renaissance
Part Three: Old Regime Venice
Ch. 15 The Transformative Seventeenth Century
Ch. 16 Reform, Revolution, and the End of the Republic
Ch. 17 Austrian Venice
Part Four: Modern and Contemporary Venice
Ch. 18 Italian Venice
Ch. 19 Fascist and Cold War Venice
Ch. 20 Global Venice
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Dennis Romano is the Dr. Walter Montgomery and Marian Gruber Professor of History emeritus at Syracuse University. He is the author and editor of numerous books, including The Likeness of Venice: A Life of Doge Francesco Foscari, 1373-1457 and Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297-1797. Romano is an honorary fellow of the Venetian Athenaeum. He lives in Washington, DC.
A sparkling account of Venice's past and future. Clear,
entertaining and academically rigorous.
*, Books of the Year 2024, The Economist*
Romano's new history of Venice is a triumph of scholarship and
satisfying storytelling. His book surpasses previous treatments by
balancing sweeping narrative and the telling detail, and by
covering a far greater chronological span: from the last Ice Age,
some 12,000 years ago, to the present day. His skillful discussions
of political, military, and economic history are enriched by
examinations of artworks and topics such as spying, book
publishing, the early development of opera, and climate change
across millennia. Those who love Venice and want it to thrive for
generations to come will be indebted to Romano's erudition and
analysis.
*Frederick Ilchman, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Chairman, Save
Venice*
Romano's book is a marvel. It is a total history from the
beginnings to Venice as it is today. Romano covers almost two
millennia and offers not just an account of high politics and
culture but of all those whose lives were in some fashion made by
Venice. Keep a copy near your most comfortable armchair. Browse the
book again and again when thoughts of your visits to this most
beautiful of cities drift back into your mind (as surely they
must).
*R.J.B. Bosworth, author of Italian Venice: A History*
From the primordial waters of the lagoon to the touristed global
Venice, Dennis Romano's book offers an eloquent and innovative
account of the rise of one of the world's most beautiful cities.
Romano assesses how the city on the water became so remarkable
despite the many challenges its citizens faced for the past
millennium and a half. By exploring many obscure byways other
histories have ignored, he makes the rich history of the city and
its culture come alive.
*Edward Muir, Northwestern University*
This masterful summary offers a richly textured narrative of one of
the longest-lived republics in history from its mythic origins to
the present day and beyond. Read a chapter a day of this lengthy
saga and in just three weeks you'll be rewarded with a
multi-faceted view-war and peace, politics and trade, society and
religion, civic ritual and the visual arts-of the full sweep of
Venetian history.
*Patricia Fortini Brown, author of The Venetian Bride: Bloodlines
and Blood Feuds in Venice and Its Empire*
The best single-volume guide to the city's past... Readers will
delight in Romano's vivid accounts of Venice's constantly evolving
cityscape, its architecture and its art... Few writers dare to
cover the history of a single place over such an extended period.
That Romano has done so is a gift.
*John Jeffries Martin, Washington Post *
An impressive synthesis of Venice's political, economic, cultural
and environmental history.
*Revd Alexander Faludy, Catholic Herald*
Romano succeeds in offering fresh points of view-and telling us
stories that often get overlooked, particularly about the less
privileged members of Venetian society...The most important new
element in this history is its attention to the poorer classes of
Venice. Mr. Romano gives us surprisingly well-documented accounts
of the lives of ordinary people, like oarsmen, prostitutes and
bead-stringers...The book succeeds brilliantly in providing an
exhaustive account not only of the commercial, political, military
and environmental history of the city but also of the magnificent
art, architecture, music and literature that it produced and
inspired.
*Gregory Dowling, Wall Street Journal*
The book is a long-awaited masterpiece...Romano...begins his book,
an indispensable addition to the busy shelves of popular histories
of the Serene Republic, in the fifth century and brings it all the
way down to the present day, when the old city is being threatened
by rampant gentrification and rampant climate change...This is the
story of a city where men and women have worked and laughed and
dreamed and coveted, and Romano's curiosity is so omnivorous that
he delves into all of it. Most readers have absolutely no idea how
fascinating Venice's history is in its blizzard of details;
Romano's Venice narrates more of those details than any other
one-volume book on the subject, everything from warships to
glasswork, opera to Ottomans, and all of it built on a compendious
bibliography.
*Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review*
A triumph ... This is contemporary historical writing of the
highest quality: clear, entertaining and yet academically
rigorous....This monumental chronicle should gradually replace its
distinguished forerunner as the history of choice for readers in
English who want to better understand Venice's rich past
*The Economist*
[A] Masterpiece ... Romano's great achievement in this work is to
draw out and splice the intricacies of these matters in an
exceptionally readable work that is very difficult to put down.
*Nicholas Morton, Englesberg Ideas*
Denis Romano's new work seeks to make the miracle comprehensible.
It spans a vast temporal sweep: from descriptions of the Roman
shore-side settlements which eventually coalesced into Venice to
considering the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The book's best
chapters concern Venice's surging life as a sovereign republic and
maritime empire in the High Middle Ages and Renaissance.
*Alexander Faludy, Catholic Herald*
A worthy monument to the city, an exemplary work of scholarship and
a precious resource for anyone who, like Wordsworth, has ever been
enthralled by the charisma of Venice ... magnificent.
*Larry Wolff, Times Literary Supplement*
While no history of Venice will ever be definitive, this book
deserves a place as a trustworthy and comprehensive guide.
*A.V. Coonin, Choice*
The book is more informative than poetic, written with a respectful
earnestness and reliability. While no history of Venice will ever
be definitive, this book deserves a place as a trustworthy and
comprehensive guide.
*Choice*
Venice's unique resilience and innovation over centuries make it a
testament to human ingenuity. Learn how this stunning city
navigated challenges of politics, trade, and even nature
itself.
*S&G Consulting Firm*
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