Collage of Venice, courtesy Wikipedia Commons

As part of a series of blog posts relating to our 2012 Summertime in Italy tour, we’ll embark upon a day-by-day journey, highlighting what we’ll do on each particular day. Since Day 1 will be all travel, we thought we’d open the series with some pre-trip recommendations of books and movies. Our tour will begin in Venice, for a thousand years the “The Most Serene Republic,” truly a place unlike any other.

Venezia

There’s no shortage of romance when it comes to Venice. The city oozes charm, which makes a sick kind of sense considering she was born on a collection of mudflats in the midst of the lagoons that shelter the deltas of the northern Adriatic. And like the mud she is slippery. The marshes provided refuge during the chaotic days of the late Roman empire, as the dark ages descended across much of western Europe. Like an elusive fish she remained uncaught in the later struggle between the rising Frankish power of Charlemagne and his heirs on the one hand, and the dwindling imperial majesty of the eastern Byzantine realm on the other. Venice invented herself, lifted herself out of the sea, and carved out a unique place in the history of Europe, the crossroads of East and West, self-defining and defying easy categorization.

Even today there’s nowhere else like it. However, Venice’s struggle today is less political than it is environmental and economical. The islands themselves are gradually sinking, both under their own weight and in relation to the rising influx of the Adriatic.

As far as the literal sinking goes, a number of solutions have been proposed and are being attempted. The huge engineering project MOSE, designed to close the lagoon entrances at times of extremely high tide, is expected to be finished in 2012. Whether this will work or not is still a volatile subject.

Though the city was one of the great economic engines that powered the late middle ages and the Renaissance, today it depends overwhelmingly on the tourist trade. Indeed, Venice’s beauty and romantic atmosphere are a mixed blessing, as fewer and fewer native Venetians live on the islands, and more and more of the palazzi and apartments are owned by Italians from elsewhere and wealthy foreigners. The city has introduced a new hotel tax to attempt to raise funds for preservation, but not everyone is optimistic that this will work.

As long as Venice remains above water, it will continue to enchant visitors. Here at Cultura Tours, we believe that it enriches our traveling experience to immerse ourselves in the background of a place before we see it.  And Venice is rich in myth, history, culture, and art.

Gondolas on the Grand Canal

Reading

Venice features prominently in the classics of European literature. In the second story of the fourth day of Boccaccio’s Decameron, a con artist disguised as a priest tells the beautiful, yet vain and stupid, Monna Lisetta that the archangel Gabriel is in love with her. The “priest,” Fra Alberto, convinces her that the angel cannot consummate the affair without a human body, and he humbly offers his services as a conduit. When the scam falls apart, Fra Alberto must dive into the Grand Canal to escape the wrath of Lisetta’s family. He is eventually exposed to ridicule in St. Mark’s Square in the midst of Carnival!

Shakespeare also uses Venice as a backdrop for some of his most notable plays, like the Merchant of Venice and Othello. Most scholars think that Shakespeare never left England. The accepted wisdom is that he learned about the city through his reading and by speaking to Italian merchants in London. However, a pair of Italian scholars have recently argued that Shakespeare must have visited, since the depth and detail of his local knowledge seems too extraordinary to have been picked up any other way.

The modern masterpiece of fiction set in Venice is undoubtedly Thomas Mann‘s Death in Venice. The German author’s story of “passion as confusion and degradation” has been adapted into an opera, a ballet, and a film by the great Italian director Luchino Visconti. Mann won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929, and Death in Venice remains his best known work in English.

For a highly readable panorama of La Serenissima Repubblica, from her foundation to her defeat by Napoleon in 1797, you can’t go wrong with the work of John Julius Norwich. A History of Venice is still a standard reference, and his engaging style is erudite but never boring.

Finally, for solid information on all the major sites of major cities, the Blue Guides are always my standard recommendation.

Flowerboxes abound in Venice

Films

Venice is a candy shop for the eyes, and unsurprisingly many films have used her both for the haunting visions of misty canals and the dizzying carnival array of colors. But the city is not just an exotic backdrop. The Venice Film Festival is the oldest and one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. Every year filmmakers arrive from all over the globe to compete for the Golden Lion. Below are just a few of the many movies that feature Venice prominently.

The Merchant of Venice:

We cannot recommend simply reading Shakespeare. You must see him, too. Though I have not seen this particular version, the reviews are outstanding, and it is definitely on our short list of films to see. Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, and Joseph Fiennes head the cast.

Othello:

The script has been pared down, but I like this version. A pre-Matrix Lawrence Fishburne plays Othello, Kenneth Branagh is Iago, and Irene Jacob is Desdemona. Though Branagh’s Iago is a little too Branagh for me, many reviewers praise his role.

Don’t Look Now:

Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie star in this “psychic thriller.” The film is widely praised for its visual style, its score, and its unique editing style. This is not an “easy” movie, but it will leave you thinking and discussing it long after. One thing is for sure: You won’t ever look at a child in a red raincoat the same away again.

A Little Romance:

How could we ignore this one? If nothing other than its early ’80′s nostalgia we had to include it. Don’t be fooled, though. This charming coming of age film, Diane Lane’s first, will get under your skin. Early adolescent romance in the city of Venice, without the darkness of Thomas Mann. And who can resist Sally Kellerman and Laurence Olivier?

Casanova:

This film doesn’t receive the critical praise of the others here, but it is a fun diversion nonetheless, a guilty pleasure. The late great Heath Ledger stars as Venice’s most notorious womanizer. Jeremy Irons is in this one too. (Does he receive a commission from the city?) Though the story is frothy, eye-candy abounds, with Sienna Miller, Lena Olin, and the glorious visual delights of the city in the eighteenth century.

The Italian Job:

Finally, we end with a slick Hollywood action movie. This is an homage to the original 1969 British movie. The plot moves quickly, the film looks fantastic, and overall it’s just a fun movie. The Italian job stars Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def, and Donald Sutherland (another actor on Venice’s retainer?).