It has always been my choice to read historical fiction and other place centered fiction rather than travel guides. It is so easy to get overwhelmed with facts and dry historical data when touring. But reading some really good atmospheric novels before and while at a location really allows one to more fully experience a place.
Here are some good choices for Venetian fiction:
The City Of Falling Angels
by John Berendt
Traces the aftermath of the 1996 Venice opera house fire, an event that devastated Venetian society and was investigated by the author, who through interviews with such locals as a suicidal poet, a surrealist painter, and a master glassblower learned about the region's rich cultural history. By the author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
In the Company of the Courtesan
by Sarah Dunant
A second historical novel by the author of the mesmerizing The Birth of Venus. Dunant paints a vivid, earthy portrait of Renaissance Venice in this absorbing tale of intrigue, ambition and love. It's narrated by the wily dwarf Bucino Teodoldo, loyal companion of the courtesan of the title, Fiammetta Bianchini. Escaping the 1527 sacking of Rome, they connive and claw and cheat to resume a position of their former glory in Venice.
Death at La Fenice
by Donna Leon
The first of what is now a series of fourteen crime novels set in Venice and featuring the immensely likable detective commissario Guido Brunetti. One of the many virtues of the books in this series is that Donna Leon gets Venice right.
more Brunetti books
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
This is the modern classic and deservedly so. Mann's Venice is seductive and duplicitous--"half fairy tale, half snare."
A Venetian Affair by Andrea di Robilant
A Tale of Forbidden Love in the 18th Century: A packet of letters, found by the author's father in the attic of a palace on the Grand Canal, reveals a passionate, illicit 18th-century love affair. Through the letters, the era of Casanova comes vividly to life--masked balls, elegant salons, louche casinos, and social, political, and romantic intrigue.
The Thief Lord
by Cornelia Funke
The hidden canals and crumbling rooftops of Venice shelter runaways and children with incredible secrets in this captivating novel for ages 9 to 12.(**Still worth a read, even though it is for children)
Italian Hours
by Henry James
A classic series of travel essays written between 1872 and 1909 on the art, religion and people of Italy. James is an observant guide to Rome, Naples, Florence and other great destinations in the 19th century.
Here are some good choices for Venetian fiction:
by John Berendt
Traces the aftermath of the 1996 Venice opera house fire, an event that devastated Venetian society and was investigated by the author, who through interviews with such locals as a suicidal poet, a surrealist painter, and a master glassblower learned about the region's rich cultural history. By the author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
by Sarah Dunant
A second historical novel by the author of the mesmerizing The Birth of Venus. Dunant paints a vivid, earthy portrait of Renaissance Venice in this absorbing tale of intrigue, ambition and love. It's narrated by the wily dwarf Bucino Teodoldo, loyal companion of the courtesan of the title, Fiammetta Bianchini. Escaping the 1527 sacking of Rome, they connive and claw and cheat to resume a position of their former glory in Venice. Death at La Fenice
by Donna Leon
The first of what is now a series of fourteen crime novels set in Venice and featuring the immensely likable detective commissario Guido Brunetti. One of the many virtues of the books in this series is that Donna Leon gets Venice right.
more Brunetti books
This is the modern classic and deservedly so. Mann's Venice is seductive and duplicitous--"half fairy tale, half snare."
A Tale of Forbidden Love in the 18th Century: A packet of letters, found by the author's father in the attic of a palace on the Grand Canal, reveals a passionate, illicit 18th-century love affair. Through the letters, the era of Casanova comes vividly to life--masked balls, elegant salons, louche casinos, and social, political, and romantic intrigue.
by Cornelia Funke
The hidden canals and crumbling rooftops of Venice shelter runaways and children with incredible secrets in this captivating novel for ages 9 to 12.(**Still worth a read, even though it is for children)
by Henry James
A classic series of travel essays written between 1872 and 1909 on the art, religion and people of Italy. James is an observant guide to Rome, Naples, Florence and other great destinations in the 19th century.
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