Product Description

This is the walking guide to Venice taking in the cultural highlights and illustrated with paintings, photographs and engravings to reveal how the city became how it is today. None of Venice's innumerable chroniclers have portrayed the Serenissima's character with quite such a combination of the scholarly, the informal and the intimate. Over the years thousands of readers, starting this book, have been relieved to encounter its famously undemanding approach to the city - 'Generally the first thing to do in Venice is to sit down and have a coffee': but by the time they get to the end of it, all the same, they will have learnt virtually everything that an educated stranger needs to know about the place, its art and history, besides being subtly entertained throughout. (from Jan Morris' introduction to this new 8th revised edition published on the occasion of the title's 40th Anniversary).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30743 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
Whether in prospect or in retrospect, or there in one's hands in the city itself, the most informative and engaging guide to the past and present of Venice. - Philip PullmanEssential on any Venetian outing - Sunday TelegraphVenice with Passion - The guardianThis magic book...not only the best guide-book to that city ever written, but the best guide-book to any city ever written - Bernard Levin in The TimesThe grand old man of Venice - Brian Sewell in the Evening Standard

Customer Reviews

a book revealing secrets of Venice
A great companion to exploring the city. Idiosyncratic, enlightening and illustrated with carefully chosen paintings, photographs and engravings that reveal the true essence of the city

I feel like I've already been there
This is not a usual guidebook - you'll still need one of those. It is like having someone talking to you about Venice. It is packed with information about people, places, and the history of Venice. A wonderful book to read, and highly recommended. I could not give it 5 stars as pictures are rarely next to the text they relate to and are not titled, which I found irritating as I hunted around to match them up.This is the 8th edition, and the publishers say 'essentially unchanged', which means the sections on food and restaurants, and transport are unreliable. There are no clear modern maps to help you learn the layout of the city.