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Venice Rising: Aqua Granda, Pandemic, Rebirth is available to buy direct from Amazon. We recommend you purchase from your local Amazon site:
Review by Michelle Lovric
Author of The Book of Human Skin, The Remedy, Carnevale.
This book opens a window on the Venetian experience of living through the most searing months since Napoleon stamped out her Republic. In voice and image, we are let inside the drowned and locked-down city; the gondoliers trying to lasso a bucking boat in the vortex of the winds of November 12th; the antique dealer who feels responsible for the past and future lives of all the objects she imagines drowning; people gathering in thigh-boots outside flooded bars to sing the “Hymn to San Marco”; the discovery of two gondolas forced inside reception at the Hotel Danieli. Then there is the silence of the pandemic, punctuated only by church-bells: desperate thoughts of thousands of people struggling to breathe; ducks rambling down streets where tourists once loitered; gondoliers and lady-rowers delivering groceries to the needy; the Grand Canal a millpond reflecting the slow clouds.
In a city “naked without admirers,” a city resting from overtourism, there emerge new thoughts for a more mindful future. This timely and moving book is expertly curated by Kathleen Ann González, author of A Beautiful Woman in Venice.
JoAnn Locktov, Bella Figura Publications
I loved Venice at first sight, but it wasn’t until I read Venice Rising that I truly appreciated—and fell in love with—Venetians. They are, as historian William Thayer observed a century ago, “magnificent by nature”.
In the last year Venice has reeled under two disasters: a devastating once-in-a-century flood and the coronavirus crisis that triggered a months-long lockdown. In Venice Rising, a mosaic of citizens—artisans, rowers, teachers, performers, shop owners, scions of its oldest families—present a first-hand view of their city as they had never seen it: deserted, silent, isolated, anxious yet at the same time never more beautiful or serene.
With intense emotion and eloquent words, these eyewitnesses take us inside a magical place, “a poem without words” that comforts, haunts, energises and inspires them to overcome the nightmares of despair and fear with bigger dreams of a new future for Venice.
Venice Rising is a symphony of love, with many voices blending together to stir the soul just as deeply as their beloved hometown has for so many centuries.
Dianne Hales, author of La Bella Lingua, La Passione, and Mona Lisa
Peter Burman, the Director of the Guild of St. George, has been enjoying his copy of Venice Rising - in fact, he has written a book review which you can read here. It was shared in the newsletter that goes out to the Guild of St. George Companions. Besides writing the book review, Peter has also been speaking to various groups to inspire them to take up the cause of protecting Venice, a city that was particularly dear to Ruskin’s heart. You may already have your own copy of his Stones of Venice, considered one of the seminal texts about the city’s architecture.
As a student of Venetian history, I’m gratified that Kathleen González has taken on the important task of capturing the first-hand stories of Venetians who’ve experienced the staggering challenges of 2019 and 2020 in their native city. In addition to giving hope to those of us who love Venice about the resilience of the city and of Venetians themselves, Venice Rising will also be an important source for those who want to understand our tumultuous times through the eyes of Venetians who experienced them.
Laura Morelli, art historian and historical novelist
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