Fernand Braudel ,
The Mediterranean in
the Age of Philip II
(University of
California). Vast,
magisterial analysis of
the economics and
politics of the
Mediterranean in the
second half of the
sixteenth century, with
Venice rarely off the
stage. Braudel's
deployment of masses of
raw material (population
statistics, contemporary
chronicles, trade
documents) requires
prolonged and unwavering
attention.
Patricia Fortini
Brown , Venice
and Antiquity
(Yale). Subtitled
"The Venetian Sense
of the Past", this
fascinating book
explores a subject that
strangely no-one has
tackled in depth before
- the ways in which an
imperialist city with no
pre-Christian past went
about classicizing its
self-image. Drawing on a
vast range of cultural
artefacts, from the
great monuments to
private manuscripts and
medals, Brown adds a new
dimension to the history
of Venice between the
thirteenth and the
sixteenth centuries, the
city's Golden Age. It's
not easy going but the
effort is worthwhile,
and superlative pictures
go some way to leaven
the text.
David Chambers and
Brian Pullen (eds.),
Venice: A Documentary
History, 1450-1630
(Blackwell, o/p). A fine
anthology of
contemporary chronicles
and documents, virtually
none of which have
previously been
translated. Invaluable
for getting the feel of
the city in its heyday.
Robert Finlay
, Politics in
Renaissance Venice
(o/p). Subverts a few
received ideas about the
political tranquillity
of La Serenissima, and
is laced with anecdotes
about the squabbling,
scheming aristocracy.
Though not the first
book you'd read after
your holiday, it
explains the mechanics
of power in Venice with
great clarity.
Christopher
Hibbert , Venice,
The Biography of a City
(Grafton, o/p; Norton,
o/p). The usual highly
proficient Hibbert
synthesis of a vast
range of secondary
material. Very good on
the changing social
fabric of the city, with
more on
twentieth-century Venice
than most others.
Excellent illustrations
too - but, bafflingly,
it's currently out of
print on both sides of
the Atlantic.
Frederic C. Lane
, Venice, A Maritime
Republic (Johns
Hopkins, o/p). The most
authoritative one-volume
socio-economic history
of the city in English,
based on decades of
research. Excellent on
the infrastructure of
the city, and on the
changing texture of
everyday life. A rather
more arduous read than
John Julius Norwich's
populist history (see
below), which is
presumably why it's
slipped out of print.
Jan Morris , The
Venetian Empire: A Sea
Voyage (Penguin).
Anecdotal survey of the
Republic's Mediterranean
empire, with excursions
on the evidence left
behind. More a sketch
than an attempt to give
the full picture, it
bears the usual Morris
stylistic imprint - ie,
a touch too rich for
some tastes.
John Julius
Norwich , A
History of Venice
(Penguin; Vintage).
Although it's far more
reliant on secondary
sources than Lane, and
nowhere near as
compendious - you won't
learn much, for example,
about Venice's finances,
which is a major
omission in a history of
the quintessential
mercantile city - this
book is unbeatable for
its grand narrative
sweep.
