Wikimecum:Resources

This page contains some recommended films and books relating to Venice. Use it to help guide your preparation in the months before you go abroad.

Movies

Watch these movies with other people who are going to Venice with you:

• Casanova (2005, Heath Ledger)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Casino Royale (2006 James Bond film)
• The Italian Job
• Travel Videos (Rick Steves is entertaining, informed, and informative)
• Prof. Carrera's assorted Venice videos (either on reserve at the WPI library or in his office - ask him)
• This segment from a National Geographic video about Venice, featuring Prof. Carrera.
• This YouTube video, from some sort of documentary, gives a good idea of what Venice looks like and what is happening there now.

Books at the WPI Library

As Martin Garrett writes in his preface to Venice (ironically not a book that's worth reading), "there is no substitute for going to Venice. The experience can, however, be enhanced by reading about the place." Good advice! All of the books below are of great value in learning about Venice.

• Venice, a colour guide to the city, by John Kent, DG672 K46 1988.

A beautifully hand-illustrated, comprehensive tour of the Grand Canal, with lots of neat little facts scattered throughout. A very readable and informative guide to Venice, covering all major sights like the Basilica, Accademia, and I Frari (and many minor ones). Also contains a good walking atlas with useful landmarks noted for when you inevitably get lost. If you can find this book in a store, buy it and bring it with you to Venice.

• Lonely Planet: Venice, by Damien Simonis, DG672 S57 2004.

Standard guide-book fare, but aimed at the university reader and will help you decide what you want to see while in Venice. Some color photos, as well as lots of general information about visiting the city. Also contains ideas for day trips near Venice (e.g., Verona, home of Romeo and Juliet). You might want to buy something like this to bring with you.

• The Science of Saving Venice, by Caroline Fletcher and Jane Da Mosto, DG672.5 F54 2004.

Don't be fooled by the dreary cover. This informational booklet covers many of the topics addressed by previous WPI projects, from the perspective of Venice in Peril, one of the non-profit organizations working to save Venice. Full of excellent photographs and drawings that serve to illustrate and enhance the accompanying text about the hard issues facing Venice today. Highly recommended for "science-y" projects.

• The City of Falling Angels, by John Berendt, DG674.2 B47 2005.

All Venice-bound students should read this entertaining work of non-fiction. It paints a picture of some eccentric modern Venetians, like the man who pretends his palazzo is a rocket-ship and the "Rat Man of Treviso". Based around the 1996 fire that destroyed Venice's opera house (La Fenice - "The Phoenix"), you'll learn a lot about Venice from this book and not even realize it.

• Venice, by John Davis, DG674.2 D3.

A colorful book of photos and paintings produced by Newsweek's Book Division. Also contains a good deal of history and a small section with samplings from literature about Venice (see also Venice: An Illustrated Anthology below). A good pictorial overview that includes many sights that will quickly become familiar when you arrive in Venice.

• Venice, the tourist maze: a cultural critique of the world’s most touristed city, by Robert Davis and Garry Marvin, DG674.2 D34 2004.

A book full of things that you won't read in any guide-book, including a history of the Venetian tourist trade, which started in the 1300s with pilgrims en route to the Holy Land. This book doesn't contain any sightseeing tips, but you will certainly gain insight into tourism scams, the underground economy, and more. Learn how to avoid the "Bermuda Shorts Triangle", discover why it's bad to hang out in Campo Santa Margherita and to buy counterfeit merchandise from illegal street vendors, and prevent yourself from becoming yet another gullible tourist. Highly recommended!

• Venice: An Illustrated Anthology, compiled by Michael Marqusee, DG674.2 V42 1989.

A compendium of easily-digested excerpts by famous writers, poets, etc., all about Venice. This book gives the reader an appreciation for the number of literary figures Venice has influenced over the years: Browning, Byron, Casanova, Goethe, Dante, James, Petrarch, Pound, Ruskin, Twain, to name a few. Also contains some beautiful photographs and reproductions of drawings and paintings.

• Venice, by Francesco da Mosto, DG674.7 D36 2004.

Venice, not for the ignorant tourist, but for those who are genuinely interested in learning about the city from the mouth of a Venetian. Da Mosto mostly steers clear of the main tourist traps, focusing instead on the "Venetian" neighborhoods that WPI students tend to reside and work in. A BBC book with uncompromising production values and a decidedly personal take on the city.

• Venice From The Air, photographed by Guido Alberto Rossi, DG674.7 R67 1988 (oversize).

A book of photos of Venice from an unusual aerial perspective, accompanied by over-the-top captions that try far too hard to be poetic. Perhaps more interesting to the student who has returned from Venice. By the way, if you haven't yet seen Microsoft Live Maps' "Bird's Eye" views of Venice, check it out!

• Venetian Life, by William Dean Howells, DG675.6 H6 1971.

This is not the first book you should consult prior to visiting Venice, but it is worth it if you have the time. Written around the turn of the 20th century, when the Venetians were still at odds with their Austrian occupiers, and tourism had yet to become the industry it is today, Howells (an American) describes the many aspects of Venice he witnessed while visiting the city. It's half guide-book, half diary, and not half bad.

• Art and Life in Renaissance Venice, by Patricia Fortini Brown, N6921 V5 B75 1997.

For those interested in art history, this book (by a well-known Venice scholar) provides an excellent, colorful, portable overview. The best, most readable book on Venetian art on offer at the WPI library.

• Venetian Colour: Marble, Mosaic, Painting and Glass, 1250-1550, by Paul Hills, N6921 V5 H56 1999 (oversize).

Undeniably a coffee-table book, but one with striking photographs of Venetian artistic and architectural highlights. If you like to take pictures, you might see some things you'd like to photograph while in Venice.

• The treasures of Venice, by Antonio Manno, N6921 V5 M3 2004.

An "art guide" to the city's endless masterpieces of art and architecture. Beautifully photographed and filled to the brim with images and information. Recommended because it heartily acknowledges the fact that the best things in Venice lie off the beaten track.

• St. Mark’s: the art and architecture of church and state in Venice, edited by Ettore Vio, N7952 V46 S6813 2003 (oversize).

An excellent book of photographs and essays, dedicated solely to the Basilica di San Marco. Even ignoring the text and only looking at the pictures, you'll quickly develop an appreciation for why this unique building has developed such a reputation worldwide, and for all the work, time, energy and artistic genius that went into its creation.

• Venice: The City and its Architecture, by Richard Goy. NA1121 V4 G68 1997.

This book does an admirable job of hitting all the significant buildings, styles, influences and motifs you will see in Venice. A great resource for those seeking to understand and appreciate what will surround them.

• Venice: Extraordinary Maintenance, by Gianfranco Pertot, NA1121 V4 P4713 2004.

An intriguing look at the endless restoration processes necessary to keep Venice from completely falling apart. Contains many images and photographs, including fascinating before/after comparison from assorted restoration projects over the years. Also gives an interesting (and depressing) perspective on the effects of modernization on the city's architecture.

• Palladio’s Venice: Architecture and Society in a Renaissance Republic, by Tracy E. Cooper, NA1123 P2 C66 2005.

A guide to many of the more interesting buildings in Venice, including San Pietro di Castello, San Giorgio Maggiore, and Il Redentore, all products of the artistic genius of Andrea Palladio. Excellent photographs of interiors and exteriors. Be sure to visit these beautiful, airy masterpieces when you're in Venice!

• Decorative floors of Venice, by Tudy Sammartini, NA3820 S3513 2000.

A perspective on Venice like no other. In a city more than 1,000 years old, artists had time to decorate everything, even the floors of churches and city pavements. Check out this book and then, when in Venice, don't forget to look down!

• The Basilica of St. Mark in Venice, edited by Ettore Vio, NA5621 B3 1999.

A companion to the other Vio book on Saint Mark's (above). Recent, colorful, readable and comprehensive in its approach to this instantly recognizable symbol of Venice. Full of excellent photographs.

• Venetian Palaces, text by Alvise Zorzi, NA7755 Z6713 1990 (oversize).

A truly massive book with more than 500 pages of large, colorful photographs of Venetian palazzi, inside and out. Worth signing out for the section on the Doge's Palace alone, but the views behind private Venetian closed doors are unparalleled, too. There is a nice emphasis on public art, for those who are interested. You will be astounded by page after page of extreme decoration and wealth.

• Living in Venice, by Elisabeth Vedrenne, NK2052 V45 V43 1990.

Want to see what Venice looked like in the late 1980s? This entertaining book contains almost exclusively photos of Venetian architecture and interior design, from the most ornate interiors and gardens of Renaissance palazzi right up to the "cutting-edge" apartments of high-powered Venetian lawyers and the city's modern-day nobility. This blast from the past is entertaining to peruse, although not particularly relevant to the WPI student's experience.