Venice Triumphant: The Horizons of a Myth
Crouzet-Pavan (medieval history, Sorbonne) has adopted a novel approach to retelling a story that has been told many times: she sets out to relate the history of Venice by examining the spaces that produced it. She begins by looking at the site where Venice was created, detailing the engineering skills it took to construct a city in the defining space of a lagoon. From there she moves to other aquatic spaces-the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean. She recounts the Venetians' gradual mastery of these spaces and the impact on the fortunes of the city and its inhabitants that such mastery brought. The next space the author considers is the land beside Venice-northeastern Italy, an area that the Venetians came to dominate as their maritime power contracted. The author then pulls back to examine the spaces within Venice. For example, the Piazza San Marco is the center for a discussion of Venetian government and the many communal ceremonies that centered on the piazza. This work will be of value to historians and students of Venetian history. Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries.Robert J. Andrews, Duluth P.L., MNCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.