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Venice & the Veneto

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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We feature a handpicked selection of travel guides, maps, literature, books on art, nature and culture, all designed to help you get more out of your travels to Venice & the Veneto. Order an essential package, and we'll ship any additional items for free.

Essential Reading

Item EXITL159. Buy these 4 items as a set for $85 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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Eyewitness Guide Venice & the Veneto

Eyewitness Guide Venice & the Veneto

by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES

Featuring color photography, dozens of excellent maps and a synopsis of the region's attractions. With a pullout map. (ITL200, $20.00)

The World of Venice

The World of Venice

by Jan Morris

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 315 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Morris displays her talent for research, anecdote and well-wrought prose in this spirited history of a beloved city. (ITL12, $18.95)

Art and Life in Renaissance Venice

Art and Life in Renaissance Venice

by Patricia Brown

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 176 PAGES

This compact volume evokes the spirit of Renaissance Venice with authoritative essays and 120 full-color illustrations. (ITL57, $46.80)

Venice Map

Venice Map

by Borch Maps

  • 2008
  • MAP

A colorful, detailed city map of Venice, perfect for finding your way around the famously labyrinthine streets and canals. (ITL26, $8.95)

 
Fodor's Venice's 25 Best

Fodor's Venice's 25 Best


by Citypack

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 176 PAGES

This shirt-pocket guide includes an excellent map of the city center and essential information. (ITL106, $12.99)

Lonely Planet Italian Phrasebook

Lonely Planet Italian Phrasebook


by Lonely Planet

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 260 PAGES

A handy palm-size phrasebook for the traveler. (ITL531, $8.99)

Venice from the Ground Up

Venice from the Ground Up


by James H. S. McGregor

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

A walking tour, history and celebration, this masterly, personal guide to Venice includes a short account of McGregor's favorite sites, 10 maps and suggested walks (and boat rides). (ITL792, $29.95)

Venice, An Architectural Guide


by Richard J. Goy

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

This guide to piazzas, palazzos and architecture of Venice includes walking tours, color illustrations and historical details from architect and critic Richard Goy. (ITA180, $28.00)

A History of Venice

A History of Venice


by John Julius Norwich

  • HISTORY
  • 1989
  • PAPER
  • 673 PAGES

The great historian Norwich marshals myriad personalities, battles, sieges, and facts into a vivid portrait of the Venetian Republic spanning the 1,000 years up to its 1797 defeat at the hands of Napoleon. (ITL177, $26.00)

An Artist in Venice


by Adam Van Doren

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 128 PAGES

In this informative and charming memoir, Adam Van Doren, grandson of the Pulitzer-prize-winning poet Mark Van Doren, provides a personal and detailed account of his love affair with the the city of Venice. With 21 full-color drawings by the author, this is a must-have for anyone interested in Venice's rich aesthetic heritage. (ITA303, $26.95)

Piazza San Marco

Piazza San Marco


by Iain Fenlon

  • HISTORY
  • 2009
  • HARD COVER
  • 224 PAGES

Fenlon reveals the dynamic, colorful, and noisy history of this grand square at the heart of Venetian civic life in this sophisticated pocket guide. (ITA113, $19.95)

The Middle Sea

The Middle Sea


by John Julius Norwich

  • HISTORY
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 720 PAGES

A marvelous writer who has already tackled Byzantium, the Normans in Sicily and Venice, Norwich spins his magic in this story of culture, trade and politics, royalty and rulers, wars and religion in the Mediterranean. (MED98, $21.00)

Venice, Pure City

Venice, Pure City


by Peter Ackroyd

  • HISTORY
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 432 PAGES

Ackroyd's evocative, novelistic portrait of the city captures the spirit of the canals, markets and festivals, the merchants, artisans, scandals and seductions that have made Venice forever fascinating. (ITA183, $21.00)

The Art of the Renaissance

The Art of the Renaissance


by Peter Murray

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 286 PAGES

A classic, illustrated survey of the world of the Renaissance and its art. With chapters on Florence and its artists, the Netherlands, early illustrated books and many individual artists. (ITL14, $18.95)

Venice 697-1797: A City, a Republic, an Empire

Venice 697-1797: A City, a Republic, an Empire


by Aluise Zorzi

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2002
  • HARD COVER
  • 303 PAGES

Zorzi reveals the growth of Venice from a small fishing village to a bustling metropolis whose cultural, political and economic dominance extended over the entire Mediterranean world with this sumptuous collection of 340 color paintings, photographs and drawings. (MED186, $75.00)

Confessions of an Art Addict, A Memoir

Confessions of an Art Addict, A Memoir


by Peggy Guggenheim

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 176 PAGES

This classic memoir captures the spirit and intrigues of the 1930s art world by the heiress whose collection of modern art is showcased in Venice. (ITL128, $13.95)

Venice Is a Fish

Venice Is a Fish


by Tiziano Scarpa

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

The hugely popular Venetian novelist, poet and playwright makes his English-language debut with these marvelously digressive essays on the many moods and pleasures of La Serenissima. (ITL964, $12.00)

Watermark

Watermark


by Joseph Brodsky

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1993
  • PAPER
  • 135 PAGES

A metaphysical, metaphorical meditation on Venice by poet Joseph Brodsky. His ruminations take the form of 48 short chapters, each prompted by an idea, memory or scene associated with his much loved city. (ITL105, $13.00)

A Traveller's Companion to Venice

A Traveller's Companion to Venice


by John Julius Norwich

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 432 PAGES

An illuminating selection, edited and introduced by the great John Julius Norwich. (ITL484, $16.95)

A Venetian Affair, A True Tale of Forbidden Love in the 18th Century

A Venetian Affair, A True Tale of Forbidden Love in the 18th Century


by Andrea Di Robilant

  • LITERATURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

This lively account of an affair between an Anglo-Italian beauty and her aristocratic lover (in which Casanova has a minor role) plays out in the richly evoked milieu of 18th-century Venice, Paris and London. (ITL604, $15.95)

Dead Lagoon, An Aurelio Zen Mystery

Dead Lagoon, An Aurelio Zen Mystery


by Michael Dibdin

  • MYSTERY
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 297 PAGES

Dibdin -- a master of ambiguous settings, shady dealings and fast-paced prose -- returns to Venice in this sixth book in the thoroughly enjoyable Aurelio Zen series. (ITL577, $14.95)

Death at La Fenice

Death at La Fenice


by Donna Leon

  • MYSTERY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 270 PAGES

The first of the tremendously good Guido Brunetti mysteries, all set in the author's beloved Venice, in which a famous conductor is found dead at the celebrated theater of the title. (ITL555, $14.99)

Death in Venice and Other Tales


by Thomas Mann

  • LITERATURE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

Neugroschel's fresh translations of Mann's celebrated title tale and 11 other classic stories capture the sensuality of the German original. (ITL996, $12.00)

In the Company of the Courtesan

In the Company of the Courtesan


by Sarah Dunant

  • LITERATURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 385 PAGES

Dunant paints a vivid, earthy portrait of Renaissance Venice in this absorbing novel of intrigue, ambition and love -- cleverly narrated by the wily dwarf Bucino Teodoldo, loyal companion of the courtesan. (ITL650, $13.95)

The Aspern Papers and Other Stories


by Henry James

  • LITERATURE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 254 PAGES

Henry James, like his narrator Jeffrey Aspern, whiled away the hours at Florians, a favorite cafe in much-loved Venice, wonderfully evoked in this atmospheric short story. (ITA116, $6.95)

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Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.