Venice History of the Floating City

This book is a sweeping historical portrait of the floating city of Venice from its foundations to the present day. Joanne M. Ferraro considers Venice's unique construction within an amphibious environment and identifies the Asian, European and North African exchange networks that made it a vibrant and ethnically diverse Mediterranean cultural centre. Incorporating recent scholarly insights, the author discusses key themes related to the city's social, cultural, religious and environmental history, as well as its politics and economy. A refuge and a pilgrim stop; an international emporium and centre of manufacture; a mecca of spectacle, theatre, music, gambling and sexual experimentation; and an artistic and architectural marvel, Venice's allure springs eternal in every phase of the city's fascinating history.

Preface; Chronology of historical events; Chronology of architecture, art, literature, and music; 1. Reconstructing the floating city; 2. The riches of Asia, Europe, and North Africa; 3. A pride of lions; 4. Identities and modes of socialization; 5. Material life; 6. City of myth; 7. The Serenissima's wayward subjects; 8. The baroque stage; 9. Epilogue: the tides of change; Appendices.

Joanne M. Ferraro is Professor and Chair of History at San Diego State University. She is the author of Family and Public Life in Brescia, 1580–1650: The Foundations of Power in the Venetian State (Cambridge, 1993); Marriage Wars in Late Renaissance Venice (2001), which was awarded best book from the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and the Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize in Italian History; and Nefarious Crimes, Contested Justice: Illicit Sex and Infanticide in the Republic of Venice, 1557–1789 (2008).