Venice's unique and captivating charm has probably more than any modern city - spawned a remarkable number of classic travel books, novels, and historical texts. For the basics, particularly if you are a history buff, you can turn to John Julius Norwich's weighty A History of Venice. Viscount Norwich, although strictly speaking an amateur historian, is considered considered an outstanding chronicler of Venice's colourful past (at least to the English-speaking public). Norwich has also written the frothier Paradise of Cities, which is a gossipy tour through 19th century Venice, and the very useful A Traveller's Companion to Venice. Christopher Hibbert's Venice - The Biography of a City covers simliar ground to Norwich's book and is equally crammed with information. For more historical context, you can turn to older texts, such as John Ruskin's Stones of Venice , which has a very heavy Victorian text with strong personal opinions on Venetian art and architecture and Henry James' Italian Hours, which contains a lengthy and lovely section on Venice.
If you're more interested in taking an off-the-beaten track approach, the City Secrets travel books has a Florence-Venice - Small Towns of Italy volume, that includes restaurant suggestions from Marcella Hazan.
If your goal is to see every bit of art that Venice can provide, consult The Treasures of Venice by Manno, Venchierutti & Codato (Rizzoli Art Guides). The 15 itineraries are detailed and robust. If time is more limited, flip through the pages for art that inspires you and direct your touring to those areas of interest.
Jan Morris' classic The World of Venice is the must read for any traveler to the city. For those with a shorter attention span, Mary McCarthy's Venice Observed gives the author's dryly ambivalent look at the city. John Behrendt's recent work, City of Falling Angels, inspired by the aftermath of the La Fenice fire is a fascinating account of the way modern Venice maintains its equilibrium. In City of Falling Angels, Behrendt uses the La Fenice fire and subsequent investigation as the back story for his exploration of Venice's more colorful citizens and their, and their families', roles in the city's history.
Fiction-wise, Venice has inspired some great short works: Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice," as well as Henry James' short story " The Aspern Papers" and Daphne du Maurier's "Don't Look Now" (in the 1970s, du Maurier's story was made into a film starring Donald Sutherland & Julie Christie--worth watching). British writer Ian McEwan has also taken on Venice in his atmospheric (and creepy) novel The Comfort of Strangers, which later became an equally atmospheric (and creepy) movie! The crime novels of Donna Leon featuring Commisario Brunetti are enjoyable particularly for the picture they give of modern Venetian life.
There are, of course, countless guide books for Venice.. One that is much more than a guidebook , idiosyncratic, delightfully written, is :Venice for pleasure, by J.G.Links. It takes to on a tour of Venice which guides you as you walk. It even includes a section: Venice for children. Two great guide books for kids going to Venice include: Venice for kids by Elisabetta Pasqualin and VivaVenice by Paola Zoffoli. Give these books to older kids and let them be in charge of trip planning or let them explain the sights once in Venice, Murano, etc.
Speaking of children, there are several good books for them. For non-fiction, the best for a young child (and up) is M. Sasek's delightful book, This is Venice, (recently updated in 2005) with wonderful spare prose and delightful pictures, so much is conveyed to prepare little ones to go or to savor upon return. For the older child, there is Great Cities Through the Ages: Venice by Renzo Rossi. For an excellent book about the travels of Venice-native Marco Polo, see the beautifully illustrated and balanced presentation by Russell Freedman's The Adventures of Marco Polo (the Polo men did not introduce Chinese noodles to the Italians which became pasta). For fiction, starting with younger children, see Zoe Sophia's Scrapbook: An Adventure in Venice (complete with restaurant recommendations) by Claudia Mauner & Elisa Smalley. Children will also enjoy Jack & Annie's adventures in Venice set in the 1700s (and will be keen to see the art of Tiepolo and to explore St. Mark's Square) in Carnival at Candlelight by Mary Pope Osborne. Children 8+, will enjoy the magical and amusingly sinister, The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke. For tweens and teens, read Donna Jo Napoli's book, For the Love of Venice, which delves into the ecological challenge of Venice and the various concerns of its residents within the construct of a tourist boy meets local girl story. Her other book, Daughter of Venice is a good choice for girls in the same age range, this book presents what life was like for a very bright girl living in the 16th century who goes on to the University in Padua (this story was inspired by a real woman).
The BBC had a programme in several episodes on Venice hosted by Francesco da Mosto, scion of an old Venetian family.A beautifully illustrated book has been subsequently published: Francesco da Mosto's Venice: The Dramatic History of the World's Most Beautiful City. He also authored a book on Italy, Francesco's Italy.and an interesting book about food in Venice called Francesco's Kitchen with the subtitle "An Intimate Guide to the Authentic Flavours of Venice".
Maps
All visitors to Venice need an excellent, detailed map. Red Maps' Venice is a great choice. It highlights in different colors the churches, museums, hotels, palaces (or "ca's") and hotels, and clearly sets out the vaporetto (waterbus) lines and their stops. It is laminated and folds neatly to the size of an envelope in your bag. Indispensable. The Touring Club Italiano Venezia map at a scale of 1:5,000 is detailed and accurate.
Venetian cuisine and eating in Venice
Some useful books on the Venetian cuisine with recipes include-
Francesco da Moro - Francesco's Kitchen. An Intimate Guide to the Authentic Flavours of Venice published by Ebury Press 2007
Jeanette Nance Nordio - Taste of Venice - Traditional Venetian Cooking published by Webb and Bower 1988
Giles Plazy - The Travelling Gourmet - Venice and its Regions published by Flammarion,2001
Gino Santin - La Cucina Veneziana, The food and cooking of Vencie publishedby Ebury Press 1988
There are two useful guides to eating in Venice -
Shannon Essa and Ruth Edenbaum - Chow! Venice published by The Wine Appreciation Guild and Chow Bella Books 2007 A detailed and chatty account from an American viewpoint of dining in Venice
Michela Scibilia - Venice Osterie published by VianelloPhotobooks 2007. Short, pithy accounts of a large number of establishments with either internal or external photographs of all the places mentioned.
Architecture
For detailed books on the architecture of Venice see -
Deborah Howard - The Architectural History of Venice - Yale University Press 2005 (Authoritative account by the Professor of Architectural History at Cambridge University)
Ennio Concina - A History of Venetian Architecture - Cambridge University Press 1999 (The author lectures in Byzantine art at the University of Venice)
Iain Fenlon - The Ceremonial City: History, Memory and Myth in Renaissance Venice - Yale University Press 2007 (The author is Professor of Historical Musicology at Cambridge University)
Ettore Vio (Ed.) - St. Marks:The Art and Architecture of Church and State in Venice - Riverside Book Company, New York 2001 ( No fewer than 17 authors contribute chapters to this detailed account of the Basilica of San Marco)
Richard j. Goy - Building Renaissance Venice - Yale University Press 2006. (Well illustrated account of the development of the city between c. `1430 - 1500 with accounts of the architects, builders and patrons who paid for the great building spree)
Andrea Palladio (1508 - 1580) -
Caroline Constant - The Palladio Guide - Princeton Architectural Press 1993 (There may be a more recent edition, useful guide with location maps for all Palladio's designs in the Veneto, Vicenza and Venice)
Robert Tavernor - Palladio and Palladianism - Thames & Hudson 1994 (General introduction to Palladio, his background and influence on architectural design not only in Venice but in Europe and America)
Tracey E. Cooper - Palladio's Venice - Yale University Press 2005 (Sumptuous book,. well illustrated, describing both the people and buildings associated with Palladio in Venice).
Painting
Useful books on Venetian painters include -
Duby, Georges & Guy Lobrichon (Ed.) -The History of Venice in Painting - Abbeville Press, New York/London 2007 A sumptuously illustrated survey of Venetian painting from Paolo Veneziano (pre 1300 - 1358/62) onwards. Before this the major artistic activity in Venice was directed to mosaic work, the earliest of which can be seen in Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello, which dates from 638 AD.
David Jaffe (Ed.) - Titian - National Gallery, London / Yale University Press 2003. The catalogue of a major Exhibition of probably Venice's greatest painter with fine illustrations of his major works and essays by 8 experts.
Philip Rylands - Palma Vecchio - Camridge University Press 1992. A detailed illustrated study of the work of Palma Vecchio, a contemporary of Titian and Giorgione , who was a major painter in the Venetian renaissance and died, aged 48, in 1528
David Alan Brown, Peter Humfrey & Mauro Lucco (Ed.) - Lorenzo Lotto - National Gallery of Art, Washington / Yale University Press 1997.. The illustrated catalogue of a major exhibition of this painter, born in Venice in 1480, the same year as Palma Vecchio, who spent much of his life wandering in northern Italy. There are 8 essays discussing the life of the artist, his influences and sources and a complelte catalogue of his works.
David Alan Brown & Sylvia Ferino-Pagden - Bellini - Giorgione - Titian and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting - National Gallery of Artt, Washington / Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna / Yale University Press 2006. The catalogue of a major Exhibition held in Washington in 2006 and Vienna 2006/7. Includes 4 introductory essays and an well illustrated catalogue of 57 major works by Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Lorenzo Lotto, Palma Vecchio, Cima da Conegliano, Pordenone, Bonifacio Veronese, Paris Bordone, Marco Basaiti, Giorgione, Giovanni Agostino da Lodi, Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, Sebastiano del Piombo, Bartolomeo Veneto and Vincenzo Catena
Michael Levey - Painting in Eighteenth Century Venice -Yale University Press 1994
Jane Martineau & Charles Hope (Ed.) The Genius of Venice 1500-1600 - Royal Academy of Arts, London/Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1983. The Catalogue of a major Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture from an important period of Venetian high culture. Accompanied by eleven essays on various aspects of artistic activity in Venice during this time.
Margaret F. MacDonald - Palaces in the Night - Whistler in Venice University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 2001. An account of an American-born artist, resident in London, who spent 14 months in Venice from September 1879 and completed over 50 etchings and 100 pastels which form an important body of his work. They are a remarkabe picture of Venice before it was overwhelmed by mass tourism.
