The Genius of Venice: Piazza San Marco and the Making of the Republic

In the middle of the journey of his life the author woke from a semi-delirious state to find himself in Venice. Unlike the usual traveller who wanders around besotted by the beauty of the place, he has spent more than thirty years analyzing the city's extraordinary visual impact and accounting for its historical uniqueness among Italian cities. Venice's sparkling light and watery reflections are misleading--it has always been a closed-in city of secrets and dark byways. This book seeks to illuminate the Venetian labyrinth by following a thread that leads outward from the architectural history of Piazza San Marco toward Constantinople and backward toward Rome whence came the first fugitives seeking safety in the lagoon. The intriguing chapter headings ("The Theft of St. Mark," "Warning from a Dying Doge," "The Turkish Vise and Other Calamities," "By the Skin of Her Teeth") and easy almost conversational style do not affect the reader's confidence in the scholarship that has organized such a vast amount of information. Too bad the abundance of gorgeous illustrations and heavy glossy paper stock make it impractical to carry this book with you on your next visit to Venice, or even to Istanbul.

I have read a lot of books on Venetian history and architecture and many of the ones cited by this author. I am not sure where he got all of his information for this book. I found his writing style to be highly opinionated and sometimes downright whiny. The book starts out happily enough. But obviously, Mr. Parrott doesn't like much that was built after the late 1400's and he makes no qualms telling us about it. (I, too marvel at San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale; but in the beautiful Venetian scheme of things, Palladio has his place, too!) Nor is he happy with the state of affairs in Venice after that time, in general. If the reader can sift through it, there are a lot of interesting details on Venetian history to be had in this book. And the author does defend Venetian "conservatism" in architecture compared to the traditional view of Florentine and Roman Renaissance styles (more "progressive").

Those of us who have for many years studied in Venice welcome this important new book. This book by Mr. Parrott is enlightening even for the enlightened. The authors foundation of research covering the sociological-political forces over 1000 years of history. Mr. Parrott's writing style is fast-paced, griping, at times poetic but most importantly lucid. Further, most of the photographs illustrating the book are those taken by the author. These photographs are indeed individual works of art as compositions using a great knowledge of light and color capturing the spaces and shadows only seen in this city of dreams. Nicholas King is the former Director of the Art Department of The Barnes Foundation and was associated with The Barnes Foundation from 1973 to 1999.

Don't be intimidated by the footnotes (over 50 pages): you don't need to be an historian to enjoy "The Genius of Venice." Dial Parrott has transformed what could be a dry and academic history of the political and architectural genesis of Venice into a captivating story which made me eager to turn the next page. Exhaustively researched, his hypothesis is conveyed with equanimity, humanity, and humor–––usually lacking in historical works. The illustrations are impressive and the author's argument is compelling. It stirs up a desire to explore the ancient city, guided by his intellectual analysis. Think outside the history box and savor "The Genius of Venice."Linda Ernst, January 2014

The Genius of Venice is one of those unique combinations of great depth of information and knowledge, passed on to the reader in an exciting narrative of this very unique place. From the theft of the body of St. Mark to the building of great churches and palaces in one of the earliest recycling efforts ever, history comes alive in the tales of battles, flight from the Hun, persaverence, religion, royalty and architecture. This book will make you want to visit this one-of-a-kind city, where the genius of the founders is evident on every canal and piazza even today.

This is a brilliant way of looking at Venice and even world history. The focus on a unique and beautiful location that played a key role in the history of both East and West, national unification in Europe and is today a major tourism site makes perfect sense. This is not a short book nor is it inexpensive but it is worth every penny and every minute of your time.

Excellent book. Learned more about the history of the world as well as Venice

A complete and comprehensive history