Venetian DreamingWho hasn't longed to escape to the enchanting canals and mysterious alleyways of Venice? Globetrotting writer Paula Weideger not only dreamed the dream, she took the leap. In Venetian Dreaming, she charts the course of her love affair with one of the world's most treasured cities. Weideger's search for a place to live eventually takes her to the Palazzo Donà dalle Rose, one of the rare Venetian palaces continuously inhabited by the family that built it. She weaves the past lives of the family Donà with her own adventures as she threads her way through the labyrinthine city. Art and architecture are a constant presence. Yet even more strongly felt is the passage of time, the panorama of the seasons as reflected in special events -- Carnival, the Film Festival, September's historic regatta, midnight mass at San Marco. We follow Weideger as she explores the Ghetto, the expatriate community, and the lives of locals from noblemen to boatmen. Along the way she encounters everyone from the ghost of Peggy Guggenheim to the Merchant Ivory crowd, and experiences some high drama with the Contessa, her landlady. The resulting memoir is a wry and illuminating, intelligent and tender account of the once grand heritage and now imperiled future of Venice. |
Contents
3 | 22 |
The Bronxness of Venice | 36 |
Lost and Found | 52 |
Arriva | 67 |
Drifting and Dreaming | 79 |
Getting Connected | 95 |
Our Doge | 110 |
The House of Good Neighbors | 122 |
Battle Stations | 199 |
Love or Money | 214 |
Venice Belongs to the World | 227 |
Meeting Pinocchio | 229 |
A Case of Mistaken Identity | 239 |
Sliding Doors | 250 |
Dead in Venice | 260 |
Repeat Offenders | 274 |
Social Dancing | 132 |
Beginnings and Endings | 144 |
A Very Venetian Story | 157 |
Peggy Guggenheim and I | 159 |
A Merchant Ivory Production | 169 |
Revisions | 178 |
Hares and Tortoises | 188 |
Higher Water | 284 |
Fans in February | 293 |
Happy Christmas | 295 |
Carmen Miranda and Friends | 305 |
Making Waves | 316 |
Fireworks | 328 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acqua alta androne apartment asked beautiful bedroom began blue boat building called Campo Santa Cannaregio cemetery church covered dinner doge Donà Donà dalle Rose door Dorsoduro everything feel felt flood floor Fondamenta Nuove Francesco Françoise friends Gaia garden Gianni Basso Giovanni glass going gondola Grand Canal Henry inside Italian John Millerchip kitchen knew lagoon Leonardo Donà live in Venice London looked marble Michela Murano never Nicoḷ paintings palace Palazzo Peggy Guggenheim Peter Lauritzen piano nobile Piazza Piazza San Marco Pinocchio Prosecco Rachel rent Rialto Rosella salone San Marco Santa Maria Santa Maria Formosa seemed Serenissima sestiere shops stay stood stop streets stucchi talked telephone thing told took tourists town turned vaporetto Venetian Venice's Vivian walked wall wanted woman World Monuments Fund