A History of Venice, by John Julius Norwich, is an in-depth analysis of the history of the Republic of Venice from inception to its eclipse and demise. Venice came together around the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, as refugees from various Italian cities found themselves fleeing an onslaught of German and Hun invaders. As the Western Roman Empire crumbled, they found refuge amongst the lagoons of modern Venice, an ideal and strategic location that would serve the fledgling city well throughout its history. Successive waves of immigrants began to turn the area into a city, and soon, with the blessing of the Eastern Emperor, Venice emerged as a political entity with close relations to the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople. Venice was an ideal trading location, with easy access to the Adriatic Sea, highly defensible, and in a good location to act as a middleman between Western Europe and the Mediterranean world. This focus on trade would characterize the Republic as it began to turn itself from a small city state in Italy (one of many) into a trading Empire able to go toe-to-toe with any European power.

The Venetian Republic began to take shape for various reasons, mostly of self-interest. When pirates on the Dalmatian coast of modern Croatia began to make trouble for Venetian merchants (and thus Byzantine shipping as well) the Venetian, with the blessings of the Eastern Roman Empire, attacked and annexed some islands on the Dalmatian coast. These made good stopover points for Venetian merchants heading to Greece, and offered strategic timber resources to build up Venice's powerful merchant fleet. Venice began to play off interests in Italy as well, supporting Italian city states against each other, but largely remaining aloof to getting involved in Italian politics. This saved the Republic from the growing despotic aspects of many Italian city states (such as Milan and Florence), while allowing it to remain on the winning side of a conflict. Venice's merchant marine soon became a source of income outside of trading, as Venice began to ferry troops to take part in overseas conflicts, and especially in Crusades. Venice was a key mercenary-like participant in many crusades, and soon began to build an Empire of trading posts in Egypt, the Levant, Anatolia and Greece. These came as rewards for services rendered (for example, a district of Acre from the Crusader states as a reward for ferrying troops), or through outright aggression on Her part (the many Greek islands taken from the Eastern Empire in the Fourth Crusade, for example). On top of this, Venice began to take land on the Italian peninsula to shore up its defense of the Venetian lagoon. Verona, Treviso, Padua, Fruili and parts of Lombardy would all fall to Venetian arms as it began to take part in the turmoil of Renaissance Italian politics. Enemies could quickly become friends as Allies began to back-stab, and all the Italian states engaged in Machiavellian maneuvers to gain territory and defeat rising threats. Venice in its history was under indirect from the Pope many times, and would often switch allegiances in order to gain more territory. Venice also jealously guarded its salt monopoly along the Po river, and would go to war with any who tried to cash in on this lucrative trade.

Outside of Italy, Venice fought to defend and enlarge its colonial possessions. Venice turned against its one-time patron, the Eastern Roman Empire, as its power began to crumble. Venice annexed key islands of the Peloponnese, created ducal possessions out of the Naxos islands, annexed a chain of ports and fortresses down the Adriatic coast - in modern day Albania, Montenegro and Greece, and fought to defend her trading privileges in the Empire. She went into a deadly grudge match against rival Mercantile republic Genoa, which had taken territory in the islands of Chios and Lesbos, and owned the peninsula opposite Constantinople, along with a section of the city itself. Venice fought hard to take on the Genoese, and although looking dicey for a while, ultimately came out triumphant. She even managed to take over the Eastern Empire's remnants briefly, creating the short lived Venetian puppet, the Latin Empire during the complete mess called the Fourth Crusade, where Christian forces never even ended up leaving Europe, and instead fought for spoils with other Christian states in Greece. Hungary was a perennial rival, and Venice fought hard to retain her control over the Dalmatian coast, at times enlarging it, and at times losing it altogether. Venice also briefly annexed Cyprus in an act of political brinkmanship that was as impressive as it was ruthless.

Venice began to eclipse in the late 15th century, as jealous Italian rivals, a hostile papacy, and growing powers in France and Spain began to covet her Italian possessions. On the colonial front, Venice was constantly harried and eventually usurped in her Mediterranean possessions by the onslaught of military adventurism known as the Ottoman Empire. Her possessions in the Peloponnese, the Balkans and, finally, her crown jewel of Crete, were all lost over a period of time. On the land front, Venice's possessions were frayed away by hostile French/Milanese forces, by the Pope in Rome, and by the growing power of Austria. On top of this, the colonization of North America, and the use of alternate trade routes to Asia around the Horn of Africa, made the caravan routes that Venice relied upon to monopolize luxury imports irrelevant. Portugal and the Netherlands became the new clearing houses of Europe, and Italy began to wax into obscurity. Venice would remain a fledgling regional power until her lands in Italy were gobbled up by first French, then Austrian forces.

Norwich has written an excellent and in-depth history of the Venetian Republic, an interesting state that focused on trade, and maintained a solid oligarchic system of governance for many hundreds of years, resisting the allure of despotism and monarchical rule that shattered Italian city states during the Renaissance. Norwich goes through its long and storied history by Doge, listing the current ruler, his achievements, and the wider political context of what was happening to Venice. He also adds the construction of the city and its fabulous architecture in this account, mentioning when specific churches, monuments and public works were completed and why. This is certainly an excellent book to read on the Venetian Republic, both for those interested in the state itself, and those interested in wider Republican political theory. Venice went through the ringer throughout its history, and there is a lot to learn about Republican systems from its trials and tribulations throughout its centuries long history. A great read, and easily recommended.

It's good, and it's thorough, but I found it a bit disappointing. However, I spent most of the book wondering why. Partly, I think, it is because there are very few personalities in the book. Norwich himself actually complains of this on two occasions—there's just very few places in Venetian history where you can say anything about the personality of someone.

However, I think the main problem is I was hoping for a history of the Venetian state, and the book is really a history of the city, though restricted to that period where it was a state. Which is to say that except for those occasions where outside action impinges directly on one of Venice's holdings, those holdings don't show in the book. It is a stage play with one set—Venice—and news from abroad is sung by the Greek Chorus. There's no sense of how the overseas empire really worked.

But, Norwich loves the city of Venice, and that love shows through on every page. One thing that is tracked lovingly through the pages are the buildings and monuments of Venice. When a new building goes up, there is a footnote telling what part of it is still visible today. When a Doge dies and is put in a tomb, there is a footnote giving where it was, and where it was moved to if anything happened to it. Visiting Venice with this book in hand would be a real treat.

Perfecto. Si lo que quieres es saber un poco más de la preciosa ciudad de Venecia pero con una narración más amena y ligera, John Julius Norwich es tu autor.

Lo compré en junio para preparar el viaje a Venecia pero por su extensión lo fui dosificando. Durante 5 meses he vuelto a pasear por la ciudad y así entender la historia tras sus canales, monumentos y palacios, comprender por qué evolucionó como lo hizo. El autor es exhaustivo: todo lo que querrías saber está en el libro pero también más, mucho más. 1300 años de historia en 800 páginas. El último capítulo, el de la caída de la República veneciana, es especialmente memorable.

I never knew how important "The Most Serene Republic" was in history. This story is amazingly and well planned and researched.

A detailed political narrative but lacking in context on what life was like in the Republic and how its economic institutions worked.

A classic history of the Venetian republic (and empire) spanning over a thousand years. While primarily focused on high politics and mainly following a chronological structure, it flows well and does a lot to depict a vivid portrait of the political system, trade, architecture, art and diplomacy right until the end (i.e. the dissolution under Bonapartian pressure). While only brief on some subjects (day-to-day life and social history of the city, the role of women, etc.) it remains a very solid and detailed overview of a somewhat curious but long-lasting polity.

A much more interesting History than I expected, I mixes into the rest of European and Middle Eastern history very strongly. Some slow periods but that did not hurt it.

Hooked from the 1st chapter, such an insightful view of a history we should all know. Can not praise this book enough. Recommended for lovers of history and understanding beyond surface prattle.

A review twenty years in the making…

I sometimes feel bibliomancy is a thing. Having owned this book for 20 years, where it has sat unread, but not forgotten; I find myself finishing it and compiling some thoughts on the 20/2/20….but onto the review.

'A History of Venice’ is a massive doorstop of a paperback, consisting of 673 pages, including bibliography and index and it’s not a subject that I was even particularly interested in when I purchased it.

My apparent impulse buying was more to do with the reputation and prior experience with the authors works, who I found had unravelled the mysteries of the Byzantine Empire in his trilogy and had also covered in depth the Normans in Sicily (one of my favourite periods of history) . I have found him to be a historian who writes with clarity, humour and deep insight and in his monumental work on Venice I have not been disappointed. Only he has been capable of distilling nearly 1300 years of often torturous history into a story that provides insight as well as entertainment.

I have now had the good fortune to visit Venice on three occasions, the first in 2006 was a brief whirlwind tour from the mainland in a group, and we all expressed the half joking reason to visit the city was , “to see it before it sunk forever”. My memory of that visit is of overpriced coffee and food, enormous crowds and a plague of pigeons. My second visit in 2010 saw me determined to spend more time visiting the lagoon and experiencing a night or two in a hotel over water. While I achieved this, the memory was not pleasant as I was caught in a torrential downpour while trudging through streets and across bridges in the warm June rain, trying to find a hotel and decipher the confusing street numbering put in place by the Austrians after they had put down a rebellion in the city in 1849.

My most recent visit was in December 2019, and sadly I was to witness the very real prospect of Venice sinking beneath the waves as our trip coincided with a number of high tides which had inundated the city. Our visit was made more depressing by the fact that the long awaited and much vaunted ‘flood barrier’ (MOSE project) which had been under planning and construction since the 1980’s at a cost of 20 Billion Euros (much being spent on corruption, bribes and sheer waste; in a way that echoed much of the wasted ducats spent by the Venetians in the book), was deployed for the first time. All I can say after seeing St Mark’s square underwater and the shop owners sweeping water out of their flooded premises with a look of resignation on their faces is… “you’ve wasted your money.”

That said, the waters receded by early afternoon and we were able to walk around and see what it was that gave Venice it’s grandeur. Late December still has crowds, but nowhere near the level of peak tourist time. As we took the water taxi back to our pick up point in the early evening, a magnificent sunset greeted us and it was clear why people still regarded Venice as the most romantic city in the world.

Returning home, I was determined to remedy gaps in my knowledge by reading this book. From the somewhat legendary details of its founding (although able to be precisely dated by the Venetians themselves to the stroke of noon, Friday 25th March, 421 A.D), to its highs and lows throughout the 1000 year history of its Republic (in the period 727 – 1798 AD), until Bonaparte appears on the scene like a thunderbolt and dismantles their political structure and brings then low (not hesitating the destroy buildings as required) ; the book is never dull. Even when the history is dull, Norwich seems to find an individual or a description of a building or an aside to keep the narrative moving along and the reader entertained.

Each chapter is neatly delineated to cover a particular crisis or historical event and whilst wars and battle are a sad feature of much of its history, Norwich is careful to provide detail where required and artfully summarise where facts could become tedious.

Nothing but praise for this book, and while not everyone will obviously desire or require to understand the history in detail, it has certainly made me want to go back again and linger longer in Venice.

A really good meaty history. I found this an engaging volume and enjoyed the authorial interventions and views. I'd have like a longer analysis to consider the napoleonic states and then the post napoleonic settlement. The architectural heritage of Venice got proper attention but I felt that its artistic legacy was somewhat glossed over. Still good fun all round.

I honestly cannot recall another book from my recent past that grabbed my interest by the throat (sorry for the image) and never let go of it. Mr. Norwich did a wonderful job with this uniquely European city. For me Venice represents everything that is good and noble and great in Europe. This city couldn't have been bigger. If you wanted to live there, you had to find your place in the community. Simple choice, it was. Mr. Norwich tells the story of this fabolous city in rich detail and with obvious love. It always transpires if one loves the topic one writes about; Mr. Norwich simply adores this city, therefore I adore his book. Not for the faint hearted due to its size and complexity but I can assure everyone who has ever been to Venice - or not, as a matter of fact - that this is book is a wonderful, towering achievement - and good, clean fun.