John Julius Norwich provides a wonderful overview of the rise, apex, and eventual stagnation of the most serene republic, from the ashes of the Western Roman Empire to Napoleon's unchallenged capture of the city. Norwich, best-known for his histories of Byzantium and Norman Sicily, expertly weaves regional and European history into the story. Fascinating and often hilarious details about the doges and various scoundrels provide a human touch to the saga. Best part was about how Venice acquired St. Mark as its patron saint - some sneaky city fathers stole his corpse from (Muslim) Alexandria by hiding it in a barrel of pork.

Recommended to history-minded people looking to visit the area, and for those who enjoy well-written history - for me, Norwich is up there with Barbara Tuchman and Robert Massie.

Being 700 pages long, this book provides a fundamental understanding and overview of the history of Venice from antiquity to the 18th century. While reading, I found myself wishing for a series of volumes, as it can feel a bit condensed. Norwich is an amazing storyteller, able to create settings and events with a very vivid tone. As my first book on the city, I personally wished for more cultural content. Nevertheless, it is an excellent overview of a millennium of this truly fascinating state.

De entrada el libro me llamó mucho la atención, esperaba que por fin me aclarase detalles sobre la historia de la Serenísima. Incluso su tamaño me resultaba alentador, sonaba a que estarían todos los detalles y más allá.
Sin embargo, ha sido una experiencia algo agridulce. No pienso desmerecer el trabajo del autor, que es toda una hazaña, ni la forma en la que nos da la información, que es sumamente amena.
Pero lo que me ha resultado incómodo, es la forma anticuada (al más puro estilo historicista del siglo XIX) en que nos lo muestra. Tenemos larguísimas explicaciones de temas políticos, de lo que hace o no el dux, de guerras y batallas. Pero aparte de eso, apenas hay unas notas sobre otros aspectos como la cultura, la sociedad o la economía. Que se reduzca la administración de Verona, Padua y otros territorios de Terra Ferma a unos pocos párrafos o hablar sobre la sociedad en las colonias venecianas me parecen unas carencias demasiado grandes.
Ilustrativo, sí, útil, también, agradable de leer, pero también me parece demasiado anticuado y limitado.

Very well written, follows beautifully

在恐惧中捡拾智慧和希望，一步步开创基业…又在恐惧中绝望而止步，终于没落…这是一部荡气回肠的威尼斯精神兴起和衰亡史…借书中之言：我们对威尼斯国内历史了解的越多，就越不免得出一个结论：无论以何种政治标准去看，可以说除了最后暗昧昏聩的阶段，威尼斯比起基督教世界中其他任何一个国家，都要更令人愉快。没有任何一个其他地方的人能过得比威尼斯人快活，他们也无法享受比在威尼斯更多免于恐惧的自由。威尼斯人是幸运的，他们虽然被剥夺了政治权利，却从未被蹂躏压迫。当然，身而为人也不止一次起事，抱怨政府，亦多因贵族不满，而非人民大众引起。他们勤奋，手艺工匠和艺术家比例奇高，比世界上其他任何人更懂得追逐时尚和炫耀排场，他们热爱自己的城市，千余年来也对自己缔造的共和国竭尽忠诚，使其富庶安宁，直至末日其忠诚才短暂动摇…

Despite the heft of this tome it's intensely readable, weaving the story of one of the strangest nations in Europe both thoroughly and skillfully.

As readable as a history generally gets! Fairly engaging and well written with the occasional personal opinion thrown in.
I knew very little about the history of Venice and found this fascinating, although might have to check back into it to remind myself of some sections. A country that has a trading empire for over 1000 years and is relatively little known to most people in Britain I suspect.
Definitely worth a read.

Excellent book on the history of Venice (but also covering much of the Byzantine Empire, the Papal State/Western Empire intrigues in Italy, Genoese republics, Norman Sicily and the rise of the Western and Balkan national states).

The rise of Venice is both implicitly and explicitly covered and appears due to a combination of geographical and social facts.

Geographically: the impregnability of the lagoon initially to barbarian ravages (which made it a multi-cultural refuge and led to its initial establishment); the sea bound nature which led to it establishing key skills of saving navigation and ship building very early on and almost to gain a monopoly in some of these areas in the Mediterranean – not least when the Byzantines effectively outsourced their navy; later the impregnability both to invasion and to territorial disputes (which plagued the West when between the decline of Roman empire and rise of nation states it was a continent of city states and regions with lack of natural or impregnable boundaries); their dominance of the Mediterranean gateway to the trade of the Fertile Crescent and of the Far East.

Socially: the strong dedication to the mother city (was Venice an early America as being a nation of immigrants?); the lack of any split between patrician/landowner class and knight/commerce class (perhaps due to the limited land); an ability to detach strong religious devotion (although even the veneration of relics may have been a cynical attempt to boost both prestige and tourism) from commercial considerations – so that Venice turned Crusades and even the rise of Islam to its advantages; its detachment from issues of feudalism; its detachment from the Pope/Empire split that tore Italy asunder for centuries; its oligarchical system with the Doge a figurehead with checks and balances on his power but with inefficiencies of democracy avoided).

Reasons for the decline included: the rounding of the Cape and the resulting immediate end of Venice's domination of Asian trade; the growing Turkish threat, with Venice's Mediterranean empire being heavily affected and eventually lost but with the rest of the West being too divided (and too unhappy with Venice's previous accommodations with the Turks) to mount any form of assistance; growing prosperity of Venetian citizen's which led to the citizens being unwilling to risk it on military endeavours and the government being unwilling to take difficult decisions to threaten this prosperity so that the state itself was close to bankrupt; the rise of Northern European powers who transformed naval conflict and tactics while Venice was fighting battles on 14th century tactics; Venice's diplomacy which sustained it in peace during the tumult of the 16th and first half of the 17th century (and which was maintained for long after its military power faded due to the prestige it gained from its ostentation) came to dominate its military prowess and left it completely unable to pursue any other option when diplomacy failed as it did with Napoleon's post-revolutionary army.

Very well written and easier to follow than the Byzantine trilogy – not least due to easier to follow chronology, nomenclature and geography.

This is what happens when men write history books. Eighty percent of this book does not even take place in the city of Venice but instead concerns all the wars that the doges and their war dogs fought outside of Venice. It is unfortunate that this book must be designated a "popular" history (Viscount Norwich did not receive a PhD or even a BA in history, as far as I know), for it is really quite dry.

It's hard to go wrong with Venice. Its architecture, art, glass, and canals, along with the exploits of its merchant marine are legends. In dealing a death blow to the Byzantine Empire, and in giving children a maddening pool game, the city-state punched above above its weight class for centuries.

Mr. Norwich's book examines its history with an attention to detail worthy of the subject matter.

More than a fascinating historical reference, however, the people, places, plots, festivals, and accounts of daily life presented are treasure trove for world builders. Rearrange the letters in proper names, throw in some dragons, and suddenly you have a fantasy novel with nefarious plots as intricate as any contemporary cross genre story. Game designers too could benefit from studying this ancient, real-world wonderland of intrigue and adventure.

John Julius Norwich remains one of my favorite historians to read. Not quite as good as A Short History of Byzantium, but close.

A stunningly well written, passionate, accurate and entertaining account of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It wasn't light reading all the time but never would I have finished this book if it wasn't so well structured.