VENICE REVEALED: An Intimate Portrait

Perhaps no other city in the world has inspired writers, artists and architects like Venice, the Jewel of the Adriatic, la Serenissima. In Barbaro, Venetians have a native bard worthy of their city. Of his several books on Venice, this is the first to be translated into English. Hardly the barbarian his name implies, Barbaro is an urbane, sophisticated engineer who spent decades working abroad before returning home. This lyrical, intimate guide offers a Venice that tourists rarely see: working-class districts, industrial zones, hidden gardens and minuscule alleyways. Barbaro says that in no other city are the elements so ubiquitous. The moon, the fog, the wind (different words describe various types of fog and wind) and above all the water, "ever-present and ever-changing," affect the city's moods. More than just a lush portrait, this is a cri de coeur, a lament and a desperate plea to the world to save the city. Already Venice has become the victim of its own beauty, the economy destroyed by tourism. Nature is doing the rest. "Acqua alta" ("high water") occurred rarely in Barbaro's childhood; today, with the dredging of the lagoon and canals for large oil vessels and the draining of the local aquifers, the water surges up frequently and Venice is literally sinking. Barbaro's topography of "the most beautiful labyrinth created by man in the world" is laced with nostalgia but also a keen realism. Rarely has ecological writing approached such poetry. If the world acts in time to save a true human wonder, at least partial credit should go to Barbaro. (Nov. 1)