A History of Venice

As comprehensive as it is engaging, John Julius Norwich's A History of Venice is a complete history of "the most beautiful and magical of cities." This necessary volume traces the rise of Venice from its fifth-century origins through 1797 when Napoleon put an end to the thousand-year-old Republic.At once the most comprehensive and the most engaging history of Venice available in English, this book will be treasured by all those who share the author's fascination with "the most beautiful and magical of cities."

"As a historian Lord Norwich knows what matters. As a writer he has a taste for beauty, a love of language and an enlivening wit.... He contrives, as no English writer has done before, to sustain a continuous interest in that crowded history." -- Hugh Trevor-Roper

"Will become the standard English work of Venetian history." -- C. P. Snow, Financial Times

"Lord Norwich has loved and understood Venice as well as any other Englishman has ever done. He has put readers of this generation more in his debt than any other English writer." -- Peter Levi, The Sunday Times (London)John Julius Norwich is the author of many acclaimed works of history, including A History of Venice, Byzantium, and, most recently, Paradise of Cities: Venice in the 19th Century. He has also written and presented some thirty historical documentaries for BBC Television. Formerly chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund, he now heads the World Monuments Fund in Britain.