Murano, Venice glass

Rough Guide DIRECTIONS Venice
by Jonathan Buckley

Occupying the seventeenthcentury Palazzo Giustinian (formerly home of the bishop of Torcello), the Museo del Vetro (April–Oct 10am–5pm; Nov– March 10am–4pm; closed Wed; e4, or Museum Pass/Venice Card) features pieces dating back to the first century and examples of Murano glass from the fifteenth century onwards. Perhaps the finest single item is the dark blue Barovier marriage cup, dating from around 1470; it’s on show in room 1 on the first floor, along with some 02 Venice DIR Places.indd 144 splendid Renaissance enamelled and painted glass. A separate display, with some captions in English, covers the history of Murano glass techniques – look out for the extraordinary Murine in Canna, the method of placing different coloured rods together to form an image in crosssection.

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P.89  DORSODURO uniquely Venetian. Venice Idea.indd 30  Paper Marbled paper is another Venetian speciality, sold through various small outlets, such as the famous Legatoria Piazzesi. P.75  SAN MARCO: WEST OF THE PIAZZA 9/29/06 2:25:52 PM Venice Idea.indd 31 31  The Rialto Once the most celebrated market in Europe, the Rialto is still a thriving operation, offering a fabulous array of fresh food – plus thousands of souvenir T-shirts. P.104  SAN POLO AND SANTA CROCE  Glass No trip to Venice would be complete without a visit to the furnaces and shops of Murano. P.143  THE NORTHERN ISLANDS  Lace Lying beyond Murano in the northern lagoon, Burano too has its specialist handicraft – in this case, exquisite lacework.

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The figure which swivels in the wind on top of the Dogana’s gold ball is said by most to represent Fortune, though others identify it as Justice. 9/29/06 2:46:16 PM 142 The northern islands P L A C E S J^[dehj^[hd_ibWdZi A trip out to the main islands lying to the north of Venice – San Michele, Murano, Burano and Torcello – will reveal the origins of the glass and lace work touted in so many of the city’s shops, and give you a glimpse of the origins of Venice itself, embodied in Torcello’s magnificent cathedral of Santa Maria dell’Assunta. To get to the northern islands, the main vaporetto stop is Fondamente Nove (or Nuove), as most of the island services start here or call here. (You can hop on elsewhere in the city, of course – but make sure that the boat is going towards the islands, not away from them.) For San Michele and Murano only, the circular #41 and #42 vaporetti both run every twenty minutes from Fondamente Nove, circling Murano before heading back towards Venice; the #41 follows an anticlockwise route around the city, the #42 a clockwise route.

Top 10 Venice
by Gillian Price
Published 21 Feb 2011

However foreign visitors should be warned that hefty fines are imposed for counterfeit goods (see p140). ) Forwarding Goods Home Bargaining commerce have shaped the Venetians into diehard traders, who feign offence when discounts (sconti) are requested but it’s worth a try for cash transactions. It’s worth shopping around as many glass shops stock similar items and prices can vary wildly. Murano (see p109) tends to be more expensive than Venice but you get a free demonstration as well. Venice street seller For more shops in Venice See pp68–9 Virtually all glass shop staff are experts in packaging fragile and bulky items and they can arrange for forwarding overseas by air or sea. Always check that insurance is included. Venice for the Disabled ! Maps Ask at tourist offices (see p134) for the special map of Venice which shows areas and bridges accessible for wheelchairs clearly highlighted in yellow.

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Kids love crawling into the cubby hole to enjoy their purchases. d Ghetto Vecchio, Cannaregio 1224 • Map C1 • 041 715 819 Peggy Guggenheim Collection Disney Store ) The Youngsters are greeted by Every Sunday the museum hosts Art4Family free educational workshops in English and Italian, run by artists and students from the Venice Academy of Fine Arts. For children from 4 to 10 years and their parents. Advance booking essential (see pp34–5). Mickey Mouse on a bridge, while Donald Duck fishes an old boot out of a canal. Usual Disney fare is on sale. d Campo S Bartolomeo, Venice’s Top 10 of molten glass into fine vases, or moulding coloured rods into myriad animal shapes. Small workshops are dotted all over Venice, while Murano has more large-scale furnaces – demonstrations are free, on the condition you stroll through the showroom afterwards (see p109).

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The island’s dramatically leaning bell tower is visible from afar. d Ferry No. LN from Fondamente Nuove or S Zaccaria • Map H1 £ Murano Long synonymous with glassmaking, Murano developed blowing and fusion techniques to extraordinary heights in the 1500s, and so closely guarded were the trade secrets that skilled craftsmen could migrate only under pain of death. Though Venice’s glass monopoly lasted only until the 17th century, its fame lives on. A visit to the Glass Museum with its 4,000 exhibits is a must (see p40). Don’t be put off by the reps who invite tourists to see a furnace and showroom; it’s a unique opportunity to watch the glassblowers at work and is free of charge.

Fodor's Venice and Northern Italy
by Fodor's
Published 22 Mar 2011

Traditional Venetian glass is hot, blown glass, not lead crystal; it comes in myriad forms including the classic ornate goblets and chandeliers, to beads, vases, sculpture, and more. To make a smart purchase, take your time and be selective. You can learn a great deal without sales pressure at the Museo del Vetro on Murano; unfortunately you’ll likely find the least-attractive glass where public demonstrations are offered. Although prices in Venice and on Murano are comparable, shops in Venice with wares from various glassworks may charge slightly less. TIP A “free” taxi to Murano always comes with sales pressure. Take the vaporetto that’s included in your transit pass, and if you prefer, a private guide who specializes in the subject but has no affinity to any specific furnace.

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If your taste runs to more modern art, there is the Guggenheim Collection and, down the street from it, the Pinault collection in the refashioned Punta della Dogana. In the afternoon, head for the Fondamenta Nuova station to catch a vaporetto to one or more of the outer islands: Murano, where you can shop for Venetian glass and visit the glass museum and workshops; Burano, known for lace-making and colorful houses; and Torcello, Venice’s first inhabited island, home to a beautiful cathedral. Day 9: Venice Venice is more than a museum—it’s a lively city, and the best way to see that aspect of La Serenissima is to pay a visit to the Rialto Market, where the Venetians buy their fruits and vegetables and, most important, their fish, at one of Europe’s largest and most varied fish markets.

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Le Mercerie , the Frezzeria, Calle dei Fabbri, and Calle Larga XXII Marzo, all leading from Piazza San Marco, are some of Venice’s busiest shopping streets. Other good shopping areas surround Calle del Teatro and Campi San Salvador, Manin, San Fantin, and San Bartolomeo. You can find somewhat less expensive, more varied and imaginative shops between the Rialto Bridge and San Polo and in Santa Croce, and art galleries in Dorsoduro from the Salute to the Accademia. Specialty Stores Art Glass The glass of Murano is Venice’s number-one product, and you’ll be confronted by mind-boggling displays of traditional and contemporary glassware, too much of it kitsch. Traditional Venetian glass is hot, blown glass, not lead crystal; it comes in myriad forms including the classic ornate goblets and chandeliers, to beads, vases, sculpture, and more.

How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World
by Steven Johnson
Published 28 Sep 2014

The density of Murano meant that new ideas were quick to flow through the entire population. The glassmakers were in part competitors, but their family lineages were heavily intertwined. There were individual masters in the group that had more talent or expertise than the others, but in general the genius of Murano was a collective affair: something created by sharing as much as by competitive pressures. A section of a fifteenth-century map of Venice, showing the island of Murano By the first years of the next century, Murano had become known as the Isle of Glass, and its ornate vases and other exquisite glassware became status symbols throughout Western Europe.

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After years of trial and error, experimenting with different chemical compositions, the Murano glassmaker Angelo Barovier took seaweed rich in potassium oxide and manganese, burned it to create ash, and then added these ingredients to molten glass. When the mixture cooled, it created an extraordinarily clear type of glass. Struck by its resemblance to the clearest rock crystals of quartz, Barovier called it cristallo. This was the birth of modern glass. — WHILE GLASSMAKERS such as Barovier were brilliant at making glass transparent, we didn’t understand scientifically why glass is transparent until the twentieth century. Most materials absorb the energy of light.

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Ironically, most of these applications ignored silicon dioxide’s strange capacity to transmit light waves: most objects made of fiberglass do not look to the untutored eye to be made of glass at all. During the first decades of innovation with glass fibers, this emphasis on nontransparency made sense. It was useful to allow light to pass through a windowpane or a lens, but why would you need to pass light through a fiber not much bigger than a human hair? The transparency of glass fibers became an asset only once we began thinking of light as a way to encode digital information. In 1970, researchers at Corning Glassworks—the Murano of modern times—developed a type of glass that was so extraordinarily clear that if you created a block of it the length of a bus, it would be just as transparent as looking through a normal windowpane.

The Planet on the Table
by Kim Stanley Robinson
Published 2 Jan 1986

Carlo crossed himself quickly to impress his customers, and sat back down at the tiller. He pulled the sail tight and they heeled over slightly, slapped into the waves. In no more than twenty minutes they were east of Murano, skirting its edge. Murano, like Venice an island city crossed with canals, had been a quaint little town before the flood. But it didn’t have as many tall buildings as Venice, and it was said that an underwater river had undercut its islands. In any case, it was a wreck. The two Japanese chattered with excitement “Can we visit to that city here, Carlo?” asked Hamada. “It’s too dangerous,” Carlo answered.

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They live in the highest buildings on the floors still above water, and work in Venice. That way they avoid having to build a roof-house in the city.” The two faces of his companions expressed incomprehension. “They avoid the housing shortage in Venice,” Carlo said. “There’s a certain housing shortage in Venice, as you may have noticed.” His listeners caught the joke this time and laughed. “Could live on floors below if owning scuba such as that here,” Hamada said, gesturing at Carlo’s equipment. “Yes,” he replied. “Or we could grow gills.” He bugged his eyes out and wiggled his fingers at his neck to indicate gills. The Japanese loved it. Past Murano the Lagoon was clear for a few miles, a sunbeaten blue covered with choppy waves.

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In Japan rains every day—Taku says, ‘It rains tomorrow for surely.’ Weather prophet!” After the laughter receded, Carlo said, “Hasn’t all the rain drowned some of your cities too?” “What’s that here?” “Don’t you have some Venices in Japan?” But they didn’t want to talk about that. “I don’t understand… No, no Venice in Japan,” Hamada said easily, but neither laughed as they had before. They sailed on. Venice was out of sight under the horizon, as was Murano. Soon they would reach Burano. Carlo guided the boat over the waves and listened to his companions converse in their improbable language, or mangle Italian in a way that alternately made him want to burst with hilarity or bite the gunwale with frustration.

Italy
by Damien Simonis
Published 31 Jul 2010

To ensure glass you buy in Venice is handmade in Murano and not factory-fabricated elsewhere, look for the heart-shaped seal guarantee. Since 1861, Murano has displayed its glass-making prowess at the Museum of Glass (Museo del Vetro; 041 73 95 86; www.museiciviciveneziani.it; Fondamenta Giustinian 8; adult/EU senior & student 6-14yr/with Civic Museum Pass or VENICEcard & child under 6yr €5.50/3/free; 10am-6pm Thu-Tue Apr-Oct, to 4pm Thu-Tue Nov-Mar). Downstairs, 3rd-century iridescent Roman glass is featured alongside Maria Grazia Rosin’s 1992 postmodern detergent jug in impeccably blown glass. Upstairs, technical explanations detail the process for mosaics and Venetian trade beads, while displays range from 17th-century winged goblets to Carlo Scarpa’s 1930 octopus.

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Upstairs, technical explanations detail the process for mosaics and Venetian trade beads, while displays range from 17th-century winged goblets to Carlo Scarpa’s 1930 octopus. Murano’s glass-making is also showcased in the 12th-century Virgin Mary apse mosaic at Chiesa dei SS Maria e Donato ( 041 73 90 56; Campo San Donato; 9am-noon & 3.30-7pm Mon-Sat, 3.30-7pm Sun). The church was rededicated to San Donato after his bones were brought here from Cephalonia, along with four bones from a dragon he supposedly killed behind the altar. Save the church visit until after the museum and shops close around 5pm to 6pm, before hopping vaporetto 41 or 42 back to Venice – Murano is deserted at night. Burano After you binge on Venice’s Gothic ornament, Burano (off Map) brings you back to your senses with a shock of colour.

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Stop for lunch at an authentic Cannaregio osteria (bistro; Click here), and pause at Palazzo Querini Stampalia, for an ombra (glass of wine) in the Carlo Scarpa—designed garden before your Interpreti Veneziani concert. Island-hop your fourth day away, with blown-glass shopping in Murano, lunch in Burano and mosaics and bucolic splendour in Torcello. One Week Now you’ll get to be a regular at your favourite cafes and osterie, recognise the local specialities at the Rialto Market and find yourself striking up conversations in Venice’s sociable campi (squares). Sign up for a course, plan your days around a theme – Tiepolo ceilings, Lido beaches, cicheti (bar snacks), opera – or close your map and follow your instincts through Venice’s labyrinthine calli (lanes).

Venice: A New History
by Thomas F. Madden
Published 24 Oct 2012

The largest industry to take root in sixteenth-century Venice was woolen textiles, followed closely by silk production. By 1600, in a clear sign of the times, more people worked in the silk industry in Venice than built boats. Numerous other specialty industries also developed in the lagoon, including leatherwork and jewelry. Lace made on the island of Burano soon became coveted across Europe, just as it remains among tourists today. This century also saw the rapid development of the glass industry on Murano. Venetian glass gained a wide reputation for excellence and the artistic skill of Murano’s glassblowers became legendary.

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Likewise, in the movie Summertime (1955) another single American woman, Jane Hudson, played by Katharine Hepburn, is seduced as much by Venice as by the intriguing Renato de Rossi (Rossano Brazzi). Summertime was the first mass-market film to use the cityscape of Venice as a crucial element in its story. Jane strolls through the Piazza San Marco, buys Murano glass, shops for fashionable clothes, and visits the brightly colored island of Burano. Yet, like the dark Venice of eighteenth-century myth, the romantic Renato has a terrible secret. He is married. Although Jane suspects that he has simply used her, she nevertheless remains with him until her departure.

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The bridge, completed in 1846, connected Mestre, on the mainland, with the far northwest corner of Venice—in other words, its back door. The great facade of Venice remained unspoiled by “progress.” Ironically, the railroad killed the ailing Grand Tour, for now a trip to Rome, Florence, or Venice was not the exclusive enjoyment of the elite, but was available to a whole new class of commoners. And, indeed, they came. In the 1840s guidebooks for Venice appeared in a variety of languages, each advising its readers where to stay, eat, and shop. Specialty glassmaking was revived on Murano, thus establishing a new and indispensable class of souvenir for tourists.

Pocket Milan & the Lakes
by Lonely Planet and Paula Hardy
Published 2 Jan 2013

The sheets have now been unbound and are displayed in softly lit glass cases in Bramante’s sacristy. Top Tips › Reservations to view Il Cenacolo must be made weeks, if not months, in advance. Or you can take a city tour that includes a visit. › Once booked, you’ll be allotted a strict visiting time. If you’re late, your ticket will be resold. › Multilingual guided tours (€3.25) are on offer and also need to be reserved in advance. › Drawings from da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus are displayed in the Sagrestia Bramantesca. Take a Break Enjoy an espresso and slice of artisanal panettone beneath the Murano chandeliers of Art-Deco Biffi (Click here).

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It’s adorned with brass cherubs originally intended for the Portinari Chapel in Sant’Eustorgio (Click here), but Gian Giacomo thought they’d look good in his stairwell. Sala d’Artista Of the original apartment only four rooms survived WWII bombs and have been refurbished in exquisite detail: the Stucco Room, in its Rococo style; the Black Room, originally clad in mahogany and ivory; the Antique Murano room, Gian Giacomo’s bedroom; and the Byzantine-influenced Dante study where Pezzoli kept his prized possessions. The Collection As a collector, Gian Giacomo focused on his passion for arms, the decorative arts and Renaissance paintings. Wander from room to room and admire Lombard Renaissance masters Foppa, Bergognone and Luini; Tuscan and Venetian greats including Botticelli, Bellini, Mantegna and Piero della Francesca; and the beautiful Portrait of a Young Woman by del Pollaiolo, which is now the museum’s icon.

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Each course is paired with a matching wine. ( 02 86 60 40; www.boccondivino.com; Via Carducci 17; meals €50-70; 8pm-midnight Mon-Sat; ; Cadorna) 7 Biffi Pasticceria Pasticceria € Offline map Google map Proud keepers of a panetùn (panettone) recipe that once pleased Pope Pius X, Biffi has changed little since its 1847 opening. With its polished walnut bar, marble counters and Murano chandeliers, its air of old-world elegance continues to attract borghese, who come to gossip over cream cakes and cocktails. ( 02 4800 6702; www.biffipasticceria.it; Corso Magenta 87; pastries €2.50; 7am-8.30pm; ; Conciliazione) 8 La Collina d’Oro Asian €€ Offline map Google map A bright modern interior sets the scene for a pan-Asian menu that has not only Chinese and Japanese staples but also some Southeast Asian dishes. ( 02 404 31 48; www.lacollinadoro.com; Via Rubens 24; meals €25-35; 11am-3pm & 6.30-11.30pm Tue-Sun; De Angeli) 9 Zero Japanese €€€ Offline map Google map Zero’s dramatically designed space puts the spotlight on the kitchen, which prepares traditional sashimi but also a variety of creative raw and rare dishes.

Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism
by Elizabeth Becker
Published 16 Apr 2013

The 40xVenezia group has remedies. First, they want authorities to enforce all the laws against cheap foreign copies pretending to be fine Venetian crafts. Murano blown glass has been undercut by cheap foreign copies, leading to more local unemployment. Kempinski Hotels recently bought up one of those abandoned factories on the island of Murano. The press release announcing this new hotel said: “This veritable gem of a building offers dazzling vistas across the lagoon to Venice and is directly connected to Rio dei Vetrai Canal. Apart from its outstanding location, the hotel will feature approximately 150 rooms and suites, a sun terrace, bar with a terrace, café, spa area and fitness center, a ballroom as well as meeting and convention facilities.”

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“Cruises, bus tours, they take tourists in boats to the island to so-called glass factories where they are taken into showrooms. Real glass factories are closed to the public,” he said. High-pressure salesmen tell tourists they can buy the glass at a “50 percent discount,” but still they pay more than twice what it’s worth. It isn’t Murano glass. It’s shoddy glass mass-produced somewhere else: Taiwan, China, Russia, the Czech Republic—who knows. “We’ve complained to the authorities that this is false merchandising. The Chamber of Commerce doesn’t do anything to help honest tourism, either.” In the meantime, his company simply refuses to work within that corrupt system.

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At St. Mark’s Square we ran into the real problem. We wanted to buy a beautiful piece of Murano glass and instead we ran into blocks of brand-name fashion stores that rivaled the Champs-Élysées of Paris. Familiar Italian names like Prada, Armani, Gucci and Ferragamo were joined by Dior and Burberry. The night before, we had dined at the fabled Osteria da Fiore, an extraordinary one-star restaurant that uses Murano glasses, which enchanted Bill. He asked for the name of the shop where we could buy a good piece of glass. There it was—the Venetian gallery called L’Isola—the one local artisan showroom buried in the midst of those high-end boutiques that you can find in any major shopping city of the world.

The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson
by Kim Stanley Robinson
Published 1 Mar 2001

Carlo crossed himself quickly to impress his customers, and sat back down at the tiller. He pulled the sail tight and they heeled over slightly, slapped into the waves. In no more than forty minutes they were east of Murano, skirting its edge. Murano, like Venice an island city crossed with canals, had been a quaint little town before the flood. But it didn’t have as many tall buildings as Venice, and it was said that an underwater river had undercut its islands; in any case, it was a wreck. The two Japanese chattered with excitement. “Can we visit to that city here, Carlo?” asked Hamada. “It’s too dangerous,” Carlo answered.

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In Japan rains every day—Taku says, ‘It rains tomorrow for surely.’ Weather prophet!” After the laughter receded, Carlo said, “Hasn’t all the rain drowned some of your cities too?” “What’s that here?” “Don’t you have some Venices in Japan?” But they didn’t want to talk about that. “I don’t understand… No, no Venice in Japan,” Hamada said easily, but neither laughed as they had before. They sailed on. Venice was out of sight under the horizon, as was Murano. Soon they would reach Burano. Carlo guided the boat over the waves and listened to his companions converse in their improbable language, or mangle Italian in a way that alternately made him want to burst with hilarity or bite the gunwale with frustration.

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No, that wouldn’t do; he had to keep stern-on to the waves, and besides, he couldn’t row effectively in this chop. He had to go where the waves were going, he realized; and if they missed Murano and Venice, that meant the Adriatic. As the waves lifted and dropped him, he grimly contemplated the thought. His mast alone acted like a sail in a wind of this force; and the wind seemed to be blowing from a bit to the west of north. The waves—the biggest he had ever seen on the Lagoon, perhaps the biggest ever on the Lagoon—pushed in about the same direction as the wind, naturally. Well, that meant he would miss Venice, which was directly south, maybe even a touch west of south. Damn, he thought. And all because he had been angered by those two Japanese and the Teotaca.

Material World: A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future
by Ed Conway
Published 15 Jun 2023

In much the same way as we do not fully understand the physics of glass, we don’t entirely comprehend what’s happening at a molecular level when concrete sets, or what’s happening in the furnace when we turn quartz into metallic silicon. Mysteries abound. Yet the eventual product, mysterious as it may be, begins with grains of sand. Much is made of the skill of the craftsmen of Murano in making extraordinary glass, but less is said about the fact that Venice happened to be perfectly sited for the raw materials needed to make that glass. The sand could come from the Lido – a nearby sandbank – and other sites along the coastline; soda ash could be sailed in from Egypt or Alicante; wood for the furnaces could be brought down from the lower Italian Alps; clay from Vicenza and salt from Dalmatia.

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Indeed, while Britain was perhaps the world’s leading glassmaker in the eighteenth century, that mantle had already been passed plenty of times throughout the long history of glassmaking: from Murano in Venice, from Rome, from Syria and from Egypt – a long thread of innovation that demarcates human civilisation. Today we take glass so much for granted that we tend to forget what it is made of. Not so for previous generations; indeed, when in the seventeenth century George Ravenscroft created lead crystal glass – or, more accurately, when one of his Italian employees did – he called it flint glass after the quartzite flints found throughout much of south-east England. The main ingredient changed from flint to silica sand in the following years but the name stuck.

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For centuries governments vied with each other to control another leading technology derived from sand, a technology that endowed those using it with bionic powers. That technology was glass. Just as today’s governments attempt to build up their semiconductor industries and electric car sectors, their predecessors pulled every lever they could, from industrial strategy to industrial subterfuge, to control the trade in glass. In much the same way as scientists are today prevented from smuggling their secrets from the West to Asia, something similar went for the artisans of Murano, the first craftsmen to learn how to make truly clear, thin, beautiful glass. They were threatened with death if they attempted to leave the island in the Venetian lagoon.

Galileo's Dream
by Kim Stanley Robinson
Published 29 Dec 2009

Mazzoleni hurried out to give it a try. He rotated the frames, looked through it backwards, tipped the frames, moved them back and forth on the tube. “There are blurry patches,” he noted. “We need better lenses.” “You could order a batch from Murano.” “From Florence. The best optical glass is Florentine. Murano glass is for colored trinkets.” “If you say so. I have friends who would contest that.” “Friends from Murano?” “Yes.” Galileo’s real laugh was a low huh huh huh. “We’ll grind our own lenses if we have to. We can buy blanks from Florence. I wonder what would happen if we had a longer tube.” “This one is about as long as we’ve got.

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These views made it clear that many of the senators were even more amazed to see people brought close than they had been buildings; perhaps their minds had leaped as quickly as Galileo’s servants to the uses of such an ability. They gazed at worshippers entering the church of San Giacomo in Murano, or getting into gondolas at the mouth of the Rio de’ Verieri, just west of Murano. Once one of them even recognized a woman he knew. After that round of viewing, Galileo lifted the device, helped now by as many hands as could touch the tripod, and the whole assembly shifted together to the easternmost arch on the southern side of the campanile, where the glass could be directed over the Lido and the fuzzy blue Adriatic. For a long time Galileo tapped the tube gently from side to side, searching the horizon.

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It would be a good thing to be able to see distant objects as if they were close by. Several obvious uses sprang to mind. Military advantages, in fact. He made his way to one of the lens-makers’ tables, humming a little tune of his father’s that came to him whenever he was on the hunt. There would be better lenses in Murano or Florence; here he found nothing but the usual magnifying glasses that one used for close work. He picked up two, held them in the air before his right eye. St. Mark’s lion couchant became a flying ivory blur. It was a poorly done bas relief, he saw again with his other eye, very primitive compared to the worn Roman statues under it on either side of the gate.

The Perfect House: A Journey With Renaissance Master Andrea Palladio
by Witold Rybczynski
Published 2 Sep 2002

Associating the villa suburbana with antiquity, he quoted an ancient Roman poet on the pleasures of villa life: How in the country do I pass the time? The answer to the question’s brief: I lunch and drink, I sing and play, I wash and dine, I rest. Meanwhile I Phoebus quiz And Muses frisk.8 Venice was larger than Florence, and being built on the water was more crowded and unhealthy. To temporarily escape such conditions, wealthy Venetians built summer houses on the island of Murano, next to the glass factories whose hot exhausts were curiously believed to be beneficial to one’s health. The island of Giudecca was another favorite location.9 Eventually, villa builders moved farther out, and the banks of canals such as the Brenta, which provided convenient access from the city, likewise filled up with summer retreats.

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I can well imagine them bombarding him with suggestions, especially Daniele, who had considerable architectural experience. In Padua, he had laid out the university’s new botanical garden—one of the first in Europe. In Venice, he had planned the iconographic program for the ceiling of the main council chamber in the Doge’s Palace, and personally designed a palazzo on the island of Murano (probably with the help of either Palladio or Sanmicheli).4 He also knew many architects and it has been suggested that he canvassed their advice about his proposed villa.5 Such opinionated clients, no matter how well-intentioned, considerably complicate an architect’s job.

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M., 99 Barry, Sir Charles, 7, 9 basements, 32, 60, 68, 103, 172–73, 232 Basilica, 74–84, 76, 82, 221, 252 commission granted on, 75, 77, 84 construction process of, 116, 176 decorative embellishments on, 80, 83, 264 original building reinforced as, 74–75, 77, 79, 80–81 in Quattro libri, 76, 220 rhythmic repetition in design of, 81–83 serlianas built in, 79–80, 83, 85, 266 statue of Palladio erected beside, 223, 251 Vicentine officials and, 84, 96, 229 Baths of Agrippa, 41 battuto, 6, 235 Beethoven, Ludwig van, 196 Bèrici hills, 201, 205, 211 Berkeley, George, 139 Berlin Theater, 99 Bertotti-Scamozzi, Ottavio, 175, 192 Blenheim Palace, 136 Blodgett, Samuel, 99 Borgia, Lucrezia, 16 Bramante, Donato, 59 architects trained by, 20, 43 classical Roman influence on, 40 Cortile del Belvedere of, 42, 47, 77, 79 death of, 42, 115 harmony in designs of, 21 inventiveness of, 247 oculi used by, 70 as painter, 10 serliana revived by, 5n, 266 Tempietto of, 205 villa façade modeled after, 54 Brenta River, 100–101, 103, 179 Brunelleschi, Filippo, 10, 40, 92, 247 bucrania, 80, 153, 157, 261 buon fresco, 24 see also frescoes Burlington, Richard Boyle, Lord, 136–37, 141, 214–15, 216, 223 Caldogno, Euriemma Saraceno, 229, 236, 238n Caldogno, Lucietta, 229–30, 231 Campbell, Colen, 136–37, 139, 140, 175, 214 capitals, 55, 260, 261 Capitoline Hill, 84 Carnera, Anselmo, 88 castello, 16, 35 Castle, Richard, 173, 174 Castle Howard (Yorkshire), 136 Cavazza, Bartolomeo, 11–12 ceilings: coffered, 186, 192, 206 construction of, 89 frescoes painted on, 63, 207 height of, xviii, 233, 237–38 vaulted, xviii, 63, 266 Charles I, King of England, 134, 135 Charles II, King of England, 136 Chiericati, Giovanni, 98, 99, 107 Chiericati, Girolamo, 96, 98 Chiswick House, 214–15, 217, 223, 243 Civena family, 38 Clement VII, Pope, 43 columns: of brick, 114 defined, 262 engaged, 199 entasis (tapering) of, 177–78, 241, 263 fluted, 263 freestanding, 97–98 interior, 127–28 intervals between, 104, 241, 264 orders of, 55, 80, 262 parts of, 55, 260, 262 pediments without, 57 sizes of, 246, 263 commedia dell’arte, 19 Composite order, 55, 80, 261, 262, 265 Constant, Caroline, 259 Contarini, Jacopo, 117 Contarini family, 121, 122n Corinthian order, 55, 80, 246, 260, 261, 262, 265 Cornaro, Alvise, 21, 59, 121, 147, 221 background of, 18 both comfort and beauty advocated by, 18–19, 23 frescoes used by, 19, 28 garden loggia built for, 19, 161 Cornaro, Andrea, 122 Cornaro, Caterina, 121–22, 127, 145 Cornaro, Giorgio, 19, 121–22, 127, 128, 130, 142, 143, 147, 157 Cornaro, Girolamo, 122, 127 corn cultivation, 191 cornices, 55, 260, 263 Corrigan, Brian, 251, 252 cortile, 32 Cortile del Belvedere, 42, 47, 77, 79 curved loggias, 179, 181–82 cyma recta (ogee molding), 208 dados, 262 Da Monte family, 39 da Porto, Iseppo, 73, 75, 96 da Sangallo, Antonio, 20, 42, 57, 115 da Sangallo, Giuliano, 57 Designs of Inigo Jones (Kent), 137, 139, 140, 214 Diocletian (thermal) windows, 27, 32, 266 Doge’s Palace, 74, 79, 114, 117, 151, 164 domed buildings, 203–7, 211, 220, 223, 264 in Britain and U.S., 213–19 Doric order, 55, 56, 80, 83, 253, 262, 265, 266 drawing techniques, 41, 45–49 Drayton, John, 140, 142–43 Drayton Hall (South Carolina), 132, 140, 142–43, 218 Emo, Andrianna Badoer, 191 Emo, Cornalia Grimani, 191, 192, 196, 198 Emo, Leonardo (the Elder), 187, 189, 191 Emo, Leonardo (the Younger), 187, 189, 191–92 entablature, 55, 260, 262–63 entasis, 177–78, 263 Erith, Raymond, 244 Este, Ippolito d’, 148 Este, Isabella d’, 16 eustyle, 104, 264 Falconetto, Giovanni Maria, 19, 59 family rooms, 217 fascia, 114, 172, 263 Ferri de Lazara, Cornelia, 59 Fiorentino, Giallo, 169 fireplaces, 61, 130, 171 First Bank of the United States (Philadelphia), 99 Fletcher, Banister, 9, 27 floor surfaces, 6, 235–36 Florence, Brunelleschi cathedral in, 10 fluting, 263 Foots Cray Place (Kent), 215–16, 217 Foscari, Alvise, 104, 108 Foscari brothers, 104, 107, 108, 118, 157 Four Books of Architecture, The (Palladio), see Quattro libri dell’architettura, I (Palladio) Franco, Battista, 106, 107 frescoes: architectural elements in, 19, 25, 28, 106, 169–70, 187 on ceilings, 63, 207 classical references vs. contemporary subjects of, 24–26, 87, 163–64 clients’ heritage and interests reflected in, 163–64, 179, 191–92 exterior simplicity vs., 27, 192 of grotesques, 87 Palladio’s endorsement of, 28–29, 88 perceived room proportions affected by, 236, 238 trompe l’oeil effects of, 25, 28, 106, 169–70 friezes, 55, 260, 263 furniture, 129–30 Gazoto, Tadeo, 39, 56 Gehry, Frank, 118 Georgian designs, 139, 142 giant columns, 103, 263 Gibbs, James, 139, 140, 141, 181–82, 247 Giudecca, island of, 103, 222 Giulio Romano (Giulio Pippi), 42, 43, 63, 81 death of, 73, 75 expressive style of, 21, 247 financial success of, 115 name of, 22 Titian’s portrait of, 224 Vicenza palazzo renovation design of, 75, 77 glassmaking, 61, 103 Godi, Enrico Antonio, 4 Godi, Girolamo, 4, 5, 7, 36 Godi, Pietro, 19, 23, 27–28, 29 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 81, 97, 243 on Carità cloister, 197 on Palladio villas, xv, xvi, 207, 209, 226–27 Gothic style, scale in, 246 Greenberg, Allan, 182 Grimani, Cornalia, 191, 192, 196, 198 Grimani, Giovanni, 198 groin, 263 Gualdo, Paolo, 17, 22, 84, 178 Hadrian, Emperor of Rome, 43 hemicycles, 47, 52–54, 263–64 Henry III (Henri de Valois), King of France, 106, 223 Hoban, James, 173 Holm, Alvin, 216–17, 218 Howard, Deborah, 111 Il Redentore, church of, 222–23, 246, 266 impost, 264 India, Bernardino, 63, 84 intercolumniation, 104, 264 International Style, 168 intonaco, 4 Ionic order, 55, 80, 83, 210, 262, 264, 265 James I, King of England, 133, 175 Jeanneret, Charles-Edouard (Le Cor-busier), 9, 69, 92, 118, 130 Jefferson, Thomas, xvii, xviii, 141, 217–18, 247 Johnson, Samuel, 209 Jones, Inigo, xviii, 132–36, 247 background of, 133, 134 British and U.S. architecture influenced by, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 175, 215, 218 buildings designed by, xvii, 134–35, 175, 181 as court architect, 134, 135–36, 175 domed residences designed by, 213, 214, 218 first portico design of, 175 Palladio villas visited by, 133–34, 137, 181, 206, 213 on Scamozzi’s resentment toward Palladio, 213 Jones, Philly Joe, 81 Jonson, Ben, 133 Julius III, Pope, 148 Kahn, Louis I., 92, 172 Kent, William, 137, 139, 214 Kildare House (Dublin), 173, 174 La Malcontenta, see Villa Foscari Lanci, Francesco Maria, 253 Landmark Trust, 226, 230 La Rocca, 211, 215, 216 La Rotonda, see Villa Almerico League of Cambrai, 11, 21 Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret), 9, 69, 92, 118, 130 Leoni, Giacomo, 136, 137, 218 Lewis, Douglas, 28 Ligorio, Pirro, 148 Loggia del Capitaniato, 221–22 loggias, curved, 179, 181–82 Longair, Malcolm, 111 Loredan, Lucietta, 176, 179, 191 Loredan, Zorzi, 176, 179 Louvre, 99 Lusławice, 253 McCarthy, Mary, 163 Maganza, Giambattista, iv, 83, 116, 224, 251 Mann, Thomas, 230 marmorino, 104–5, 114 Marta dalla Gondola, 10 mascheroni, 83, 153, 157, 264 masques, 133 measurement, Vicentine standards of, 110n, 233–34, 244 Medici, Lorenzo de’, 57 Mereworth Castle (Kent), 214, 215, 217, 243 metopes, 262 Michelangelo Buonarroti, 10, 21, 43, 84, 105, 117, 187, 247 Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 9, 71, 92 Mocenigo, Leonardo, 179, 181, 200 modillions, 3, 172, 264 moldings, 41–42, 114, 172, 208, 208, 263, 265, 266 Monte Bèrico, 12, 201, 205 Monticello (Virginia), xvii, 217 Moro, Battista, del, 27 Morris, Robert, 138–39, 140, 141 Mount Airy (Virginia), 139, 182 Mount Vernon (Virginia), 4, 182 Murano, island of, 103 Museo Civico (Vicenza), 95 National Gallery (Berlin), 71 National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), 99 Nuthall Temple, 216, 217 nymphaeum, 148, 162–63, 185 oculi, 65, 66, 67, 69–70, 80, 87, 92, 205, 206–7, 264 Odeo, 19 Of Built Things (Alberti), 13, 40 ogee molding (cyma recta), 208 Olympic Academy, 211 order, architectural, 18, 54–55, 80, 262, 264, 265, 266 Ospedale degli Innocenti, 40, 92 Padovano, Gualtiero, 27, 28 Padua: architecture of, 18, 19 University of, 18, 19, 147, 151 in Venetian Republic wars, 11 Pagliarino, Bartolomeo, 71 Palazzo Antonini, 12, 155, 265 Palazzo Barbaran, 221 Palazzo Canossa, 69 Palazzo Chiericati, 95–98, 97, 103, 116, 157, 187, 261 Palazzo Civena, 39, 56, 157 Palazzo da Porto, 73, 157, 186 Palazzo della Ragione (Vicenza), 74 Palladio’s Basilica reconstruction of, 75–84, 76, 82, 84, 85, 96, 116, 176, 220, 221, 223, 229, 266 Palazzo delle Trombe, 229 Palazzo del Tè, 21 palazzos, terminology of, 39n Palladian (Venetian) windows, see serlianas Palladio, Allegradonna, 15, 17, 67 Palladio, Andrea: ancient Roman architecture admired by, 13, 39–42, 59, 198, 209 archaeological field sketches of, 41–42, 205, 245 architectural treatise of, see Quattro libri dell’architettura birth of, 10, 11 children of, 17, 116, 177, 222 commemorative statues of, 223 construction overseen by, 177, 178 D.

The Fallen Blade: Act One of the Assassini
by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Published 27 Jan 2011

“Why kill them if they know nothing?” “What do you know about Murano?” “Little enough. You don’t encourage strangers.” “The glassmakers’ island has its own courts and cathedral, its own coinage, its own bishop. It even has its own Golden Book. A good portion of Venice’s wealth comes from its secrets.” Captain Roderigo paused to let that sink in. “It’s the only place in the world where artisans are patrician and skill with your hands earns you the right to wear a sword in public.” “This comes at a price?” Honesty kept Roderigo from lying. Glass-blowers couldn’t leave Murano without permission and the penalty for a Muranesq caught trying to abandon Venice was death.

…

While the land door was close enough to Dogana to be walked in minutes. Of course, everywhere in the city was within walking distance of everywhere else. Since Atilo didn’t trade, which made him rare in Venice, his colonnaded cortile was empty and his servants few. He entertained in the piano nobile, a wood-panelled first-floor reception room with alternating black and white tiles, huge fireplace and long windows stretching from floor to high ceiling. Furniture was sparse but the walls had Murano mirrors. And a painting of Atilo as a young admiral, by Gentile da Fabriano, held pride of place among round-faced madonnas and anguished saints. A huge Persian carpet covered much of the tiling.

…

“Not in so many words,” Alonzo added. “She said you seemed surprisingly fond of him for you. I simply read between her words. Although your response confirms it.” The Regent beamed, pleased with his cunning. “My lord… The reason I’m here?” “All in good time,” Alonzo said, picking a honey-glazed almond from a Murano glass salver and sucking off its sweetness. “The duchess would be upset if I started without her.” As if on cue, halberds slammed on the marble outside as guards came to attention and a door swung open. Duchess Alexa took one look at Alonzo behind the table and Atilo standing there in front of it and scowled.

Frommer's Irreverent Guide to Las Vegas
by Mary Herczog and Jordan S. Simon
Published 26 Mar 2004

After more than 30 years, it’s still Vegas glitz at its best. But for sheer camp, nothing exceeds the excess of Excalibur, with its mock medieval stained-glass ceiling, glowing dragons, brightly colored heraldic flags, suits of armor on wooden horses, and amazing turreted chandeliers. The majestic 70-foot rotunda dome in the Venetian’s lobby glistens with 24K gold leaf and a montage of 21 Renaissance paintings. The tile floors are the real thing, scavenged from condemned palazzi. Marble and Murano glass gleam everywhere, and a photo of Venice canals provides a trompe l’oeil effect behind the reception desk. Less awesome, but handsome all the same, is New York–New York’s registration area, with its Art Deco bronze touches, ’40s Times Square photos, and a marvelous mural of the New York skyline at dawn.

…

Go, girl. Restrooms... Every hotel casino and lobby has facilities, some quite ornate. Favorites: Via Bellagio (the hotel’s shopping arcade), with gold-plated fixtures; New York– New York’s Rockefeller Restroom (Murano glass chandeliers and wall sconces, gilded mirrors, silk flowers, custom tile work, and portraits of Mae West over marble and painted fireplaces); and the beaded, translucent glass bathrooms with TV screens outside Mandalay Bay’s China Grill. Taxis... Several taxicab companies serve the Las Vegas Valley. Fares are fairly stratospheric (meters drop at $2.70, generally, and then $1.80 for every mile thereafter or min. of waiting time).

…

Water walls and fountains provide a soothing backdrop for conversation at Café Lago, especially on or beside the patio, which overlooks Caesars’ illuminated Garden of the Gods pool complex. Another romantic touch: top-flight pianists, including acclaimed David Osborne (a Bobby-Short-in-the-making). Posh Valentino features dimly lit private nooks, rose or tangerine velvet curtains, and Murano glass flowers and lighting fixtures. Lovers can lock gazes here over a superlative bottle of Gaja Barbaresco and refined risotto (perhaps with dried berries and bacon-wrapped quail). DINING 68 brass-and-wood sconces, and towering floral arrangements impart the feel of a plush boardroom; for serious dealhammering, head for the Swan Court area, just nine tables and four booths surrounded by picture windows overlooking a waterfall, swan-filled pool, and gardens.

The Map of Knowledge: How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found: A History in Seven Cities
by Violet Moller
Published 21 Feb 2019

Every new row of houses, every canal, every campo had to be carefully planned. Like Baghdad and Córdoba, Venice zoned different types of manufacture in different areas, its island structure perfectly suited to this form of town planning, a novelty in Europe at the time. This idea was probably brought back to Venice by merchants who had visited those cities and been impressed by their design and organization. The island of Murano became the centre of glass-making when the foundries were moved there, in the thirteenth century, to protect the city from fire – the roaring furnaces that smelted the glass posed a danger to its tightly packed, wooden buildings.

…

L. ref1 Henry I, King of England ref1, ref2 Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor ref1 Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor ref1 Herculaneum, Villa of the Papyri ref1 Herman of Carinthia ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5 Hermannus Contractus ref1 Hildesheim, Bishop of ref1 Hipparchus ref1 Hippocrates Aphorisms ref1, ref2 Arabic translations ref1, ref2 Galen’s commentaries ref1, ref2 Galen’s debt to ref1 influence ref1 Latin translations ref1, ref2 printed editions ref1 Prognostics ref1 studied in Persia ref1 al-Hisham II, Caliph ref1 Hohenstaufen dynasty ref1n, ref2, ref3, ref4 Hroswitha of Gandersheim ref1, ref2n Hugo Falcandus ref1 Hugo Sanctallensis ref1 Hulagu ref1 Hunayn ibn Ishaq (Iohannitius) Constantine’s work on Isagoge ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 death ref1 education ref1 legacy ref1 Ten Treatises on the Eye ref1 translation methods ref1 translations ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4n travels ref1 Hypatia ref1, ref2 ibn Baghunish ref1 Ibn Futays family ref1 Ibn al-Haytham ref1 ibn Hud, Yusuf al-Mutamin ref1, ref2 Ibn Jubayr ref1n, ref2 Ibn al-Nadim ref1, ref2n, ref3, ref4, ref5 Ibn Sab’in ref1 al-Idrisi ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, Plate ref5 Isaac Judaeus ref1, ref2 Ishaq ibn Hunayn ref1, ref2, ref3 Islam birth ref1 conversion to ref1 cult of books ref1, ref2 Dar al-Islam ref1 education system ref1 legacy of Islamic science ref1 Mu’tazili theology ref1, ref2 pilgrimage ref1 Qur’an ref1 science and faith ref1 Sunni/Shia schism ref1 Istanbul see Constantinople Italian language ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4n, ref5, ref6 al-Jabali ref1, ref2 Jainism ref1 al-Jazzar ref1 Jerusalem ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5 Jews in Alexandria ref1, ref2 in Antioch ref1 in Baghdad ref1 in Córdoba ref1 expelled from Spain ref1, ref2 life under Umayyads ref1, ref2, ref3 medical tradition ref1 persecuted by Almohads and Almoravids ref1 persecuted by Visigoths ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 restrictions on ref1 scholars ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7 Sephardi ref1, ref2, ref3n in Sicily ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 in Toledo ref1, ref2 translation from Hebrew ref1 Johannes de Sacrobosco, De sphaera mundi Plate ref1 Johannes of Speyer ref1 John, Archbishop of Toledo ref1 John, Bishop of Norwich ref1 John Afflacius ref1 John of Gorze ref1 John of Palermo ref1 John of Salisbury ref1 John of Seville and Limia ref1, ref2, ref3 John of Tours ref1 Julius II, Pope ref1 Julius Caesar ref1 Justinian I, Emperor ref1, ref2 Kairouan ref1, ref2 Kepler, Johannes ref1, ref2, ref3 al-Khatib al-Baghdadi ref1 Khusraw, Sassanian king ref1 al-Khwarizmi astronomical tables (Zij) ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 concept of algorithm ref1 correcting data in Almagest ref1 Fibonacci’s work ref1 Hunayn’s translation of Galen for ref1 importance of his work ref1 Kitab al-Jebr (treatise on algebra) ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 life ref1 manual on astrolabes ref1n observations ref1, ref2 Pacioli’s work ref1 translations of his work ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 work on Hindu arithmetic ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 al-Kindi ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Latin language Adelard’s work ref1 Bessarion’s collection of books ref1 correspondence in ref1 decline in al-Ándalus ref1, ref2 first comprehensive medical text ref1 medical vocabulary ref1 Mozarabic Church ref1, ref2 printed books ref1, ref2 scholars ref1, ref2, ref3 scientific texts ref1, ref2 in Sicily ref1, ref2, ref3 spoken ref1n, ref2, ref3 technical vocabulary ref1 texts translated from Arabic ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17 texts translated from Greek ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19 texts translated into Italian ref1 Leeuwenhoek, Anton van ref1 Leonard of Pisa see Fibonacci Leonardo da Vinci ref1, ref2 Leoniceno, Niccolò ref1 libraries Alexandria ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8 Arabic Plate ref1 Baghdad ref1, ref2, ref3 Bessarion’s collection ref1, ref2, ref3 catalogues ref1 Cluny ref1, ref2 Córdoba ref1, ref2, ref3 Dee’s collection ref1 Marciana Library ref1, ref2n, ref3 medical texts ref1 monastic ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 private ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5 public ref1, ref2, ref3 university libraries ref1 Vatican Library ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Linacre, Thomas ref1, ref2, ref3 Lucretius De rerum natura ref1 Luther, Martin ref1 Madinat al-Zahra ref1, ref2, ref3 Maimonides ref1 al-Majriti ref1, ref2, ref3n, ref4 al-Majusi, Ali ibn al-Abbas Kitab Kamil ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 translation as Pantegni ref1, ref2 al-Makkari ref1, ref2n, ref3 al-Ma’mun, Caliph accession ref1 astronomical experiments ref1, ref2 Banu Musa brothers ref1 book collecting ref1 character ref1, ref2, ref3 coinage Plate ref1 House of Wisdom ref1, ref2, ref3 impact on scholarship ref1, ref2, ref3 library ref1 observatories ref1, ref2 physicians ref1, ref2, ref3 religious policies ref1 stargazing ref1 translators ref1, ref2 Manrique, Alonso, Bishop of Córdoba ref1 al-Mansur, Caliph ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 al-Mansur, vizier ref1 Manuel Comnenus, Emperor ref1 Manutius, Aldus ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 map of the world ref1 maps for journeys ref1, ref2 Mark Anthony ref1 Mark of Toledo ref1, ref2 Marwan, II, Caliph ref1 Mash’allah ref1 mathematics abacus ref1, ref2 algebra ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9 books preserved in Córdoba ref1 engineering projects ref1, ref2 ‘exact science’ ref1 geometry ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19, ref20, ref21 Hindu-Arabic numerals ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, Plate ref10 infinity ref1 need for ref1 number of mathematicians ref1 number systems ref1, ref2, ref3 positional notation ref1, ref2, ref3 printed texts ref1 quadratic equations ref1 religious uses ref1 study ref1, ref2 subject ref1 Zaragoza library ref1 zero ref1 Matthaeus F., Salernitan doctor ref1 Mattheus Platearius ref1 medicine anaesthetics ref1, ref2 anatomy ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13 Antidotarium Nicolai ref1, ref2 books ref1 books preserved in Córdoba ref1 botanical remedies ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Cassiodorus’ work ref1 Circa instans (on remedies) ref1, ref2 court physicians ref1 ‘cupping’ Plate ref1 diagnosis ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, Plate ref5 diseases ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7 dissection ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 education ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 encyclopaedia (The Comprehensive Book on Medicine) ref1 European medical curriculum ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5 ‘exact science’ ref1 four humours ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5 gynaecology ref1 Jewish doctors in Spain ref1 Leoniceno’s collection of texts ref1 need for ref1, ref2 ophthalmology ref1, ref2 oral knowledge ref1 pagan shrines ref1 pharmacology ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5 qualification system ref1 remedies ref1, ref2, Plate ref3 study ref1 surgery ref1, ref2, ref3, Plate ref4 survival of medical texts ref1 treatment of wounds ref1, ref2, ref3, Plate ref4 Menelaus, Spherics ref1 Mesopotamia ref1 Michael, Bishop of Taragona ref1 Michelangelo ref1 microscope ref1 Middle Collection/Little Astronomy ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4n, ref5 Minerva ref1 monasteries accommodation for travellers ref1 Bec ref1 Benedictine ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Bobbio ref1 in Byzantine Empire ref1 Carolingian ref1 centres of book production ref1 education ref1, ref2 foundation ref1 in France ref1 Galen’s works ref1 libraries ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 lifestyle ref1 Montecassino ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 Mount Athos ref1 Nestorian ref1 Orthodox ref1 physic gardens ref1, ref2 scriptoria ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7 search for texts in ref1, ref2n in Sicily ref1 in Spain ref1n, ref2 survival of scientific texts ref1 in Toledo ref1, ref2 Vivarium ref1, ref2 Montecassino, monastery Abbot Desiderius ref1, ref2 Constantine’s work at ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, Plate ref5 foundation ref1, ref2 library ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 road to ref1, ref2, ref3 sacked and rebuilt ref1 scriptorium ref1, ref2, ref3, Plate ref4 Montefeltro, Duke Federigo da ref1 Moro, Cristoforo ref1 Muhammad, Prophet ref1, ref2, ref3 Mukaddasi ref1 al-Munajjim ref1 al-Muqtadir, Caliph ref1 Muslim conquests ref1 al-Mustasim, Caliph ref1 al-Mutadid, Caliph ref1 al-Mutawakkil, Caliph ref1 Naples ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5 navigation ref1, ref2, ref3 Nawbakht ref1 Nemesius, Bishop of Emesa ref1, ref2 Niccoli, Niccolò ref1, ref2 Niccolò da Reggio ref1 Nicholas, Byzantine monk ref1 Nicholas V, Pope ref1 Nisbis, school of ref1, ref2 Nutton, Vivian ref1, ref2 Ostrogoths ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7 Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor ref1 Oxford ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6n Oxyrhynchus ref1, ref2 Pacioli, Luca ref1, ref2, Plate ref3 Padua, university anatomy theatre ref1n chair of Greek ref1 Copernicus’ studies ref1 curriculum ref1 job offers refused ref1 lectures by Regiomontanus ref1 Leoniceno’s career ref1 students from Venice ref1 teaching of medicine ref1, ref2 paganism ref1 Palermo Cathedral ref1, ref2, ref3 coronation of Roger II ref1 court ref1, ref2, ref3, Plates ref4, ref5 cultural exchange ref1, ref2, ref3 description of city ref1 harbour ref1 libraries ref1 Martorana Church ref1, Plate ref2 mosaics ref1 Norman Palace ref1, ref2, Plate ref3 Norman power base ref1 scholars ref1 scientific texts ref1 translations ref1 Paracelsus ref1 Paul of Aegina ref1, ref2, ref3n Pergamon Altar of Zeus ref1, ref2 Galen’s education ref1, ref2, ref3 decline ref1 library ref1, ref2 shrine of Asclepius ref1, ref2 Persia ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 Persian language (Pahlavi), translation from ref1, ref2, ref3 Peter the Deacon ref1 Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny ref1 Petrarch ref1, ref2 Petronellus ref1 Peurbach (Peuerbach), Georg von ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Peyrard, François ref1, Plate ref2 philosophy ref1 Pinakes ref1 Pisa ref1, ref2 Pius II, Pope ref1 Plato Academy in Athens ref1, ref2, ref3 Bessarion’s work ref1 depiction ref1, Plate ref2 influence ref1, ref2 Phaedo ref1 Timaeus ref1 Plato of Tivoli ref1 Pliny the Elder ref1, ref2, ref3 Plutarch ref1, ref2 Poggio Bracciolini ref1, ref2, Plate ref3 printing press ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 Proclus, De motu ref1 Ptolemaic dynasty 437 Ptolemy, Claudius in Alexandria ref1, ref2 The Almagest see The Almagest approach to the universe ref1 character ref1 corrections to his work ref1, ref2 depiction ref1, Plate ref2 Geographia ref1 calculation of earth’s circumference ref1 Euclid’s influence ref1 Handy Tables (Zij) ref1 influence ref1, ref2, ref3 instruments ref1 model of the universe ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7 observations ref1 Optica ref1 Planisphaerium (‘Star Chart ’) ref1, ref2 printed editions ref1 ‘scientific method’ ref1 searches for copies of his works ref1 survival of his work ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 system of the seven climes ref1 theories disproved ref1, ref2 writings translated ref1, ref2, ref3 Ptolemy I Soter ref1, ref2n, ref3 Pythagoras ref1, ref2 Quintilian ref1 Rabelais ref1 Rahman I, Emir Córdoba building programme ref1, ref2 death ref1 emirate of Córdoba ref1, ref2 escape from Abbasids ref1, ref2, ref3 journey to Spain ref1, ref2 life in Damascus ref1 love of plants ref1, ref2 religious tolerance ref1 victories in Spain ref1 victory over Abbasid forces (763) ref1 writings ref1 Rahman II Emir, ref1, ref2 Rahman III, Emir ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Raphael ref1, ref2, ref3, Plate ref4 Ratdolt, Erhard ref1, ref2, Plates ref3, ref4 Ravenna ref1 Raymond, astronomer in Marseilles ref1 al-Razi (Rhazes) achievements ref1, ref2 appearance and character ref1 influence ref1, ref2 Kitab al-Hawi (Liber continens) ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 importance of his work ref1n, ref2n, ref3 translations of his work ref1, ref2 Recemund, Bishop of Elvira ref1 Regiomontanus (Johann Müller) ref1, ref2 Epitome of the Almagest ref1, ref2, Plate ref3 Reuchlin, Johann ref1 Rheticus, Georg Joachim ref1 Rhodes ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4n Robert II, Duke of Normandy ref1 Robert of Chester ref1, ref2 Robert of Ketton ref1, ref2 Rodrigo, Archbishop of Toledo ref1 Roger I (de Hauteville), Count of Sicily ref1, ref2, ref3 Roger II, King of Sicily ref1n, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, Plates ref6, ref7 Roger of Salerno, Chirurgia Plate ref1 Roman Empire ref1, ref2 Romance languages ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Rome Bessarion’s scriptorium ref1, ref2 education ref1 Galen’s work ref1, ref2 Greek émigrés from Constantinople ref1, ref2 Vatican Library ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Rueda de Jalón ref1 Rusafa, Umayyad palace ref1 al-Saffah ref1, ref2 al-Saffar ref1 Sa‘id al-Andalusi ref1, ref2, ref3 Saif al-Dawla ref1 Salerno ‘anonymous scholar’ ref1, ref2, ref3 canon of medical theory ref1 centre of medical learning ref1, ref2, ref3 Constantine’s medical treatment ref1 Constantine’s return with medical texts ref1, ref2 Duchy of Benevento ref1 female doctors ref1 herb gardens ref1 medical texts used for teaching ref1, ref2 Norman conquest (1077) ref1, ref2 Schola Medica Salernitana ref1, ref2, ref3 scholars ref1, ref2 site ref1 treatment of wounded crusaders ref1, ref2 view of (19th century) ref1 Salutati, Coluccio ref1, Plate ref2 al-Samh ref1 Sassanian dynasty ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 The School of Athens fresco (Raphael) ref1, ref2, ref3, Plate ref4 Scot, Michael ref1, ref2 Septuagint ref1 Severus Sebokht ref1, ref2 Seville ref1, ref2, ref3 Shapur I, Persian king ref1 Sicily agriculture ref1, ref2 ‘anonymous scholar’ ref1, ref2, ref3 Arab conquest ref1 dangers of sea crossing ref1, ref2 Greek language ref1, ref2n, ref3 Greek settlers ref1 history of invasions ref1 landscape ref1, ref2 map Plate ref1 medical ideas and methods ref1 meeting point for cultures ref1, ref2 Norman conquest ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5 polyglot culture ref1, ref2 religion ref1, ref2 Roman province ref1, ref2 rural population ref1 trade hub ref1 united with Southern Italy ref1, ref2 Silk Roads ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6 Simplicius, student ref1 slaves al-Ándalus ref1, ref2, ref3 Baghdad ref1, ref2, ref3 copying texts ref1 mothers of caliphs ref1, ref2 trade ref1 Smyrna, medical school ref1 Spain, reconquest ref1, ref2 Stephen of Antioch ref1 Stobaeus ref1 Strabo ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Syracuse Cathedral ref1, Plate ref2 Syria Abbasid conquest ref1 Christianity ref1, ref2, ref3n dispersal of texts ref1 émigrés ref1 Galen’s medical texts ref1, ref2 mathematics ref1 Muslim conquests ref1 Nisbis school ref1 Rahman’s memories ref1, ref2 texts translated into Syriac ref1 trade routes ref1 Umayyad rule ref1 Syriac language ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 al-Tabari ref1, ref2, ref3 Tabula Rogeriana ref1 Tancred, King of Sicily ref1 Tancred, regent of Antioch ref1 Tancred de Hauteville ref1, ref2 telescope ref1 Thabit ibn Qurra Book of Talismans ref1 revision of Ishaq’s translations ref1, ref2, ref3 son ref1 theories ref1 Thabit ibn Sinan ref1 Theodoric, Ostrogothic King of Italy ref1, ref2 Theon of Alexandria ref1, ref2n Theophilus of Edessa ref1 Thierry of Chartres ref1, ref2 Toledo Arab occupation ref1 books from Córdoba ref1 Cathedral ref1, ref2, ref3 Cathedral Library ref1 centre for transmission of scientific knowledge ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 city (15th century) ref1 fall to Alfonso of Castile (1085) ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Frankish quarter ref1, ref2 Galenic books in private collection ref1 Gerard of Cremona’s work ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 independent taifa state ref1 libraries ref1 metalworking industry ref1, Plate ref2 Roman bridge ref1 Roman city of Toletum ref1 scholars travelling to ref1, ref2 site ref1 translation programme ref1, ref2 translation of Ptolemy’s works ref1 translation of Zahrawi’s work ref1 Visigoth capital ref1 Toscanelli ref1 translation collections of texts ref1, ref2 into vernacular languages ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5 word-for-word style ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 Trotula ref1 al-Tusi ref1 Umayyad dynasty caliphate of Córdoba ref1 caliphate in Damascus ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 centre of learning in Córdoba ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 city of Córdoba ref1 emirate of Córdoba ref1 fall (1031) ref1 influence ref1 massacre by Abbasids ref1, ref2, ref3 Rahman’s escape from Abbasids ref1, ref2, ref3 rivalry with Abbasids ref1, ref2, ref3 structure of state ref1 Toledo status ref1 tolerant regime ref1 Urban II, Pope ref1 Urso, scholar ref1 Valla, Giorgio ref1 Valla, Lorenzo ref1 Vandals ref1, ref2 Velia ref1 Venice Arsenale ref1, ref2 Ca’ d’Oro ref1, ref2 description of city ref1 Doge ref1, ref2, ref3 Doge’s Palace ref1, ref2 early history ref1 Fondaco dei Tedeschi ref1, ref2 Fourth Crusade ref1 German community ref1, ref2 glass-making ref1 Grand Canal ref1, ref2, ref3 Greek community ref1 libraries ref1, ref2 map (12th century) ref1 map (15th century) ref1 Marciana Library ref1, ref2n, ref3 Murano ref1 Piazza San Marco ref1, ref2 planning ref1 printing presses ref1, ref2 republic ref1 Rialto Bridge ref1, ref2 San Giorgio Maggiore ref1 school of philosophy ref1 shipyard ref1 site ref1 tourism ref1 trade ref1 Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare ref1 Vesalius, Andreas challenge to Galenic anatomy ref1, ref2 De humani corporis fabrica ref1, ref2, ref3 discoveries ref1 at Padua University ref1n work on human cadavers ref1 Visigoths Córdoba palace ref1 learning ref1 persecution of Jews ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 religion ref1, ref2 rule over Hispania ref1, ref2 surrender ref1 Toledo capital ref1 Vivarium, monastery ref1, ref2 William, Bishop of Syracuse ref1 William II, Duke of Apulia ref1 William I, King of Sicily ref1, ref2, ref3 William II, King of Sicily ref1 William ‘Iron Arm’ de Hauteville ref1 Ximénez de Cisneros, Cardinal ref1 Yahya, tutor to Harun al-Rashid ref1, ref2 al-Ya’qubi ref1 Yuhanna ibn Masawayh ref1 al-Zahrawi (Albucasis) education ref1 Kitab al-Tasrif (The Method of Medicine) ref1 practical approach ref1 recipe for anaesthesia ref1, ref2 surgical instruments ref1, ref2 translations of works ref1 treatise on surgery and instruments ref1, ref2 Zaragoza ref1, ref2, ref3n, ref4 al-Zarqali ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, Plate ref5 Ziryab, Persian singer ref1 Zoë, Empress ref1 Zoroastrianism ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4n 1.

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They even managed to orchestrate the redirection of the Crusade against Constantinople itself, and the resulting sack of the city, led by the legendary blind doge, Enrico Dandolo, furnished Venice with a vast sum of money and piles of priceless artefacts, including the four bronze horses which are now reproduced on the facade of the Basilica di San Marco – the originals are kept inside to protect them from the weather. 24. A map of Venice in the twelfth century, east at the top. Founded by exiles, it is perhaps unsurprising that Venice has a history of welcoming strangers, and it became a destination for pilgrims and tourists alike from very early on. Enterprising locals opened taverns, like the Lobster, Hotel Luna and the Little Horse, and offered their services as guides in the Piazza San Marco, where stallholders sold snacks and souvenirs, just as they do today.

Portuguese Irregular Verbs
by Alexander McCall Smith
Published 14 Apr 2003

Would that happen in Venice? Was the whole city surrounded by poison? And then what was it that the proprietor of the restaurant had said about the sea? Was that poisonous too? He walked on, but the image of the two men in white stayed in his mind, and he resolved to ask the manager of the hotel all about it if he had the opportunity that evening. Then he could warn the Prinzels about swimming, if need be. No opportunity presented itself to talk to any of the hotel staff before dinner, so the topic did not come up at the table. The Prinzels had had an exhausting day, with a trip to Murano and several circumnavigations of the city on vaporetti.

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Von Igelfeld felt a warm rush of satisfaction; he knew that to the proprietor he was no more than a client whose name had happened to lodge in the mind, but he felt as if he was amongst friends. A bottle of chilled wine from the hills was produced and the proprietor filled a glass for himself as well as for von Igelfeld. ‘We are so glad to see you,’ he said, raising his glass in toast. ‘There are fewer people coming these days. This summer there were virtually no Germans in Italy. It was terrible!’ ‘No Germans!’ Von Igelfeld was astonished at the hyperbole, but the proprietor seemed serious. ‘They are keeping away from Venice for some reason,’ he went on. ‘They say it is something to do with the sea.’ ‘Is there anything wrong with the sea?’ von Igelfeld asked, thinking of the beach at the Grand Hôtel des Bains.

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His mind was on his meeting with Malvestiti – normally such a warm occasion – this year an encounter which left him filled with nothing but feelings of foreboding. He had realised that his friend had not in fact provided the answers to the real question which he had asked. Everybody knew that Venice was sinking – that was not the point. The real question was what was wrong with the water? He gazed out at the sea, now becoming dark with the setting of the sun. It looked so beautiful, so maternal, and yet there must be something very wrong with it. Von Igelfeld sipped on his drink, a cold glass of beer, noticing with satisfaction that the label on the bottle said ‘Brewed in Belgium’. That must be safe; there was nothing threatening about Belgium.

Who Owns This Sentence?: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs
by David Bellos and Alexandre Montagu
Published 23 Jan 2024

As these numbers are all multiples of seven (× 2, × 3, × 4, × 6, × 8 and × 10), they reveal the continuing shadow of the first Venetian patents, set for the length of time it would take local trainees to become their masters’ rivals and competitors. Venice rapidly became a fabled source of lavish fabrics and coloured glass (still made on the island of Murano). Some decades after first offering monopoly rights to foreign craftsmen, the city incorporated the practice in its laws. March 19, 1474 There are men in this city, and also there come other persons every day from different places by reason of its greatness and goodness, who have most clever minds, capable of devising and inventing all kinds of ingenious contrivances.

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Taylor (1769) 93, 94, 96 Milton, John (1606–74) 51, 68, 97 Minitel 267 Misérables, Les (Hugo) 133, 147, 161, 162 and Cérésa 237, 263 and fair use 262 and Jean Valjean’s deathbed speech 280 Mitchell, Margaret (1900–49): Gone with the Wind 238, 252, 261–2 Molière (1622–73) 130 Monaco 152, 164 monarchy 19, 39, 42, 43, 44, 58 monopolies 16, 33, 39–40, 71 and books 40–1 and France 85 and libraries 174 and printing guilds 51 and theatre 130–1 and Venice 34, 35 Monopolies Act (1624) 167 Monroe, Marilyn (1926–62) 227–8 Montenegro 164 moral rights 91, 225–6, 233–9 Morse, Samuel (1791–1872) 204–5 Mosley, Max 230, 232 Mosley, Oswald (1896–1980) 230 Motion Picture Association of America (M.P.A.A.) 183, 266, 273–5, 276–7 Mouchot, Augustin (1825–1912) 149 M.O.V.A. 333–4 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756–91) 13, 241 Mudie’s Circulating Library 174 Murano 35 museums 302–3 music 13, 104–5, 235–6, 241–7 and A.I. 20, 334 and Berne Convention 164–5 and public domain 125 and short phrases 279–81 and Spotify 332 and technology 266–7, 270–1 and transformative use 312–13 see also Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A) Myanmar 164 Napoleon I, Emperor (1769–1821) 124 Napoleon III, Emperor (1808–73) 147 nature 81 Netherlands 164, 171, 173, 189, 194 Netscape Communications Corporation 320 “new manufactures” 77–80, 331 New York 149, 151 New York Times 13, 80, 135–6 news 207–11 Newton, Isaac (1642–1726) 81, 88 Nicaragua 192 Nichols, Anne: Abie’s Irish Rose 220 Niépce, Joseph Nicéphore (1765–1833) 169 Norway 152, 164, 189 Notice and Take-Down 269, 270, 271 novels 106–7 open source 320 Oracle 18 Orbison, Roy (1936–88): “Pretty Woman” 312–13 Organization for Transformative Works 263 originality 26, 58–9, 108–9, 139, 154, 330–1 and creative writing 311 and works 58–9, 60, 140–142, 143 orphan works 182–3, 282–4, 340 Ovid (43 BCE–18 CE) 29 ownership 42, 43, 45–6 and books 55–6 and corporations 198–9, 200–11 and facts 202–8 and ideas 58–9 and land 53–5 and printing 48–9, 51–2 Packard, David 80 painting see art Palau 164 Palestine 164 Pamela in High Life (anon) 106–7 Pan-American Convention 194 Panama 192 Pancoucke, Charles (1736–98) 115 Papua New Guinea 164 Paraguay 192 Paris 37, 50, 151 Parker, George (1860–1936) 297, 299 Parliament 101–3, 109 parody 260, 261, 312–13 Pasternak, Boris (1890–1960): Doctor Zhivago 195 Pasteur, Louis (1822–95) 77 patents 17, 18, 19, 32–4, 35–6, 50 and abolition movement 171–3, 175–6 and China 294 and England 167–8 and facts 204–5 and France 168–9 and jurisdictions 166–7 and monopolies 39–40 and “new manufactures” 76–80 and Soviet Union 169–70 and term limits 325 and U.S.A. 170–1 see also privileges Pathé 134 patronage 43–4, 58, 77 Patterson, Lyman 72 penalties 43, 44–5, 83 penicillin 77, 78 Perdue, Lewis 216 Perec, Georges (1936–82) 80, 181 Life A User’s Manual 310 Perfect 10 313–14 performance rights 16 permission fees 299–304, 305–8 Personal (film) 134 personality 221–3 Peru 192 Pfizer 79 pharmaceuticals 79, 340 Phonographic Performance Limited (P.P.L.) 245 photocopying 278 photography 152–3, 155–6, 160, 169, 218, 332 and right of publicity 223–4, 226, 227–8, 229, 230–2 and transformative use 313–17 pianolas 242, 243 Picasso, Pablo (1881–1973) 17, 253 Pichot, Amédée (1795–1877) 161–2 Piedmont-Sardinia, Kingdom 147 Piketty, Thomas 337 Capital in the Twenty-First Century 21–2 piracy 84, 137–8 and Belgium 144–6 and China 291–3, 294, 295 and engravings 100–1, 106 and music 244, 245, 246 and Pamela 106–7 and Scotland 92–8 and Soviet Union 190–2 and technology 265–6, 269 and U.S.A. 138–43, 186–90 plagiarism 25, 26–9, 30–1, 212–19 plaster casts 109 Plato (c.427–c.347 BCE) 23, 24–5, 88 “Playas Gon Play” (song) 279–80 playwrights 25, 129, 130–3, 191 Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) 26, 29 Plon 237 P.M.A.

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However, their impact on common folk is much the same: you are no freer to produce your own Coca-Cola than to build a device that works like an iPhone. Privileges conferred by letters patent arose in the late Middle Ages in the Republic of Venice, La Serenissima, a trading city with substantial ties to the ports and cultures of the Near East. Venetian merchants sailed to Smyrna, Tyre and Alexandria to buy spices that had travelled from unknown Eastern lands and precious artefacts of woven silk, beaten metal and coloured glass. Venice grew rich as a transit hub for commodities and manufactured goods that could not be produced in Europe, but soon enough it saw the possibility of growing richer still if, instead of acting as shipper and wholesaler, it could learn how to make some of those treasures itself.

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love
by Dava Sobel
Published 25 May 2009

Galileo not only approved of their union but also helped Bartoluzzi find employment with a wealthy Paduan friend of his. Still, Galileo continued sending money to Marina for Vincenzio’s support, and Bartoluzzi, in turn, kept Galileo supplied with lens blanks for his telescopes, procured from the renowned glassworks on the Island of Murano, within the waterways of Venice, until Florence proved a source of even better clear glass. Galileo rented a house in Florence “with a high terraced roof from which the whole sky is visible,” where he could make his astronomical observations and install his lens-grinding lathes. While waiting for the place to become available, he stayed several months with his mother and the two little girls in rooms he let from his sister Virginia and her husband, Benedetto Landucci.

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Galileo further flouted academic tradition by writing Bodies in Water in Italian, instead of the Latin lingua franca that enabled the European community of scholars to communicate among themselves. “I wrote in the colloquial tongue because I must have everyone able to read it,” Galileo explained—meaning the shipwrights he admired at the Venetian Arsenale, the glassblowers of Murano, the lens grinders, the instrument makers, and all the curious compatriots who attended his public lectures. “I am induced to do this by seeing how young men are sent through the universities at random to be made physicians, philosophers, and so on; thus many of them are committed to professions for which they are unsuited, while other men who would be fitted for these are taken up by family cares and other occupations remote from literature. . . .

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Galileo immediately grasped the military advantage of the new spyglass, although the instrument itself, fashioned from stock spectacle lenses, was little more than a toy in its first incarnation. Seeking to improve the spyglass by augmenting its power, Galileo calculated the ideal shape and placement of glass, ground and polished the crucial lenses himself, and traveled to nearby Venice to show the doge, along with the entire Venetian senate, what his contrivance could do. The response, he reported, was “the infinite amazement of all.” Even the oldest senators eagerly scaled the highest bell towers of the city, repeatedly, for the unique pleasure of discerning ships on the horizon—through the spyglass—a good two to three hours before they became visible to the keenest-sighted young lookouts.

Fodor's Rome: With the Best City Walks and Scenic Day Trips
by Fodor's Travel Publications Inc.
Published 24 Sep 2012

You’ll find lots of flower power, embroidered tops, and psychedelic clothing here, along with trippy boots and dishy bubblegum pink shoes that Twiggy would have loved. | Via del Governo Vecchio 45 | 00186 | 06/6832945. Ceramics and Decorative Arts Arte del Vetro Natolli Murano. Specializing in handblown Venetian art glass pieces, including Murano glass jewelry (necklaces and pendants), tableware, glass vases, and extravagant chandeliers, at Arte del Vetro Natolli Murano every individual piece is handcrafted from the furnaces of master glassmakers using ancient techniques kept alive by the island’s artisans since 1291. Some limited-edition designs show not only the craftsman’s mastery of the art form but the artisan’s love for the vibrant aesthetic of the glassmaking tradition. | Corso Rinascimento 53/55 | 00186 | 06/68301170.

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Rome in the summer has an abundance of stone fruits and seasonal treats (fresh plums, apricots, and figs are nothing like their dried counterparts and should be tasted to be believed), and great citrus in cooler months, like the sweet-tasting, beautiful blood oranges arriving daily from Sicily, which are often fresh-squeezed and served in tall glasses at Roman caffè. EATING LOCAL Like the Florentines with their cuisine and the Milanese with theirs, Romans go out to eat expecting to “eat local.” Forget about Thai stir-frys or Brazilian-style steaks, even the bollito (boiled meats) from Bologna or the cuttlefish risotto from Venice are regarded as “foreign” food. But Rome is the capital city, and the influx of immigrants from other regions of the country is enough to insure there are more variations on the Italian theme in Rome than you’d find anywhere else in the country: Sicilian, Tuscan, Pugliese, Bolognese, Marchegiano, Sardinian, and northern Italian regional cuisines are all represented.

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OPERA Opera buffs know that the best performances and most exquisite surroundings for opera are to be found at Milan’s La Scala, Venice’s newly reconstructed La Fenice, and at Verona’s Arena (outdoor amphitheater). But Rome is Italy’s capital, and so although its opera company does not have the renown of the aforementioned landmarks, it has a healthy following. Rome’s opera season runs from November or December to May, and then the summer welcomes open-air concerts, some set amid ancient Roman ruins. * * * Opera Alfresco Opera buffs know that the best performances and most exquisite surroundings for opera are to be found at Milan’s La Scala, Venice’s newly reconstructed La Fenice, and at Verona’s Arena (outdoor amphitheater).

Fodor's Dordogne & the Best of Southwest France With Paris
by Fodor's Travel Publications Inc.
Published 18 Apr 2011

Cons: on a very busy, noisy street; not the most attractive part of central Paris; drab decor. | 39 rue de Turbigo,Beaubourg/Les Halles | 75003 | 01–48–87–45–60 | www.hotelbellevue75.com | 59 rooms | In-room: no a/c, Wi-Fi hotspot. In-hotel: bar | AE, DC, MC, V | BP | Station: Réaumur-Sébastopol, Arts et Métiers Murano Urban Resort. $$$$ | As the epicenter of Parisian cool migrates eastward, it’s no surprise that a design-conscious hotel has followed. On the trendy northern edge of the Marais, this cheeky hotel that dares to call itself a resort combines Austin Powers playfulness with serious 007-inspired gadgetry.

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Vendôme, Louvre/Tuileries, 1er | 75001 | 01–43–16–30–30 | Station: Opéra), but with a dress code and cognac aux truffes on the menu, Hemingway might raise an eyebrow. Across the hallway is the reopened Ritz Bar (formerly the Cambon), a soigné setting where Cole Porter composed “Begin the Beguine.” Murano Urban Resort (13 bd. du Temple, République, 3e | 75003 | 01–42–71–20–00 | Station: Filles du Calvaire) is Paris’s epitome of space-age-bachelor-pad-hipness du jour with a black-stone bar, candy-color walls, and packed nightly with beautiful art and fashion types. Previous Chapter | Beginning of Chapter | Next Chapter | Contents Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Contents The Best Shopping Neighborhoods | Department Stores | Markets | Shopping Arcades | Specialty Stores Updated by Jennifer Ditsler-Ladonne THE BEST SHOPPING NEIGHBORHOODS AVENUE MONTAIGNE Shopping doesn’t come much more chic than on Avenue Montaigne, with its graceful town mansions housing some of the top names in international fashion: Chanel, Dior, Céline, Valentino, Krizia, Ungaro, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, and many more.

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George V,Champs-Élysées,8e | 01–44–43–00–44 | Station: George V | 6 Galerie Vivienne,Opéra/Grands Boulevards,2e | 75002 | 01–42–86–05–05 | Station: Bourse) first made headlines with his celebrated corset with the ironic i-conic breasts for Madonna, but now sends fashion editors into ecstasy with his sumptuous haute-couture creations. Designer Philippe Starck spun an Alice in Wonderland fantasy for the boutiques, with quilted cream walls and Murano mirrors. GIFTS FOR THE HOME Maison de Baccarat (11 pl. des États-Unis,Trocadéro/Tour Eiffel, 16e | 75016 | 01–40–22–11–00 | Station: Trocadéro) was once the home of Marie-Laure de Noailles, known as the Countess of Bizarre; now it’s a museum and crystal store of the famed manufacturer. Philippe Starck revamped the space with his signature cleverness—yes, that’s a chandelier floating in an aquarium and, yes, that crystal arm sprouting from the wall alludes to Jean Cocteau (a friend of Noailles).

Europe: A History
by Norman Davies
Published 1 Jan 1996

A leaning gold cross, which replaced the original in 1551 at the time of the first Habsburg coronation, precariously surmounts the whole.3 What is certain is the aptness of the quality with which the Crown is said to be most strongly endowed—its inadmissibility, ‘its incapacity to be permanently lost’.4 MURANO MURANO is an island in the Venetian lagoon. It is the site of a Romanesque church, Santa Maria e Donato, dating from 999, and the glassworks of the former Venetian Republic. Glass-making has been practised in Europe since ancient times, but Greek and Roman glass was coarse in texture and opaque in colour. It was only at Murano, near the turn of the thirteenth century, that the glass-masters created a product that was both tough and transparent. For several decades the formula remained secret; but then it leaked to Nuremberg, whence it spread to all corners of the continent.

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Norbert Elias, über den Prozess der Zivilisation: soziogenetische und psy-chogenetische Untersuchungen (Basle, 1939), i; trans, as The History of Manners (Oxford, 1978), 68 if. 2. Ibid. ch. 2, vii, ‘On Spitting’. 3. Ibid. 129. 4. Ibid. 85–162. 5. Ibid. MOUSIKE 1. After A. Isacs and E. Martin (eds.), Dictionary of Music (London, 1982), 247–8 (mode), 337–8 (scale). MURANO 1. L. Zechin, Vetro e vetrai di Murano: studi sulla storia del vetro (Venice, 1987); also M. Dekówna, Szkło w Europie wczeŚnoŚredniowiecznej (Wroclaw, 1980). NEZ 1. Desmond Morris et al, Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution, ‘The Nose Thumb’ (London, 1979), a survey confined to Western Europe, 25–42. 2. See J. Bremmer and H. Roodenburg (eds.), A Cultural History of Gesture (Oxford, 1993).

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Glass flasks, retorts, and tubes facilitated the experiments of alchemy, later of chemistry. Glassclochesand greenhouses transformed market-gardening. The microscope (1590), telescope (1608), barometer (1644), and thermometer (1593), all glass-based, revolutionized our views of the world. The silvered mirror, first manufactured at Murano, revolutionized the way we see ourselves. The social consequences of glass were far-reaching. The use of spectacles extended the reading span of monks and scholars, and accelerated the spread of learning. Windows increased the hours and efficiency of indoor work, especially in northern Europe.

Fodor's Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North With Paris
by Fodor's
Published 18 Apr 2011

Cons: on a very busy, noisy street; not the most attractive part of central Paris; drab decor. | 39 rue de Turbigo, Beaubourg/Les Halles | 75003 | 01–48–87–45–60 | www.hotelbellevue75.com | 59 rooms | In-room: no a/c, Wi-Fi hotspot. In-hotel: bar | AE, DC, MC, V | BP | Station: Réaumur-Sébastopol, Arts et Métiers Murano Urban Resort. $$$$ | As the epicenter of Parisian cool migrates eastward, it’s no surprise that a design-conscious hotel has followed. On the trendy northern edge of the Marais, this cheeky hotel that dares to call itself a resort combines Austin Powers playfulness with serious 007-inspired gadgetry.

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Vendôme, Louvre/Tuileries, 1er | 75001 | 01–43–16–30–30 | Station: Opéra), but with a dress code and cognac aux truffes on the menu, Hemingway might raise an eyebrow. Across the hallway is the reopened Ritz Bar (formerly the Cambon), a soigné setting where Cole Porter composed “Begin the Beguine.” Murano Urban Resort (13 bd. du Temple, République, 3e | 75003 | 01–42–71–20–00 | Station: Filles du Calvaire) is Paris’s epitome of space-age-bachelor-pad-hipness du jour with a black-stone bar, candy-color walls, and packed nightly with beautiful art and fashion types. Previous Chapter | Beginning of Chapter | Next Chapter | Contents Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Contents The Best Shopping Neighborhoods | Department Stores | Markets | Shopping Arcades | Specialty Stores The Best Shopping Neighborhoods Avenue Montaigne Shopping doesn’t come much more chic than on Avenue Montaigne, with its graceful town mansions housing some of the top names in international fashion: Chanel, Dior, Céline, Valentino, Krizia, Ungaro, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, and many more.

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George V, Champs-Élysées, 8e | 01–44–43–00–44 | Station: George V | 6 Galerie Vivienne, Opéra/Grands Boulevards, 2e | 75002 | 01–42–86–05–05 | Station: Bourse) first made headlines with his celebrated corset with the ironic i-conic breasts for Madonna, but now sends fashion editors into ecstasy with his sumptuous haute-couture creations. Designer Philippe Starck spun an Alice in Wonderland fantasy for the boutiques, with quilted cream walls and Murano mirrors. Gifts for the Home Maison de Baccarat (11 pl. des États-Unis, Trocadéro/Tour Eiffel, 16e | 75016 | 01–40–22–11–00 | Station: Trocadéro) was once the home of Marie-Laure de Noailles, known as the Countess of Bizarre; now it’s a museum and crystal store of the famed manufacturer. Philippe Starck revamped the space with his signature cleverness—yes, that’s a chandelier floating in an aquarium and, yes, that crystal arm sprouting from the wall alludes to Jean Cocteau (a friend of Noailles).

Lonely Planet Southern Italy
by Lonely Planet

Complimentary iPad use is a nice touch, and it’s always a good idea to check the hotel website for decent discounts. Grand Hotel VesuvioHOTEL€€€ (map Google map; %081 764 00 44; www.vesuvio.it; Via Partenope 45; d from €260; aiW; g128, E6 to Via Santa Lucia) Known for hosting legends – past guests include Rita Hayworth and Humphrey Bogart – this five-star veteran seduces with its dripping Murano chandeliers, period antiques and strangely appealing, faded glory. Rooms are a suitable mix of luxury linen sheets, sumptuous mattresses and Echia spa products, though it’s the sea-view rooms that really justify the price of slumbering here. Count your lucky stars at the rooftop bar and restaurant, which is better for sunset drinks than a forgettable dinner. 5Eating Naples is one of Italy’s gastronomic darlings, and the bonus of a bayside setting makes for some seriously memorable meals.

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oStanze al Genio ResidenzeB&B€ (map Google map; %340 0971561; www.stanzealgeniobnb.it; Via Garibaldi 11; s €85-100, d €100-120; aW) Speckled with Sicilian antiques, this B&B offers four gorgeous bedrooms, three with 19th-century ceiling frescoes. All four are spacious and thoughtfully appointed, with Murano lamps, old wooden wardrobes, the odd balcony railing turned bedhead, and top-quality, orthopaedic beds. That the property features beautiful majolica tiles is no coincidence; the B&B is affiliated with the wonderful Museo delle Maioliche downstairs. Palazzo PantaleoB&B€ (map Google map; %091 32 54 71; www.palazzopantaleo.it; Via Ruggero Settimo 74h; s/d/ste €80/100/150; pW) Offering unbeatable comfort and a convenient location, Giuseppe Scaccianoce’s elegant B&B occupies the top floor of an old palazzo half a block from Piazza Politeama, hidden from the busy street in a quiet courtyard with free parking.

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Air Italy’s main intercontinental gateways are Rome’s Fiumicino Airport (Leonardo da Vinci International Airport; %06 6 59 51; www.adr.it/fiumicino) and Milan’s Aeroporto Malpensa (MXP; %02 23 23 23; www.milanomalpensa-airport.com; dMalpensa Express). Venice’s Marco Polo Airport (%flight information 041 260 92 60; www.veniceairport.it; Via Galileo Gallilei 30/1, Tessera) is also served by a handful of intercontinental flights. Most direct flights into southern Italy are domestic or intra-European, so you may need to change at Rome, Milan or Venice if arriving from outside Europe. Handy airports in southern Italy include: Naples International Airport (Capodichino), Naples (www.aeroportodinapoli.it) Alongside Catania Airport, this is southern Italy’s busiest airport, with non-stop connections to numerous destinations in Italy, Europe and the UK, as well as to Dubai and (in season) New York.

More: The 10,000-Year Rise of the World Economy
by Philip Coggan
Published 6 Feb 2020

The Venetians tended to exchange bulky goods like iron and timber, plus human slaves, for the spices and textiles desired from the east. It was also able to sell its glass products, whose manufacture was shifted to Murano in the lagoon area from 1291 onwards because of the fire risk. (The first eyeglasses appeared in the late 13th century, an unsung advance in human wellbeing.) Murano was the leading European centre for glassmaking for the next three centuries. Trading trips were famously risky operations. A failed voyage is the centrepiece of the plot of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, while the phase “when my ship comes in” stems from the idea that the safe arrival of a cargo was a welcome bonus.

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But a shortage of labour in the wake of the Black Death resulted in the growing use of slave labour, particularly on the islands of Crete and Cyprus.14 As the Portuguese started to explore the west coast of Africa in the first half of the 15th century, they discovered the islands of Madeira and the Azores. They also started to buy slaves from Africa, trading them for European goods such as textiles, glass from Venice, wine and sherry, and metal implements like knives and swords.15 And they established sugar plantations on the island of Madeira, worked by slaves from the Canary Islands and Africa. Madeira experienced a phenomenal boom and bust, with sugar production rising from 280 tons in 1472 to 2,500 tons in 1506, before falling 90% by 1530.

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Italian cities The Italian root of words like commendia shows where the “commercial revolution” developed. A group of Italian cities led the way – Venice, Genoa, Amalfi and Bologna. Venice benefited from its ability to trade with both the Byzantine empire of Constantinople and the Islamic caliphate in Egypt. The city gave naval aid to Byzantium in 1080 and was rewarded with a special charter called the Golden Bull, which gave the city trading privileges and exemptions from tolls.9 Venice also seized control of Constantinople in 1204 under the Fourth Crusade, and its Latin empire lasted until 1261. Constantinople was a great prize because of its wealth and its trading links with the Middle East and Asian markets.

Rome
by Lonely Planet

Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella Cosmetics Offline map Google map (Corso del Rinascimento 47; Corso del Rinascimento) Step in for the scent of the place, if nothing else. This bewitching shop – the Roman branch of one of Italy’s oldest pharmacies – stocks natural perfumes and cosmetics as well as herbal infusions, teas and pot pourri, all carefully shelved in wooden cabinets under a giant Murano-glass chandelier. It was founded in Florence in 1612 by the Dominican monks of Santa Maria Novella, and many of its cosmetics are based on original 17th-century herbal recipes. Nardecchia Antiques Offline map Google map (Piazza Navona 25; Corso del Rinascimento) You’ll be inviting people to see your etchings after a visit to this historic Piazza Navona shop, famed for its antique prints.

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Hotel Columbia Hotel €€ Offline map Google map ( 06 488 35 09; www.hotelcolumbia.com; Via del Viminale 15; d €160-188; Termini or Repubblica; ) In a workaday area that’s an aria from the Opera House, the friendly Columbia sports a polished look with beamed or exposed stone ceilings and dark-wood cabinets. The white-walled rooms are bright and surprisingly full of character – some have beautiful Murano crystal chandeliers. The breakfast is good, and in summer is served on the pretty roof terrace. Radisson Blu Hotel €€ Offline map Google map ( 06 44 48 41; www.radissonblu.com/eshotel-rome; Via Filippo Turati 171; d €190-225; Vittorio Emanuele; ) The Radisson Blu’s location is not the best, but it’s a popular choice with business travellers and design-conscious customers who appreciate the advance deals, sci-fi decor and hi-tech gadgetry – though the standard rooms verge on the silly, with their central bathroom cubes.

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Galileo Galilei (1564−1642) was forced to renounce his assertion of the Copernican astronomical system, which held that the earth moved around the sun. He was summoned by the Inquisition to Rome in 1632 and exiled to Florence for the rest of his life. Giordano Bruno (1548−1600), a freethinking Dominican monk, fared worse. Arrested in Venice in 1592, he was burned at the stake eight years later in Campo de’ Fiori. The spot is today marked by a sinister statue. The patron saints of Rome, Peter and Paul, were both executed during Nero’s persecution of the Christians between 64 and 68. Paul, who as a Roman citizen was entitled to a quick death, was beheaded, while Peter was crucified upside down on the Vatican hill.

The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World
by Jeff Goodell
Published 23 Oct 2017

Much of the discussion was about another kind of flood—the flood of tourists, especially those brought in by the giant cruise ships that now invade the Venice lagoon like beasts from another planet. About 20 million tourists visit Venice every year, overwhelming the historic city’s 56,000 residents. “We are drowning in tourists,” one shopkeeper told me. “But we need them to survive.” As Da Mosto and I walked around the piazza, she told me that the cruise ships and sea-level rise are the two most powerful threats that Venice faces right now. The cruise ships have transformed the Venice economy into a singular engine that services tourists: every shop sells necklaces of fake Murano glass jewelry and Venetian carnival masks; every restaurant offers the same pasta with meatballs; every apartment is now an Airbnb.

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“It is difficult to overestimate the effect that the flood of 1966 had on the way people still think about Venice,” historian Thomas Madden wrote. “Today the most common opinion, held even by people who know nothing else about Venice, is that it is sinking. Before 1966 this opinion scarcely existed. The devastating flood had cast Venice in an entirely new light. It had always been a fragile place of exquisite beauty and slow death. It was now an emergency. Venice was descending beneath the all-consuming waves, and something needed to be done—immediately.” And it was. UNESCO, the cultural and scientific arm of the United Nations, opened an office in Venice; groups like Save Venice and Venice in Peril sprang up, raising tens of millions of dollars from around the world to save the crumbling frescoes and old church façades.

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Premiered November 4, 2016, at La Fenice, Venice. 9. five hundred police officers: Nick Squires. “Venice Dawn Raids over Flood Barrier Corruption.” The Telegraph, July 12, 2013. 10. “illicit gains”: Cited in Salvatore Settis. If Venice Dies (New York: New Vessel Press, 2016), 171. 11. UNESCO report: “From Global to Regional: Local Sea-Level Rise Scenarios.” Report of workshop organized by UNESCO Venice office, November 22–23, 2010. 12. 1953 flood: Tracy Metz and Maartje van den Heuvel. Sweet and Salt (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2012), 227. 13. “O Venice!”: From “Ode to Venice.” Collected in George Gordon Byron.

Small Data: The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends
by Martin Lindstrom
Published 23 Feb 2016

Above all else, it seemed, jewelry was an essential talking point when two women were trying to establish an emotional connection. Despite its un-euphonious name, Trollbeads is an extremely successful jewelry company with a presence in 35 countries, including Holland, Italy, Switzerland and China. Trollbeads’ handmade bracelets, rings and necklaces vary in size and are made from Murano glass, freshwater pearls, gemstones, leather, glass and Swarovski crystal. Still, when I began consulting for the company, I wasn’t quite prepared for the fanaticism of Trollbeads’ core customers. Most were middle-aged, with a competent, slightly tough manner about them. None, overall, were especially trusting, and a few expressed unease about having an interviewer come into their house and ask them questions.

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Like Jenny Craig dieters, Trollbeads fans were also dependent on their daily horoscopes, and many also knocked on wood for good luck. Every time a Trollbeads customer bought a new bead, it took on an emotional meaning and weight. One woman, for example, showed me a Trollbead she said was a gift from her late grandmother. Another woman displayed a Murano glass bead she’d bought to commemorate her daughter’s middle-school graduation. Trollbeads, then, symbolized many things. Via Trollbeads, women could tell the world that despite their age or appearance, they were still interesting and creative. Wearing a Trollbeads necklace was also a socially acceptable way to showcase in public a private obsession.

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What aspirational clues do Italian brands convey so powerfully that even Hong Kong businessmen line up to emulate them—and could it possibly provide me with a clue that could help me turn around Devassa? Years before I worked for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, I found the epicenter of aspiration in Tiene, Italy, a small city outside Venice, while helping a company, Cristiano di Thiene—which owns the licensing rights to a brand called Aeronautica Militare—figure out who made up its core audience. With lines for men, women and children, Aeronautica Militare’s clothing is characterized by patches, symbols and “good luck” icons borrowed from the military and connected to real-life stories.

The Outcast Blade
by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Published 26 Mar 2012

The bowman crouched unmoving in his high window, his actions still hidden from those below. A cittadino hesitated in the act of lifting wine to his lips. As Tycho watched him the goblet lifted enough to let the first drop touch. “See? We have all the time in the world.” The glass masters of Murano said glass was a liquid and windows flowed downwards over the decades, so they became thicker along the bottom. If glass was a liquid so was this smoke. It shifted on its old trail at a fraction of the speed. Cold, green eyes watched him. Ancient and knowing, carrion-cruel. “It seems you met my oldest sister. She liked you.” The bare-breasted woman with the crow was A’rial’s sister?

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“I’m going to be honest,” said Alonzo, answering Tycho’s question. Everything about this meeting was calculated. “Venice cannot afford to have Giulietta marry Leopold’s brother.” Tycho waited to be told why. “It will upset Byzantium. That’s the first. The second is it’s a small step from her marrying Frederick to Sigismund suggesting his bastard become duke and Giulietta duchess, thus bringing Venice under German influence. He’ll probably suggest Leopold’s son become heir.” This time when Alonzo reached for his glass it was to empty it and pour himself another. That done, he put it on the table and turned to Tycho.

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The fact the coffin was lead-lined had two advantages: it helped seal in the smell of corruption, and its weight would stop the coffin from trying to float to the surface and ruining the mosaics the next time Venice had an aqua alta. Prayers having been said, the trench would be filled, the earth compacted and the underfloor replaced. After which a master mosaicist would reset the tiny glass tiles removed to allow this burial. That a mosaic in the floor of San Marco had been disturbed showed how seriously Venice took this crime. “Soon,” Tycho whispered. Pietro looked at him. “It’s ending. You’ll be free to go.” The boy nodded gratefully. It had cost Tycho gold to buy out his apprenticeship, and have evidence of the boy’s earlier crimes removed from the records.

Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World
by Steven Johnson
Published 15 Nov 2016

If pepper helped trigger the collapse of one of Europe’s great cities, it helped build others. A modern visitor to the canals of Venice or Amsterdam, admiring the palazzos along the Grand Canal or the elegant town houses ringing the Herengracht, would do well to pause for a moment and consider that much of this worldly sophistication was originally funded by spices. Venice became the central European distribution point for pepper and other spices in the mid-thirteenth century, after Muslim traders had brought the spices to the Adriatic from India in caravans. The profits Venice made from the sale of its legendary Murano glass were an afterthought compared to the tariffs it charged as a middleman in the spice trade.

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But it is worth pausing for a moment to contemplate how many key developments and customs—many of which persist to this day—have spices at their origin: international trade, imperialism, the seafaring discoveries of Columbus and da Gama, the fall of Rome, joint-stock corporations, the enduring beauty of Venice and Amsterdam, global Islam, even the multicultural flavor of Doritos. Having a taste for spice is not just one of the luxuries that the modern world affords us; having a taste for spice is, in part, why we have a modern world in the first place. The most perplexing thing about that legacy is not the fact that spices were once fabulously expensive and are now cheap.

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Imagine an alternate scenario in which pepper grows naturally in Spain, and cinnamon abounds in France, and clove trees dot the foothills of the Italian Alps. The course of human history would likely be completely redirected: Europe remains far more insular; Columbus and da Gama never bother to set off in search of a direct route to the East. Without the immense markup of a global spice network, the accumulated wealth of Venice and Amsterdam and London dissipates, along with all the pioneering works of art and architecture that wealth funded. Without a vibrant pepper trade with India, calico fabrics never make it to the drawing rooms and garment stores of London; without a booming market for cotton textiles, the industrial revolution is delayed for decades.

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
by Peter Frankopan
Published 26 Aug 2015

With land rare and expensive, new techniques were used in the construction of buildings, such as replacing spectacular but indulgent double courtyard staircases with smaller stairwells that required less space. Nevertheless, said one proud Venetian, even normal merchants’ houses were lavishly appointed with gilded ceilings, marble staircases, balconies and windows fitted with the finest glass from nearby Murano. Venice was the distribution point for European, African and Asian trade par excellence – and had the trappings to show it.79 It was not just Venice that flourished. So too did the towns dotted along the Dalmatian coast which served as stopping points on the outbound and inbound journeys. Ragusa, modern Dubrovnik, saw extraordinary levels of prosperity in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

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P., here Morocco, here, here, here Morris, William, here Mosasadegh, Mohammed, here, here, here, here, here, here, here Moscow, here, here, here, here Moscow Olympics, here Moses, here Mosul, here, here, here, here, here Moẓaffar od-Dīn, Shah, here, here Mughal empire, cultural achievements, here Muammad, Prophet, here, here, here, here, here, here date of his death, here hijra, here his image on coins, here and plague, here and succession, here, here al-Muktafī, Caliph, here Multan, here Mumbai, here Mun, Thomas, here Mundy, Peter, here Munich Olympic Games, here Murad, Sultan, here Murano glass, here Murmansk, here, here Murphy, Richard, here Muscat, here music, Chinese enjoyment of, here Musil, Robert, here musk, here, here, here Mussolini, Benito, here al-Mustaim, Caliph, here Mutawakkil, Wakīl Ahmed, here, here Muziris, here Myos Hormos, here myrrh, here Mysore, here ‘nabobs’, here Nagasaki, here Naim, Prince, here Nairobi, embassy bombing, here Najaf, here Naksh-i-Rustām, here Nanjing, here napalm, here Naples, here Napoleon Bonaparte, here, here Nāir-i Khusraw, here Nasser, Gamal abdel, here, here, here Natanz nuclear facility, here National Museum of Qatar, here NATO, here Nau Taforeia, here Navigation Act, here Nazarbayev, Nursultan, here Nazarenes, here Nestorius, Patriarch, here Neurians, here New England, settlement in, here Newton, Isaac, here Nicaea, here Nicaraguan Contras, here Nicene creed, here Nicholas I, Tsar, here Nicholas II, Tsar, here Nicks, Elihu, here Nicolson, Sir Arthur, here, here Nile floods here, here 9/11 attacks, here Nine Years War, here Nineveh, here Nisa, here Nīshāpūr, here, here, here, here Nisibis, here, here, here Nixon, Richard M., here, here, here nökürs (Mongol warriors), here Norman mercenaries, here North, Lord, here North Korea, here ‘Northern Tier’, here Northern Wei dynasty, here North-West Frontier, here North-West Passage, here Norwegian neutrality, violation of, here Novgorod, here, here, here, here, here nuclear technology, here, here nutmeg, here, here, here, here, here, here Obama, Barack, here, here, here, here Odessa, here, here, here Offa, King (of Mercia), here Ogarkov, General Nikolai, here Ögödei, Great Khan, here, here oil price effects of instability on, here, here, here falling, here rising, here, here, here, here Oirats, here, here Omar, Mullah, here, here OPEC founding of, here and rising oil price, here, here Ophir, mines of, here opium, here, here, here orange trees, Emperor Bābur’s, here Ordás, Diego de, here Orenburg, here Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, here Orme, Robert, here Oseberg, here Osirak nuclear reactor, here Ottoman empire collapse of, here competition with Portuguese, here contraction and decline, here cultural achievements, here economic stagnation, here First World War aims, here relations with England, here relations with Germany, here rise of, here, here Russian attack on, here social structures, here Ouseley, Sir Gore, here Outremer, colonies founded in, here Oxford University, here oyster beds, here, here Padua, here Page, Walter, here Pakistan, here, here, here, here, here and hunt for bin Laden, here nuclear capacity, here, here Palestine British-controlled, here, here and Jewish immigration, here, here Palestine Liberation Front, here Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), here Palmerston, Lord, here, here Palmyra, here, here Pals Battalions, here Panjikent, here, here paper-making, here paper money, here Paris secret registration of Jews, here siege of, here Parsons, Sir Anthony, here, here Parthian language, here Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae, here Pasargadae, here Paschooski, Dr, here Passover, here Pattanam, here Paul V, Pope, here Pearl Harbor, here pearls, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here Pecheneg nomads, here, here, here Pedro IV, King (of Aragon), here Pegolotti, Francesco, here, here Penang, here People’s Liberation Army, here pepper, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here from crocodile swamps, here supply and demand, here Pepys, Samuel, here Perak, here Persepolis, here, here Persia (Persian empire) Anglo-Persian agreement, here bureaucracy, here, here Christian church in, here, here, here, here, here collapse of, here, here cultural renaissance, here expansion of empire, here, here and founding of monasteries, here and independence, here and Indian trade, here markets and bazaars, here oil reserves, here, here, here, here, here and overthrow of Seleucids, here relations with China, here relations with England, here, here, here, here, here, here relations with Russia, here, here, here, here resurgence and adoption of Zoroastrianism, here, here road network, here, here Roman alliance, here, here Roman incursions, here, here Roman wars, here, here, here, here, here rulers’ love of gifts, here tolerance of minorities and religions, here, here Persian Corridor, here, here Persian epic literature, here Persian language, purification of, here Persian wall, maintenance of, here Perugia, here Peshawar, here, here, here Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny, here Petra, here Petraeus, General David, here Petrarch, here Petronius’ Satyricon, here Philip, King (of Macedon), here Philip II, King (of France), here Philippines, here, here phoenixes, here Phokas, Emperor, here Piacenza, here Picasso, Pablo, here Piero della Francesca, here pigeon racing, here pigments, imports of, here pilgrimages, to Holy Land, here Pincheng, here pipelines, here piracy, here, here Pisa, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here Pitt, William, the Elder, here Pius V, Pope, here plague, here, here see also Black Death Pliny the Elder, here, here Pliny the Younger, here Plutarch, here, here Poindexter, Admiral John, here Poitiers, here Poland invasion of, here, here and Nazi–Soviet pact, here, here post-war territory, here and resettlement of Jews, here Poliane, here Polk, William, here Polo, Marco, here, here, here Polotsk, here polytheism, decline of, here Pontius Pilate, here, here poppy cultivation, here porcelain, Chinese, here, here, here, here, here, here, here Portugal agreements with Spain, here, here, here and gold trade, here profits from spice trade, here and slave trade, here, here voyages of discovery and trade routes, here, here, here, here, here, here postal system, Russian, here Potosí mine, here, here Potsdam Conference, here Powell, Colin, here Powers, Gary, here Prague, here Prester John, here, here Princip, Gavrilo, here, here printing, invention of, here prisoners of war, here Priuli, Girolamo, here Procopius, here, here Propertius, here prostitutes, barbarian, here Ptolemy, here, here Pul-i Charki prison, here Pushkin, Alexander, here, here Putin, Vladimir, here Qābūs-nāma, here Qādisiyyah, battle of, here al-Qaida, here, here Qalhāt, here Qana’, here Qānūn al-Ṣuvar, here Qarakhānid Turks, here Qardagh, here Qasim, Abdul Karim, here, here Qianlong dynasty, here qibla, here Qing dynasty, here Qitai monitoring site, here Qom, here, here Querini, Vicenzo, here Quetta, here, here, here, here Quetzalcoatl, here quinto (tax), here Qurān, here, here, here, here, here influence on social structures, here teaching of, here text on Iranian stamps, here translations of, here Quraysh tribe, here, here, here, here, here Quuz, Sultan, here Qyzyl cave complex, here Rabban Sauma, bishop of Uighutia, here Rabbani, Mullah, here, here Rabīa Balkhī, here Rabin, Yitzhak, here Radek, Karl, here Radmichi, here RAF Habbiniyah, here, here Ragusa, here Rajmahal, here Rāmisht of Sīrāf, here Ramla, here Raphael, here rare earths, here al-Rashīd, Hārūn, here Rawlinson, Henry, here Raymond of Toulouse, here Rayy, here, here, here Razmārā, Alī, here Reagan, Ronald, here, here, here Red Army, purges of, here Red Line Agreement, here Redwood, Dr Boverton, here Reformation, here, here, here Reichenau, General Walther von, here, here relics, here, here Renaissance, here rendition, extra-judicial, here Reuter, Baron George de, here Rev-Ardashīr, here Reynald of Châtillon, here Reynolds, George, here Reza Khan, Shah, here, here, here Reza Pahlavi, Shah Mohammed, here, here, here, here, here Rhineland, anti-Semitism in, here, here Rhodes, here rhubarb, here Ribbentrop, Joachim von, here, here, here Ricci, Matteo, here Richard I, King, here Ridley, General Clarence, here Rijcksen, Jan, here Rimbert, bishop of Bremen, here River Yarmuk, battle of the, here Roberts, Field Marshal Lord, here, here Roger of Sicily, here Roman army, here Roman empire adoption of Christianity, here, here and Chinese silk, here conquest of Egypt, here decline and collapse, here, here, here, here and founding of Constantinople, here Persian alliance, here, here Persian campaigns, here Persian wars, here, here, here, here, here Prophet Muammad and, here relations with China, here rise of, here and slavery, here trade with India, here Romania, post-war, here Romanos IV Diogenes, Emperor, here Rome Altare della Patria monument, here as centre of Christianity, here and fall of Constantinople, here, here plague in, here and rise of tourism, here sack of, here, here Rommel, General Erwin, here, here Roosevelt, Archie, here Roosevelt, Franklin D., here, here, here Roosevelt, Kermit, here Rosenberg, Alfred, here Rostov-on-Don, here Rothschild, Baron Alphonse de, here, here Rotterdam, here Royal Air Force, here, here Royal Dutch/Shell, here, here Royal Navy, conversion to oil, here, here, here Rumaila oilfield, here Rumsfeld, Donald, here, here, here, here Rus’, see Viking Rus’ Russia (Russian empire) abolition of serfdom, here anticipates end of world, here, here and approach to First World War, here, here artistic flourishing, here and Chechen terrorism, here collapse of government, here designs on Ottoman empire, here development of autocracy, here expansion of empire, here, here First World War aims, here and Indian trade, here invasion of Balkans, here and Jewish emigration, here military reforms, here Napoleonic invasion, here, here and ‘new Russians’, here, here and Persian oil exploitation, here postal system, here relations with Britain, here, here, here, here relations with Persia, here, here, here, here revolutions, here, here, here, here trade links with England, here Russia Company, here Russian language, here Russo-Chinese Bank, here Russo-Japanese War, here Rustichello, here Ryazan, here Ryrikovo Gorodische, here sable skins, trade in, here Sachsenhausen, here sacred fire, extinguishing of, here Sadat, Anwar, here Saddharmapundarīka (Lotus Sutra), here Safavid dynasty, here Sahara desert, here al-Said, Nuri, 4428 St Augustine, here Saint-Etienne, here St Gregory, here St Jerome, here St John, Oliver, here St Paul, here St Petersburg Academy of Medicine, here St Thomas, here Saki (H.

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Texts produced in Constantinople were also translated into Latin, such as the commentaries on Aristotle’s Nicomachaean Ethics commissioned by Anna Komnene, daughter of Alexios I, which eventually found their way to Thomas Aquinas – and thence into the mainstream of Christian philosophy.45 In the same way, it was not only trade with the Muslims that lay at the heart of the economic and social blossoming of Europe in the twelfth century, for Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire were a major motor in the commerce of the Christian Mediterranean – responsible for half the international trade of Venice, to judge from the surviving documents for this period.46 Even so, and while glass, metalwork, oil, wine and salt from Byzantium were exported to markets in Italy, Germany and France, it was products being brought from further afield that were most highly prized, sought after and profitable. The demand for silk, cotton, linen and fabrics produced in the eastern Mediterranean, in the middle of Asia or in China was enormous, as inventories, sales lists and treasuries of churches in western Europe make clear.47 Cities in the Levant capitalised on the emerging markets – with Antioch establishing itself as a trading centre where materials could shipped west, but also as a production centre in its own right.

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor
by David S. Landes
Published 14 Sep 1999

White, Medieval Religion and Technology, pp. 226-27. White also points out that whereas paper from Muslim lands (not mechanically produced) never shows watermarks, such trademarks appear in Italian paper by the 1280s, a sign of commercial enterprise. 3. On these glasses before eyeglasses, see the work of Zecchin, Vetro e vetrai di Murano (Venice, 1989), cited by Ilardi, “Renaissance Florence,” p. 510. 4. The speaker is the Dominican Fra Giordano of Pisa, in a sermon at Santa Maria Novella in Florence in 1306. Quoted in White, “Cultural Climates,” p. 174; also in reprint, 1978, p. 221. White cites the Italian original.

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In an effort to discourage foreign competition, Britain had prohibited the export of most machinery (though not steam engines) and the emigration of skilled artisans. In this, Britain was following an immemorial tradition. In medieval Italy, for example, the glassworkers of Murano and the shipwrights of the Arsenal in Venice emigrated only on pain of death. Such constraints delayed the diffusion of knowledge, but in a world of rudimentary surveillance, could not prevent it. So with Britain: hundreds, even thousands, of craftsmen emigrated during those early decades of the nineteenth century, most of them voluntarily.

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Their function is primarily to magnify, and although some magnify more than others, just about any and all will help the user. This is why people will occasionally borrow glasses in a restaurant to read the menu, and why five-and-dime stores can put out boxes of such spectacles for sale. The buyer simply tries a few and picks the most suitable. Myopes (shortsighted people) cannot do that. That was the beginning. By the middle of the fifteenth century, Italy, particularly Florence and Venice, was making thousands of spectacles, fitted with concave as well as convex lenses, for myopes as well as pres-byopes. Also, the Florentines at least (and presumably others) understood that visual acuity declines with age and so made the convex lenses in five-year strengths and the concave in two, enabling users to buy in batches and change with time.

When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel of Obsession
by Irvin D. Yalom
Published 21 Mar 2011

Other gondolas still slept, moored to twisted poles which lay askew in the canal, like spears flung down haphazardly by some giant hand. “Yes, that’s right—look about you, you fool!” Breuer said to himself. “People come from all over the world to see Venice—people who refuse to die before they are blessed by this beauty.” How much of life have I missed, he wondered, simply by failing to look? Or by looking and not seeing? Yesterday he had taken a solitary walk around the island of Murano and, at an hour’s end, had seen nothing, registered nothing. No images had transferred from his retina to his cortex. All his attention had been consumed with thoughts of Bertha: her beguiling smile, her adoring eyes, the feel of her warm, trusting body and her rapid breathing as he examined or massaged her.

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“Consummate your life.” “Die at the right time.” “The courage to change your convictions!” “This life is your eternal life.” Everything had begun, two months ago, in Venice. Now it was back to the city of gondolas he was heading. As the train crossed the Swiss-Italian border and conversations in Italian reached his ears, his thoughts turned from eternal possibility to tomorrow’s reality. Where should he go when he got off the train in Venice? Where would he sleep tonight? What would he do tomorrow? And the day after tomorrow? What would he do with his time? What did Nietzsche do? When he was not sick, he walked and thought and wrote.

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The cash in his moneybelt would last for only a few weeks: thereafter the bank, at Max’s instruction, would send him only a modest monthly draft. He could, of course, continue to doctor. At least three of his former students were practicing medicine in Venice. He should have no difficulty building a practice. Nor would the language present a problem: he had a good ear and some English, French, and Spanish; he could pick up Italian quickly. But had he sacrificed so much simply in order to reproduce his Viennese life in Venice? No, that life was behind him! Perhaps some work in a restaurant. Because of his mother’s death and his grandmother’s frailty, Breuer had learned to cook and often assisted in the preparation of the family meals.

The Book: A Cover-To-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time
by Keith Houston
Published 21 Aug 2016

Beginning in 1833, he embarked on a series of journeys across Europe and the Near East, publishing accounts of his travels to some acclaim, and it was during a tour of Italy that he had visited libraries in Naples, Siena, the Vatican, and more.63 Curzon prefaced his article with an anecdote about the origins of printing that he had come across in an Italian newspaper. An Italian scribe named Panfilo Castaldi, Curzon said, who lived from 1398 to 1490, had been employed in copying legal documents for the town of Feltre, near Venice. Castaldi was said to have eased his workload by means of glass seals or stamps, made on the Venetian island of Murano, which he used to print outlines of elaborate capital letters before further embellishing them with quill and ink. Sometime before 1426, Castaldi allegedly got wind of books brought back from Asia by the late Marco Polo, which had been neatly printed with wooden blocks.

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It seems that he muddled along as a scholar and teacher until his forties, writing a modest Latin grammar and tutoring two young princes from the city-state of Carpi, where he inveigled himself into the graces of their family, the Pios. When Aldus moved to Venice in the late 1480s, a city brimming with enthusiasm for the printing press, he called in favors and founded a printer’s workshop. Andrea Torresani, who had printed Aldus’s Latin grammar, was tapped to provide technical know-how, while Pierfranceso Barbarigo, son and nephew to a succession of Venice’s doges, and Alberto Pio, one of the grown-up princes of Carpi, were induced to provide financial backing.29 As an ardent student of Greek texts, Aldus knew that the language presented typographical challenges.

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In the second half of the eighteenth century, western Europe alone had printed more than 600 million books.1 Not everyone was happy about the new development. From the very first days of printing, the penning of tirades against the process became a favorite pastime among the intelligentsia, and particularly among those who saw a moral value in the patient copying-out of texts. In Venice, for example, one of the foremost centers of early printing, a Benedictine monk named Filippo de Strata railed against the racy classical poetry favored by printers seeking a popular market: “Est virgo haec penna: meretrix est stampificata,” he wrote toward the end of the fifteenth century, “[Writing] is a maiden with a pen, a harlot in print.”

Barcelona
by Damien Simonis
Published 9 Dec 2010

Some 30 different species of plant from around Catalonia are reproduced here, and the faces of the many figures are taken from plaster casts done of local people and the occasional one made from corpses in the local morgue! Directly above the blue stained-glass window is the Archangel Gabriel’s Annunciation to Mary. At the top is a green cypress tree, a refuge in a storm for the white doves of peace dotted over it. The mosaic work at the pinnacle of the towers is made from Murano glass, from Venice. To the right of the facade is the curious Claustre del Roser, a Gothic style mini-cloister tacked on to the outside of the church (rather than the classic square enclosure of the great Gothic church monasteries).

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The best known (and largest) of his paintings is the ‘official’ version of the Batalla de Tetuán (Battle of Tetuán; 1863), depicting a rousing Spanish victory over a ragtag Moroccan enemy in North Africa. Fortuny, whom many consider the best Catalan artist of the 19th century, left his native turf for Italy in 1857, where he died in Rome. He had lived for a time in Venice, where his lodgings now constitute a gallery of his works. Modernisme & Noucentisme Towards the end of the 19th century, a fresher generation of artists emerged – the Modernistas. Influenced by their French counterparts (Paris was seen as Europe’s artistic capital), the Modernistas allowed themselves greater freedom in interpretation than the Realists.

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Ramon Oller is the city’s leading choreographer, working with one of the country’s most established companies, Metros, which he created in 1986. Its dance is rooted in a comparatively formal technique. * * * CASANOVA IN JAIL AGAIN That incorrigible Venetian lover and one-time inmate of the Piombi jail in Venice’s Palazzo Ducale, Giacomo Casanova (1725–98), arrived in Barcelona in 1769, having been expelled from Paris, and spent some time trundling around Spain in search of a little peace and work. Seemingly unable to keep out of trouble, Casanova got tangled up with a lively ballerina, who happened to be the lover of the governor of Catalonia.

The Rough Guide to Cape Town, Winelands & Garden Route
by Rough Guides , James Bembridge and Barbara McCrea
Published 4 Jan 2018

This smooth restaurant and cigar bar at the Cape Town International Convention Centre offers what its name promises – live music from marimba maestro Bongani Sotshononda. Cocktails R40. Mon–Thurs 8am–midnight. Murano Bar African Pride 15 on Orange Hotel, cnr Orange St and Grey’s Pass 021 469 8000, marriott.com; map. Like everything in this chic hotel, this glittering bar is an extraordinary piece of design, draped with twenty thousand handmade Italian Murano glass links. Atop this art installation of a bar is an elevated pod, offering Table Mountain views and the feeling of floating in a chandelier. A glass of wine costs R40–60. Daily 24hr. Orphanage Cocktail Emporium Cnr Bree and Orphan St 021 244 1995, theorphanage.co.za; map.

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On the one hand, the Mother City has been titivating itself for tourists and investors, helped by the establishment of the Cape Town Partnership in 1999, which has overseen the regeneration of the city centre. The post-apartheid period led to a wave of economic confidence expressed by investors in a number of monumental developments. Among these was the megalomaniacal Century City (1997) in the northern suburbs, a garish retail, residential and office complex that adopted faux Tuscan architecture and Venice-inspired canals. More tasteful was the expansion of the V&A Waterfront to include the Nelson Mandela Gateway (2001), from where the ferry to Robben Island departs. In preparation for South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the iconic Cape Town Stadium (2009) went up on Green Point Common, and Cape Town International Airport got a brand-new Central Terminal Building (2009), which at last provided a facility that could cope with the city’s expanding air traffic.

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This super-cool pavement wine bar and restaurant in an elegant period house has an extensive list of wines by the glass. Noop is well regarded for its steaks (R140) and seafood. Vegetarians can find at least one starter, salad or main. Risotto with truffle oil is a favourite (R120). Mon–Sat 11am–9.30pm. Terra Mare 90A Main St 021 863 4805. Italian- and Mediterranean-influenced dishes, such as three-mushroom risotto for starters (R95) and chalkboard specials like ostrich fillet (R170), which use local ingredients and are infused with considerable flair. The glass and steel restaurant has great sweeping views of the Paarl Mountain. Mon–Sat 11am–2pm & 6–10pm.

Emergence
by Steven Johnson

Like any emergent system, a city is a pattern in time. Dozens of generations come and go, conquerors rise and fall, the printing press appears, then the steam engine, then radio, television, the Web—and beneath all that turbulence, a pattern retains its shape: silk weavers clustered along Florence’s Por Santa Maria, the Venetian glassblowers on Murano, the Parisian traders gathered in Les Halles. The world convulses, sheds its skin a thousand times, and yet the silk weavers stay in place. We have a tendency to relegate these cross-generational patterns to the ossified nostalgia of “tradition,” admiring for purely sentimental reasons the blacksmith who works in the same shop as his late-medieval predecessors.

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PART TWO StarLogo slime mold simulation (Courtesy of Mitch Resnick) Look to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways and be wise: Which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, Provides her meat in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. —PROVERBS 6:6–8 2 Street Level Say what you will about global warming or the Mona Lisa, Apollo 9 or the canals of Venice—human beings may seem at first glance to be the planet’s most successful species, but there’s a strong case to be made for the ants. Measured by sheer numbers, ants—and other social insects such as termites—dominate the planet in a way that makes human populations look like an evolutionary afterthought.

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The system of Europe shifts from a network of cities and towns to a scattered, unstable mix of hamlets and migrants, with the largest towns holding no more than a thousand inhabitants. It stays that way for five hundred years. And then, suddenly, just after the turn of the millennium, the picture changes dramatically: the continent sprouts dozens of sizable towns, with populations in the tens of thousands. There are pockets on the map—at Venice or Trieste—that glow almost as brightly as ancient Rome had at the start of the tape, nascent cities supporting more than a hundred thousand citizens. The effect is not unlike watching a time-lapse film of an open field, lying dormant through the winter months, then in one sudden shift bursting with wildflowers.

Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, From the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First
by Frank Trentmann
Published 1 Dec 2015

This hurt ordinary workers, but it benefited nobles in Scandinavia and central Europe, as well as the aristocratic landowners in Italy and, by extension, the Florentine and Venetian artisans who were making the luxury goods for their palaces and tables.18 Possessions were becoming more numerous and refined. Increasingly sophisticated tableware was symptomatic of this trend. Households accumulated more spoons, forks and drinking glasses. In 1475, the Florentine banker Filippo Strozzi ordered four hundred glass beakers from Murano. In the same year, the silk merchant Jacopo di Giannozzo Pandolfini bought a set of twelve silver forks and spoons. When Domenico Cappello, son of the Venetian admiral Niccolò, died in 1532 – a time when Europeans elsewhere had never held a fork, let alone owned one – he left behind 38 table knives with silver handles, 12 decorated and gilded spoons and forks, and 42 plainer forks.19 Instead of individual plates, the elite table was increasingly graced with a complete service.

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Tuscany developed a flourishing wool industry, favoured by its marshy maremme south of Pisa which attracted sheep from the Apennines. By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Lucca, Florence and Venice had learnt the art of making silk fabrics, paper and glass themselves. Alongside banking and commerce, it was these artisanal trades that made these cities prosper and expand, turning Northern Italy into the most urbanized region in Europe. Florence began building its wall in the late thirteenth century: two centuries later, it enclosed an area fifteen times as big. The city fed its citizens with grain from Puglia and Sicily. By 1575, Venice’s population was close to 200,000, twice its size before the Black Death hit in 1348.

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Some new objects made their appearance, such as the eggcup or silver and gold spazadente and stuzicatoio da orecchi, which allowed more elegant cleaning of teeth and ears. Pewter was sometimes ordered from London and stood on fine linen cloth from Flanders. Most of the silver spoons and bowls, the glass and pottery, however, were the product of local craftsmen, such as those enamelling gilded glass goblets in Venice or glazing the colourful majolica pottery in Montelupo in Tuscany and Casteldurante in the Marche (see Plate 1); in the sixteenth century, local textiles also gained the upper hand over imported ones. What made these objects precious was their increasingly sophisticated design and decoration rather than their material or novelty.20 Silver and tableware were signs of an emerging culture of domestic sociability and politeness.

Lonely Planet Barcelona
by Isabella Noble and Regis St Louis
Published 15 Nov 2022

Some 30 species of plant from around Catalonia are reproduced here, and the faces of the many figures are taken from plaster casts done of local people and the occasional one made from a corpse in the local morgue. Directly above the blue stained-glass window is the archangel Gabriel’s Annunciation to Mary. At the top is a green cypress tree, a refuge in a storm for the white doves of peace dotted over it. The mosaic work at the pinnacle of the towers is made from Murano glass from Venice. To the right of the facade is the curious Claustre del Roser, a Gothic-style mini-cloister tacked on to the outside of the church (rather than the classic square enclosure of the great Gothic church monasteries).

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It was removed after the show and reconstructed only in the 1980s, after been consistently referred to as one of the key works of modern architecture. That said, unless you’re an avid architecture fan, there isn’t much to see beyond the building’s exterior. Plaça d’EspanyaSQUARE map Google map (mEspanya) The whirling roundabout of Plaça d’Espanya, distinguished by its so-called Venetian towers (vaguely reminiscent of the bell tower in Venice’s St Mark’s Square), was built for the 1929 World Exhibition and is the junction of several major thoroughfares. Jardins de Mossèn Costa i LloberaGARDENS map Google map (www.barcelona.cat; Carretera de Miramar 38; h10am-sunset; jTeleféric del Port, Miramar) F Above the thundering traffic of the main B10 road to Tarragona, the sea-facing Jardins de Mossèn Costa i Llobera have a good collection of tropical, desert and high-mountain plants – including a veritable forest of cacti (Europe’s largest collection), with some species reaching over 5m in height.

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The Iglesias family also runs traditional seafood spot Rías de Galicia next door and Japanese-fusion Espai Kru, just upstairs. XemeiVENETIAN€€ map Google map (%93 553 51 40; www.xemei.es; Passeig de l’Exposició 85; mains €16-25; h1.45-3.30pm & 8.45-11pm, closed 2 weeks Aug; mPoble Sec) Everyone’s favourite Italian, Xemei (‘Twins’ in Venetian) is a wonderful, authentically delicious slice of Venice in Barcelona, named for its twin Venetian owners Stefano and Max Colombo. To the accompaniment of gentle jazz and vintage-inspired design, you might try a light burrata salad or Venetian-fish platter, followed by bigoli pasta in anchovy-and-onion sauce, squid-ink spaghetti, grilled octopus or seasonal risotto.

The Secret World: A History of Intelligence
by Christopher Andrew
Published 27 Jun 2018

Its colonies along the Adriatic coast, in the Aegean and in the Mediterranean, as well as its trading communities in Constantinople, Alexandria, Acre, Beirut, Aleppo and further afield, sent back to Venice political as well as commercial intelligence.6 The Archivio Centrale contains the greatest medieval and Renaissance archive assembled by a single city. ‘By 1450’, wrote the historian and Bletchley Park veteran Sir Jack Plumb, ‘Venice was the only power in Italy, save for the Papacy, that was truly cosmopolitan, one whose interests required not only a great fleet but also a complex intelligence system.’7* The broad horizons of Renaissance Venice at the height of its power are epitomized by the Mappa Mundi completed in about 1450 by Fra Mauro, a monk on the island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon who had a previous career as a merchant and soldier, and a team of assistants.

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It shows the continents of North and South America with detail which includes Alaska, the Yucatan peninsula, and the Mississippi and St Lawrence rivers, and is plainly a hoax. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jan/20/china.usa.) ‡ Venice’s loss of its status as Europe’s greatest trading empire, however, did not diminish its determination to protect its own commercial secrets. As late as 1745 an assassination squad was sent to poison two Venetian glass-blowers who had taken the secrets of their trade abroad. Whether the squad succeeded in its mission remains unknown. (Ackroyd, Venice, pp. 101–2.) * In 1551, when Makarios came to attend the Council of Trent, which played a key role in the Catholic Counter-Reformation, he visited the court of the Emperor Charles V to offer his services in secret plots against the Ottomans.

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On the two other forms of torture most frequently employed by the Spanish Inquisition, the rack and the strapado, see Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, pp. 187–9; Murphy, God’s Jury, ch. 3. 57. Rejali, Torture and Democracy, p. 280. 58. Bush, Decision Points, ch. 6. 59. Hitchens, ‘Believe Me, It’s Torture’. 8 Renaissance Venice and the Rise of Western Intelligence 1. Ackroyd, Venice, p. 102. De Vivo, Information and Communication in Venice, p. 51. 2. Ackroyd, Venice, p. 101. 3. Decree of Council of Ten, 12 July 1481; Chambers and Pullan (eds.), Venice, p. 16. 4. Ibid., pp. 92–3. 5. Iordanou, ‘What News on the Rialto?’, p. 314. 6. Kissling, ‘Venezia come Centro di Informazioni sui Turchi’. 7. Plumb, Italian Renaissance, p. 102. 8.

Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies
by Geoffrey West
Published 15 May 2017

Just to get a sense of how exceptional this is, the next oldest verified person was the American Sarah Knauss, who lived more than three years fewer than Jeanne, dying at the age of 119 years and 97 days. The next super-champs of long life lived almost two years fewer than Sarah, while the oldest person still alive today is the Italian Emma Murano, who is “only” in her 118th year. The search for life extension can therefore be boiled down to two major categories: (1) The conservative challenge: how can the rest of us continue the upward march toward a longer life and approach the extraordinary achievements of Jeanne Calment and Sarah Knauss?

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See aging and death mortality curves companies, 397, 398–400, 400–402 human, 189–90, 192, 192–94, 193 Moses, Robert, 260–61, 266 Mother Earth, 211–12 motion and dynamics, 37 Mount Everest, 135 movement of people in cities, 346–52, 349–50 movies, fractals in, 144 Mumford, Lewis, 259–60, 373 Munich, 278, 340, 406 Murano, Emma, 188 music, fractals in, 144 musth, 52–53 NASA images of Earth, 211–12 National Institute on Aging, 183 National Science Board, 434 National Science Foundation, 183, 385 National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, 292 “natural” environment, 213, 236, 411 natural philosophy, 181 natural resources, 213, 236–37.

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Because walking speed is about 5 kilometers an hour, the typical extent of a “walking city” is about 5 kilometers across (about 3 miles), corresponding to an area of about 20 square kilometers (about 7 square miles). According to Marchetti, “There are no city walls of large, ancient cities (up to 1800), be it Rome or Persepolis, which have a diameter greater than 5km or a 2.5km radius. Even Venice today, still a pedestrian city, has exactly 5km as the maximum dimension of the connected center.” With the introduction of horse tramways and buses, electric and steam trains, and ultimately automobiles, the size of cities could grow but, according to Marchetti, constrained by the one-hour rule.

Norman Foster: A Life in Architecture
by Deyan Sudjic
Published 1 Sep 2010

Designed by Palmer and Turner, a Hong Kong-based firm set up by an expatriate Englishman in the nineteenth century, the structure had, at the time of its opening in the 1930s, been the tallest and the most technically advanced office building between Cairo and San Francisco. The stepped, stone-faced tower had high-speed lifts, air conditioning, and a magnificent banking hall, full of black marble columns, with a vaulted ceiling finished in sky blue mosaics picked out in gold installed by Italian craftsmen from Murano. The main entrance was guarded by twin bronze lions, their paws rubbed smooth and shiny by the constant pressure of hands seeking financial good fortune from the contact. It was an unmistakable demonstration of prestige and the accomplishments of Western enterprise in the midst of an Asia fought over by feuding warlords, and threatened by Japanese expansionism.

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The difficult thing about that was how to allow for the roof to flex up and down if there was nothing propping it. Simply hanging rigid sheets of glass off a steel structure was not an option, given that it was inevitably going to bend. Foster’s solution was to support the glass wall by sitting it on the ground, and to put slots in the window mullions that left space for the roof to move without doing any damage to the glass. The impact of wind on the glass was dealt with by using the first floor inside the skin to brace it. Glass, forty years later, has become the universal architectural skin for almost every new office building in London.

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But Baturina wasn’t convinced by the idea, and Foster and his team have distanced themselves from the design, which now takes the form of a number of multi-storey spheres, almost in the neo-Classical manner of Étienne Boullée, but sliced open to reveal segments, and connected together with a spiralling twist of peel. At the Venice architecture Biennale in 2008, the young Moscow architect Boris Bernaskoni was allocated space in the Italian pavilion by the American director, Aaron Betsky for an installation that mounted an acid critique of the Golden Orange project. Bernaskoni flyposted the walls of the gallery with a series of posters.

Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are Thekeys to Sustainability
by David Owen
Published 16 Sep 2009

Zoning is the practice of sequestering like civic uses in discrete zones, or districts: single-family residences here, apartment buildings there, stores over there, and factories off in the distance, with everything connected by roads. This concept was by no means entirely new, since people all over the world had made similar divisions, both formally and informally, for centuries. (In 1291, the government of Venice moved that city’s entire glassmaking industry to the island of Murano, in the Venetian Lagoon, both to limit the danger that the glassmakers’ furnaces would touch off a catastrophic citywide fire and to make it less likely that the secrets of Venetian glassmaking would be stolen by outsiders.) But the internal combustion engine—combined with the crucial fact that so much of the raw land in the United States remained untouched, and therefore could be developed to suit automobiles, something that was less true in Europe—had made genuine isolation feasible, by enabling people to separate daily activities by greater distances than could easily be covered on foot, with the help of horses, or by existing networks of trains and trolleys.

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Sunlight streaming through large glass surfaces fights air conditioners during hot weather, and heat escaping through large glass surfaces undercuts heating systems during cold. Some of the huge windows in the Wired house are equipped with elegant-looking gauzy blinds, which can be pulled down on hot, sunny days, but all that glass still represents a significant source of heat gain during the day and of heat loss during the night. Nevertheless, as the Wired house shows, many people have been led to believe that a good way to make a house greener, or appear greener, is to use more glass. Big glass walls have a clean, modernist look, consistent with popular impressions of environmental responsibility, but using more glass necessarily means using less insulation, and, as the Department of Energy has explained, “structures with high glazing areas are less likely to comply with the energy code.”29 Another reason for the belief that glass is green is that the most widely discussed green structures in recent years have tended to be office buildings, which often have lots of glass for reasons that mainly have to do with aesthetics.

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• Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one. 2. Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces • Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag. • Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder. • Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the glass jar or plastic bag. • Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces. That’s just the beginning.

QI: The Second Book of General Ignorance
by Lloyd, John and Mitchinson, John
Published 7 Oct 2010

Since they had no particular use for it, early Chinese glass was thick, opaque and brittle. They mainly used it for making children’s toys – and soon gave up on it altogether. For almost 500 years, from the end of the fourteenth century until the nineteenth, no glass was made in China at all. Meanwhile, in 1291 the Republic of Venice, concerned about the fire risk to its wooden buildings, moved its glass furnaces offshore to the island of Murano. Here, inspired by migrant Islamic craftsmen, the inhabitants learned to make the finest glass in the world, giving them a monopoly that lasted for centuries The impact of high-grade glass on Western culture cannot be overstated.

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It runs from 0 for all energy lost, to 1 for no energy lost. Hard rubber has a COR of 0.8, but a glass ball can have a COR of up to 0.95. That’s providing it doesn’t smash on impact. Astonishingly, nobody really knows why and how glass shatters. The Third International Workshop on the Flow and Fracture of Advanced Glasses, a conference held in 2005 involving scores of scientists from all over the world, failed to reach agreement. Many of the unique qualities of glass are a result of its not being a normal solid, but an amorphous (or ‘shapeless’) solid. Molten glass solidifies so quickly that its molecules don’t have time to settle into a regular crystalline lattice.

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What was not Made in China and not made of china? Glass. Though the Chinese invented the compass, the flushing toilet, gunpowder, paper, the canal lock and the suspension bridge long before anyone else, the scientific revolution that transformed the West between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries completely passed them by. The reason for this is that they also invented tea. The earliest known glass artefacts are Egyptian and date back to 1350 BC, but it was the Romans who first produced transparent glass. They liked the way it enabled them to admire the colour of their wine. By the time the Egyptians worked out how to make glass, the Chinese had been drinking tea (traditionally they began in 2737 BC) for almost 1,400 years.

Frommer's London 2009
by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince
Published 25 Aug 2008

CONTINENTAL/INTERNATIONAL Food lovers and gourmands flock to this food store, delicatessen, and restaurant, where racks of the finest meats, cheeses, and produce in the world are displayed and changed virtually every hour. The Villandry 10_285596-ch06.qxp 7/22/08 5:56 PM Page 193 M A RY L E B O N E TO N OT T I N G H I L L G AT E 193 Eating at Authentic Chippies Declassé or not, Britain’s national dish of fish and chips was called “the good companions” by Sir Winston Churchill. Introduced to London by Murano Jews, this dish has been Britain’s fast food since the mid–19th century. Those slightly limp chips (fries to Americans) burst open with flavor with a squirt of malt vinegar, and each dish is accompanied by a “wally” in chippy vernacular (a pickled gherkin). Britons consume some 300 million fish and chips meals per year.

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Some of the most generous offers come from the Travelodge (& 800/578-7878 in the U.S.) and Hilton International (& 800/445-8667 in the U.S.) chains. For best results, call the 800-number and ask about family packages. Here are two other familyfriendly spots: The Colonnade (p. 137) Located in the canal-laced Little Venice section of London, this hotel lets children under 12 stay free in their parent’s room and the staff can arrange babysitting. This residential area is safe, with treelined avenues leading down to a canal. With its shops, cafes, and restaurants, Little Venice has a real neighborhood feel to it. Hart House Hotel (p. 130) This small, family-run B&B is right in the center of the West End, near Hyde Park. Many of its rooms are triples.

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Also, to visit Canary Wharf/Greenwich, it is better to go from Bank as it offers direct trains. From Tower Gateway, it is necessary to change trains at Westferry. EXPLORING LONDON’S CANALS BY BOAT Boat trips on London’s canals, especially Regent’s Canal in London’s canal-laced “Little Venice,” are an increasingly popular way to seeing the city. Bus no. 6 takes you to Little Venice, where you can board one of several boats for a tour along the canals. You can return either by boat or by Tube at the end of a one-way trip—Warwick Avenue on the Bakerloo line is only a couple of minutes walk from where the canal boats dock. Since the Festival of Britain in 1951, some of the traditional painted canal boats have been resurrected for Venetian-style trips through the waterways.

The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture
by Orlando Figes
Published 7 Oct 2019

Along the tourist routes in Italy, shops sold terracotta replicas of museum sculptures, imitation Murano glass vases, photographic reproductions of Old Masters, models of the Roman temples and countless other souvenirs manufactured specially for the tourist market. In Dickens’s Little Dorrit (1857) the Meagles home in Twickenham is filled with them: There were antiquities from Central Italy, made by the best modern houses in that department of industry; bits of mummy from Egypt (and perhaps from Birmingham); model gondolas from Venice; model villages from Switzerland; morsels of tessellated pavement from Herculaneum and Pompei, like petrified minced veal; ashes out of tombs, and lava out of Vesuvius; Spanish fans, Spezzian straw hats, Moorish slippers; Tuscan hairpins, Carrara sculpture, Trasteverini scarves, Genoese velvets and filigree, Neapolitan coral, Roman cameos, Geneva jewellery, Arab lanterns, rosaries blest all round by the Pope himself, and an infinite variety of lumber.34 Travel agencies were equally important in standardizing tourist routes.

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His influence helped to change the tourist cultural map, encouraging the British to travel to the Alps and Venice, for example, in larger numbers than they had done before. The Stones of Venice, in particular, raised appreciation for the art and architecture of that city. It did more than any other work to turn Venice from a rundown stop-off on the Grand Tour into an important tourist destination in its own right (it inspired Marcel Proust, whose narrator in À la recherche du temps perdu visits Venice with his mother on the back of his enthusiasm for Ruskin).42 No less widely used by travellers were the many guides to Europe’s art museums by Louis Viardot.

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In all the capitals of Europe the richest accoutrements, the highest tone, all the refinements of society are concentrated at the Italian Opera. This cannot be changed, nor should it be.12 In Western Europe opera had flourished since the seventeenth century. From its origins as a private court event, opera was soon transformed into a public spectacle, first in Venice and then throughout Italy. Unlike in France, where opera was under royal control, every major town in Italy had its own theatre and a group of nobles or rich merchants and professionals to manage it (the first Italian national census in 1868 recorded 775 opera houses in active existence).13 The business model was fairly uniform throughout the peninsula.

Lonely Planet Western Balkans
by Lonely Planet , Peter Dragicevich , Mark Baker , Stuart Butler , Anthony Ham , Jessica Lee , Vesna Maric , Kevin Raub and Brana Vladisavljevic
Published 1 Oct 2019

Work on the church interior (frequently interrupted by wars) continues today as the cupola is being adorned with a 1248-sq-metre mosaic, one of the world’s largest on a curved surface. Work is expected to continue through 2020 – until then, visit the astonishing gold-ceilinged crypt and its stunning ornate chandeliers, Murano glass mosaics and vibrant frescoes. Royal CompoundPALACE (map Google map; %011 263 5622; www.royalfamily.org; Bul Kneza Aleksandra Karađorđevića, Dedinje; 650RSD; h10am Wed, 10am & 1pm Sat & Sun Apr-Oct) Commissioned between the two world wars by soon-to-be-assassinated King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, the Royal and White Palaces in Belgrade’s exclusive Dedinje neighbourhood were residences of King Peter II and used by the communist regime after WWII.

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From AD 539 to 751, Istria was under Byzantine rule, the most impressive remnant of which is the Euphrasian Basilica in Poreč. In the period that followed, power switched between Slavic tribes, the Franks and German rulers until an increasingly powerful Venice wrestled control of the Istrian coast in the early 13th century. With the fall of Venice in 1797, Istria came under Austrian rule, followed by the French (1809–13). During the 19th and early 20th centuries, most of Istria was little more than a neglected outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When the empire disintegrated at the end of WWI, Italy moved quickly to secure Istria.

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The rise of Venetian power in the mid-12th century was bitterly contested – there was a succession of citizens’ uprisings over the next 200 years – but the city was finally acquired by Venice in 1409, along with the rest of Dalmatia. Frequent Veneto-Turkish wars resulted in the building of Zadar’s famous city walls in the 16th century, partly on the remains of the earlier Roman fortifications. With the fall of Venice in 1797, the city passed to Austrian rulers, who administered the city with the assistance of their Italianised ruling aristocracy. Italian influence endured well into the 20th century, with Zadar (or Zara, as the Italians call it) captured by Italy at the end of WWI and officially ceded to Italy with the Treaty of Rapallo in 1922.

Rick Steves Florence & Tuscany 2017
by Rick Steves
Published 8 Nov 2016

Across the street, Erboristeria Boboli (#12 red)—a fragrant shop with herbal/organic lotions, fragrances, candles, and so on—is worth a whiff. Passing some clothing boutiques, you’ll reach Tealicious (on the right, #26 red), where Laura curates a fragrant selection of exotic teas, including some unusual flavor combinations. A block farther on the left, Tabescè (#39 red) produces quirky, modern, Murano-style glass jewelry and funky art objects that appeal to hipsters. Across the street is the characteristic Legatoria La Carta marbled paper shop and book bindery (#58 red; see listing on here). Soon after, you reach the rear entrance to Boboli Gardens; Via Romana continues past this point, but there are fewer interesting shops.

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The figures in the foreground stand and move like real people, telling the Bible story with human details. Amazingly, this spacious, 3-D scene is made from bronze only a couple of inches deep. Inside the Baptistery: The interior features a fine example of pre-Renaissance mosaic art (1200s-1300s) in the Byzantine style. Workers from St. Mark’s in Venice came here to make the remarkable ceiling mosaics (of Venetian glass) in the late 1200s. The Last Judgment on the ceiling gives us a glimpse of the medieval worldview. Life was a preparation for the afterlife, when you would be judged and saved, or judged and damned—with no in-between. Christ, peaceful and reassuring, blessed those at his right hand with heaven (thumbs up) and sent those on his left to hell (the ultimate thumbs-down), to be tortured by demons and gnashed between the teeth of monsters.

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Train Connections The departures listed below are operated by Trenitalia; Italo offers additional high-speed connections to major Italian cities (including Milan, Padua, Venice, Rome, and Naples; see here). From Florence by Train to: Pisa (2-3/hour, 45-75 minutes), Lucca (2/hour, 1.5 hours), Siena (direct trains hourly, 1.5-2 hours; bus is better because Siena’s train station is far from the center), Camucia-Cortona (hourly, 1.5 hours), Livorno (hourly, 1.5 hours, some change in Pisa), La Spezia (for the Cinque Terre, 5/day direct, 2.5 hours, otherwise nearly hourly with change in Pisa), Milan (hourly, 2 hours), Venice (hourly, 2-3 hours, may transfer in Bologna; often crowded—reserve ahead), Assisi (8/day direct, 2-3 hours), Orvieto (hourly, 2 hours, some with change in Campo di Marte or Rifredi Station), Rome (2-3/hour, 1.5 hours, most require seat reservations), Naples (hourly, 3 hours), Brindisi (8/day, 8 hours with change in Bologna or Rome), Interlaken (2/day, 5.5 hours, 2 changes), Frankfurt (6/day, 10-11.5 hours, 2 changes), Paris (5/day, 9-10.5 hours, 1-2 changes; 1 night train with change in Milan, 13 hours, important to reserve ahead at www.thello.com), Vienna (5/day, 10-11 hours, 1-2 changes).

44 Scotland Street
by Alexander McCall Smith
Published 13 Jun 2005

Angus Lordie busied himself with the opening of a bottle of champagne, which he took from a concealed fridge in a walnut cabinet. Then he poured a glass for each of them and they stood in the middle of the room, under the Murano chandelier, and raised their glasses to each other. “To the successful sale of the Vettriano,” said Angus Lordie, chinking his glass against Matthew’s. “That is assuming that you will be selling it. Vettriano, of course, is not to everybody’s taste. But the point is there’s a strong market for them and it seems to be getting stronger.” Matthew looked into his glass. He did not like to talk about financial matters, but he was very curious to know what value Angus Lordie might put on his painting.

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“On the final day,” he continued, “we had a visit from a really important person from the art world in Edinburgh. Really important. He came to speak to us on the Saturday afternoon, and we were told all about it the day before. The inspector who was in charge of the course said that we were very lucky to get him, as he was often away in places like Venice and New York. That’s where these people go, he explained. They feel comfortable in places like that. And that’s fair enough, I suppose. Imagine if they had to go to places like Motherwell or Airdrie. Just imagine. “He arrived in the afternoon, an hour or so before he was due to give his lecture, which was at three.

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Nigel was a very fine artist – lovely, light-filled pictures – and I still see Mary McIsaac in the square from time to time.” He looked over towards the other side of the room where a young man was circulating with a bottle of wine, refreshing glasses. “I’m so bad at catching the eyes of young men at parties,” he said airily. “Such a limitation! Perhaps you could do it for me?” Pat looked across the room and immediately attracted the attention of the waiter, who came over to them and refilled Angus Lordie’s glass. Pat, who was generally abstemious, asked for only half a glass. Angus Lordie looked again at Pat. His gaze was intense, Pat felt, and it was almost as if he were appraising her. But she did not feel threatened in any way – why?

After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul
by Tripp Mickle
Published 2 May 2022

He, his wife, Heather, and their sons arrived at the historic brick establishment tucked into the cobblestone streets of the city’s Jackson Square neighborhood. Inside, they greeted Laurene Powell Jobs and Steve Jobs’s son, Reed, as well as Ive’s best friends, the designer Marc Newson and the Tokyo-based music producer Nick Wood. Staff ushered them through a dining area with white tablecloths and a Murano glass chandelier. A champagne cart visited every table with complimentary glasses of Ive’s favorite drink. As the group posed for a photo afterward, Ive clasped his arm around the neck of one of his sons and stared wide-eyed at the camera. Milestone birthdays often spur people to reflect on life, decisions made, and opportunities missed.

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He decided six months before launch that Apple needed to replace the plastic display with glass. Cook and others worried that a glass display wouldn’t be durable enough to survive a customer dropping their phone. They feared Apple stores would be overrun by people with cracked screens demanding a replacement. Cook’s lieutenant, Williams, even told Jobs that the technology to make more resilient glass wouldn’t be ready for three to four years. “No, no, no,” Jobs said. “When it ships in June, it needs to be glass.” “But we tested all the current glass, and when you drop it, it breaks one hundred percent of the time,” Williams said.

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For months, Apple’s retail team had been searching the world for samples of glass for Ive to review. Getting clear glass for an office building might not seem like a complicated task; corporate real estate developers don’t give it much bother, so long as it’s transparent. But Ive insisted on inspecting every one for sufficient clarity. Apple shipped glass samples from Europe and Asia to Cupertino, and Ive came over to inspect them. He wanted to find a piece of glass that was so transparent it would fill the company’s offices with natural light that he believed would increase employees’ happiness and boost their productivity. Ultimately, he chose a glass that was incredibly clear and relatively thin, two 12-millimeter-thick layers of glass with the ability to minimize noise and control the building’s internal temperature.

France (Lonely Planet, 8th Edition)
by Nicola Williams
Published 14 Oct 2010

The hotel has a small sauna, there is a tranquil little ‘garden’ on display behind glass off the lobby, and breakfast is served in the 16th-century vaulted cellar. TOP END Murano Urban Resort (Map; 01 42 71 20 00; www.muranoresort.com; 13 bd du Temple, 3e; Filles du Calvaire; s €360, d €440-650, ste €750-1200; ) This 52-room hotel’s subtitle, ‘Urban Resort’, suggests that you should come, kick off your shoes and sink your toes in the hotel’s figurative sand. And with public areas like a new spa with heated pool, a glass-roofed courtyard restaurant, a cool jazz and DJ bar, and guestrooms that allow you to change their colour scheme, that’s easily accomplished.

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Georges Pompidou commissioned Paris’ Centre Pompidou in 1977; Valéry Giscard d’Estaing transformed a derelict train station into the Musée d’Orsay; while François Mitterrand commissioned the capital’s best-known contemporary architectural landmarks, including IM Pei’s glass pyramid at the Louvre, the Opéra Bastille, the Grande Arche in the skyscraper district of La Défense, and the national library Click here, as well as Jean Nouvel’s fabulous riverside architectural icon, the Musée du Quai Branly. * * * TOP PICKS: URBAN DESIGN The best of dreamy venues for urban-design buffs: Paris’ Hôtel Le A Click here, Murano Urban Resort and Kube Hôtel Lyon’s Hotelo and Collège Hotel Hôtel HI and Hôtel Windsor, Nice Hôtel Le Corbusier, Marseille Les Bains Douches, Toulouse Hôtel 3.14, Cannes Zazpi, St-Jean de Luz L’Hermitage Gantois, Lille Hôtel La Pérouse, Nantes Seeko’o, Bordeaux * * * In the provinces, notable buildings include Strasbourg’s European Parliament, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas’s Euralille and Jean Nouvel’s glass-and-steel Vesunna Musée Gallo-Romain in Périgueux, a 1920s art-deco swimming pool–turned–art museum in Lille and the fantastic Louvre II Click here in unknown Lens, 37km south of Lille.

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Local Vitalis ( 05 49 44 66 88) bus 9 links Futuroscope (Parc de Loisirs stop) with Poitiers’ train station (the stop in front of Avis car rental; €1.30, 30 minutes); there are one to two buses an hour from 6.15am until 7.30pm or 9pm. Marais Poitevin Within the protected Parc Naturel Interrégional du Marais Poitevin, these tranquil bird-filled wetlands are dubbed Venise Verte (Green Venice) due to the duckweed that turns its maze of waterways emerald green each spring and summer. Covering some 800 sq km of wet and drained marsh, the marshlands are interspersed with villages and woods threaded by bike paths. * * * SLEEPING GREEN IN FRANCE’S ‘GREEN VENICE’ To get even closer to nature in the Marais Poitevin, choose from one of 10 rooms at the waterside Maison Flore ( 05 49 76 27 11; www.maisonflore.com; rue du Grand Port, Arçais; s/d/tr/q €48/63/76/85; ), which are themed after local marsh plants such as pale-green Angelica and purple-hued Iris.

God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican
by Gerald Posner
Published 3 Feb 2015

The eldest of four children from his father’s second marriage, he was born on October 17, 1912, in the remote northern Italian village of Canale d’Agordo.27 The family was poor even by the standards of a region devastated by World War I. His father, a bricklayer, spent years as a migrant worker in Switzerland and Germany before getting a regular job as a glassblower on the Island of Murano in the Venetian lagoon.28 Luciani was only eleven when his devout mother entered him into a minor seminary at Feltre.29 Ordained a priest on July 7, 1935, the twenty-two-year-old Luciani spent two years as a chaplain and teacher at Agordo’s Technical Mining Institute.30 In 1937 he received his doctorate in theology from Rome’s Gregorian University.31 And that year he became the vice rector at the Seminary of Belluno, where for the next decade he taught everything from canon law to philosophy.32 In 1958, John XXIII consecrated him bishop of Vittorio Veneto, a small city south of Belluno.

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He discussed it first with Massimo Spada, before encouraging Calvi to make a formal bid.25 The Cattolica was the Ambrosiano’s sister bank in Venice, one of Italy’s most important Catholic institutions since its 1878 opening, and intertwined historically with the Venetian clergy and Black Nobles.26 Sindona and Spada thought Banca Cattolica was a natural fit with the Ambrosiano’s expanding empire. But they also knew that the two banks were fierce competitors.27 Calvi thought it unlikely that the church would part with the Cattolica. Albino Luciani, Venice’s Patriarch, whose archdiocese owned a minority share, was almost certain to object. Nevertheless Calvi pitched the idea to Marcinkus in 1971.

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The money was paid in five installments, in a convoluted back-and-forth of offshore transfers that had become a hallmark of Calvi, Sindona, and Marcinkus deals (the IOR put all its proceeds into Calvi’s Bahamian bank, bringing Marcinkus’s deposits in Cisalpine to a dizzying $112.5 million).34 Not everyone was happy with the sale of a controlling block of Banca Cattolica. Venice’s Luciani complained to Pope Paul and to the influential deputy Secretary of State, Archbishop Giovanni Benelli, that the deal was against the church’s long-term interests. Luciani reminded Benelli that not only was he the chief prelate of the diocese that owned part of the bank, but that the Cattolica was also headquartered in Venice. He felt he should have been more involved in the decision over whether to sell. Luciani was also upset since Calvi canceled the bank’s preferred interest rates to Catholic institutions.35 Benelli tried palming Luciani off to Marcinkus.

Foucault's Pendulum
by Umberto Eco
Published 15 Dec 1990

Crossing the exhibit of electrical devices, I came to the hall of glass. By what logic had they decided that the most advanced and expensive gadgetry of the modern mind should be followed by a section devoted to an art known to the Phoenicians thousands of years ago? A jumble of a room, Chinese porcelain alongside androgynous vases of Lalique, poteries, majolica, faience, and Murano, and in an enormous case in the rear, life-size and three-dimensional, a lion attacked by a serpent. The apparent reason for this piece was its medium, that it was made entirely of glass; but there had to be a deeper reason. Where had I seen this figure before?

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Not whiskey, a martini. The liquid is clear. You raise your glass and you see her over the olive. The difference between looking at your beloved through a dry martini straight up, where the glass is small, thin, and looking at her through a martini on the rocks, through thick- glass, and her face broken by the transparent cubism of the ice. The effect is doubled if you each press your glass to your forehead, feeling the chill, and lean close until the glasses touch. Forehead to forehead with two glasses in between. You can’t do that with martini glasses. The brief hour of the bar. Afterward, trembling, you await another day.

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“The only time, what?” Belbo asked. “That he met Sophia. Centuries after that, Simon was also Guillaume Postel.” “A letter carrier?” “Idiot. He was a Renaissance scholar who read Jewish—” “Hebrew.” “Same difference. He read it the way kids read Superman. Without a dictionary. Anyhow, in a hospital in Venice he meets an old illiterate maidservant, Joanna. He looks at her and says, ‘You are the new incarnation of Sophia, the Ennoia, the Great Mother descended into our midst to redeem the whole world, which has a female soul.’ And so Postel takes Joanna with him; everybody says he’s crazy, but he pays no attention; he adores her, wants to free her from the angels’ imprisonment, and when she dies, he sits and stares at the sun for an hour and goes for days without drinking or eating, inhabited by Joanna, who no longer exists but it’s as if she did, because she’s still there, she inhabits the world, and every now and then she resurfaces, that is, she’s reincarnated...Isn’t that a story to make you cry?”

Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation
by Edward Chancellor
Published 31 May 2000

Choose any number of courses between four and eight from a meaty or vegetarian set menu; the list of tempting options includes Mangalica pork with Jerusalem artichoke, Arctic char fish accompanied by buttermilk couscous and Zürich chicken with nut butter. Not easy to find, hidden away in a residential neighbourhood (tram #8 to Bäckeranlage) – but well worth hunting down. Fr.Fr.Fr.Fr. LaSalle Schiffbaustrasse 4 lasalle-restaurant.ch. Amazing place set within a huge glass cube on the factory floor of the old Schiffbau; you eat beneath a giant glowing Murano chandelier suspended on high. It’s far from downmarket, though – all white tablecloths and silver service – and is a breath of fresh air after the stuffiness of traditional city-centre restaurants. The modern European cuisine is outstanding, but the surroundings are just as alluring as the food.

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The main town of the region is Vallorbe, at the southern end of a pass that has been used since antiquity as a route from France to the Grand-Saint-Bernard road over the Alps to Italy. Early twentieth-century railway engineers followed the same route when they tunnelled beneath the Jura to link Paris to Venice (and onwards to Istanbul) – the classic Orient Express line. The same route through Vallorbe is used by TGV high-speed trains to this day. The Jura Vaudois was also a stop-off for medieval pilgrims following the Chemin de St-Jacques from Germany to Santiago de Compostela in Spain: a Gothic church at Orbe and a priory at Romainmôtier fulfilled both spiritual and material needs on the journey.

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Musée du Fer et du Chemin de Fer 11 Rue des Grandes Forges • Jan–March Sat & Sun 1–5pm; April–Oct Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; Nov Tues–Fri 1–5pm, Sat & Sun 10am–5pm • Charge • museedufer.ch The main draw of this Iron and Railway Museum is the working smithy, powered by waterwheels on the River Orbe outside. Upstairs is the railway section, housing memorabilia from the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. Les Grottes de Vallorbe 1 Chemin de la Résurgence • Daily: March & Nov 1.30–4pm; April, May, Sept & Oct 9.30am–4.30pm; June–Aug 9.30am–5.30pm • Charge • grottesdevallorbe.ch Just over 2km southwest of Vallorbe are Les Grottes de Vallorbe, caves replete with stalactites and stalagmites and an exhibition of minerals dubbed Le Trésor des Fées (Fairy Treasure), featuring over 250 samples from around the world.

The Rough Guide to Switzerland (Travel Guide eBook)
by Rough Guides
Published 24 May 2022

Choose any number of courses between four and eight from a meaty or vegetarian set menu; the list of tempting options includes Mangalica pork with Jerusalem artichoke, Arctic char fish accompanied by buttermilk couscous and Zürich chicken with nut butter. Not easy to find, hidden away in a residential neighbourhood (tram #8 to Bäckeranlage) – but well worth hunting down. Fr.Fr.Fr.Fr. LaSalle Schiffbaustrasse 4 lasalle-restaurant.ch. Amazing place set within a huge glass cube on the factory floor of the old Schiffbau; you eat beneath a giant glowing Murano chandelier suspended on high. It’s far from downmarket, though – all white tablecloths and silver service – and is a breath of fresh air after the stuffiness of traditional city-centre restaurants. The modern European cuisine is outstanding, but the surroundings are just as alluring as the food.

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The main town of the region is Vallorbe, at the southern end of a pass that has been used since antiquity as a route from France to the Grand-Saint-Bernard road over the Alps to Italy. Early twentieth-century railway engineers followed the same route when they tunnelled beneath the Jura to link Paris to Venice (and onwards to Istanbul) – the classic Orient Express line. The same route through Vallorbe is used by TGV high-speed trains to this day. The Jura Vaudois was also a stop-off for medieval pilgrims following the Chemin de St-Jacques from Germany to Santiago de Compostela in Spain: a Gothic church at Orbe and a priory at Romainmôtier fulfilled both spiritual and material needs on the journey.

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Musée du Fer et du Chemin de Fer 11 Rue des Grandes Forges • Jan–March Sat & Sun 1–5pm; April–Oct Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; Nov Tues–Fri 1–5pm, Sat & Sun 10am–5pm • Charge • museedufer.ch The main draw of this Iron and Railway Museum is the working smithy, powered by waterwheels on the River Orbe outside. Upstairs is the railway section, housing memorabilia from the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. Les Grottes de Vallorbe 1 Chemin de la Résurgence • Daily: March & Nov 1.30–4pm; April, May, Sept & Oct 9.30am–4.30pm; June–Aug 9.30am–5.30pm • Charge • grottesdevallorbe.ch Just over 2km southwest of Vallorbe are Les Grottes de Vallorbe, caves replete with stalactites and stalagmites and an exhibition of minerals dubbed Le Trésor des Fées (Fairy Treasure), featuring over 250 samples from around the world.

Lonely Planet Brazil
by Lonely Planet

Take bus 0.104 (R$2.50; every 30 minutes) from platform A16 in the local bus station. oSantuário Dom BoscoCHURCH (map Google map; %61 3223-6542; www.santuariodombosco.org.br; SEPS 702, Bloco B; h7am-8pm) F Santuário Dom Bosco is made of 80 concrete columns that support 7400 pieces of illuminated Murano glass, symbolizing a starry sky, which cast a blue submarine glow over the pews. The central chandelier weighs 2.5 tons and adds an amazing 435 light bulbs’ worth of energy to the monthly electricity bill. Bus 0.107 (R$3.50; platform E10 in the local bus station) passes here every eight minutes. oCentro Cultural Banco do BrasilARTS CENTER (CCBB; %61 3108-7600; www.culturabancodobrasil.com.br; SCES, Trecho 2, Conjunto 22; h9am-9pm Tue-Sun) F Brasília’s most important contemporary museum houses temporary exhibitions in two galleries, an indie cinema, a cafe and a bookstore.

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At the same time, technological innovations allowed builders to use materials in new ways, such as cast-iron frames, which were making their appearance in Europe and the US. Eclectic architecture was used in theaters, parliamentary halls and colleges. Dating from this time are grandiose buildings like the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, which is famed for both its grandeur (including Murano glass chandeliers and Carrara marble stairs) as well as unusual elements like the ceramic tile dome featuring the colors of the Brazilian flag. In Rio, the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura (Royal Reading Room) shows inspiration from the much earlier manueline period (early 1500s), with a Gothic facade and the highlighting of its metallic structure.

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São Paulo Gay Pride ParadeLGBTIQ+ (www.paradasp.org.br; Av Paulista; hJun) Av Paulista morphs into a come-all, free-for-all for São Paulo’s annual gay pride parade, often considered the biggest in the world (both the 2016 and 2017 events drew three million people!). Bienal de São PauloART (%11 5576-7600; www.bienal.org.br; Parque Ibirapuera, Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo, Vila Mariana; hSep-Dec) Modeled on the Venice Biennale, the Bienal de São Paulo, founded in 1951, has grown into one of the world’s most important arts events. Many of the participants are working artists who have been nominated by their home country. The event is held during even-numbered years, generally from September or October to December, in a sprawling pavilion designed by modernist master Oscar Niemeyer in the leafy Parque Ibirapuera (www.parqueibirapuera.org; Av Pedro Álvares Cabral, Vila Mariana; h5am-midnight).

Lonely Planet France
by Lonely Planet Publications
Published 31 Mar 2013

The site affords breathtaking, sublime views of the Haute-Marne countryside. Colombey-les-Deux-Églises is 72km east of Troyes along D619; taking A5 to exit 23 (88km) is a bit faster. BAYEL POP 868 Thanks to the Cristallerie Royale de Champagne (adult/child €6/3; 9.30 & 11am Mon-Fri) , established by a family of glassmakers from Murano, Italy, this quiet village has been a centre of crystal manufacture since 1678. To see the production process, take a factory tour. Tours are in French unless the group is predominantly English-speaking. For even more insight into how crystal is made, tie this in with a visit to the Musée du Cristal (Crystal Museum | Écomusée; adult/child €4/2, combined with tour €8/4; 9.15am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-5.30pm Sat, 2-5.30pm Sun) ; a 15-minute film highlights the different stages involved in crystal production.

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Push south next along the Atlantic coast, stopping in Nantes if you like big cities (and riding mechanical elephants), or continuing to the peaceful waterways of Green Venice, aka the Marais Poitevin . Bordeaux is your final destination for day six, from where a bevy of Bordeaux wine-tasting trips tempt. End the journey on a high atop Europe’s highest sand dune, Dune du Pilat , near oyster-famed Arcachon . One Week A Week Around Paris Start in Paris , from where a journey of magnificent French icons, Renaissance châteaux and sparkling wine unfurls. Day one has to be France’s grandest castle, Château de Versailles , and its vast gardens. The second day, feast on France’s best-preserved medieval basilica and the dazzling blue stained glass in Chartres , an easy train ride away.

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Thalys (www.thalys.com) Thalys trains pull into Paris’ Gare du Nord from Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne. Thello (www.thello.com) Overnight train service from Paris to Milan, Brescia, Verona and Venice in Italy. SAMPLE TRAIN FARES Route Full Fare (€) Duration (hr) Amsterdam–Paris 89 3¼ Madrid–Blois 153 12½ Berlin–Paris 189 8 Brussels–Paris 69 1½ Dijon–Milan 80 7 Paris–Venice 100 11¾ Geneva–Marseille 50 3½ Vienna–Strasbourg 153 9¾ EURAIL PASS Rail passes are worthwhile if you plan to clock up the kilometres. Available only to people who don’t live in Europe, the Eurail Pass (www.eurail.com) is valid in up to 21 countries, including France.

1,000 Places to See in the United States and Canada Before You Die, Updated Ed.
by Patricia Schultz
Published 13 May 2007

Indoors, large galleries show off a wide range of glass art, including blown and fused glass. But the heart of the museum is the Hot Shop, a 90-foot-tall, 100-foot-wide amphitheater where visitors can watch teams of artists blowing glass. Unless you’ve been to the thousand-year-old glass furnaces on Venice’s island of Murano (where Chihuly studied with the masters), you most likely have never seen anything like this. Chihuly is one of the world’s greatest contemporary glass artists, and his work is prominently and proudly displayed throughout his hometown. In 1971 he founded the Pilchuck Glass School, 50 miles north of Seattle, which is credited with transforming glass—previously used mostly for utilitarian or decorative purposes—into a medium of artistic expression both bold and delicate.

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One of the most alluring accommodations in the area, it manages to combine the casual Cape Cod resort look (all rooms have balconies that open to let in the sound of the ocean) with all the luxurious amenities its VIP guests have come to expect, including a spa and seaside meals at One Pico and Pedals Café. Just a stroll south of Santa Monica is the still funky, oddball, and delightful beach community of Venice, founded in 1905 by Abbott Kinney, who envisioned a Venice-of-America. Kinney designed it to include canals and Italian architecture and imported authentic gondolas, long since gone. Though the canals still exist, they’re not nearly as noteworthy as the city’s famed 3-mile long Venice Beach boardwalk, a wide, paved promenade that runs alongside the white sand beaches. This was the epicenter of L.A.’s 1960s hippie scene, and much of that bohemian vibe lingers still.

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The area’s long-famous weight lifters’ mecca, Muscle Beach, is still pumping up young Ahhh-nuld wannabes. Everyday folks line up at Jodi Maroni’s Sausage Kingdom or stroll Venice’s Main Street, a stimulating seven-block mix of shops, both fabulous and funky. WHERE: 15 miles west of Los Angeles. SANTA MONICA PIER: Tel 310-458-8900; www.santamonicapier.org. FARMERS MARKET: Tel 310-458-8712; www.smgov.net/farmers_market. VALENTINO: Tel 310-829-4313; www.pieroselvaggio.com. Cost: dinner $65. SHUTTERS ON THE BEACH: Tel 310-458-0030; www.shuttersonthebeach.com. Cost: from $520. VENICE BEACH: www.venicebeach.com. MUSCLE BEACH: Tel 310-399-2775. JODY MARONI’S: Tel 310-822-5639; www.jodymaroni.com.

Frommer's England 2011: With Wales
by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince
Published 2 Jan 2010

AE, MC, V. Mon–Fri noon–3pm and 6–10:30pm; Sat–Sun noon–3:30pm and 6–10pm (Sat until 10:30pm). Tube: South Kensington or Knightsbridge. 5 SETTLING INTO LONDON Déclassé or not, Britain’s national dish of fish and chips was called “the good companions” by Sir Winston Churchill. Introduced to London by Murano Jews, this dish has been Britain’s fast food since the mid–19th century. Those slightly limp chips (fries to Americans) burst open with flavor with a squirt of malt vinegar, and each dish is accompanied by a “wally,” in chippy vernacular (that’s a pickled gherkin to the rest of you). Britons consume some 300 million fish-and-chips meals per year.

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Hatfield remains one of England’s largest and finest country houses, with antiques, tapestries, paintings, and even the red silk stockings Elizabeth I wore. See p. 274. Woburn Abbey (Woburn, Bedfordshire): A Cistercian abbey for 4 centuries, Woburn Abbey has been visited by everyone from Queen Victoria to Marilyn Monroe. You’ll see Queen Victoria’s bedroom as well as the Canaletto Room, with its 21 perspectives of Venice. The grounds, more popular than the house, include the Woburn Safari Park, the best zoological collection in England after the London Zoo. See p. 277. Hever Castle & Gardens (Edenbridge, Kent): This was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1903, William Waldorf Astor, an American multimillionaire and Anglophile, bought the castle, restored it, and landscaped the grounds.

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During the Middle Ages, its prosperity came from wool, which was shipped all over Europe. During the Industrial Revolution, when the greatest profits lay in finished textiles, it became a backwater as a producer of raw wool—albeit with the happy result for us that it never “modernized.” The scenic Cotswold village on the banks of the River Windrush has earned the title “Venice of the Cotswolds,” with its mellow stone houses, its village greens on the banks of the water, and its bridges. Don’t expect gondoliers, however. This town makes a good stopover, if not for the night, at least as a place to enjoy a lunch and a rest along the riverbanks. Afterward, you can take a peek inside St.

The Rough Guide to Morocco (Travel Guide eBook)
by Rough Guides
Published 23 Mar 2019

The facts of the mosque’s construction are almost as startling as its size. During the early 1990s, when it was being readied for opening, 1400 men worked by day and a further 1100 by night. Most were master-craftsmen, working marble from Agadir, cedar from the Middle Atlas, granite from Tafraoute, and (the only import) glass from Murano in Venice. Its cost is reckoned to have exceeded £500m/US$750m, raised by not entirely voluntary public subscription. Aïn Diab 3km west of the port and Old Medina • Bus #9 (4dh) from Bd Félix Houphouët Boigny, tram (7dh) to Aïn Diab Plage station, petit taxi from Pl des Nations Unies (around 20dh) or 30–45min walk A beach within Casa may not sound alluring – and it’s certainly not the cleanest and clearest stretch of the country’s waters – but Aïn Diab’s big attraction is not so much the sea, in whose shallow waters Moroccans gather in phalanx formations, as the beach clubs along its front, each with one or more pools (usually of filtered sea water), a restaurant and a couple of snack bars.

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There’s just a bakery, the smallest of shops and a tiny café on the beach – it’s about as laidback as you can get. Badès 10km east of Cala Iris Badès (also known as Badis), was the main port of Fez from the fourteenth to the early sixteenth century, and used for trade with the western Mediterranean states, in particular Venice. Ruins from that era look over a river mouth and sandy bay, where a nondescript blue line on the beach marks the somewhat bizarre international border with Spain and one of its plazas de soberanía (“places of sovereignty”), Peñon de Vélez de la Gomera. It’s guarded on both sides and the taking of pictures is not welcomed.

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Daily except Fri 10am–8pm. Moulay Larbai 96 Souk el Kchachbia, Medina 0671 374042; map. Moulay Larbai’s claim to fame is that it was he who first started making mirrors framed with small pieces of mirror or of coloured glass, and that he still makes the best ones in the souk, which indeed he does. His mirrors come in various shapes and sizes, and he uses proper Iraqi-style stained glass for the colours. Prices start at around 50dh. Daily 8am–7pm, Fri closed noon–5pm. Directory Banks and exchange The main area for banks and ATMs in the Medina is off the south side of the Jemaa el Fna on Rue Moulay Ismail.

The Rough Guide to Morocco
by Rough Guides

The facts of the mosque’s construction are almost as startling as its size. During the early 1990s, when it was being readied for opening, 1400 men worked by day and a further 1100 by night. Most were master-craftsmen, working marble from Agadir, cedar from the Middle Atlas, granite from Tafraoute, and (the only import) glass from Murano in Venice. Its cost is reckoned to have exceeded £500m/US$750m, raised by not entirely voluntary public subscription. Aïn Diab 3km west of the port and Old Medina • Bus #9 (4dh) from Bd Félix Houphouët Boigny, tram (7dh) to Aïn Diab Plage station, petit taxi from Pl des Nations Unies (around 20dh) or 30–45min walk A beach within Casa may not sound alluring – and it’s certainly not the cleanest and clearest stretch of the country’s waters – but Aïn Diab’s big attraction is not so much the sea, in whose shallow waters Moroccans gather in phalanx formations, as the beach clubs along its front, each with one or more pools (usually of filtered sea water), a restaurant and a couple of snack bars.

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There’s just a bakery, the smallest of shops and a tiny café on the beach – it’s about as laidback as you can get. Badès 10km east of Cala Iris Badès (also known as Badis), was the main port of Fez from the fourteenth to the early sixteenth century, and used for trade with the western Mediterranean states, in particular Venice. Ruins from that era look over a river mouth and sandy bay, where a nondescript blue line on the beach marks the somewhat bizarre international border with Spain and one of its plazas de soberanía (“places of sovereignty”), Peñon de Vélez de la Gomera. It’s guarded on both sides and the taking of pictures is not welcomed.

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Moulay Larbai 96 Souk el Kchachbia, Medina 0671 374042; map. Moulay Larbai’s claim to fame is that it was he who first started making mirrors framed with small pieces of mirror or of coloured glass, and that he still makes the best ones in the souk, which indeed he does. His mirrors come in various shapes and sizes, and he uses proper Iraqi-style stained glass for the colours. Prices start at around 50dh. Daily 8am–7pm, Fri closed noon–5pm. Omar Siham 39 Souk Nejjarine (part of Souk el Kebir), Medina 0641 211721; map. It’s not much more than a hole in the wall, but stop for a peek at Omar Siham’s range of wooden spoons, handmade in all sizes, and really quite charming in their own small way.

Lonely Planet Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest
by Lonely Planet

Yet another BC resident is Susan Point, who has combined personal style with traditional Salish art elements in a variety of artistic mediums; many of her works can be seen in public areas, such as at the Vancouver International Airport. DALE CHIHULY Dale Chihuly was born in Tacoma in 1941. After an education in design and fine arts, he apprenticed at Murano, the renowned glassmaking center near Venice. When Chihuly returned to the Seattle area in 1971, he helped found the Pilchuck Glass School, credited with transforming glass – previously used mostly for utilitarian or decorative purposes – into a medium of transcendent artistic expression. Chihuly’s blown-glass sculptures are infused with lush color, sensual textures and a physicality that is both massive and delicate. Chihuly’s 25,000-sq-ft studio, called the Boathouse, is on Lake Union.

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With gigantic waves breaking on Nell Scott Reef from October through March, it’s also the professional big wave surfing spot of the Oregon coast. 1Sights North Lincoln Historical MuseumMUSEUM (%541-996-6614; 4907 SW US 101; hnoon-5pm Wed-Sat) F This good museum highlights Lincoln City’s history with Native American basketry, pioneer artifacts, glass floats and exhibits on its past industries. Jennifer Sears Glass Art StudioGALLERY (%541-996-2569; www.jennifersearsglassart.com; 4821 SW Hwy 101; glassblowing from $65; hglassblowing 10am-6pm Wed-Sun, gallery daily) Like glassblowing? Then don’t miss the Jennifer Sears Glass Art Studio where you can learn to blow your own float – or just watch someone else do it. BEACHES Lincoln City’s wide sandy beaches cater to holidaymakers, especially families. From mid-October to late May, brightly colored glass floats – hand blown by local artisans – are hidden weekly along beaches as part of an ongoing promotion.

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In 1976 a car accident left him blind in one eye (he wears a trademark patch), and a few years later he dislocated a shoulder in a bodysurfing accident; ever since, he’s hired others to do the glassblowing. He now oversees a team of artisans who perform the principal construction of his works. The Seattle area boasts a number of Chihuly installations, including the beautiful Chihuly Garden and Glass. Tacoma has some huge pieces in the entrance of its Federal Courthouse, and the best feature at the nearby Museum of Glass is an outdoor pedestrian bridge with a glass ceiling. For smaller-scale work, don’t miss Chihuly’s permanent collection at the Tacoma Art Museum. Best Modern Art Seattle Art Museum Roq la Rue Gallery (Seattle) Portland Art Museum Schneider Museum of Art (Ashland) Vancouver Art Gallery Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver) Architecture & Notable Buildings Architecture in the Pacific Northwest is as progressive and eclectic as in any other modern region.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
by Robert Tressell
Published 31 Dec 1913

They Explanatory Notes are thus deterred from studying or practising in the evening. To such we say, “Come let us reason together”’ (pp. 162–3). 114 blouse: a workman’s loose upper garment, usually belted at the waist; a protective work-shirt. 116 muranese obscured glass: from Murano, the island location of the Venetian glass-works. Here, the trade name for a particular style of ‘starburst’ patterned glass used for door panels; it allows light through, but cannot be seen through. half-plate: 4.75″ × 6.5″. 117 Norfolk suit: widely worn by both men and boys at the end of the nine- teenth century and into the early decades of the twentieth; modelled on a shooting suit worn by the Duke of Norfolk.

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Foundation of the Liberation Society, working for Church disestablishment. 1845–50 Irish Famine. Repeal of the Corn Laws, instituting era of Free Trade. Factory Act (‘Ten Hours Bill’) limits working day for women and children. Evaporated milk invented. Band of Hope Temperance Organization founded. Year of European Revolutions: Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Venice, Milan. Sequence of Public Health Acts begins. Karl Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto. F. D. Maurice founds Christian Socialist movement. Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton. Henry Mayhew writing on the London poor for the Morning Chronicle. Public Libraries Act; Factory Act. xliv Chronology Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace.

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The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists 11 hands and brains Rushton & co.’s premises were situated in one of the principal streets of Mugsborough and consisted of a double-fronted shop with plate glass windows. The shop extended right through to the narrow back street which ran behind it. The front part of the shop was stocked with wall-hangings, mouldings, stands showing patterns of embossed wall and ceiling decorations, cases of brushes, tins of varnish and enamel, and similar things. The office was at the rear and was separated from the rest of the shop by a partition, glazed with muranese obscured glass.* This office had two doors, one in the partition, giving access to the front shop, and the other by the side of the window and opening on to the back street. The glass of the lower sash of the back window consisted of one large pane on which was painted ‘Rushton & Co.’ in black letters on a white ground.

The Rough Guide to Portugal (Travel Guide eBook)
by Rough Guides
Published 1 Mar 2023

Casa de Sezim Nespereira, 4km south of Guimarães off the Santo Tirso road – turn right at Covas; http://sezim.pt. A delightful aristocratic country estate owned by the same vinho verde-producing family for over six centuries. Eight of the rooms in the main eighteenth-century solar (manor) are furnished with Murano chandeliers and objets d’art, with four-posters in many. There’s also a swimming pool and tennis court, and you’re welcome to wander the vineyards, while things like walking tours and horseriding trips can be arranged. €€€ Mestre d’Aviz Rua D. João I 40; http://hotelmestredeavis.pt. The best-value budget place in Guimarães, with pleasant rooms in a lovely converted townhouse, just outside the old centre.

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At the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, canals were dug to open up the town and drain the marshes, creating saltpans and facilitating the harvesting of seaweed, and the town began to flourish once more. Today, Aveiro’s economy depends increasingly on tourists, with visitors attracted to the “Venice of Portugal” by boat rides on the canals, Art Nouveau buildings and the nearby Vista Alegre factory, famed for its ceramics. The town’s closest beaches – at Barra and Costa Nova – are built up and packed in summer, but still good fun, while the São Jacinto nature reserve provides coastal attractions of a more peaceful kind.

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Because the bar itself, the chairs and the sculptures are entirely made from permanently cooled ice imported from Canada: you have to pay to enter, which gives you 30min inside and includes the hire of coat and gloves to keep you warm at –9˚C while you down one of their excellent cocktails from an ice glass. The Brothers Rua da Paz 26; 232 440 391. Viseu’s top coffee bar and after-dark venue is this permanently busy place with an old-fashioned vibe, decorated in the banknotes and tennis rackets of yesteryear. Coffee, tapas, wine, cocktails and live music are all on the menu. Galeria 22 Largo da Misericórdia; 232 408 761. Simple but elegant decor at this friendly spot. Grab a cocktail or glass of local wine on the outdoor terrace to enjoy the views of the pretty square. Irish Bar Largo Pintor Gata 7–8; http://facebook.com/Irishbarviseu.

Frommer's Caribbean 2010
by Christina Paulette Colón , Alexis Lipsitz Flippin , Darwin Porter , Danforth Prince and John Marino
Published 2 Jan 1989

We find much to praise at this small and ex clusive hotel because of its highly personalized and well-trained staff. Although avant garde, the design is never off-putting. The illuminated lobby might recall 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it’s still warm and friendly. Behind glass are “waterfalls,” even on the elevators, and inventive theatrical-style lighting is used to bring the outdoors inside. The one-of-a-kind glass art doors are from Murano, the famed center of glassmaking outside Venice. Overlooking Isla Verde’s best beach area, all the bedrooms are spacious and contain custom-designed beds positioned to face the ocean. Bathrooms are tiled and elegant, with tub/showers. Unique features are the openair 11th-floor exotic bar with the Caribbean ’s only rooftop fireplace.

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ANGUILLA Finds NORTHERN ITALIAN One of the island’s best, this breeze-swept r estaurant lies betw een B lue Waters B each A partments and Co vecastles. The chef, Valter Belli, hails from Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. The tables lie near the water, with distant views of St. Martin. The “sundowners” here are the best on island, including a peachy B ellini as good as that ser ved at Harry’s Bar in Venice. Other champagne drinks ar e mixed with fr uits like mango, passion fr uit, or guav a. The chef takes special care with his appetizers, including a zuppa di pesce (fish soup with porcini mushrooms) and spicy-hot penne with a garlic, tomato, and r ed-pepper sauce. All the entrees are superb and prepared with care, including a delectable red snapper with a caper-laced fresh tomato sauce or , our fav orite and the house specialty , lobster-filled ravioli in a truffle-cream sauce. 60 Gwen, Reggae & Barbecue Want to spend a lazy day on Upper Shoal Bay, which arguably has the whitest sand in the Caribbean?

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I t’s the most authentic-looking I talian cafe in the Virgin I slands. A t breakfast time, many locals stop in for a r efreshing Italian pastry and a cup of cappuccino, or else a full br eakfast. If it’s evening, you might try the mango Bellini, a variation of the famous cocktail ser ved at H arry’s B ar in Venice. B egin with such appetiz ers as piedini (flour tortillas with various toppings), then move on to fresh pastas with succulent sauces, the best pizza on the island (our favorite is the one topped with grilled eggplant), or ev en w ell-stuffed sandwiches. I f y ou arriv e on the right night, y ou might ev en be treated to stuffed Cornish hen with scalloped potatoes. 

The Rough Guide to Chile
by Melissa Graham and Andrew Benson
Published 11 May 2003

As for entertainment, you’ll find several discotheques that get very crowded in summer and maintain a gentle buzz during low season. They are nearly all down on the Costanera Sur; leading names to look out for include Kamikaze, Sala Murano and Bar T. Iquique’s main cinema is at Mall Las Américas on Avenida Héroes de la Concepción (see “Iquique and its Beaches” map). Restaurants 226 Downtown Iquique Barracuda Gorostiaga 601, at Ramírez. Very popular wood-panelled pub serving wine by the glass, pisco sour, foreign beers, tea, coffee, milkshakes and delicious snacks, plus reasonably priced full-blown meals in the evening. Soft jazz music, lovely mellow atmosphere and top-notch service.

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PO Box 359, Christchurch T03/366 5096, Epetert@cecc.org.nz. South Africa 66 Embassy 169 Garsfontein Rd Ashlea, Delmondo Office Park Block C, Gardens, Pretoria T012/460 1676, Echile@iafrica.com Consulates 1st floor Westquay Building, Westquay Rd, Waterfront, Cape Town T 021/421 2344, Echilecpt@cybersmart.co.za; 67 Venice Rd, Durban T031/312 8608, Etimhammond@pixie .co.za UK Embassy and Consulate 12 Devonshire St, London W1N 2DS T020/7580 1023, Eembachile@embachile.co.uk, Wwww.chile .embassyhomepage.com. US Embassy 1732 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 T202/785-1746, Epolitico @embassyofchile.org, Wwww.chile-usa.org.

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Chilled-out vegetarian joint – expect BBQ tofu burritos and stuffed portobello mushrooms (CH$1700–2800) – and a worthwhile evening stop-off for a beer or glass of organic wine. Pastelería Stefani Condell 1608, Plaza Victoria. Exquisite strawberry tarts and other delights, as well as a small stand-up bar where you can wash down your inexpensive cake (CH$500–1000) with a coffee. Restaurants Café Bijoux Abato 561, Cerro Concepción. Attractive restaurant with a decorative old cash register, ship’s steering wheel and open parasols dotted around. There’s a tapas-style menu (CH$2000–4500) ideal for sampling alongside a glass of Valpo’s dark and fruity El Puerto beer. J. Cruz Malbrán Condell 1466, up side alley next to the Municipalidad.

The Rough Guide to Ireland
by Clements, Paul
Published 2 Jun 2015

The highlight upstairs is the Long Gallery, which was decorated by Lady Louisa with busts of Greek and Roman philosophers and murals of Classical scenes of love and tragedy, in the style of the recently rediscovered Pompeii. It must have been a bit of a blow, however, to Lady Louisa when the extravagant glass chandeliers arrived from Murano in Venice and were found to be the wrong shade of blue for her newly decorated living room. From the gallery’s windows you can make out the Conolly Folly, some 3km north, an arcane, 50m-high edifice consisting of an obelisk perched shakily on top of a cascade of arches.

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Far from being just “another kitchen” as its Irish name might suggest, this informal restaurant is an exceptional place, serving imaginative modern Irish food with a rustic bent, in dishes such as Wicklow venison salad, spiced apple, red wine and rosehip. At lunch time, you can feast on the market fish dish of the day plus either a glass of wine or a dessert for a give-away €15. Mon & Tues noon–3pm, Wed–Sat noon–3pm & 6–9pm. Green Acres Selskar St 053 912 2975, greenacres.ie. A handsome red-brick house with a modern glass extension and attractive tables on a pedestrianized street. Inside you’ll find a well-stocked deli and wine shop, a first-floor art gallery and a bistro serving creative fare such as Kilmore crab claws with grilled limes, ginger, sesame and soy glaze (€29.50).

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Baile an Teampaill From the pier, the island – and the main road – rises in rough steps through the adjoining hamlets of Baile an Mhothair and Baile an Lisín to Baile an Teampaill at its midpoint. It’s well worth calling in to the village church here to see the gorgeous stained-glass windows executed by Harry Clarke in 1939. Made up of glass pieces of varying thicknesses, the richly coloured images swim before your eyes – look out especially for Cavan (Caomhán), the patron saint of Inisheer, with a man rowing a currach behind his feet. Teach Synge June–Sept noon–2pm & 2.30–4.30pm; by appointment at other times • €3 • 099 73036, discoverireland.ie Further along from the church stands Teach Synge, a former post office where Synge stayed, as well as Lady Gregory, W.B.

The Rough Guide to Brazil
by Rough Guides
Published 22 Sep 2018

From within, however, it is completely bathed in a heavenly blue light from the brilliant floor-to-ceiling stained glass that surrounds it on all sides. The glass, square panes in twelve shades of blue to represent the brilliance of Brasília’s sky, is arranged in 16m-high panels, twenty on each side of the church, making a total of 2200 square metres of window. Nor does the glasswork end there, as the interior of the church is embellished with a huge chandelier made from 7400 pieces of Ventian Murano crystal. Asa Sul The residential areas of Brasília are rarely thought of as a destination for visitors, but the older areas are by far the best place for a stroll during the day. The oldest superquadras are all in Asa Sul; 108 Sul was the first to be completed in the whole city.

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THE SÃO PAULO BIENAL The São Paulo Bienal (biennialfoundation.org/biennials/sao-paolo-biennialv) has been held in the Parque do Ibirapuera every two years since 1951. It’s widely considered to be the most important exhibition of contemporary visual art in Latin America, and São Paulo was the second city in the world to hold one of these Biennial festivals after the original one in Venice (there are now quite a number of them at locations worldwide). At São Paulo’s event, each Latin American country sponsors work by its most influential contemporary artists, while a select few artists (living or dead) are also chosen by the Bienal’s curators. At best, the Bienal can be an exhilarating venue to see important retrospectives and experience a wealth of innovative art, but at worst it can be little more than an embarrassing – or amusing – showing of fourth-rate global art.

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Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil Praça da Liberdade 450 • Daily except Tues 9am–9pm • Free • 31 3431 9400, culturabancodobrasil.com.br/portal/belo-horizonte The grand sandy-coloured building on the east side of Praça da Liberdade contains the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, an atmospheric gallery venue with a wide range of temporary art exhibitions sponsored by the central bank. The building opened in 1930 to house the Secretaria de Segurança e Assistência Pública; its original, imposing granite staircase and Art Nouveau stained glass are still intact, and its wonderful airy inner courtyard now topped with a glass roof. Museu Histórico Abílio Barreto Av Prudente de Morais 202 • Tues & Fri–Sun 10am–5pm, Wed & Thurs 10am–9pm • Free • 31 3277 8573 • Bus #8103 (marked “Nova Floresta/Santa Lúcia”) from Av Amazonas between Rua Espírito Santo and Rua dos Caetés; if you ask the conductor for the Museu Histórico, you’ll be dropped on Av do Contorno, a block away, from where there are signs to the museum Just outside the city centre, the Museu Histórico Abílio Barreto usually hosts interesting temporary exhibits on aspects of city history (everything from football to the history of the original settlement of Curral del Rei), though not much is labelled in English.