This is the first in a series of articles ranging over society, politics, history and environmental matters in relation to Venice
Nigh on 50 years ago, I was sent to Venice as an exchange student, and it changed my life. Then a 17-year-old American high school student, I lived for a year with a Venetian family, making a frescoed salon in their palazzo my bedroom and attending school at the liceo classico, though at first I knew no Italian. Over the year, I learned to speak the language, and I lived the life of a young Venetian, making friends and going about in a little boat, as people do there. Then, it was over, and I went away, and I moved on to university, a job and family, and the decades slid by.
After a long career as a journalist, much of that spent as a foreign correspondent in Asia and Europe, I decided a few years ago to read up on Venice and revisit, initially out of curiosity about how it had changed in half a century, but also because by I had a feeling that the city might be a bellwether of where big world trends — political and environmental — were heading. Over 2018 and 2019, I returned for some months.
The result in summer 2020 will be the book Venice, an Odyssey: Hope and Anger in the Iconic City, a non-fiction profile describing Venice as it was, as it is and what its future may hold. It is based largely on over 150 interviews with Venetians, including artisans, historians, a retired banker, authors, parents, an archaeologist, ecologists, a funeral director and a former rock star. They added to my journey of exploration their many voices, and while I act as the main guide, I tried to reflect the thinking of these people who love and know Venice best.
My lifetime exposure to Venice spanned a transformative period for the city. When I lived there in 1971-72, the population was close to 120,000 and tourism brought a comfortable, sustainable number of visitors a year, under 10 million. When I was putting the final touches on my book in 2020, the number of residents had dropped to about 52,000, with a totally unsustainable deluge of 30 million tourists a year, interrupted only by the Corona virus. The pressures of recent decades have changed from a viable community, carrying on traditions and ties going back centuries, to one on a knife edge, facing threats to its survival from out-of-control market forces, globalization and climate change.
Back in the 1970s, when I was still a teenager, I struggled to understand Italy, but I learned something vital by living among the Italians at such a tender age; that we are all in a brotherhood of man, that I could see beyond ‘us’ and ‘them’, and that our traditions and habits, regardless of culture, grow from a common humanity. (That may seem obvious, but unfortunately not everyone learns that lesson.) It was with this frame of mind, bolstered by my years of experience in other cultures as a foreign correspondent, that I went about finding out not only where Venice is now, but how it got there and how Venice’s experience shines a light on what is happening around the world today.
I tell the story of Venice from its beginnings, discovering recent archeological finds have brought on a little revolution in the understanding its history. Venice was in reality a less Roman and more pirate nation than many like to admit. I look into its growth as an empire, trying to understand the outstanding fact: that Venice’s government lasted longer than any other in history. But mostly I focus on Venice today, on its challenges, the forces driving the depopulation of the city and degradation of the lagoon that it depends on.
I will share some of this journey in the series to be published here over coming weeks.
Neal E. Robbins’ book, Venice, an Odyssey: Hope and Anger in the Iconic City, is out now!
Support our independent project!
Italics Magazine was born less than two years ago in Rome, from the idea of two friends who believed that Italy was lacking a complete, in-depth, across-the-board source of information in English. While some publications do a great job, writing about the latest news or focusing on specific areas of interest, we do believe that other kinds of quality insights are just as needed to better understand the complexity of a country that, very often, is only known abroad for the headlines that our politicians make, or for the classic touristic cliches. This is why Italics Magazine is quickly becoming a reference for foreign readers, professionals, expats and press interested in covering Italian issues thoroughly, appealing to diverse schools of thought. However, we started from scratch, and we are self-financing the project through (not too intrusive) ads, promotions, and donations, as we have decided not to opt for any paywall. This means that, while the effort is bigger, we can surely boast our independent and free editorial line. This is especially possible thanks to our readers, who we hope to keep inspiring with our articles. That’s why we kindly ask you to consider giving us your important contribution, which will help us make this project grow — and in the right direction. Thank you.