‘The secrets of the Grand Canal’, the book that tells the story of the palaces and myths of Venice

Beyond the windows of the buildings on the Grand Canal, the most prestigious and important in Venice, the stories, legends, curiosities, intrigues and passions of the Serenissima are hidden. Over the centuries, the millenary history of the Republic unfolded in their rooms. The most beautiful courtesans, the most acclaimed poets, the most astute rulers, the most prestigious guests, who have made the lagoon city legendary, have looked out from their balconies. ‘The secrets of the Grand Canal’, by the Venetian writer Alberto Toso Fei – which now returns to bookshops with a renewed look fifteen years after its first edition thanks to Editoriale Programma – tells all this by ‘navigating’ through history: in fact, it is the banks of “the most beautiful road in the world”, as the French ambassador Philippe de Commynes defined it over five centuries ago, on a double journey De Citra and De Ultra, that is, on one side or the other of the city, it is possible to relive the history of the Serenissima through its events, his secrets or simple anecdotes, allowing himself to be enchanted by the voices of the past.

“If Venice is unquestionably a unicum that preserves and reveals its stories, the Grand Canal, being ‘the city’s Corso’, is the place where, more than any other part of the city, the greatest quantity of events gathers together, of which the traces are visible – declares Alberto Toso Fei – enjoying them during a journey is an experience, a connection with the deepest soul of Venice.

The characters

Hundreds of characters who, building after building, window after window, look out to recall what an incredible showcase this unparalleled waterway was: Gabriele d’Annunzio who half-blind wrote the ‘Nocturne’ there, Dante Alighieri who began to converse with a fish in front of Doge Soranzo, Antonio Canova who sculpted his first works there, Lord Byron who usually swam there, Eleonora Duse who only found peace here, Giacomo Casanova who held his first sermon as abbot there before dedicating himself ‘to something else’, Papa Alessandro III who worked there as a scullery boy, Francesco Morosini who with his conquests restored new glory to the Republic, Rudolph Valentino who saved an heiress from the waters, and then Napoleon Bonaparte, Pietro Aretino, Peggy Guggenheim, Giordano Brunoin a singular event united by the centuries-old flow of the waters of the main road of Venice.

“I believe that giving voice to the invisible stories of Venice is a way to preserve it from the wear and tear of time”

The legends and the buildings

Alongside history, however, legend could not be missing, largely linked to oral tradition: even the banks of the Grand Canal are therefore home to scary or gentle ghosts, devils and witches, sea monsters and stone crocodiles. The book does not only tell about illustrious or legendary people, but also about the magnificent buildings that are themselves bearers of stories that, despite time, are still here to tell their stories: like that of the building cut in half and the one never finished building; of the building which, with its sculpted statues, tells a family drama and the graffiti which speaks of the ancient times of the plague; of the majesty of Ca’ Balbi, built out of spite and of the affectedness of the ‘House of Desdemona’, of the cursed palace and of the dome without a church; of the Rialto bridge and that of the Constitution.

“I believe that giving voice to the invisible stories of Venice is a way to preserve it from the wear and tear of time – explains Alberto Toso Fei – fragments of millenary history made up of oral stories collected by the elderly, of signs on the stone, such as graffiti – small safeguards of memory still to be discovered – put into dialogue with the great History and brought back to the places where they originated, they can be an antidote to the loss of identity. Stories can also help save Venice“.

An interesting and curious editorial choice, dictated by the characteristics of the ‘Corso’ of Venice, makes ‘The Secrets of the Grand Canal’ (Editoriale Programma, 176 pages; €12.90) a double-sided book. With its double cover, in fact, it can be flipped from one side to the other: by reading it in both directions you explore, in a sort of “back and forth”, the two banks of the canal, making it a unique and fun object. To embellish the volume, a graphic elaboration of each palace on the Grand Canal in addition to the black and white photographs taken by Linda Simionato, who also took care of the graphics.