Venice, Cità Excelentissima

When Venice was both a center of Renaissance culture and a gathering place for news from around the world, Marin Sanudo tried to write everything down. He was the finest diarist of his time, with a keen eye for the everyday and the monumental alike. Venice, Cita Excelentissima offers a broad and engaging introduction to Sanudo´s detailed observations of life in his beloved city and the world it knew. This expertly edited and translated volume offers glimpses of Renaissance life in Venice at a spectacular time. Organized thematically, the selections offer a Venetian´s viewpoint of the glories of high culture, the gritty reality and sparkling drama of daily life, the perils of diplomacy and war, and the high-risk ventures of voyages and commerce. Here, the work of the Renaissance´s most assiduous observer is finally given the accessibility it warrants and the merit it is due.