Here is a book that makes you want to take a vacation to Venice. Berendt is the author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I was as impressed with this second book as I was with his first book. Both are rich in detail, making you feel as though you have not just passively read a book, but, instead, have walked around the places he walked while writing the book. It’s like taking a mini-vacation, without the expense.

Berendt arrives in Venice shortly before the Fenice, (a famous Opera house), burns down. Who did it? Was it an accident, or done on purpose? What reason could someone have for setting fire to one of Venice’s most loved buildings? These are the questions hanging in the air over Venice for most of the book, much like the smoke from the Fenice itself. Nothing is certain, and it takes a long time for prosecutors to get the trial going. All the while, endless speculation continues. Even when the trial is over, things are not necessarily concluded.

Berendt also takes the reader right into the heart of what it is like to live in Venice as a Venetian. He explains the social customs, the way the government works, the difference between someone who is considered to be a true Venetian, and someone who is not one. (It takes more than simply residing in Venice for years). He describes the city, and the fire in the Fenice so vividly that the reader can just about see it. Berendt also does a wonderful job of describing the many eccentric people he met while he was in Venice. A man who makes and sells rat poison, a famous painter, a family of glassblowers, poets, rich people, poor people, extremely rich people, relatives and loved ones of dead famous people, even a man who enjoys dressing up in different military costumes is described. He tells the stories of the people, and attempts to sift through what is truth, what is lies, and what is exaggerations, in a city where the lines between these things tend to blur.

At times, it was a bit confusing to keep track of just who all the different people were, and what some of the Italian phrases Berendt used meant. There are two handy indexes in the back of the book. One defines the people, and the other defines the Italian, and both make the story easier to comprehend.

If you enjoyed Berendt’s other book, you will enjoy this one just as much!