SOUL OF VENICE

Steinberg and Steinberg summon the magic of Venice in this short debut literary novel.

Pietro Contarini is an architect living in Venice, where his ancestors were once one of the city’s leading families. He works with Vittorio Pisani, an ambitious real estate developer who is interested in changing the ancient face of the city, though this is somewhat at odds with the vision of Venice that exists in Pietro’s mind. It’s no matter, though: Pietro has accepted a job in Rome that will take him away from his hometown and its problems. As his time in Venice winds down, he meets two figures who exert a strong influence on him. One is Alessandro Zane, another developer (recently of Beirut), who has his own a master plan—La Nuova Venezia—to save the city: “What, I asked myself, was being done about infrastructure, canals, acqua bassa, acqua alta, flooding, cost of living, the old crafts, the traditions, corruption, and, above all, tourists?” The other is Maddalena Bocchese, a painting restorer who has a much more traditional—even mystical—sense of what makes the city unique. Pietro also finds counsel with Francesco Contarini, his long-dead grandfather who is buried on the island of San Michele. Can these figures—living and dead—convince Pietro to fight for the Myth of Venice? The Steinbergs describe Venice in painterly detail: “At this time of day, the bright Venetian light sharpened the palazzi façades. Their colors, once dazzling, had tempered over time, creating subtle differences among these old buildings. Later in the day, when the sun moved west, the light became more raking and the colors deepened.” Written by a couple married for 57 years, the story is accompanied by many full-color photographs, some by their adult sons, that illustrate the places and buildings discussed. It is a short novel, and it seems to exist mostly to highlight the aesthetic soul of Venice and the ways the city is under threat. As a result, the characters and their dialogue have a somewhat didactic tone, though everything they discuss is generally compelling (especially as the reader sees photo after photo of the city). If nothing else, readers will walk away feeling a new urgency to visit Venice for themselves.

A slim, sometimes stiff novel that succeeds in selling the mystique of Venice.