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Love From Venice: A golden summer on the Grand Canal
In the summer of 1957, anxious to impress an admirer who had moved to Paris, while rebelling against her family, Gill Johnson, aged twenty-five, gave up her comfortable job at the National Gallery in London and travelled to Venice to take up a job teaching English to an aristocratic Italian family.
Love from Venice is her vivid evocation of that summer, the last hurrah of the European Grand Tour, when the international jet set lit upon the city for their fun. Johnson describes (including through original letters written to her love in Paris) her life flitting from palazzo to Lido to palazzo, and how her feelings for him grow, while she becomes absorbed into the social whirl of the super-rich.
It is a moving and witty memoir of a young woman coming to terms with her own feelings and destiny, and learning about different aspects of love from the people she meets, all set in high-season Venice in a halcyon time. By the end, Johnson discovers if the scabrous excesses of fabulous wealth can divert the course of true love.
Love from Venice is her vivid evocation of that summer, the last hurrah of the European Grand Tour, when the international jet set lit upon the city for their fun. Johnson describes (including through original letters written to her love in Paris) her life flitting from palazzo to Lido to palazzo, and how her feelings for him grow, while she becomes absorbed into the social whirl of the super-rich.
It is a moving and witty memoir of a young woman coming to terms with her own feelings and destiny, and learning about different aspects of love from the people she meets, all set in high-season Venice in a halcyon time. By the end, Johnson discovers if the scabrous excesses of fabulous wealth can divert the course of true love.
- GenresNonfictionMemoirItaly
320 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 18, 2024
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February 15, 2024
Love from Venice is Gill Johnson’s utterly fascinating memoir of the summer of 1957 which she spent in Venice caring for the two older sons of the Conte and Contessa Brandolini in their magnificent 15th century palazzo on the Grand Canal. Gill had become romantically involved with David Ross, an architect, but when David left to work in Paris Gill decided to give up her job “shifting postcards, posters and calendars” at the National Gallery to look for an adventure of her own.
Gill entered into the glittery, luxurious life of the gracious and kind Conte and Contessa. Her charges were two impeccably mannered, always beautifully dressed little boys and her main duty was to make sure they spoke only English when she was with them. A thrilling, to me, part of the memoir was the friendship Gill struck up with my heroine, Nancy Mitford, at the beach on the island of Lido where Gill took the boys each day, accompanied by a retinue of servants armed with picnic baskets and whatever was necessary to make their cabana comfortable.
Gill has included extracts of letters she wrote to David from Venice and from Switzerland when she was there with the family. Gill also writes about her parents. Post WW2 London had left them feeling depressed; of their former servants only their old nanny remained and Gill’s mother mourned their former lifestyle, making her father feel inadequate while he drifted about “waiting for things to improve”. Gill’s escape to her “golden summer” was a brave step out into a completely different world and how lucky she was to have been able to take it.
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
Gill entered into the glittery, luxurious life of the gracious and kind Conte and Contessa. Her charges were two impeccably mannered, always beautifully dressed little boys and her main duty was to make sure they spoke only English when she was with them. A thrilling, to me, part of the memoir was the friendship Gill struck up with my heroine, Nancy Mitford, at the beach on the island of Lido where Gill took the boys each day, accompanied by a retinue of servants armed with picnic baskets and whatever was necessary to make their cabana comfortable.
Gill has included extracts of letters she wrote to David from Venice and from Switzerland when she was there with the family. Gill also writes about her parents. Post WW2 London had left them feeling depressed; of their former servants only their old nanny remained and Gill’s mother mourned their former lifestyle, making her father feel inadequate while he drifted about “waiting for things to improve”. Gill’s escape to her “golden summer” was a brave step out into a completely different world and how lucky she was to have been able to take it.
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
December 5, 2024
A fan of books by adventurous young women who decide to pick up sticks and live abroad (memorably Aussie writer, Penelope Green's 'When In Rome', 'See Naples and Die' and 'Girl by Sea'), I was intrigued by the cover of English writer's Gill Johnson's book 'Love from Venice'.
Not at all like Penelope Green's books though; the year's 1957 and England is still recovering from the War when Johnson, 24, secures a job as au pair to the boys of a fabulously wealthy Venetian family, boasting a long and noble heritage. Actually not exactly an au pair; while entertaining the children and ensuring they were happy, her role was to develop their fluency in English, considered an essential skill amongst the old-money class.
Gill Johnson, a very English name yet her mother was German (Johnson's undeclared knowledge of German is to prove useful when dealing with an antagonistic Nurse Rausch). David Ross, Johnson's boy friend, an architect, possessed a very English or Scottish sounding surname yet, exotically, his mother was Russian (Siberian).
From an upper middle class background, Johnson and her siblings shared a nanny, though family life was difficult; her mother radiated discontent and Johnson found herself shouldering parental/household duties she felt obliged to fulfil. An opportunity to shake these off and leave a job she, albeit, loved (helping run the National Gallery's Publication Department and occasionally assisting Sir Philip Henry the Gallery's director), came when one day she dropped into the offices of Universal Aunts. Johnson's family were well connected; her Aunt Ida put in a good with Oliver Messel, her oddly chosen inquisitor/referee and THE interior decorator and set designer of the day; his nephew was Antony Armstrong-Jones) but Messe's approval was a done deal - she was the right sort.
The reader gains the impression of an extremely amiable young woman, easy to get along with, possessing a good sense of humour, well educated, capable and willing to give anything a go. Her knowledge and appreciation of art in particular smooths her path in a city devoted to art and style.
Making immediate connection immediate with Conte Brando Brandolini d'Adda (and the Contessa), sharing his love of history and art as represented by Venice in general and Palazzo Brandolini in particular, situated on the Grand Canal: 'I had never seen.....so much marble on such a scale, or so many romantic baroque curlicues, or so much spun glass , scrollwork, arabesques and ornate twiddles, or so may painted ceilings hung with Murano chandeliers forested with candles, or so many massive mirrors gorgeously framed in gold....On the walls and ceilings, nymphs, sirens, satyrs, bathing maids and the indispensable naughty putti, some of them life-size and most of them garlanded and vined, gambolled and frolicked in a fantasy classical landscape.'
Johnson describes entertainingly and in fascinating detail the day to day life living in such exquisitely opulent surroundings and observing and participating in the luxurious 'dolce far niente' (the sweetness of doing nothing, an elevated idleness) lifestyle of this enormously wealthy and esteemed family. Yet the Conte and Contessa are far from snobbish or aloof. They are a happy couple, accord great importance to family, make Johnson feel at ease; they have manners and charm. The author is treated as one of the family rather than 'staff'; indeed she has a trio of servants assigned solely to her. Everything is done for the family (and Johnson, everything is taken care of (the bedsheets are changed daily).
Johnson's job is less than onerous (she teaches the boys to swim at the Lido, reads them 'Swallows and Amazons') affording her plenty of opportunity to explore and get lost in Venice, but not at night warns the Contessa. It says much about Johnson that the family have enough confidence and trust in this sensible, reliable young woman that they leave the Palazzo in her charge, the staff lining up to receive her orders for the day.
The narrative occasionally takes the form of letters to David and occasionally her parents sharing her adventures and impressions; a few pictures are included.
Often, especially when the family remove to their country estate, Johnson finds she has little real work to do and, missing the stimulation of Venice, boredom creeps in. But her 7 months (the book's subtitle is 'a golden summer on the Grand Canal') has furnished her with rich, almost out-of-this-world experiences. She's kept on her mettle conversing with a rather lonely Nancy Mitford, the 'charismatic and witty' Aristotle Onassis ( they perched on 'whale foreskin-covered bar stools' on his ostentatious yacht) and enjoyed conversing with Philip Van Rensselaer, a suitor of heiress Barbara Sutton. Names perhaps not so well known these days but gossip column fillers in their day (the term jet-setters was a fairly new).
A fascinating memoir from Johnson, now 9o. The book also captures a transitional point in the history of Venice before it became so inundated by cruise ships and tourists. And, yes, she does get married to David. The picture is there to prove it.
Over all an enjoyable read - though an index would've been welcome - even if my preference is for the lives of the ordinary people rather the idle, if amiable, rich. 4 stars.
Not at all like Penelope Green's books though; the year's 1957 and England is still recovering from the War when Johnson, 24, secures a job as au pair to the boys of a fabulously wealthy Venetian family, boasting a long and noble heritage. Actually not exactly an au pair; while entertaining the children and ensuring they were happy, her role was to develop their fluency in English, considered an essential skill amongst the old-money class.
Gill Johnson, a very English name yet her mother was German (Johnson's undeclared knowledge of German is to prove useful when dealing with an antagonistic Nurse Rausch). David Ross, Johnson's boy friend, an architect, possessed a very English or Scottish sounding surname yet, exotically, his mother was Russian (Siberian).
From an upper middle class background, Johnson and her siblings shared a nanny, though family life was difficult; her mother radiated discontent and Johnson found herself shouldering parental/household duties she felt obliged to fulfil. An opportunity to shake these off and leave a job she, albeit, loved (helping run the National Gallery's Publication Department and occasionally assisting Sir Philip Henry the Gallery's director), came when one day she dropped into the offices of Universal Aunts. Johnson's family were well connected; her Aunt Ida put in a good with Oliver Messel, her oddly chosen inquisitor/referee and THE interior decorator and set designer of the day; his nephew was Antony Armstrong-Jones) but Messe's approval was a done deal - she was the right sort.
The reader gains the impression of an extremely amiable young woman, easy to get along with, possessing a good sense of humour, well educated, capable and willing to give anything a go. Her knowledge and appreciation of art in particular smooths her path in a city devoted to art and style.
Making immediate connection immediate with Conte Brando Brandolini d'Adda (and the Contessa), sharing his love of history and art as represented by Venice in general and Palazzo Brandolini in particular, situated on the Grand Canal: 'I had never seen.....so much marble on such a scale, or so many romantic baroque curlicues, or so much spun glass , scrollwork, arabesques and ornate twiddles, or so may painted ceilings hung with Murano chandeliers forested with candles, or so many massive mirrors gorgeously framed in gold....On the walls and ceilings, nymphs, sirens, satyrs, bathing maids and the indispensable naughty putti, some of them life-size and most of them garlanded and vined, gambolled and frolicked in a fantasy classical landscape.'
Johnson describes entertainingly and in fascinating detail the day to day life living in such exquisitely opulent surroundings and observing and participating in the luxurious 'dolce far niente' (the sweetness of doing nothing, an elevated idleness) lifestyle of this enormously wealthy and esteemed family. Yet the Conte and Contessa are far from snobbish or aloof. They are a happy couple, accord great importance to family, make Johnson feel at ease; they have manners and charm. The author is treated as one of the family rather than 'staff'; indeed she has a trio of servants assigned solely to her. Everything is done for the family (and Johnson, everything is taken care of (the bedsheets are changed daily).
Johnson's job is less than onerous (she teaches the boys to swim at the Lido, reads them 'Swallows and Amazons') affording her plenty of opportunity to explore and get lost in Venice, but not at night warns the Contessa. It says much about Johnson that the family have enough confidence and trust in this sensible, reliable young woman that they leave the Palazzo in her charge, the staff lining up to receive her orders for the day.
The narrative occasionally takes the form of letters to David and occasionally her parents sharing her adventures and impressions; a few pictures are included.
Often, especially when the family remove to their country estate, Johnson finds she has little real work to do and, missing the stimulation of Venice, boredom creeps in. But her 7 months (the book's subtitle is 'a golden summer on the Grand Canal') has furnished her with rich, almost out-of-this-world experiences. She's kept on her mettle conversing with a rather lonely Nancy Mitford, the 'charismatic and witty' Aristotle Onassis ( they perched on 'whale foreskin-covered bar stools' on his ostentatious yacht) and enjoyed conversing with Philip Van Rensselaer, a suitor of heiress Barbara Sutton. Names perhaps not so well known these days but gossip column fillers in their day (the term jet-setters was a fairly new).
A fascinating memoir from Johnson, now 9o. The book also captures a transitional point in the history of Venice before it became so inundated by cruise ships and tourists. And, yes, she does get married to David. The picture is there to prove it.
Over all an enjoyable read - though an index would've been welcome - even if my preference is for the lives of the ordinary people rather the idle, if amiable, rich. 4 stars.
August 3, 2024
When I started this, I loved it and I thought it would be a 5 star book for me. However, roughly half way through Ms Johnson showed a rather unattractive part of her character. She was expressing how ghastly tourists were. She didn't mean the rich, famous or titled people who visited Venice, but people who took package tours. She clearly though Venice should remain the playground of the "elite" (i.e. the rich, famous or titled) and was quite insulting about "lesser mortals" daring to venture into Venice. I know that Venice today has a very serious problem with the number of people who visit every year, but this book was describing the situation back in 1957 and her problem with it then seemed pure and simple snobbery to me.
After reading that the book was less enjoyable. That might partly be because I was less enamoured of the author than I was before reading her thoughts on package-tour tourists, but it was because she was doing less and less, so there wasn't much variety to read about. The last third of the book was not set in Venice, but on a fairly isolated estate owned by her employers on the mainland and it was pleasant enough to read about, but not as interesting as the first part when she was more active in Venice. The fact that she decided the only way to describe the people who worked on the estate was "peasants" did not impress me either. To be clear, that's the word she came up with when she was writing the book (which must have been in the 2020's), not a word she came up with back in the 1950's. How hard is it to work out that people who work on an estate can be described as "estate workers"?
After some thought, I think that three stars is a fair rating for the book. I did enjoy part of it very much.
After reading that the book was less enjoyable. That might partly be because I was less enamoured of the author than I was before reading her thoughts on package-tour tourists, but it was because she was doing less and less, so there wasn't much variety to read about. The last third of the book was not set in Venice, but on a fairly isolated estate owned by her employers on the mainland and it was pleasant enough to read about, but not as interesting as the first part when she was more active in Venice. The fact that she decided the only way to describe the people who worked on the estate was "peasants" did not impress me either. To be clear, that's the word she came up with when she was writing the book (which must have been in the 2020's), not a word she came up with back in the 1950's. How hard is it to work out that people who work on an estate can be described as "estate workers"?
After some thought, I think that three stars is a fair rating for the book. I did enjoy part of it very much.
September 17, 2025
Gill Johnson’s biography is set in Venice in 1957. At the age of twenty-five she was mortified by her boyfriend’s decision to travel on his own to Europe to further his career. Not wanting to be left behind in England she applied for a post as a nanny to two aristocratic little boys in Venice.
Her main job was to speak to the lads in English. Her job was made easier due to her ability to speak Italian and other languages. The indolent lives of the mega rich are closely examined by the author.
Gill’s position was with the Conte and Contessa in their fabulous palazzo overlooking the Grand Canal. The Brandolini clan had an impressive history and were highly regarded in Italy.
Day to day living in a Brandolinis palazzo was frequently comedic. The Contessa was very particular about the trimming of her children’s eyelashes. And when she was absent it became Gill’s job to also trim the Conte’s eyelashes. The Contessa firmly believed that the trimming of one’s eyelashes resulted in lush, long lashes.
Venice in the fifties was the gilded playground of the rich and famous. As the summer continued Gill accompanied the Conte and Contessa on holidays to the mountains and was treated as one of the family. And when their driver was indisposed she confidently drove their magnificent vehicle all over the alps.
As the author puts it -
'The shinier parts of Venice attracted a mix of the dispossessed, displaced and distressed playboys, playgirls, black sheep, and titled satyrs all brazenly vying to charm anyone into picking up the tab at the right places, and perhaps retrieve their extravagance by a glittering marriage.'
This is a wonderful snapshot of Venice in the fifties and I enjoyed it immensely.
Her main job was to speak to the lads in English. Her job was made easier due to her ability to speak Italian and other languages. The indolent lives of the mega rich are closely examined by the author.
Gill’s position was with the Conte and Contessa in their fabulous palazzo overlooking the Grand Canal. The Brandolini clan had an impressive history and were highly regarded in Italy.
Day to day living in a Brandolinis palazzo was frequently comedic. The Contessa was very particular about the trimming of her children’s eyelashes. And when she was absent it became Gill’s job to also trim the Conte’s eyelashes. The Contessa firmly believed that the trimming of one’s eyelashes resulted in lush, long lashes.
Venice in the fifties was the gilded playground of the rich and famous. As the summer continued Gill accompanied the Conte and Contessa on holidays to the mountains and was treated as one of the family. And when their driver was indisposed she confidently drove their magnificent vehicle all over the alps.
As the author puts it -
'The shinier parts of Venice attracted a mix of the dispossessed, displaced and distressed playboys, playgirls, black sheep, and titled satyrs all brazenly vying to charm anyone into picking up the tab at the right places, and perhaps retrieve their extravagance by a glittering marriage.'
This is a wonderful snapshot of Venice in the fifties and I enjoyed it immensely.
February 8, 2025
As temperatures plummeted, this delightful memoir took me into the Venetian heatwave of 1957 (though the narrative does end, appropriately enough, at Christmas time). Based on a series of letters which the author wrote to her fiance in Paris, the book recounts her entree into the exclusive world of the Brandolini d’Adda family to whose children she was tasked with teaching English. She meets Nancy Mitford on the Lido as she is going through her divorce from Peter Rodd and publishing ‘Voltaire in Love’; Onassis on his ‘yacht’ the same summer he met Maria Callas; designer Oliver Messel and his nephew, the budding photographer Tony Armstrong-Jones, and the Contessa’s family - Agnellis and von Furstenburgs … Johnson’s delight and wonder at living in a series of exquisite palazzi full of priceless art, while being waited on hand and foot, is conveyed with freshness and charm; always aware that she is living in a fairy tale, she describes the lives of the international jet set as a privileged spectator, with astonishment and a little bemusement.
August 21, 2024
I confess, at first I was drawn to this book by the title... Keywords Venice, Summer, Golden. The complete antithesis of this - Summer of 2024.
I love books about travelling in the past , before everything became so commercialised and we all started to dress the same the world over.
Places still had individuality!
This book was an utter delightful glimpse into the life of a young woman on the cusp of marriage.
The world seemed smaller back then and people of a certain class all seemed connected, also on the whole the world was a gentler, kinder, place.
Yes, there were some parts that could have had greater clarity or an explanation but also it felt right that there were some little mysteries to remind us that we were only being permitted a peep into that world.
It is a book that I would gladly give as a gift to anyone who has interest in that era or in Venice.
I love books about travelling in the past , before everything became so commercialised and we all started to dress the same the world over.
Places still had individuality!
This book was an utter delightful glimpse into the life of a young woman on the cusp of marriage.
The world seemed smaller back then and people of a certain class all seemed connected, also on the whole the world was a gentler, kinder, place.
Yes, there were some parts that could have had greater clarity or an explanation but also it felt right that there were some little mysteries to remind us that we were only being permitted a peep into that world.
It is a book that I would gladly give as a gift to anyone who has interest in that era or in Venice.
March 1, 2024
A fascinating glimpse into another world. Venice is one of my favourite places and somewhere I love to read about. Not sure I entirely took to Gill. I suppose she was of her time and class but still find her calling people peasants jarring. It is difficult not to come over as smug if you are telling the story of how nearly everyone except the nurse gravitates towards you and either falls in love with you or wants to be your friend. However I got lost in the fun, luxury and simply the sumptousness of it all.
March 2, 2024
A delightful snapshot of a particular place and moment, beautifully told through a combination of prose and letters. Gill had the courage to go and do something different and tells it very well. I particularly enjoyed the section about how she spent time with Nancy Mitford. Venice is a uniquely beautiful place and this is a great book to learn more about how it functioned for a particular class of people in the 1950's.
May 7, 2025
A wonderful change of pace after a steady diet of dystopian novels... a lovely memoir of Gill Johnson's summer in 1957 as a nanny to the sons of the Conte and Contessa Brandolini in their palazzo on the Grand Canal. This is Johnson's first book written last year when she was 91 years old. A wonderful look inside the elegance of one of the wealthiest families in Italy and the beauty and simplicity of their life in Venice in 1957.
August 1, 2025
Started out as an interesting memoir of a very specific and unique time and place, but as the time went on I started to doubt how much the author really could have remembered pages-long conversations, 60+ years later, so I stopped being invested. Maybe she really does have a great memory, but I just didn't believe it. A little long too
December 23, 2024
Wonderful, escapist trip of a lifetime, a year that changed the author's life and opened her mind and made me green with envy. Even more miraculous is that Johnson wrote this at the age of 92! The magic clearly never died for her.
December 27, 2025
great
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews