If Venice Dies

by Salvatore Settis

In tre modi muoiono le città: quando le distrugge un nemico spietato, quando un popolo straniero vi si insedia con la forza, o quando perdono la memoria di sé. Venezia può morire se perde la memoria, se non sapremo intenderne lo spirito e ricostruirne il destino. Fragile, antica, unica per il suo rapporto con l'ambiente, Venezia si svuota di abitanti, e intanto è bersaglio di innumerevoli progetti, che per «salvarla dall'isolamento» ne uccidono la diversità e la appiattiscono sulla monocultura di una «modernità» standardizzata, riducendola a merce, a una funzione turistico-alberghiera. Il caso di Venezia, emblematico, permette a Salvatore Settis un ragionamento universale: dall'Aquila a Chongqing - città della Cina che è passata dai 600.000 abitanti del 1930 ai 32 milioni di oggi - mutamenti frenetici imposti da ragioni produttive e di mercato violano il contesto naturale e lo spazio sociale, mortificano il diritto alla città e la democrazia.

Genres: Nonfiction, Italy, Art, Cities, Architecture, Essays, Contemporary

182 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2014

Reviews

[Steve Donoghue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The English translation (a very lively translation) of a short book that manages to cover a LOT of different issues facing not only Venice - with its boutique architecture, its rising seas, and its avalanches of tourists - but many cities in the 21st century. You don't need to live in Venice or care about its fate to find this utterly fascinating. Here's my review:

http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/boo...

[Eduardo Losada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Repleto de ideas interesantes que tienen los manejos y actuaciones sobre Venecia como principio y fin, y cuyas conclusiones atacan directamente ─y sin miramientos─ nuestras formas de vivir y de repensar las ciudades ─y, por tanto, las sociedades─.

Como Settis, coincido en que el gran desafío es evitar que la irremediable homogeneización aniquile la unicidad de los lugares, que deben preservarse al considerarse valores irrenunciables.

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Salvatore Settis is angry. Which is very good. He’s also extremely erudite, and his vast knowledge, supported by his implacably bright and articulate thought process, helps turn what could have been a dry and abstract pamphlet into an exciting, accessible, and quite necessary read for anyone who cares not only about Venice, but also, more generally, about keeping the integrity and hearts of our cities intact. At the core of this book is the situation of Venice : while losing more and more citizens, the jewel of the Adriatic is under the assaults of corrupt politicians, greedy real estate magnates, and careless Italian governments, who all, instead of saving the city (and helping it adapt to the modern world in a wise way) want to alter it drastically. Their visions of Venice as a megalopolis (that could be anywhere else on the globe) or as an artificial amusement park are horrifying. The past and History seem not to matter anymore, money rules, and the “disneyfication” of the town and the laguna, already on its way, is a tragedy. Settis masterfully shows how destructive the modern ways of transforming centuries-old agglomerations without respecting what he calls the “invisible city” (the soul of the place) nor the local citizens truly is. It's also irreversible and dangerous for our already fragile democracies. Venice isn’t the only victim of such strategies, and it is the whole future of urbanization throughout the world that the writer examines. It is difficult not to agree with his assessments. From the worldwide obsession with skyscrapers, that can completely disfigure ancient towns, to the bizarre trend of replicating fake copies of famed cities in the most random places (Venice in Las Vegas), Settis leaves no stone unturned. Our cities deserve better than the fate that so many people have in store for them – and so do we, who live in those cities or admire them.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Se Venezia muore, moriamo pure noi. Settis passa in rassegna argomenti culturali, sociologici e antropologici per alzare al cielo la sua lamentazione. C'è pessimismo, e molta diffidenza (argomentata) verso certe politiche, certe archistar disinvolte ed opportuniste, persino verso innocui dispositivi tecnologici in uso nei musei, tutti rivolti a fagocitare il consumo superficiale, il mercimonio, la dissipazione dell'identità culturale e della conservazione materiale della Serenissima. Alle tante e in buona parte condivisibili invettive non seguono ricette, ma un disperante appello alla coscienza civica e all'impegno culturale.

[Gonzalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very short book about the decline of Venice, it focuses on the tourism massification, but also touches upon urban development and the need to keep cities as a lively space where young people can prosper and are not driven out by the competing tourism industry and second-home owners.

The book could have been better if it had a more propositive aspect on the policies needed to save Venice, or if it touched more upon the city history. Instead the book takes a more philosophical approach, with some questionable piece of analysis using the simulacrum concept of Baudrillard in the relationship between Venice and its many cheap copies around the world, like the famous one in Las Vegas.

Overall it is a good book on a very interesting topic that resonates with the problems that many other cities are also suffering, like Paris, Berlin or Barcelona. I would recommend it to anyone living in any city that suffers from tourism massification, or anyone interested in the challenges urban development faces in historical cities.

[Wendelle]

The author laments the potential deterioration of Venice from a living city into a mass tourist destination and decayed playground of the wealthy, in a trend that's exemplified by the exodus of the residents of the city and consequent population drop to 56000 and dwindling. The author's main crux of reasoning is as follows. This drop in the resident population and contemporary excess of drop-in tourism and vacant second homes of rich outsiders, means that the community that forms the 'soul' of the city, in the form of the propagators of its institutions, culture and memory, could vanish. We see it now, he says, in how Venice has become a wasteland where the only economy is tourism and the citizens are shackled to the service of this industry. In the place of valuing community and patrimony, is a culture of monetization that seeks to appraise the cultural worth of cities like Venice to determine the cost of replacing them with new real estate, and to dismiss Venice's attractions as mere imitable picturesque but vacuous theme parks devoid of the history that construed its rise. This is a thought-inducing book.

[Vic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and passionate plea for Venice/all historic cities and their residents struggling to survive through the current era of hyper-capitalism and rapid tourism. Not a big non-fiction person but this was really informative and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Kati · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book on the flight to Venice, while in Venice, and on the train off to another Italian city. It definitely was thought-provoking, particularly regarding the concepts of what makes a city an interesting place, and how when it only becomes an interesting place to visit as opposed to live, it becomes a hollow form of its previous self. His main example is Venice, a city that used to be a bustling metropolis and has now become more of a tourist attraction. I agree with the author that it really is the people that live within a city that shape its identity, and if people of all kinds of walks of life are forced out of the city to cater to tourists or the rich, it loses its soul. It argues for placing value in "civic capital," which I thought was a good idea. One concept stood out: when did we start placing so much cultural importance on buildings and structures, especially skyscrapers? When did those become so symbolic of a city's success or quality of life? I'll admit that when I see the Space Needle, I get a special feeling about my hometown, but the actual Space Needle itself as a sign of Seattle culture? Complete garbage. And yet that is what people visit and think of when they go there. And I worry about what happens to all the small nooks and crannies of the cities I love when we place so much importance on monuments and sights. Anyway, this book delves into all those areas, and makes the case that a city worth visiting or living is really one full of authenticity, memory, and history.

One warning: the author has an obvious distaste for Asian cities; one I don't think is totally fair and seems to paint with a broad brush.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enlightening treatise on the importance of historical cities to retain their civic capital, in addition to the symbolic capital which attracts visitors from around the world. Venice is perhaps one of the prime examples of cities that have been decimated by an uncontrolled influx of visitors. This has led to mass exodus of its population due to the economic effects of its tourist monoculture. The author spends much time discussing how cities are increasingly becoming homogenized. The vitality of a city is directly linked to its community participation.. the civic role of the community in shaping a city. Community connects the past city with its future city.. with a goal of leaving it better off for future generations. If a community cannot keep its residents, it will not survive.

The author does not spend a lot of time on actual solutions, except in the last few pages. He recommends a new kind of politics that will include politicians and public institutions adopting "a more creative outlook toward the city, to bring the historic city back to life and gear it toward the future, the means to create a new kind of politics to stem the perverse logic causing the exodus of citizens, and to encourage the young to remain via strong incentives such as tax breaks. It would also mean curbing the rampant proliferation of second homes and the transformation of buildings into nothing more than hotels..."

Other solutions include encouraging manufacturing and generating opportunities for a wider range of creative jobs.

Overall a quick read with interesting examples from around the world. Recommended for those interested in placemaking.

[Adrian]

A 170 page plea to save the historic city of Venice. Settis warns that with the population of Venice declining and a long term plan afoot to modernize the city by 2060 which includes skyscrapers and an underground metro system it is time to start mobilizing forces against it. This book almost becomes a dissertation on what a city is. His distaste for theme parks and live museums is made very clear and he deplores the trend towards making all cities look the same. A worldly and knowledgable critic takes on globalization.

[Tamara]

Muddled, repetitive, already dated and with very little to say about Venice.

The number of geographers/architects/urbanist who seem to think "Invisible Cities" is a textbook continues to baffle.

[Sabrina Fedato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un po’ datato (ovviamente) ma alcune tematiche sono sempre attuali.

[Riccardo Fresch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feeling so veneto rn

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having visited Venice twice, I was curious what this book might offer in the way of meditation on its crumbling status and infrastructure. What I read (and struggled to finish) was an old-man-ranty piece about modern urban design, written with overt philosophical lyricism...and that's definitely not what I was hoping for...so colour me disappointed.

[Rich Meyrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

To say I 'liked' this book, misses the point. I was fascinated and horrified by the points it made.

Venice is 'invaded' by 16.5 million 'tourists' (which has apparently become a bad word these days), annually, a fact that has pushed the true inhabitants of Venice out of their own city. As someone who loves Venice deeply, and visits this unique city whenever I get half the chance, Settis left me feeling guilty and wondering whether I should ever go there again. As an individual, am I part of the problem? Should the curbing of the 16.5 million start with me? Should my love of Venice actually make me stay away? Or perhaps my larger duty is to make sure the next generation understands the problems being faced by Venice and its citizens, by featuring them strongly in the children's novel I'm currently writing, which is set there?

The only thing I am sure of, is that I hope Venice doesn't die.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such hype for the book... even the WashPost managed to work the way around the CLASSIC Italian polemics of this book with, I might add, a perfect comment: likening the over-kill to a PhD candidate's defense wherein everything possible is thrown in to establish 'bonafides'...

On the positive side, finally, finally as one nears the end of the read, the earlier positions become clear...not necessarily appropriate analogy (in my opinion) but....clear where in the world the author was going.

Alas, we are on the same sad track ..(I am here in Venice..) : frustration w/ Italian bureaucracy, money-as-goals, etc etc ... I had hoped some new proposal for 'saving Venice' but perhaps it does not exist. Perhaps as PR this will book will raise consciousness in Italy. But on it's own merits, for an American reader...it ... was... difficult.

[Ignacio Cristóbal Fernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy recomendable. Ensayo indignado, provocativo, conciso y directo contra lo peor de la globalización, el turismo de masas (se estudiará en el futuro), las desigualdades urbanas, y el patrimonio intangible que se está perdiendo. Puñetazo a nuestra sociedad (los soviéticos tampoco sabían que vivían en una), al capitalismo actual, la administracion y la mala arquitectura. Ni elitismo, ni conservadurismo ni "no estar a la moda". Debemos debatir sobre lo que es realmente el progreso. Merece la pena.

[Caterina Pierre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, Salvatore Settis' If Venice Dies (2016), was advertised in the end pages of Anna Maria Ortese's Neapolitan Chronicles, by the same publisher (New Vessel Press), which I read previously. It sounded interesting, and Venice is on my bucket list, so I thought I would give it a try.

Settis, an Italian art historian and former director of the Getty Research Institute, presents a scathing history of development and government corruption that threatens to destroy Venice as we know it. Additionally, he covers the main issue in Venice, which is over tourism. There are 140 tourists for every one citizen in Venice. There were a lot of other facts I did not know, such as, the majority of visitors to Venice disembark from massive cruise ships and stay in Venice only for a few hours; they spend no money, because the cruise supplies their food and other amenities, and they take a few photos, buy a few minor trinkets, and then leave. They bring in 270 million dollars each year in revenue, but cause 350 million dollars in damages each year. Numerous insane development proposals have come in to "make Venice modern" including a massive "Tower of Babel" designed by the late Pierre Cardin (who was Italian, not French) which would have disrupted air traffic as well as producing light pollution beyond your wildest nightmares. There was also a proposal to build a ring of Skyscrapers around Venice, in the name of "protecting" it. The MOSE project, which 1975 was planned to help create a dam to protect Venice from flooding, was just a money pit for the citizens and a boon for every corrupt government official, engineer, and developer with any involvement in it. As of the publication of the book in 2016, MOSE has cost Italy 6 billion dollars, and still hasn't been built. My favorite chapter was XVII (17), on the Ethics of Architecture. Settis makes sure to give a good one to the starchitects like Renzo Piano and Frank Gehry, and others in their business who put profit before conservation and preservation of a city.

Venice is a jewel in the crown of Italian history, but since noone cares about history anymore, and since money is to be made (they think) from development, Venice will die if it is not saved by its people. This is true in many cities, not just Venice, and Settis makes this point. I've seen it here in New York: it cost $25 billion (billion with a "B") for New York to develop Hudson Yards, and it's a dead zone. There's nothing really to do there for normal people; the mall they put there is too high-end; the Neiman Marcus flagship shut down; the apartments are not selling or renting; the central sculpture, called the Vessel for lack of a better name, became a suicide machine (4 suicides in four years of being open); the only cultural thing there is The Shed, and their programming is good but minimal. Taxpayer funds earmarked for public development was accessed for Hudson Yards, and it's a complete waste. Absolutely noone is excited by Hudson Yards. Settis would have predicted as much: high-end development does not work to help a city or bring in revenue. But a lot of creeps make money from the planning and development, and after that, it's the citizens' problem.

Since this is a pre-COVID discussion of Venice and its myriad of problems, it would be nice to have a followup on the Venice situation since COVID. There is a proposal to charge a tax to day visitors to Venice (around 10 euros, not terrible), and an extra hotel tax, to try to offset the cost of damages that tourists cause to the city. There was no mention of the strikes in Venice by fishermen, or other Venetians, which there have been but of which there was no mention. And the Bienniale is not really discussed at all, though it surely contributes to the tourism problem. In translation, some of the sentences seem a bit heavy (in some sentences, the word "city" is used so many times it had to be read more than once). So I knocked off a star for these reasons.

But ultimately there is a lot to be learned here about the dying of a great city, and what people might to to help save it. I thought is was a great and informative read, especially for those of us who love Italy.

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw that one of my favorite writers on Japan, Alex Kerr, has a new book out on the ravages of tourism in Japan. In my 25 years there, I don't think I ever saw a group tour. Sure, whatever cultural treasure I went to see, I would be surrounded by Japanese school kids on school trips-- and in Asakusa, the place was always packed with tourists. But those tourists seemed not to be part of groups and there was just that one narrow street leading to the temple so it was jam-packed with people--not necessarily any overwhelming impression of overseas tourists. Looking at an except from Kerr's book and talking to friends in Japan, I realized that in only 7 years since I've been away, things have really changed. Things change--and things change FAST!

On this topic, over the course of about 8 years (in the 90s), I traveled to Bali maybe a half a dozen times. By the last trip, to my eyes, the island was unrecognizable. I know the Balinese have adopted a wiser kind of tourism --and maybe Japan should look to them?

My one and only visit to Venice was when I was 19. Seeing it, I could not believe my eyes. It didn't seem real--it was so beautiful. Like how I imagine paradise to look. And so over the years, reading about the changes to Venice--and those ships-- I have felt very sad. Like Bali and Japan, I thought I might never go back even.

The numbers are appalling. There are 140 tourists for every remaining Venetian resident. The people are leaving in droves--I am looking at numbers in Settis' book comparing Black Plague deaths to this exodus of Venetians out of Venice. It is very sad to read this book.

When I picked it up, I expected a book more like Kerr's new one--pne that unpacks the damage being done and that offers solutions. This book is not like that. It is an intellectual exploration of the meaning of cities. About 9 years ago, I was invited to a conference in Shanghai on the topic of the "spirit of cities." I spoke about Tokyo and others spoke about the cities close to their hearts--mainly it was traditional places like Mumbai and Jerusalem, Beijing and London--but at least one person spoke about a super modernized, very uber-fast developed megacity--maybe Chongqing?

What is the spirit of the place? I wish I had had this book before going because his ideas of the body (buildings, physical urbanscape) versus the soul (customs and practices) that make up a city and are passed down was very helpful. First to understand what this means and then to explore how mass (hit and run) tourism destroys both the body and the soul. And Venice--more than Kyoto or Barcelona or Ubud-- is so very vulnerable perched out on a lagoon. When its gone, what will be left with? The Bellagio in Las Vegas? Venice beach, California? There is also a copycat city in China. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ga...

Anyway, I am happy I got to see the dream of Venice before the days of mass tourism. Grateful. This is a very important book and I recommend it to everyone.

[Isthar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un ensayo centrado en Italia, el autor y la protagonista lo son, pero las preguntas y las respuestas que se presentan en él nos interpelan a todos. Al fin y al cabo, lo que sucede en el otro lado del mundo nos puede cambiar la vida. El texto tiene dos partes diferenciadas. Una primera algo más técnica y una segunda más literaria o filosófica. La redacción es didáctica, está bien documentado y su lectura no es nada farragosa y no es extenso ni disperso.
Para el autor, Salvatore Settis, arqueólogo e historiador, Venecia es un buen ejemplo para hacernos una serie de preguntas sobre nuestras ciudades. ¿Queremos vivir en una ciudad en vertical o en horizontal?¿Para conservar el casco histórico se debe convertir en un parque temático o para conservarlo realmente hay que habitarlo y vivirlo? ¿Las reconstrucciones se deben plantear desde el "donde estaba y como estaba" o desde "donde estaba pero diferente"? Recordemos las propuestas que se presentaron cuando se derrumbó el techo de la catedral parisina de Notre Dame.
¿Si Venecia se replica en diferentes lugares del mundo, hasta qué punto la Venecia real se convierte en sí misma en una réplica? ¿Las ciudades pueden ser las mismas sin el pueblo que las habita? ¿Se pueden limitar las góndolas en los canales para preservarlos a la vez que se permiten cruceros frente a San Marcos porque estos últimos vienen turistas con prisas y dinero? ¿Qué hacen los políticos? Los arquitectos, ¿trabajan para hacer ciudades o para hacer crecer su ego? ¿Se necesita un juramento de Vitrubio al igual que un juramento hipocrático? A Settis algunos arquitectos no le gustan demasiado.
Si dejamos que Venecia muera, que sea una ciudad-parque, que sea una ciudad a los pies de rascacielos, ¿qué nos librará de que mueran también nuestras ciudades? ¿Seremos entonces ciudadanos?
Todos queremos visitar ciudades diferentes, pero si Venecia muere otras le seguirán, y quizás no necesitemos viajar.
Las ciudades, como las personas, son únicas. Se han conformado en el tiempo y son expresiones de todas las ciudades que han sido o pudieron ser. Este ensayo es una invitación a la reflexión sobre las ciudades que habitamos y nuestra relación con ellas, e incluso sobre nosotros mismos.
Settis nos da sus razones, que no soluciones, y nosotros debemos decidir si nos convencen o no.
Traducción de Nuria Martínez Deaño
El libro me ha llegado gracias a Babelio Masa Critica.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Para mí este libro ha sido un gran reto, soy más de novelas, soprende el contenido del mismo: ¿ Venecia tiene precio?
Su autor, Salvatore Settis, nos expone la despoblación del centro histórico de Venecia, perdiendo habitantes, vida social, creando una ciudad con grandes hoteles para los turistas, como si fuera Disneylandia, contentando a los turistas. En el 2013 entraron en Venecia 13 cruceros al día , contaminando sus aguas y la visitaron un millón y medio de personas.
Nos hace reflexionar sobre la condensación de la población en grandes rascacielos ( cuanto mas altos, más poder). ¿ Es mejor vivir a lo alto o a lo ancho? ¿ Tenemos que destruir lo antiguo? En Venecia se construyo un puente que no está acorde con la ciudad, aunque en Florencia, el puente de la Santa Trinidad se construyó igual, destruido en la 2ª Guerra Mundial
El turismo trae dinero y trabajo , pero ¿cuántos turistas? . La ciudad, sea Venecia o cualquier otra de Europa, hay que valorarla a lo largo del tiempo y no dejar que se destruya lo antiguo para contentar a los poderosos.
Un buen libro para reflexionar sobre la realidad de Venecia y de cualquier otra ciudad. Nos gusta viajar pero a ¿ qué precio?

[Elia Mantovani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interessante e (purtroppo) profetico. Seppure Venezia rappresenti solo la metafora per parlare di urbanistica, società del consumo, architettura etica e sostenibilità, si percepisce sia l'amore che il rincrescimento dell'autore per la città lagunare. Il sentimento più immediato è la tristezza: edito nel 2014, il testo contiene un succinto riepilogo di tutti i problemi della città, di tutti i puncti dolentes di cui Venezia ha incominciato a soffrire contestualmente all'affermazione del turismo di massa e del depauperamento dei residenti stabili. Eppure nessuno ha fatto nulla: il Settis prevedeva tendenze che non hanno incontrato alcun ostacolo nel loro incedere. La responsabilità è degli amministratori, ma forse anche di chi ha sempre guardato al proprio bene disinteressandosi di quello della comunità, con l'ingenua intuizione che si potessero scindere. Se il critico dovesse riscrivere il testo oggi, metaforicamente e non, lo titolerebbe "Venezia è morta".

[Attila Gáspár · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is on the verge of being a crucially important book.

It indeed asks crucially important questions. Whom do cities belong to? What does mass tourism to our cultural heritage? What is a city?

The reason for 4 stars is that, in trying to answer these questions, the author manages (paradoxically) to sink deep into the intellectually shallow swamp of contemporary "critique of neoliberal capitalism". Naming everything you hate about the world as it is now (which are indeed awful things most of the time) with the same term will not help you solve those problems, just obscure the fine details from your sight.

As describing a set of symptoms and asking some crucial questions, this book is great. The diagnosis is partly misguided. But at the end, great book to start a conversation and to inspire more reading. It certainly inspired me to do so.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'ho letto con una certa smania correndo tra le pagine alla ricerca di un'idea costruttiva: ho sbagliato, il libro non propone soluzioni ma racconta come nascono, vivono e muoiono le città dal punto di vista antropologico e sociale. Spiega un'ovvieta' di cui ci siamo dimenticati nella corsa al consumismo: la città deve assolvere primariamente ai bisogni dei suoi cittadini, al diritto di avere una casa a prezzi accesibili, di fruire di servizi (scuole ospedali ecc), di avere spazi comuni, di offrire lavoro. Settis ha il merito di risvegliare le coscienze dei cittadini e di narrare in modo comprensibile preciso ed erudito le vicende politiche e sociali di Venezia degli ultimi anni (ponte di Calatrava, Mose ecc).

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In looking for books about Venice in preparation for our trip to Italy, I found this one from the LAPL ebook collection and did not expect such a serious book. The author is a renowned art historian who combines art, history, culture, philosophy, and literature to analyze the way in which historic cities are being turned into Disneyland by the people who visit but mostly by city leaders who sacrifice urbanism and community to pander to tourists who bring in money. In Venice’s case, this means a loss of citizens who work in traditional industries replaced by only those who cater to tourists. Sessi examines the cultural, political, and environmental implications of this in a serious and eye opening study.

[Manda · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a micro level this book is about Venice, but on a much broader level it's a scathing philosophical treatise railing against gentrification and obsession with capitalism that has priced longterm residents out of their homes to accommodate a wealthy class who don't care about the history or community of the places they blight with their investment properties. It advocates historical preservation, but a preservation that above all is centered around a living community itself, and not a stale, unalive museum piece that exists solely for tourists to gawk at.

[Bronwen Griffiths · Rating 5 out of 5]

A timely reminder of the importance of preserving our cities - not as museum pieces but as living, breathing entities. Settis writes about Venice but also of other cities whose hearts are being torn out purely for profit. 'It's almost as if the memory of our past were a burden to rid oneself in order to live in the mindless present.' Cities must be for the citizens of those cities - this is true democracy. Otherwise we are in danger not of only losing the past but our future too. Highly recommended.

[Erika Hope Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this author speak very passionately at the Library of Congress about his concerns that basically sum up to how the tourist industry is destroying or at least drastically altering the beautiful cities of many popular destinations. I'm sympathetic and yet I wonder if this is a force that can be stopped. Maybe it can be slowed a bit-t least the huge cruise ships that are causing so many problems in Venice. An important factor that many well-meaning tourist and travelers probably don't consider.

[Peeter Talvistu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains a lot of good ideas and I do agree that Venice is dying. Being one of the long-term non-residents for already fourteen years, I have noticed the changes. However, Settis's long-winding essay does need an editor (for example, the whole Vitruvian code chapter should be cut) and it doesn't actually come to a conclusion. I do see the point of conservatism and agree with it on many occasions, but the author seems to be an extreme case (his hate for Calatrava's bridge being a good example). All in all, this is something for a true Venice-lover.