"The entry posted below (pumping seawater under Venice to raise it) made me start wondering about the Moses project (erecting huge gates on the floor of the lagoon. The gates would rise up and block the floodwaters). To pay for the project (and for other expenses, because Venice is broke), the Venice city council has decided to sell 13 palazzi. If you've ever wanted your own Venetian palazzo, this is the time to act! Prices range from 5 million euro to 35 million euro. If you buy one, please invite me to your housewarming party!"
Weird Venice
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Speaking of palazzos, I'm about 3/4th of the way through THE CITY OF FALLING ANGELS, that new book by the author of MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. It's actually a similar book; MIDNIGHT used a murder in Savannah, Georgia to examine various eccentric residents; FALLING ANGELS uses the 1996 fire at the Fenice Opera House as a framework and also details various... colorful... people in Venice. Since the period of the book includes the 3 weeks I was in Venice, there was a bit of deja-vu; I half-expected to meet myself crossing a bridge!
And there are a lot of details about various palazzos not generally open to the public.
A quote from Henry James on palazzos (I assume on the tendency for owning and upkeeping them to turn into a mania, and the Money Pit they become):
"There seems but one way to be sane in this queer world, but there are many ways of being mad! and a palazzo-madness is almost as alarming - or as convulsive - as an earthquake, which indeed it essentially resembles."
(from John Berendt's THE CITY OF FALLING ANGELS)
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