4 October 2011

Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass: Italy: where else but Venice?

At last we are in Italy!
Without doubt it contains one of my favourite cities in the world.
For me no visit to Italy is complete without a visit to Venice.
I first visited in April 1975 and I must have been back at least half a dozen times since.








Nothing beats a ride on the Grand Canal on a vaporetto and I can never get enough of wandering the streets.

I guess that must be why I enjoy the novels of Donna Leon so much. Over the years I have made friends with Commissario Guido Brunetti and his family. I also love the way Leon weaves a crime fiction story against a background of modern Venice and it's problems such as political corruption, illegal immigration, the rising waters, the challenges to traditional industries, and industrial pollution.

I have 4 reviews on Brunetti titles on this blog
ABOUT FACE
THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS
THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
A QUESTION OF BELIEF

although I suspect I have read almost all the 19 published titles.

Did you know that if you visit Venice you can take a guided tour of the landmarks of Brunetti's Venice?

Organise your own tour from this page.

There's even a book of over a dozen walks, encompassing all six regions of Venice as well as the lagoon, lead readers down calli, over canali, and through campi.
Important locations from the best-selling novels are highlighted and major themes and characters are explored, all accompanied by poignant excerpts from the novels.

And there's even a version for your Kindle, with an introduction by Donna Leon herself.  How great would that be? Put it on your Kindle or your iPad and you are set!

Check what other participants in Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass have chosen this week.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kerrie - Thanks for this :-). I sort of had the feeling you'd choose Venice ;-).

kathy d. said...

I thank the stars and planets being properly aligned to have caused me to find Donna Leon and the Brunettis.

I have devoured every book, shared them with other Leon aficionados, and enjoyed them all. Two friends traveled the Brunetti trail in Venice a few years ago, a great idea.

I confine my travel to virtual trips, and my journeys to Venice have always been wonderful.

I hope Leon keeps writing and know that if I ever need to, I can reread these gems.

And lucky you to have actually visited that great city. My friends concur it's the most beautiful city they've seen.

Anonymous said...

Great post Kerrie. Agree is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, the other is Prague, and the third one is in the Adriatic coast as well but in Croatia,Dubrovnik.

kathy d. said...

If we're discussing travel, my father enjoyed a trip 30 years ago to Budapest, where he sat in a cafe drinking coffee, eating Hungarian pastries and looked at the Danube river.

Anonymous said...

I'm not as well traveled as you are, but VEnice is my favorite city. We visited in 2008 and I need to convince my husband that we NEED to go back :)

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