Venice for Pleasure - Jan Morris

After 60 years and with over 150,000 copies sold, J. G. Links' classic remains for many the best book ever written about Venice. Structured as four walks, it takes the visitors from the grandest campi to the tiniest alleyways, with surprises and unexpected delights at every turn. But as well as a wonderful companion in Venice itself, it is also one of the most evocative accounts of the city in English, by a writer who wore his learning like the finest gossamer. In Jan Morris's words, "None of Venice's innumerable chroniclers have portrayed the Serenissima's character with quite such a combination of the scholarly, the informal and the intimate... Over the years, thousands of readers, starting this book, have been relieved to encounter its famously undemanding approach to the city: `Generally the first thing to do in Venice is to sit down and have some coffee'. But by the time they get to the end of it, all the same, they will have learnt virtually everything that an educated stranger needs to know about the place, its art and its history - besides being subtly entertained throughout."