THE UNIQUE WOMEN OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC

Spenuzza explores the role of women in the Venetian Republic in this nonfiction work.

The Venetian Republic, a sovereign state that existed in northeastern Italy from 697 until 1797, has long held a unique place in the history of Europe. Centered around the city of Venice, at various points in time the republic included holdings in Greece, Slovenia, and Cyprus. This cultural diversity, combined with Venice’s emergence as a vibrant commercial center, made the republic “a dominant force in the Adriatic and Mediterranean.” While the city’s wealthy merchants, nobles, and oligarchs have long dominated the historical narratives of Venice, the author focuses this book’s attention on the city’s women. Fascinating vignettes include the stories of women such as Anna Notaras, whose printing press disseminated ancient Greek literature throughout 15th-century Europe, and Gracia Mendes Nasi, a wealthy Jewish philanthropist who found refuge in Venice during the Portuguese Inquisition. In art and music, women painters such as Marietta Robusti (whose self-portrait from the 1580s is featured on the book’s cover) and operatic “divas” contributed the city’s cultural landscape despite “the constraints of patriarchal Venetian society.” The strength of the book is Spenuzza’s impressive research, backed by almost 250 endnotes, which allowed her to unearth the narratives of women who are largely absent from archival sources and whose “lives did not even emerge fully fleshed from dusty antiquarian books.” A member of the board of directors for multiple cultural institutions (including California’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts and the Orange County Museum of Art) and the author of several historical novels, Spenuzza combines her keen artistic eye with an engaging writing style. The book also doubles as a travelogue and memoir, with the author recounting her own travels to Venice from 1973 to 2023 and her friendship with the countess of a “crumbling palazzo,” whom the author refers to affectionately as “Nonna.” The book is richly adorned with more than 100 full-color photographs and reproductions of paintings, statues, advertisements, glassware, and other ephemera.

A gorgeous book that fully immerses readers in Venetian history, both visually and through its vivid narrative.