La Salute: The church dedicated to Our Lady of Health, built after the terrible plague of 1576.
listòn: The evening walk in Saint Mark’s Square where Venetians would show off their clothes and friends. It takes its name from the listone, the broad strip of marble running around the square.
locanda: A public premises serving food and providing accommodation. Some were exclusive, such as the Leon Bianco, while others were merely drinking dens.
padrona: Mistress, or landlady.
parón: Master, employer.
Patrono: The Master of the Arsenale, a patrician and high-ranking official.
Piombi: The Leads is the name given to the prison cells in the attics of the Doge’s Palace, under the lead-covered roof.
Quarantie Criminale: The criminal court.
Ridotto: The state-owned gambling house, near the church of San Moisè. The stakes were high, thereby limiting access to the nobility. Face masks were compulsory.
soldo: Small coin, similar to a penny.
villeggiatura: The period, usually from summer to early autumn, when the Venetian nobility would retire to their mainland estates to escape the heat of the city.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I have a debt to pay to my husband, Arnaldo, who, by buying me a property in Venice, in the same building in the sestiere of Castello that I’ve described as the house lived in by the Biondini family, allowed me to get to know the city so well and to use it as the setting for my stories.
Likewise, I shall always owe a debt of gratitude to Maria Paola Romeo of Grandi & Associati, who I met at a women’s fiction festival in Matera. On that occasion she agreed to read my manuscripts and, ever since then, she has always provided encouragement. Today she is my outstanding agent.
It was also wonderful to work with Alessandra Tavella, content editor for Amazon Publishing, and I continue to appreciate her extraordinary professionalism, as well as her friendship.
My heartfelt thanks also go to my Venetian friends: to Valeria Numerico for instilling in me a feeling for the soul of her city, and to Antonia Sautter, a leading expert on eighteenth-century Venice and the brilliant founder of the Doge’s Ball (Ballo del Doge), for her steadfast belief in me. I have her to thank for the personal experience of a ball at Palazzo Pisani, which inspired the last chapter.
Many others have contributed unknowingly to this book.
For the settings I have drawn extensively on the paintings by Pietro Longhi, Gabriele Bella and, above all, Canaletto. For relations between the characters and for the servants’ characters, I was inspired by Goldoni. For the details of everyday life, I owe much to Casanova’s Memorie.
Among today’s historians of Venice, I must pay tribute to the invaluable help provided by Alvise Zorzi and Pompeo Molmenti, as well as René Guerdan and many others. Much of the detail of daily life for the lower classes in Venice was inspired by the excellent descriptions given by Egle Trincanato and Carla Coco.
Lastly, it would not be right not to mention the contribution offered by websites such as Bauta.it, Baroque.it and Venezia-nascosta.it and the book series published by Filippi for Il Gazzettino.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maria Luisa Minarelli is a journalist and writer. She was born in Bologna, where she also graduated with a degree in history. Her work has appeared in Storia illustrata and Historia, and she has also written about health and tourism. Her first book, Donne di denari (Olivares), a study of female entrepreneurship through the centuries, appeared in 1989. A German translation has also been published. A tavola con la storia (Sansoni) came out in 1992 and looks at civilisations over the centuries and countries with a tradition of fine foods. Her first novel, the thriller La donna dal quadrifoglio, was published in 2008.
She lives in Milan with her husband and frequently spends time in Venice, a city she has always loved. She enjoys travelling and her interests include art and antiques. She is an avid reader, mostly at night, and she cannot live without her cats and the many plants which she grows herself.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Photo © 2018 Giorgio Granozio
History and languages have always played a large part in Lucinda’s life. After living for years in Italy, she is now based in Scotland, where she combines her work as a translator with teaching a number of university courses relating to the history of early modern Italy. She has translated a wide range of books from Italian, many relating to Italian history and art.
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