A fringe of wispy white hair andflaring eyebrows gave him the look of a kindly sorcerer, full of wonderand surprise. He was eightysix-tall, thin, his posture still erect. A narrow canal wrapped around two sides of the buildingbefore flowing into the Grand Canal a short distance away.Signor Seguso waited patiently at the table. The Segusos lived on the thirdfloor of Ca' Capello, a sixteenth-century house in the heart ofVenice. Signora Seguso knew very well that no onecould see in through the windows, but it was her way of enfoldingher family in a domestic embrace. Before joining him, his wifewent into the living room to lower the curtains, which was her longstandingevening ritual. Shortly before nine o'clock, Archimede Seguso sat down at thedinner table and unfolded his napkin. It happened on Monday evening, January 29, 1996. Within days I had heardabout it in such detail I felt as if I had been there myself. People spoke in hushed, dazedtones of the sort one hears when there has been a sudden death in thefamily. "If there had been a wind Monday night," the water-taxi drivertold me as we came across the lagoon from the airport, "therewouldn't be a Venice to come to."īut the atmosphere was subdued. I had made plans, months before,to come to Venice for a few weeks in the off-season in order to enjoythe city without the crush of other tourists. As it happened, the timing ofmy visit was purely coincidental. The air still smelled of charcoal when I arrived inVenice three days after the fire.
You can read an excerpt from "The City of Falling Angels" below.
By the time the Fenice is rebuilt and reopened, Berendt has created an intricate picture of modern Venice. "The City of Falling Angels" begins with Berendt's investigation into the fire that destroyed Venice's famed opera house, the Fenice. Eleven years after that book hit The New York Times best-seller list, Berendt delves into the complicated world of Venice, Italy. 28, 2005 — - In his first book, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," John Berendt brought readers into the beauty and eccentricities of Savannah, Ga.
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