Venice and the Anthropocene
Edited by Cristina Baldacci, Shaul Bassi, Lucio De Capitani and Pietro D. Omodeo
“What does Venice look like when observed from the perspective of climate change, environmental collapse, and human-animal relations in an age of industrialization and mass extinction? That is, as a privileged observatory of the Anthropocene?
This guide, composed of several voices, forms a new, illuminating and disturbing mosaic of Venice and its Lagoon. What does the Venetian School of Painting tell us about our relationship with the environment and animals? What do peripheral places in the Lagoon like Porto Marghera and Pellestrina reveal about the advent and impact of modernity? What stories of extinction lie behind local delicacies like baccalà mantecato? What does the centuries-old relationship of Venetians with water tell us about other cities threatened by an increasingly hostile climate?
The guidebook, accompanied by a map, is intended as a tool for learning about the city in a new way. Venice emerges here as a unique ecosystem at risk, but also as a key to understanding our increasingly vulnerable world.”
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What we like about it:
“I probably bought this book in the most clichéd bookshop in Venice, the "Libreria Acqua Alta". While I barely made it into the crowded bookstore, I am all the happier that this book immediately caught my eye. I came with the intention of buying a book that would give me a deeper insight into Venice than what you see on the surface and I couldn't have asked for a better one for this purpose.
One gets an understanding that draws on issues that have always concerned Venice and that can in part be exemplary for the rest of the world. Climate change is real and affects Venice sooner than many other places. Each chapter is dedicated to one main topic such as waterscapes, foodscapes, migration or architecture. The short contributions are written by people from very different disciplines, all of whom present a different perspective. A great book that is seriously thought-provoking and changes the way we look at the city of Venice.”