A Venetian Affair
A true story of impossible love in the eighteenth century (Text Only)
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- 8,49 €
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- 8,49 €
Description de l’éditeur
The true story of forbidden love in eighteenth-century Venice between an Italian noble and the brilliant, illegitimate daughter of an English baronet.
In 1754 Andrea Memmo, the dashing and gifted scion of a distinguished catholic family, fell in love with illegitimate English beauty, Giustiniana Wynne. This match went against every convention of their day; it was an 'impossible love'.
The lovers chased each other through peeling palazzos, ballrooms, salons, theatres and gambling dens, rubbing shoulders with legendary figures such as Canaletto and their friend, Casanova. Increasingly desperate, they decided Giustiniana should marry to conceal their relationship. A summer passed in flirting with the English Consul, Joseph Smith, but he soon saw through the deception and the affair became public.
The consequences were disastrous. Casanova was imprisoned for his 'pernicious' influence. Disgraced, Giustiniana left for Paris, where she launched herself into society in the hunt for a new husband. Her love for Memmo had lingering consequences that were to break this match, and she left again for London, hoping to build a new life, but a different fate lay in store…
Andrea di Robilant is Andrea Memmo’s great great great grandson. The idea to write A Venetian Affair was planted when his father discovered Andrea's letters to Giustiniana mouldering in the attic of the family's crumbling Venetian palazzo. His father's violent murder inspired di Robilant to fulfil his father's dream to write about the lovers, and this fascinating, romantic tale is the result of di Robilant’s dedication and passion.
Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.
Reviews
‘A sensitive reading of an enthralling love story … The sense of Andrea di Robilant’s affectionate commitment to his father’s subject adds indefinable poignancy to his evocation of an impossible relationship.’ Daily Telegraph
‘Supple and elegant a stylist as he is, Robilant never allows his own enjoyment in unfolding this long-hidden narrative to upstage the raw drama of the correspondence forming its backbone … The whole passionate correspondence, to which A Venetian Affair presents such a finely balanced introduction, is a thrilling addition to the corpus of eighteenth-century letter writing.’ TLS
‘Set against the backdrop of a glittering city sloping towards collapse and the debauched courts of Europe, with cameo appearances by characters such as Casanova, A Venetian Affair has all the compelling, over-the-top inevitability of opera.’ Daily Mail
‘A sad, enthralling book … Fascinating.’ Sunday Times
About the author
Andrea di Robilant lives in Rome and writes for La Stampa. He is Andrea Memmo’s great great great great grandson.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The genesis of this engaging book was a stash of letters the author's father found in the old family palazzo in Venice. Written in the mid-1700s by his ancestor, Andrea Memmo, scion of an ancient Venetian family, to Giustiniana Wynne, the illegitimate daughter of a British father and a Venetian mother, these letters helped complete the picture of a romance much of which had been detailed in the memoirs of Giacomo Casanova that has long intrigued scholars. Taking a novelistic approach, di Robilant, a correspondent for La Stampa in Rome, weaves a narrative around selected quotations from these letters. Andrea and Giustiniana met in 1753, when he was 24 and she was not yet 17. They fell in love but couldn't marry because of their different social positions and Venetian marriage customs that protected the interests of the ruling oligarchy. Giustiniana's mother, fearing that the affair would jeopardize her daughter's chance to make a respectable marriage, forbade her to see Andrea, so the two met secretly and carried on a clandestine correspondence, writing hundreds of passionate letters full of the intimate details of their daily lives and other love affairs. In 1758, her mother took Giustiniana and her siblings to London. On the way, Giustiniana, helped by Casanova, went to a French convent and secretly gave birth to a baby that may or may not have been Andrea's, though she never mentioned this to him in her letters. The letters by themselves can be somewhat repetitive, but by skillfully combining well-chosen passages with historical background, di Robilant spins a lively, poignant tale that says much about life in 18th-century Venice and the social mores of the time.
