Overview

In Describing the City, Describing the State Sandra Toffolo presents a comprehensive analysis of descriptions of the city of Venice and the Venetian Terraferma in the Renaissance, when the Venetian mainland state was being created. Working with an extensive variety of descriptions, the book demonstrates that no one narrative of Venice prevailed in the early modern European imagination, and that authors continuously adapted geographical descriptions to changing political circumstances. This in turn illustrates the importance of studying geographical representation and early modern state formation together. Moreover, it challenges the long-standing concept of the myth of Venice, by showing that Renaissance observers never saw the city of Venice and the Venetian Terraferma in a monolithic way.

Full Product Details

9789004415904

Table of Contents

Reviews

Sandra Toffolo's work has undoubtedly identified a perspective that, until now, has been neglected by historiography. [...] Toffolo's attempt to bring together the two souls of the Venetian State - sea and mainland - is also admirable. It is something that scholars have only recently started to explore. [...] Sandra Toffolo's book succeeds in opening a window on the potential for further inquiries into Renaissance geographical descriptions, on the one hand, and for a stronger inclusion of mainland voices, long underrated in the study of Venice Daniele Dibello, Ghent University. In: Journal of Early Modern History, Vol. 25, Nos. 1-2 (March 2021).

Author Information

Sandra Toffolo, PhD (2013, European University Institute, Florence), is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of St Andrews. Her research focuses on Venice and the Venetian mainland state in the Renaissance.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available