For my book Venice and a new novel I’m currently working on (which takes place in Venice, Treviso and Padua), reading a lot about the city’s history has been an important part of the research. But let’s be real, it’s hardly work when it’s just so fascinating! And though there is a lot to gain from general history books, I find that the more detailed works really help you understand the times and places one wants to learn about. There are a number of such books about Venice that I’m nuts about and have read multiple times. I’ll be sure to share them all with you!

Today’s book is Marriage Wars in Late Renaissance Venice by Joanne Ferraro. This one is a priceless gem!

The last thing Ferraro’s book is, is a dry account of marriage unions in Renaissance Venice. Her research shares detailed insight into women’s rights, property & ownership, legalities & politics, arranged unions & contracts, courtesans, infidelity, wedding dowries, domestic abuse, prostitution, and sex. What makes this work particularly moving is that it isn’t just a general description of the times and practices, but rather, it calls upon a lot of direct quotes and written accounts from the people who lived it and those legal institutions who documented and passed judgment on these marriage disputes.

Now, this book doesn’t really give a whole lot of insight into happy unions. It’s really about what the title suggests, marriage wars. I’m not certain that things have changed much over the centuries as countless marriages end poorly today, and sometimes over similar problems that Renaissance Venetians encountered. However, as I read this compilation of marriage stories, I grimaced continually and held my breath for the outcomes of each individual dispute (some of which are lost to history, argh!). Forget gossip magazines and reality tv, read this book instead for your dose of marriage intrigue and history!

Further, Ferraro is a seriously professional writer. If I’d recounted these tales on paper, I’m not sure that I’d have been able to help but to make more direct judgments of those parties involved. However, she keeps an open mind and an eloquent pen as she recounts these folks’ situations, delicate with assumptions and name-calling. You’re a better person than I, Ms. Ferraro, and an awe worthy, even-handed teller of history.

Joanne Ferraro also wrote Venice: A History of the Floating City…Nefarious Crimes, Contested Justice, Illicit Sex and Infanticide in the Republic of Venice, 1557-1789…and Family and Public Life in Brescia, 1580-1650: The Foundations of power in the Venetian State. I’m cutting off the Netflix…these books are all the entertainment I need!