Judith Mackrell brings to life the history of Venice's mysterious and
idiosyncratic Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, "the Unfinished Palazzo,"
through the lives of three of its most eccentric, passionate, and
rule-breaking residents--Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse, and Peggy
Guggenheim.
Venice, 1750: The powerful Venier family commissions a beautiful palazzo
on the Grand Canal, one they intend to cast a shadow on every other
domestic building on its stretch of the canal. Yet the Republic of
Venice--and the Venier family's fortune--began to wane and the project
was abandoned, with only one story completed.
Luisa Casati. Doris Castlerosse. Peggy Guggenheim. These three women
inhabited the Palazzo at different periods, from the start of the
twentieth century to the 1960s. Each came from a different country--an
Italian, a Brit, and an American--but they had a surprising amount in
common, above and beyond their ownership of the same extraordinary
building. Amongst other things, all of them had scandalous lives, a
passionate interest in art (although in the case of Luisa Casati, the
subject had almost invariably to be herself), a fascination with sex,
and a deep love of Venice. And, all surrounded themselves with an
amazing supporting cast at so many glamorous parties, from D'Annunzio
and Nijinsky, via Noel Coward and Cecil Beaton, to Yoko Ono amongst the
Picassos.
Mackrell weaves an intricate history of the Unfinished Palazzo, bringing
it--and its legendary inhabitants--to life.
