Venice is a Fish: A Cultural Guide

Tiziano Scarpa was born in Venice in 1963. He is a poet, novelist, playwright and essayist. He has written a number of acclaimed novels including Eyes On the Broiler and Western Kamikaze. His radio play Pop Corn, received international critical acclaim and was aired by the BBC and other European radio stations. He regularly speaks at creative writing conferences and writes as a journalist for national newspapers. In 1997 he won the 49th Italia Prize for his writing. He lives in Venice.

An eccentric, inspirational travelling companion for Venice-bound travellers that captures this chimerical city so well, it's a vicarious joy for armchair travellers too Metro This gem of a book offers practical advice but in a distinctly lyrical tone. If you are lucky enough to be going there, take Venice is a Fish and you will want for nothing Sunday Telegraph Scarpa's approach is from the soul, not the mind... Do people fall in love more easily in Venice? Scarpa's answer features a theologian, a psychoanalyst, a world- champion bodybuilder and a poet; and, like everything else in this book, it says more about Venice than you'd ever imagine Independent on Sunday To write originally about Venice must be one of the greatest challenges a writer can take up. Every year, hundreds of books on the city are published, but none resembles this one... Scarpa warns his readers to beware the lethal "aesthetic radioactivity" projected by the buildings and paintings of Venice. I fear his sharp eye and quick ear can only make that bewitching disease more acute, helped by Shaun Whiteside's felicitous translation Independent If you want to truly delve under the skin of Venice and understand it from a local perspective, this book is definitely worth a read Real Travel Interspersed with nostalgia is practical advice for tourists... elements that merge seamlessly in Scarpa's alluring narrative. Be warned: you'll be booking a flight before you know it Sunday Business Post