Abstract
The aim of this essay is not to analyse everything that was written by Italian visitors to St Petersburg in the eighteenth century, but rather to discuss certain attitudes which reflect a way of looking at and understanding the city. In most cases the evolution of Italian observations is similar to that of other Europeans who visited the ‘new capital’; however, it is possible to single out certain unique features. I think most people of my generation have at some time or other come across the cliché ‘Venice of the North’: Amsterdam was the ‘Venice of the North’, as indeed was Stockholm, as well, of course, as St Petersburg. Any European town built on islands seemed to claim a right to this definition; but, as the parallel was usually not developed further, and did not bring a deeper understanding of the character of these towns, it remained simply a convenient phrase for schooltexts and guidebooks.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
‘Otzvuki kontseptsii “Moskva – tretii Rim” v ideologii Petra Pervogo (K probleme srednevekovoi traditsii v kul’ture barokko)’ [1982], in Iu. M. Lotman, Izbrannye stat’i, III (Tallinn, 1993), 201–12.
V. Alfieri, Vita scritta da esso, English text quoted from V. Alfieri, Memoirs (London, New York and Toronto, 1961), p. 102.
V. Zanella (ed.), G. Quarenghi. Architetto a Pietroburgo (Venezia, 1988).
M. Di Salvo, ‘Scene di vita pietroburghese colte da un visitatore italiano (1783–1784)’, Europa Orientalis, XVI/1 (1997) 151–78.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2003 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Di Salvo, M. (2003). A Venice of the North? Italian Views of St Petersburg. In: Cross, A. (eds) St Petersburg, 1703–1825. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403937469_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403937469_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-51241-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4039-3746-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)