Another book by Alain Elkann is Il Tuffo (The Dive) which I don't believe is translated into English. This time the settings are New York and Venice and the main character is a mysterious composer of classical music, first seen through the eyes of an Italian ambassador who tries to be friends with him, then, in the second part, through his letters and finally through third person narration. Sergio Pontremoli, the protagonist, reminds me of Huysman's Des Esseints, in the way that he stages and paints his own demise. Venice and its dreamy elements of fog, cold winter and timelessness are the perfect framing for the ultimate dive.The second book is Venice Revealed by Paolo Barbaro. Again, I've read this in Italian but by the comments on amazon it looks like it has been translated very well into English. The work is divided in chapters that are sort of narrative essays about the beauty and troubles of Venice, how pollution affects the local flora and fauna, how the lagoon reflects all the colours and all the poisons. You can smell, feel and touch Venice through this book, meet its real inhabitants and discover its gems and wounds.
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