Republic of Venice – eBook (ENG)

An unusual journey through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece and Cyprus

By Giovanni Vale

Republic of Venice is the first volume in the Extinguished Countries series, a series of travel guides to countries that no longer exist.

As a result of hundreds of interviews with locals from Bergamo to Cyprus, the guidebook recounts a thousand years of history of the Most Serene Republic through stories, maps, photos, illustrations and recipes. Following both the today’s borders and those of the past, it offers a journey in search of architectural, linguistic, gastronomic and cultural heritage that the Republic has left in its former territories. What is Venetian about Cyprus? Why do Dalmatians eat dried codfish? What are the Albanian influences in Venice and what is the history of the winged lions of Rovereto? Without nostalgia or revisionism, Republic of Venice traces a well-documented and enjoyable path through different interpretations of a common past. It is a pocket-sized time machine for discovering Europe in a new way.

Extinguished Countries is an editorial project launched in 2020 with a crowdfunding campaign. Its aim is to take the reader back in time to lost kingdoms, republics and empires, discovering various layers of our identity. The book is available in English and Italian.

Giovanni Vale (Gemona del Friuli, Italy, 1987) is an Italian journalist and writer. Since 2014 he has been working as a Balkan correspondent for several Italian and foreign newspapers (Il Piccolo, La Croix, RSI…). He is the creator of Extinguished Countries.

Technical details

Publisher: Paper Boat Stories
Series: Extinguished Countries
ISBN: 9789534938904

Format: PDF, ePub, mobi
Publication: May 2021
First reprint: October 2021

Pages: 320
Price: 15,26 EUR