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No Vulgar Hotel: The Desire and Pursuit of Venice
Love of Venice can strike anyone, not just romantic wusses. Among the toughies with serious cases were Lord Byron, Richard Wagner, Ezra Pound, and Ernest Hemingway. Symptoms include:
• Wishing that the movie stars in films set in Venice would move aside so that you can get a better view of the scenery.
• Wondering why people ask if you had good weather when you were there—as if rain could dampen your love.
• Thinking that people who go to Tuscany or Provence must be nuts.
• Believing that the "Per San Marco" street sign with arrows pointing in opposite directions makes perfect sense.
• Consoling yourself when you leave by remembering the generations of Venetian merchants who, as they were borne away from Venice, vowed to be back as soon as they had more money.
There is no cure for this affliction. This is a guide to managing it.
• Wishing that the movie stars in films set in Venice would move aside so that you can get a better view of the scenery.
• Wondering why people ask if you had good weather when you were there—as if rain could dampen your love.
• Thinking that people who go to Tuscany or Provence must be nuts.
• Believing that the "Per San Marco" street sign with arrows pointing in opposite directions makes perfect sense.
• Consoling yourself when you leave by remembering the generations of Venetian merchants who, as they were borne away from Venice, vowed to be back as soon as they had more money.
There is no cure for this affliction. This is a guide to managing it.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
60 people are currently reading
303 people want to read
About the author
Judith Martin
111 books102 followersJudith Martin (née Perlman), better known by the pen name Miss Manners, is an American journalist, author, and etiquette authority.
Since 1978 she has written an advice column, which is distributed three times a week by United Features Syndicate and carried in more than 200 newspapers worldwide. In the column, she answers etiquette questions contributed by her readers and writes short essays on problems of manners, or clarifies the essential qualities of politeness.
Since 1978 she has written an advice column, which is distributed three times a week by United Features Syndicate and carried in more than 200 newspapers worldwide. In the column, she answers etiquette questions contributed by her readers and writes short essays on problems of manners, or clarifies the essential qualities of politeness.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
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June 9, 2014My husband is cozy by the wood stove reading an interesting biography and I have this one. I love Judith Martin (Miss Manners). She is witty and smart but I cannot read this dense love affair she has with Venice. So, having no other book I want at hand I am reduced to pestering my husband with sighs of dissatisfaction and the loud crunching of banana chips. He is impervious.
March 3, 2018
This book about loving Venice is by the author of the Miss Manners columns /books. No Vulgar Hotel is written in the same witty and amusing style as her other books and columns and describes the wonder and pitfalls of being a Venetophile.
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March 24, 2025This tribute to Venice written by the self-described Venetophile Judith Martin explores Venetian history and culture past and present; Venetian representations in film, art,and literature; the city’s most colorful citizens through the centuries; and the contours of Martin’s own obsessions with Venice. (Some may know Judith Martin by her alter ego Miss Manners.) My favorite sections are those where Martin tells personal stories about navigating Venice’s neighborhoods, markets, tourist traps, and real estate temptations. If you like Bill Bryson’s travel narratives, No Vulgar Hotel: The Desire and Pursuit of Venice will probably appeal to you too.
January 29, 2015
I smelled trouble when the author first addressed me as “gentle reader.” No real surprise, I suppose, since author, Judith Martin, is none other than Miss Manners Herself, but Dorothy Parker (who used the term decades ago), she ain’t. What I hoped would offer charming, witty, acerbic, brittle insight into a city that I, and most everyone else, find irresistible, was quickly undone by an oh-so-aloof, self-adulatory style that made me want to toss Madame Manners, along with her sorry pretensions, into the Grand Canal. There were a few amusing anecdotes here and there, but nothing new given the myriad of volumes on the subject. Although her tongue may be planted firmly in cheek in, among other things, crediting not a historian but a cicerone, thank you, the author should stick to proper usage of fish knives and oyster plates and leave La Serenissima to the pros. Far better choices are John Julius Norwich’s definitive "A History of Venice" or Frédéric Vitoux’s delicious "Venice: The Art of Living."
September 24, 2009
The best kind of bio/history--the story of Venice and Miss Manners's relationship with it beautifully interwoven. She is a funny, charming, and fascinating writer, and she goes to Venice four times a year. If I could have any other life, that's the one I'd have.
April 25, 2023
With tongue in cheek and dry humor, the author shares authentic (?) history of Venice, Italy as well as chapters on art, culture, religious and political figures' contributions to this iconic city of elegant decadence which I've visited four times.
And musings......many of them. Venice is the most unique and famous city on earth. If we haven't had the fortune to visit, most of us long to. And, for those of us who have visited, we long to return.
At times, this is a light read; at other times, it is over the top with details to gorge upon until your head is full of information and "facts" you won't remember next week.
Is this a good book to read before your initial Venitian trip? It might be but it certainly was delightful to read since, after visiting, I was familiar with many of the landmark and art references.
Interesting details......
With Attila the Hun breathing down their backs, 9th century fugitives reasoned "we're not safe on land or sea so what if we lived in the marshes?" Wooden piles were pounded in the muck and allowed to petrify so they would hold up the buildings. The houses' facades were separate from the structural unit of the building so the canal water sloshing against the house wouldn't result in the whole thing collapsing - just the facade which could be rebuilt, re-stuccoed and re-frescoed.
The first Venetian citizens schemed and carried out a plan to 'kidnap' Saint Mark, catapulting the city into religious and political fame. This was no easy task given that Mark was dead so grave robbers stole the saint's body from his grave in Alexandria, packed it in a barrel with pig meat and smuggled it past disgusted Muslims. The whole story is illustrated on the mosaics on St. Mark's Basilica. Since then, Venice has attracted pilgrims looking for holy relics, crusaders commissioning ships, Jews escaping persecution, and writers/artists/musicians looking for the most dramatic and eerie sceneries.
Venice works its subliminal charm on even those who have not visited it or given it any thought. Why is it that magazines are filled with artwork featuring Venice? The most iconic scenes are those featuring moored gondolas against the stretch of the canal, complete with the Santa Maria della Salute church in the background, the Bridge of Sighs, so named for the utterances of prisoners walking across it and who were condemned to never walk their beloved city again, and one of the many other solitary bridges.
Venice claims to own and showcase many pieces and parts (aka bones) of saints, became a ship builidng mecca during the Crusades when it built and supplied at the Arsenal.
And musings......many of them. Venice is the most unique and famous city on earth. If we haven't had the fortune to visit, most of us long to. And, for those of us who have visited, we long to return.
At times, this is a light read; at other times, it is over the top with details to gorge upon until your head is full of information and "facts" you won't remember next week.
Is this a good book to read before your initial Venitian trip? It might be but it certainly was delightful to read since, after visiting, I was familiar with many of the landmark and art references.
Interesting details......
With Attila the Hun breathing down their backs, 9th century fugitives reasoned "we're not safe on land or sea so what if we lived in the marshes?" Wooden piles were pounded in the muck and allowed to petrify so they would hold up the buildings. The houses' facades were separate from the structural unit of the building so the canal water sloshing against the house wouldn't result in the whole thing collapsing - just the facade which could be rebuilt, re-stuccoed and re-frescoed.
The first Venetian citizens schemed and carried out a plan to 'kidnap' Saint Mark, catapulting the city into religious and political fame. This was no easy task given that Mark was dead so grave robbers stole the saint's body from his grave in Alexandria, packed it in a barrel with pig meat and smuggled it past disgusted Muslims. The whole story is illustrated on the mosaics on St. Mark's Basilica. Since then, Venice has attracted pilgrims looking for holy relics, crusaders commissioning ships, Jews escaping persecution, and writers/artists/musicians looking for the most dramatic and eerie sceneries.
Venice works its subliminal charm on even those who have not visited it or given it any thought. Why is it that magazines are filled with artwork featuring Venice? The most iconic scenes are those featuring moored gondolas against the stretch of the canal, complete with the Santa Maria della Salute church in the background, the Bridge of Sighs, so named for the utterances of prisoners walking across it and who were condemned to never walk their beloved city again, and one of the many other solitary bridges.
Venice claims to own and showcase many pieces and parts (aka bones) of saints, became a ship builidng mecca during the Crusades when it built and supplied at the Arsenal.
September 25, 2024
Named after a comment by fictional 20th Century Ventophile, Milly Theale, in Henry James’s The Wings of the Dove, when she was choosing where to set up home there, this guide to one of the world’s most mythologised cities is a hoot from page one and the witty insights continue throughout. Largely written from the point of view of how NOT to be a tourist (ironically, picked up from the Basillica gift shop) it is the perfect accompaniment to a trip before, during or after (as was the case for me) for anyone wishing to avoid the pitfalls - or tick off just how many you fell into. Quite literally, in fact, as there is even a warning about the notoriously slippy marble paving stones that edge the multitude of canals, which I very nearly came a cropper by, narrowly avoiding befalling the same fate as described in the title of another famous literary work about the city! Oops. Unlike the aforementioned canal, this book is a joy to dip in and out of.
November 27, 2023
People don’t seem to like this book, but I found it unique and amusing. It’s unique for what it is: a book about how Venice is seen through the eyes of those human beings called Venetophiles, including many who, having been there one or several times, have written books about this unique city (guilty as charged here)
It keeps everything at a meta level that is entertaining and, at times, hilarious, but the nicest thing about the book is to find yourself there, among those pages, sentences uttered when watching a movie set in Venice (like ¿how are you going to to jump from a rooftop in Dorsoduro to another in San Marco?, that one when I watched Veneciafrenia)
It’s probably the last book you should ever read about Venice. But clearly will not be.
It keeps everything at a meta level that is entertaining and, at times, hilarious, but the nicest thing about the book is to find yourself there, among those pages, sentences uttered when watching a movie set in Venice (like ¿how are you going to to jump from a rooftop in Dorsoduro to another in San Marco?, that one when I watched Veneciafrenia)
It’s probably the last book you should ever read about Venice. But clearly will not be.
March 10, 2022
This book actually took me much longer than expected to finish, mostly because it wasn't what I expected. I think the tone was tongue and cheek, but I thought the book would be more about Venice and its history, cultural references, etc rather than so focused on how much time the authors spend in Venice and how many famous houses they and their friends stay at. (Tone seemed a little pretentious/privileged at points) Felt to me a little more like a memoir than an unbiased non-fiction piece.
June 27, 2022
Great book for lovers of Venice, gently making fun of those of us who want to live in Venice, or if we cannot manage that, want to fantasize that we do by renting an apartment there. (Ideally an apartment in a grand palazzo, that lets us take our fantasy as far as possible!) That is what the author has done, and she gently but with great insight pokes fun at herself and other questing tourists who don't really want to be "tourists" in Venice but something more.
April 19, 2018
I really enjoyed this, but also spent about 8 weeks in Venice. I have a hard time imagining it would be that interesting to someone who doesn't have the stirring of "venetophilia" themselves. Humorously written and wide sweeping, you'll gain a whole new view not only of the city but those who have fallen hopelessly in love with it.
September 10, 2024
A delightful celebration of Venice as written by someone with absolutely no shame about being a tourist. While the book is extremely funny and light, there's a quiet profundity to Martin's honesty and forthrightness about herself and other Venetian visitors, and how they relate to the city. I really enjoyed it after three relatively dry histories.
October 5, 2019
My Favorite Book About Venice, Italy
I am giving this book five stars for how the author shared her own lifetime travelogue of Venice while making the long and complicated history of Venice interesting and understandable. well done and such a treat to read.
I am giving this book five stars for how the author shared her own lifetime travelogue of Venice while making the long and complicated history of Venice interesting and understandable. well done and such a treat to read.
February 3, 2020
Much different than expected...
This is all about Venice, the good and bad... it is very different from my expectations!
It is full of stories about real people who lived there, and landmarks as well.
This is all about Venice, the good and bad... it is very different from my expectations!
It is full of stories about real people who lived there, and landmarks as well.
January 3, 2018
A treat to read. Venice is in my soul.
June 25, 2018
Paints a nice picture of what Venice was like.
February 24, 2019
A bit on the matter-of-fact side. Neither inspires one to drop everything for a Venetian sojourn nor turns one off forever.
August 22, 2019
I just love this book... It's witty, fun and full of everything Venice.
September 14, 2019
Plodding
November 15, 2023
I was traveling to Venice so picked this up. Very interesting for history and culture buffs, but not exactly what I was looking for.
May 12, 2025
Interesting writing about the history and sites of Venice.
August 20, 2011
Over the years I have travelled a little, mostly for business and seldom for pleasure. Thus I have not travelled to many of the favorite locations for tourists and with books like this one I do not need to do so. Judith Martin (aka "Miss Manners") has travelled to Venice and written about that travel covering the history, aesthetics, and practical aspects of that lovely city by and on the sea.
I especially enjoyed her literary discussions in the sections entitled "Venice with Your Imaginary Friend" and "Venice Depicted". The references include Henry James's The Wings of the Dove, Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, and much more. She also discusses American expatriates including the fabulously wealthy longtime residents, the Curtis family.
I have always enjoyed the classical paintings of the artist known simply as Canaletto and Venice was one of his favorite subjects. But, I was unaware until I read Ms. Martin's book that he "was apt to rearrange buildings as if they were furniture, regularly distorting a view for balance . . ."(p 131) His desire to maintain classical balance in his paintings aside, his depictions of Venice are elegantly beautiful demonstrating his genius and the genius of his age. But there is more. From Browning's poems to Wagner's diaries the literary vision of Venice mirrors the inspiration that its' beauty expresses. There is also the cinematic Venice of film whether portrayed as romantic comedy in David Lean's Summertime (David Lean is one of my favorite directors and one of the many reasons for this is his ability to capture the essence of foreign locations from London to Moscow to Burma to the Arabia of the hero Lawrence) or in more sinister films like Don't Look Now based on DuMaurier's novel or The Comfort of Strangers adapted by Harold Pinter from Ian McEwen's novel.
The author clearly loves Venice. Doing so she does not write about it in a sense that expresses the vanguard of sophisticated opinion, for this is not a book that really breaks new ground. However it covers the old ground impeccably. It is a thoroughly delightful read for anyone even remotely interested in Venice.
I especially enjoyed her literary discussions in the sections entitled "Venice with Your Imaginary Friend" and "Venice Depicted". The references include Henry James's The Wings of the Dove, Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, and much more. She also discusses American expatriates including the fabulously wealthy longtime residents, the Curtis family.
I have always enjoyed the classical paintings of the artist known simply as Canaletto and Venice was one of his favorite subjects. But, I was unaware until I read Ms. Martin's book that he "was apt to rearrange buildings as if they were furniture, regularly distorting a view for balance . . ."(p 131) His desire to maintain classical balance in his paintings aside, his depictions of Venice are elegantly beautiful demonstrating his genius and the genius of his age. But there is more. From Browning's poems to Wagner's diaries the literary vision of Venice mirrors the inspiration that its' beauty expresses. There is also the cinematic Venice of film whether portrayed as romantic comedy in David Lean's Summertime (David Lean is one of my favorite directors and one of the many reasons for this is his ability to capture the essence of foreign locations from London to Moscow to Burma to the Arabia of the hero Lawrence) or in more sinister films like Don't Look Now based on DuMaurier's novel or The Comfort of Strangers adapted by Harold Pinter from Ian McEwen's novel.
The author clearly loves Venice. Doing so she does not write about it in a sense that expresses the vanguard of sophisticated opinion, for this is not a book that really breaks new ground. However it covers the old ground impeccably. It is a thoroughly delightful read for anyone even remotely interested in Venice.
February 4, 2017
I'm not going to manage to finish this book. I am an obsessive Venetophile, but this book is dull beyond imagining and I am quite sure I would find the author insufferable if I met her in person. The book is essentially one long gloat about her affluence, connections and good fortune, with a tsunami of assorted historical facts about Venice mixed in in a way that is neither accessible nor memorable. It's extremely unusual for me not to finish a book, especially one about Venice, but there are so many books out there and I'm wasting time getting irritated by this one. Maybe I'll finish it next time I'm in Venice, I might find her less obnoxious if I read it in the sun, whilst drinking a Spritz!
December 20, 2016
I love Miss Manners. No one matches her in sass, sarcasm, and a cutting wit. Serve this with a helping of absolute correctness, humor, and a fair amount of flair, and you have a wonderful read.
Weather you are a fan of the city of Venice or not, the words of Judith Martin are sure to paint a wonderfully compelling picture of the place. I have always wanted to go, and this book, which is part frank history, part love letter, only makes me want to go sooner.
Part of the charm of this book is how well she's aware of the absurdity of this dream, about the contradictions, and about the almost snobbish obsession. But she does not care, and by the end of the book you yourself want that same combination of complete love and self aware humor.
Fans of cities on the waves, sarcastic travel guides, or Miss Manners are sure to love this. Everyone else should give it a chance to feel the pull of a magical place, told by a compelling narrator.
Weather you are a fan of the city of Venice or not, the words of Judith Martin are sure to paint a wonderfully compelling picture of the place. I have always wanted to go, and this book, which is part frank history, part love letter, only makes me want to go sooner.
Part of the charm of this book is how well she's aware of the absurdity of this dream, about the contradictions, and about the almost snobbish obsession. But she does not care, and by the end of the book you yourself want that same combination of complete love and self aware humor.
Fans of cities on the waves, sarcastic travel guides, or Miss Manners are sure to love this. Everyone else should give it a chance to feel the pull of a magical place, told by a compelling narrator.
April 27, 2008
Wow. This book took me a long time to get through! Judith Martin is better known as Miss Manners, so I suspect this book was a chance to get away from that persona and express herself as herself. I actually enjoyed the book, despite the fact that it took me well over a month to make my way through. This is a dense, meandering visit to Venice. This isn't the Venice of the movies, or tv. This is Venice from someone who loves it and who can't imagine that anyone wouldn't love it just as much. This did make it drag for me in places, but it also gave a much more personal and less generic insight into Venice.
March 2, 2015
Love Miss Manners, but this book is a totally different animal.
It took a month to get through the first 30 pages. The opening is very unfortunate - dry and hard to read. I thought this was a fictional book about a trip to Venice. It appears to be a very serious, old fashioned (hard to read) dissertation that waxes poetic in long paragraphs about various aspects of the city and tourism.
Eventually I had to return the book to the library without finishing it. (Got it through the MEL inter-library loan system, so I only was able to keep it 30 days.) When I have more time and ambition, I would like to try reading it again. I really do like Miss Manners.
It took a month to get through the first 30 pages. The opening is very unfortunate - dry and hard to read. I thought this was a fictional book about a trip to Venice. It appears to be a very serious, old fashioned (hard to read) dissertation that waxes poetic in long paragraphs about various aspects of the city and tourism.
Eventually I had to return the book to the library without finishing it. (Got it through the MEL inter-library loan system, so I only was able to keep it 30 days.) When I have more time and ambition, I would like to try reading it again. I really do like Miss Manners.
July 12, 2012
There is so much great information about Venice in this book. When the author is sharing interesting information, the writing is amusing and fun to read. But it goes on and on. When you get into a several pages list of all the memorabilia the author has collected associated with an ancestor of the house she stays in when she visits Venice, well, it gets to be a bit much. I was so happy when it ended. I guess you have to be a true Venetophile to full appreciate this book, and I'm just not there yet.
August 4, 2013
This is an amiable --- very amiable --- shaggy dog of a book. Judith Martin's love for Venice is passionate, but it doesn't prevent her from gently snickering at both herself and the city. The book is akin to sitting down with someone over a drink or cup of coffee and listening to travel stories. But because she is Judith Martin, the stories are witty and always interesting. I'm not sure we exactly needed this book, but then we didn't need Mary McCarthy's, and this is a lot less self-reverential.
June 16, 2017
3.5 stars--lots of fun but would be hard to follow if this were the reader's first exposure to Venetian history and art. I read it prior to visiting Venice for 17 days and am writing review after the fact. Clearly Ms Martin enjoyed a more exalted Venician life style than we did, but I do support her concept of staying in an apartment rather than a hotel. We did rent an apartment . . . but it certainly wasn't a Grand Canal palazzo!
In any event, the book is amusing and worth a read. It's just not to be your guidebook!
In any event, the book is amusing and worth a read. It's just not to be your guidebook!
April 1, 2013
Reading this book is very much like sitting still while somebody shows you their vacation slideshow. It's in no way a useful guide to Venice, and even the most avid Judith Martin fans (of which I am one) are likely to find their attention wandering as she recounts the trials and tribulations she went through trying to sublet an apartment. There are certainly flashes of wit and humor, but I have to classify this book as "inessential," at best.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews