VeneziAltrove has travelled the world in its search for traces of Venetian artistic production.

But for years we have put off going to Vienna , even though we knew just the two ciiities and cultures have been. Those given to maliciousness might say deeply for Venice , in fact, knows that Vienna, seen from Venice , is not so much simply a place as the symbol of supremacy and rule. A supremacy that brought to a close a long period of political and civil history, and that also brought to a close a long tradition of freedom of expression and cultural production. Venice had for a long while been inexorably in decline when the Austrians arrived , and that decadence continunues to connote the city’s spirit. But at that time the caesura was toot traumatic, and signalled the veritable end of a world.

It is comprehensible that the Venetians, perhaps latching onto a facile alibi, experienced with silent resentment these two centuries under a different power, gradually becoming historically and civilly marginal. Let’s admit it: the "repression" of Vienna for Venetians, fas been virtually insidpensable, allowing them to continue to live in a mediocracy only jast compensated by memories of the glorious Serenissima.

But it was important to go beyond this repression and recover that set of myriad relations between Venetian and Viennese artists, musicians , merchants, travellers and men of letters. Any-one who reads the following pages will, it is to be hoped, be tempted to leave regret and resentment behind . And they will realise that the many relations have created a common heritage: a heritage that must no longer be read thorough lenses highlighting the conflict between two dominant forces, but the joy of a gift that has mysteriously been given to us all