Venetians: The First Doge

by Lodovico Pizzati

Overview

Two brothers were raised on a remote farm, their identity hidden and their nobility claim unknown to them. The day they discovered who their true parents were, a barbarian horde abruptly pillaged their farmhouse. The brothers miraculously escaped, but in opposite directions and unaware of each others survival. The younger brother reached the capital Byzantium hoping for the Emperors support, only to find out that in seventh century Europe his titles could only be defended with the sword. The older brother was rescued by Cimbrians, a mountain community that sheltered him from the Longobards, a Germanic tribe that at the time ruthlessly ruled most of Italy. As the Longobards and the Byzantines clashed, the two brothers managed to overcome life-threatening challenges, and thrived as merchants in an age of perpetual war. The younger brother succeeded in reopening sea routes from the northern shores of the Adriatic to the Middle East. The older brother expanded the river trade that connected the Alps to the sea. It was only natural that where rivers meet the sea, the two brothers would reunite. In that swampy marshland, too deep for Longobard horses and two shallow for Byzantine ships, they found the ideal cove to lay the foundations for a future commercial empire. Those few huts on stilts were the beginning of a trading community that would become the city of Venice. One of the two brothers became the first Doge, one of several historical figures depicted in this epic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781524658908
Publisher:	AuthorHouse
Publication date:	01/11/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	514
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Born and raised in Valdagno, between Venice and Verona, Lodovico Pizzati has then lived for study and work in the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Georgetown University. He has done field work for the World Bank in Eastern European countries. He has published two books on European Union’s integration, as well as other articles in academic journals. He taught as Visiting Professor at the University of Venice, and he is currently teaching Economics at University of Southern California. Along with his professional work as an economist, the author also published a Venetian-English dictionary as part of his interest and dedication to Venetian cultural heritage. Lodovico Pizzati currently lives with his wife and three children in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

Editorial Reviews

2017-09-28
Pizzati (Venetian-English English-Venetian, 2007, etc.) offers a historical novel about the seventh-century birth of Venice, Italy.Primo, 18, and Polo, 16, are brothers in a poor, rural farm family near the town of Opterg in the Byzantine Empire. Just before most of their clan are wiped out by invading Germanic Longobards, they're told by their uncle, Licio, that they're actually royalty, hidden away to keep them safe. The brothers are separated when they escape the aforementioned raid and end up adopted by families in small villages in part of the Byzantine Empire near the Adriatic Sea. Polo comes up with the idea of developing the villages adjoining the canals in the area that's now Venice, hoping that the water will slow the Longobards. Polo also has the vision to see the value of increased trade between farmers and fishermen; the brothers reunite on one such trading mission. Polo goes on to become the first doge (leader) of Venice, with Primo as his primary shipbuilder; together they open trade routes to Africa and Asia. The novel also tells the story of fierce Longobard warrior Adalulf, who turns his back on his people in order to be with his youngest son, Aldo, and escape the Longobards' new ruler, Grimwald, who vows revenge against Adalulf for causing the deaths of his two older brothers years before. Venetian historian Pizzati has created a well-developed, multigenerational cast of characters to populate his novel, a good percentage of whom are based on real-life historical figures. Still, despite their number, it's simple to keep track of the many players. There's plenty of treachery amid the politics and the battles, and Europe evolves as it faces the threat of invading Arabs. Pizzati's work feels much shorter than its 500-plus pages, as the narrative rolls smoothly along over a period of decades. Two maps will help readers follow the major characters through the lands located around the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Black seas. Overall, Pizzati has crafted an incisive exploration of a lesser-known piece of history.An enjoyable historical novel that reveals a different side of a well-known region.

Kirkus Reviews