DETAILS

Visiting John Berendt's Venice

There are several ways to see La Fenice, the opera house that is the subject of John Berendt's "The City of Falling Angels":

Daily tours, offered in English, take about 45 minutes. You can make a reservation by phone (011-39-041-2424) or at the box office. Cost is $8.25.

You can attend a performance during opera season, which runs from November to June. You may be able get a seat if you order in advance through the opera house's Web site, http://www.teatrolafenice.com/ . Because La Fenice is relatively small -- it has 1,100 seats, roughly half as many as the Kennedy Center's Opera House -- many performances sell out. But because so many visitors decide after arriving in Venice that they want to see a performance, the opera holds back 50 seats for each performance, which are sold at the box office an hour before showtime. Tickets available online range from $14 to $180.

A word of caution: Many of the box seats, particularly the highest level, "The Gods," have severely obstructed views. It's always been that way, and the Venetians were determined to rebuild Fenice as it was. So there were no improvements to the sightlines. And remember, within each box, the seats are not reserved, so if you get there early, you're likely to get a better view.

Special concerts also are worth exploring. You might hear Mozart, but you might also hear orchestral renditions of the music of American rock legend Frank Zappa. When I visited in October, I caught a stunning concert by Italy's Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai under the baton of the great Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste. It was a marvelous program of contemporary pieces -- bouquets of ice picks and orchids -- by Gyorgy Ligeti, Luciano Berio, Witold Lutostawski and a young Italian, Matteo Franceschini.

Berendt's layered book deals with much more than the fire and the scandal surrounding it. A map on the endpapers shows several places worth exploring, including the home of Archimide Seguso, the elderly Venetian glass blower who, in one of the book's most dramatic scenes, watched the fire from his home at the intersection of Calle Caotorta and the Rio della Verona canal, just behind La Fenice. Berendt fans can also visit the galleries of the rival Seguso clans, both on the north side of St. Mark's Square, not far from the cathedral. Those interested in the startling work of Venetian painter Ludovico De Luigi may also want to visit his art dealer, Galleria d ' Arte Ravagnan, where his work is often on display. It is on the south side of St. Mark's Square, west of the bell tower.

The book's title comes from a sign posted 30 years ago on the Santa Maria della Salute Church, before its marble ornaments were restored.

-- John Pancake