Abstract
<jats:p>“Enchantment is something ineffable,” writes Goffredo Parise of Piazza San Marco. In his view, no words can truly replace the sense of wonder evoked by this vision, nor fully capture it. This book emerges from a challenge: to reflect on how Venice has been described through words over the centuries, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Rather than offering a literary history of Venice, it presents a series of illuminations, moments that have shaped that history. The volume is the result of a collaboration between Ca’ Foscari University and the University of Klagenfurt within the framework of the PhD Programme in Italian Studies. It brings into dialogue the perspectives of scholars working in the lagoon city with those of researchers coming from elsewhere: a multicentred perspective for a cosmopolitan city.</jats:p>