A book to read before going to Venice

By turns_atlas9139

Hey! I’m heading to Venice for the first time this summer and I’d love to read a few books about it beforehand. I’m up for pretty much anything—novels, essays, history stuff, whatever. For instance, I’ve always been curious about how capitalism supposedly started in Italy during the Middle Ages, but I’ve never actually gotten around to reading anything on it. Thanks! (And just so people know: I already had covid19 a couple months ago, so I should be fine about not catching/spreading it there.)