What could be more different than Venice and an American city? One pretends to represent the continued existence of the past. The other pretends to represent the ideal of progress, of the future. In their separate ways both are illusions, but no matter. The relationship of the Old and the New Worlds is not simple. It is like that of the sexes: Opposites may repel, but often they attract. Thus there are towns named and emulating Venice across America. And there exists a long record of American presence in Venice, reaching well beyond what brings American tourists there today. The history of Americans’ attraction to Venice is more than 200 years old.

In 1789, when the United States was born, there were but two other republics in the entire world. One was the Republic of Venice, the other the city-state of Geneva. Many of the Founders were aware of their existence but had no wish to emulate their examples. They were aristocratic republics, with constitutions that had little appeal even for the more conservative of the Founders. At least Geneva was Protestant, but the government and the society of Venice seemed to represent much that was corrupt in the Old World. Many Americans were acquainted with Venice Preserved, a popular, often performed play by the English dramatist Thomas Otway: “Curs’d be your State, cursed your constitution / The curse of growing factions and divisions.” No, the new American Republic had to incarnate something that was the very opposite of Venice.

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