by Maurice Rowdon
with Vladek Sheybal as Casanova, John Ronane as the poet Angelo Maria Labia

"A tomb of noblemen in which a healthy people was locked up." This was how Casanova's Venice was described. But for a tomb it did pretty well. Carnival went on for six months of the year and, according to a Frenchman, Venice's nuns were the best lovers in the world. But then, in 1797, Napoleon marched in, and the carnival was suddenly over. A thousand-year-old Empire was dead.
Venice is falling again today, but this time physically into the sea. Did it fall both times because people didn't care enough?