A Real Family Venetian Affair

Italian author Andrea di Robilant revitalizes 18th-century romance in true-life novel

Based on love letters found in the attic of a Venetian palazzo and dating back to the mid-18th century, A Venetian Affair is the true story of Andrea Memmo, one of the last great Venetian statesmen, and Giustiniana Wynne, a beautiful Anglo-Venetian of illegitimate birth. Because of Memmo's social standing, a marriage between the two was unthinkable, but a long-standing and passionate love developed between them as they struggled to defy the societal pressure of upper-class Venice in its golden era.
Author Andrea di Robilant, himself a descendant of Andrea Memmo, transports the reader back to the 1750s, revealing heartfelt, often erotic notes written in secret code between the two illicit lovers as they plan romantic trysts in borrowed rooms, or struggle with the jealousy and paranoia familiar to anyone who has experienced a great love affair. All the while, they maintain a respectable distance from one another at the salons, masked balls and gambling houses of their social set.
Eventually their ardour results in a desperate and ill-fated marriage plan which backfires, and Giustiniana is forced to leave Venice. As she travels through Europe to London, their correspondence continues, revealing not only a remarkable love story, but a fascinating view of European society in the time of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763).
Memmo's original letters were found by the author's father, who cracked the lovers' secret code and began the research into their lives that would culminate in this book. Di Robilant's colourful narrative sets the scene for the reader, then allows the letters to speak for themselves, enriching the tale without eclipsing the poignant love story itself. What emerges is a portrait of two strong-willed and charismatic individuals living in a fascinating period of European history.
Tandem caught up with author Andrea di Robilant during his recent visit to Toronto.

The original letters that you had to work with must have seemed like the next best thing to time travel. How did it feel reading them for the first time?
"They really transport you. Some of them are so intimate, of course you wonder, should I be putting this in? But then you adopt the inevitable position that this is destiny. It was an incredible coincidence that I found another packet of letters in a college library that happened to be in my mother's town in Virginia. It was like fate unfolding. I know my father would have been thrilled that the story that started in his house could end up with traces in my mother's town in America."
When you began researching, was there anything in particular that surprised or struck you about the two protagonists' characters?
"The amazing thing was how pragmatic they were about their situation. They realized that if they eloped, it would be a mistake. They would not have had the means to live out their lives together. They were children of the Enlightenment, they were not romantic fools. They really tried to circumvent the obstacles with realistic solutions. Now, their plans to marry Giustiniana off to a wealthy consort might seem brazen or farfetched to us today, but it wasn't inappropriate for their time. It gives us an idea of how different their times were from our own."
Your narrative is of course based on the letters themselves. When you describe a scene or an encounter, does artistic license come into play at all?
"No. I use what is in the letters only. I would fill out the scene, but everything I wrote was taken directly from the letters. There is nothing that is made up. I have not introduced any fiction into this story. There was no need."
Marriage between them was clearly unthinkable, but at one point they do actually try to negotiate their marriage. How does this come about?
"Memmo talked to two prominent lawyers about this, and decided that if he could get the backing of his and her family, then they could make their case - from a legal point of view. So they attempted a public marriage. It was very complex and risky thing to do. Memmo was literally taking on the powers of Venice."
Do Giustiniana and Memmo embody the concept of one true love, do you think? For instance, if they had been married, would they have lived happily ever after?
"There's no doubt that their passion was overwhelming and it governed their lives. Of course, married life does change things. It probably would have grown in different ways. But it wasn't just passion. They were united by the same intellectual curiousity; they really fed off of each other, and throughout their lives they remained very close friends. It was a lifelong, intense relationship."
At least one reviewer called this book erotic, and it is, although you handle the subject of sex with great discretion. Did you leave a lot out?
"I didn't leave much out, but I did have to ask myself sometimes, 'Will this surprise readers so much that it will interrupt the flow?' I struggled with how to handle that material, because it could have become crass or vulgar, but I did want to give the reader a sense of the playfulness of it."
It seems that letter writing is a lost art now. How do you think e-mail is as a romantic vehicle?
"I think that there was a lull in love-letter writing until e-mail. It has given us a new lease on love letters. It has changed the nature of them. They are more immediate. And people write love letters to people they have never even met. It's like there is a screen in between that allows for less self-consciousness. I've started writing love letters again on the e-mail myself."
What's next for you? Do you have another book planned?
"There is another box of letters that my father had, written by Memmo's daughter - who is also a fascinating woman. She is the perfect character to describe the passage from 18th- to 19th-century Venice. That holds a lot of promise."


A Venetian Affair by Andrea di Robilant is published by Random House of Canada Limited. $36.00.

Publication Date: 2003-11-16
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3350