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'Crisis', ‘decline’ and 'fall' of the Serenissima: remembering Venice as... 547

only the second war of Morea, the opening of Caffè Florian. Her text
barely mentions trade, ignores the ecclesiastical reforms of the 1760s
(more radical than those of Pombal or Joseph II), the complex negoti-
ation of Venice’s international situation, the Republic’s continued na-
val and military presence in the Mediterranean. With a few nods in the
direction of mainland industry, an exaggerated assessment of the sig-
nificance of tourism, and some mention of music and art, Ferraro
treats the reader to a set of clichés, a city of romantic trysts and Car-
nival disguises, Rousseau and Casanova .
14
For many years I have argued that the almost wilful misunder-
standing of Venice’s supposed decline and only too real fall was the
legacy of Francophone historiography, too readily embraced by co-
eval anglophone scholars, or transmitted in mediated form through
popularisers: Hallam, Byron, Ruskin, Fenimore Cooper, the paint-
ings of Etty, Parkes Bonington, and Turner . I was apt to empha-
15
sise especially the Histoire de la République de Venise written by
Comte Pierre Daru . Daru was a member of the Académie française
16
and a brilliant translator of Latin poetry; he was also Napoleon’s
favourite civil servant and a political chameleon . He never set foot
17
in Venice, but this was no deterrent to writing a seven-volume his-
tory of the Republic. Uncritically, I quoted Francis Palgrave: «Daru’s
history […] must be read with caution, for it was written with the
feeling of placing the extinct Republic in an unfavourable light, and

14 J.M. Ferraro, Venice. History of a floating city cit., p. 193.
15 See, for example, D. Laven, Lord Byron, Count Daru, and anglophone myths of
Venice cit.
16 P.A.N. Daru, Histoire de la République de Venise, 7 vols, Firmin Didot, Paris, 1819);
Histoire de la République de Venise, 8 vols, Firmin Didot, Paris, 1821; P.A.N. Daru, His-
toire de la République de Venise, 8 vols, Firmin Didot, Paris, 1826; P.A.N. Daru, Histoire
de la République de Venise, 8 vols, Charles Hoffmann, Stuttgart, 1828; P.A.N. Daru,
Histoire de la République de Venise, 8 vols, N.J. Gregoir, V. Wouters, et Cie, Brussels,
1840; P.A.N. Daru, Histoire de la République de Venise, 9 vols, Firmin Didot, Paris, 1853;
P.A.N. Daru, Storia della Repubblica di Venezia, di P. Daru, della Accademia di Francia,
Francesco Andreola, Venice,1819; P.A.N. Daru, Storia della Repubblica di Venezia, 11
vols, Tipografia Elvetica, Capolago, 1832-8; P.A.N. Daru, Auszug aus Darü’s Geschichte
der Republik Venedig von N.D. Böhtlingk, trans. Nikolaus Diedrich Böhtlingk, St. Peters-
burg, Gräff und Lissner [sometimes rendered Lißner], St. Petersburg, 1824. Printed
Leipzig: Carl Cnobloch.
17 B. Bergerot (with a preface by J. Tulard), Daru, intendant général de la Grande
Armée, Tallandier, Paris, 1991; B. Bergerot, Daru en ses temps (1767-1829), Atelier Na-
tional de Reproduction des Thèses, Lille, 1983; B. Morand (ed.), Pierre Daru, 1767-1829.
Intendant général de la Grande Armée, M.-F. Royer-Daru, Villargoix, 1993 consists
largely of extracts from his correspondence; H. de La Barre de Nanteuil (preface by F.
de Langle), Le Comte Daru ou l’Administration militaire sous la Révolution et l’Empire, J.
Peyronnet & Cie, Paris, 1966; B. Daru, Le Comte Daru (1767-1829). Daru et Napoléon,
une relation de confiance, Éditions RJ, Boulogne-Billancourt, 2012.

Mediterranea – ricerche storiche – Anno XIX – Dicembre 2022
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)