Thank you one and all! As I'm dragged kicking and screaming into my eighth decade, I'm tossing a handful of belated merci beaucoups to some of the people who kept sending my life off in unexpected and ever more interesting directions. You’ll find no enemies here – I'm lucky to have had so few! – but instead a smattering of places, relatives, friends, associates, wives, fiancées and lovers to whom I owe. . . well, everything.

Venice Preserved Francesco [de Mosto]’s Venice inspired Mary and me to renew our acquaintance with this seminal scattering of islands that has given birth to so much of what we call culture.