At some point, each of us will be asked to embody what we feel and know.

// Chang-rae Lee, On Such a Full Sea

Palazzo Grimani, Venice, Italy,

Interior Design: John Simpson Architects

Fabrizio Clerici (1913-1993) — Venice Without Water  (oil on canvas, 1955)

Venice. Italy. 1955

Photo: Inge Morath

Venice was abuzz with decadence and glamour on 3 September 1951, as the beautiful and the damned gathered for eccentric aristocrat Count Carlos de Beistegui’s high society gathering Le Bal Oriental.

Guests were invited six months prior, in order to give them enough time to design their decadent costumes, with the theme inspired by a fresco in his home, the Palazzo Labia. The Banquet of Cleopatra by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was the chosen artwork; it depicts a wager between Cleopatra and Mark Antony as to which one could provide the most expensive feast.

The guest list itself was superlative: the brightest stars and hottest young things of the era. Fashion designer Christian Dior attended in a costume designed by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, while Dalí wore one by Dior. Cecil Beaton took the photographs, while director and actor Orson Welles held court alongside society beauties including Countess Teresa Foscari Foscolo and Patricia Lopez-Huici de Lopez-Willshaw, as well as Aga Khan III.

Beyoncé & Jay Z attend Alexander Arnault's second wedding ceremony in Venice, Italy 🇮🇹

118 Kerr St, Venice, Illinois.

Luigi Ghirri, Marina di Ravenna, 1985 VS Stefan Moses, Peggy Guggenheim, ‘70

Venice, October 2021.

I've waited a long time to show these flowers how pretty you are.

// Patrick Rothfuss

anya taylor-joy smoking in venice

Venezia, Guggenheim museum

March 2014

luxurylaw: The dress y’all didn’t see…..

Beyoncé & Jay Z spotted in Venice, Italy 🇮🇹

Venice, Italy by Alessia

italysegreta

Venice, The Rialto Bridge (detail), Carlo Grubacs (Italian, 1801–1878)

'Look,' he said, 'I don't think we should continue this discussion. I don't like this side of you.' 'I'm not a box,' she said 'I don't have sides. This is it. One side fits all. This is it.'

// Carrie Fisher

(Lediesis street art in Venice)