«Every Vuitton city guide is done the same way: the discourse is cultured and polite, with the addition of a little humor because we are French and we do it that way», Servane Giol explains
Louis Vuitton City Guide: Venice
The Louis Vuitton City Guide of Venice is dedicated to Venetians. The city has kept its neighborhoods as it was speculatively established in the thirteenth century. The guide pays homage to this and strays away from the typical places found within books about Venice. The city is a known stop for tourists who come to Italy, but the Louis Vuitton Guide exemplifies another part of Venice.
Thanks to the pandemic, there are young Venetians who had left Venice to go abroad. They returned and fell in love again with their childhood city. These are the forces of Venice and the Venice of tomorrow; they are part of a section called ‘Souvenir’. A section for travelers since Venice has become the number one tourist destination.
Pierre Léonforte, Servane Giol, François Simon and Isabelle Valembras-Dahire
The City Guide with the addresses, portraits and personalities are selected by the authors Pierre Léonforte, Servane Giol, François Simon and Isabelle Valembras-Dahirel. The Travel Book is illustrated by the Japanese master Jiró Taniguchi. famous author of manga.
In dialogue between Mr. Barbera and authors such as Mrs Giol, it is evident that the guide is intent on documenting local venetian spots. It consists of 400 pages, yet no photos and there are some decorational pictures scattered throughout the pages, in pink and black hues, but no promotional images or any specific images when referring to a specific spot that must be visited. The team at Louis Vuitton has chosen, consciously, to not put any photos in any of their guides. Something they have been doing for the past twenty-five years and that they intend to keep doing.
Louis Vuitton City Guides
Louis Vuitton has, for the past two decades, been producing city guides for travelers all over the world. In 2013 they renewed the concept. To date, there are more than thirty guides available, detailing a perspective unique to each city. Each guide is local to its territory and contains voices native to the environment. Writers and personalities from a range of fields come together in order to create a guide representative of each city.
Each edition contains information not available through common knowledge or tourist traps, but rather detailed for travelers. There are secrets with regards to boutique and five-star hotels, local bistros and high-end gourmet restaurants, museums and monuments. Each city guide is represented in accordance with the city it is showcasing, sometimes more art, more tours or more photo portfolios. «Every city guide we have published for Vuitton is done the same way: the discourse is cultured and polite, with the addition of a little humor because we are French and we do it that way», Servane Giol explained.
With all the art and hotel projects, travelers who had been missing for 15 years have returned. Intended for readers who are travelers, not tourists. «I find that Venice and France are two unique entities, and they get along well». It is no coincidence that Louis Vuitton specifically chose Venice for this guide. «I oversaw the part about what is unique about Venice: from eating to drinking to Friulian clothes and shoes. Uniqueness in all its arts. And you won’t find that so much in other cities in the world and especially not in France», Ms Giol states.
The Librairie Éphémère arrives in Venice
The Librairie Éphémère project is also returned to Venice in celebration of the new Louis Vuitton City Guide 2023 dedicated to Venetians. After stops in Paris and Shanghai, Librairie Éphémère debuted in Venice. In October, on the launch of the new City Guide Venice – with updated addresses and information – the project returned to animate the newsstand in Calle Larga dell’Ascensione.
The newsstand hosted, in addition to the usual sale of newspapers and periodicals, the complete collection of Louis Vuitton City Guide, Travel Book and Fashion Eye. With respect to the original architecture of the Venetian newsstand, Louis Vuitton aimed to attract a younger crowd with the rainbow colors of the guides, in order to promote the editorial project and eventually pass it on to future generations.
The Lido: Alberto Barbera as guest
According to Mrs Giol, the second part is the fun part. «I discovered the Lido, which as a Venetian I had underestimated and which I recommend reevaluating». At the Lido there is also the magic of cinema and the guest of honor is Alberto Barbera, president of the Venice Film Festival.
«We know him well and we discussed stories: one is Black Venice in which he talks about forgotten films about Venice. He told me about Visconti’s film about the Russian countess who murdered her husband. There was an attempt to make two films based on the trial of this countess: one during the war that was censored, and the other in the 1960s with Romy Schneider that was never made and was forgotten in a drawer, which gave me the idea to develop a story about forgotten films».
Alberto Barbera serves as the protagonist in the Louis Vuitton Venice City Guide. From pages 54 to 263, the traveler is on a twenty-four-hour day with Mr. Barbera.
The locations within the Venice Guide: for the travelers
Within the guide there are stops along the seven historical districts and the seven islands of Venice. Each neighborhood and each island has its own significance, but together, through the Louis Vuitton Guide they form one. There are recommendations for restaurants, such as Al Covo, a restaurant run by a Texan wife and Tuscan husband since 1987, or L’anice Stellato, a neighborhood Osteria in the Jewish quarter of town that serves ponzu and tahini, but also a venetian classic such as pasta alla vongole.
The guide further details hotels, the nightlife, where the best kept shopping secrets are and which museums not to miss. The guide details luxury brands such as Bottega Veneta, but also pays homage to venetian legacies such as Friulane Dittura, the 1948 venetian slipper shop – once famed by gondoliers.
The city in a different light: Black Venice
When the shopping is done and the food eaten, the guide takes the reader on a road less traveled. An itinerary, entitled Black Venice, starts from the cemetery and goes to different places, including places where people were murdered. This tour will take a traveler one day. It starts at San Michele, the cemetery to be visited at the break of dawn. Along the way it is recommended to stop at Libreria Toletta. It is a haven for Italian crime novels and eventually it concludes at Isola Sant’Elena where Emma Giraldo’s body was found in 1982. «The guidebook is full of stories developed historically and anecdotally», Mrs Giol states.
While Black Venice might be the tour of choice for some, others might appreciate walking in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway or exploring the Lido by bike. The Lido, as favored by Mr. Barbera, is an often less explored part of Venice and this guide brings the traveler out of the gondola filled streets and into the beach side town of the city.
The authenticity of Louis Vuitton’s Venice City Guide
Within the fine print of the first few pages, Louis Vuitton states that given the speed at which cities change and adapt, some of the places might have shut down, moved or changed since their research began and the guide was published. Given the fact that this Venice edition was published in 2022, two years since the start of the pandemic, one would expect an array of places to not exist anymore. «The good fortune we have had is that in four years we have taken out a few places because everything that has closed was not in the guide even before», Mrs Giol shares. Perhaps an ode to the places included within the guide.
Art, fashion and the cyclical nature of Venice
There are more and more actors and stores involved with Murano glass. In fashion there is some change with jewelry and Friulane, which is everywhere and has become a status symbol. «I am not talking about luxury brands, but Venetian productions», Mrs Giol shares. Even the gondola is coming back: there are models that run on solar power. The famous Squero shipyard is closing to become an art foundation.
The Art Biennale is the number one destination for both art and architecture. It used to be the place for the presentation of the art of the time. Now it is also the place where collectors get their culture, buy and everything that is offered is for sale.
Venice, as rich and old as its history is, has seen a change since the start of the pandemic. The guide aims to highlight the charm and history of the city, along with the advances that modernize the city. Venice has a core connection to the crafts and artisans. «The peculiarity of Venice is its cyclical nature and exactly one hundred years after World War I we returned to what the city represented before. We returned to craftsmanship and a new impulse, a new life, has returned. I am optimistic for Venice and its rebirth is not new», Servan Giol recounts.
The relationship between Louis Vuitton and Publishing
Gaston-Louis Vuitton was an editorial enthusiast and founded three houses published there between the Twenties and Thirties: Les Exemplaires: a limited-edition publishing house; La Compagnie typographique: high-end printing and printing; Les Plaquettes: rare editions in collaboration with artists.
Gaston always had relationships with publishing houses, illustrators and writers of his time making editions. Since its opening, in 1914, the Champs-Elysées store has offered customers a reading and correspondence hall.
This tradition is followed in Louis Vuitton bookstores today, which offer a selection of art, fashion, design and travel books.
The Venice City Guide by Louis Vuitton
The Venice City Guide is published in French and English. It is for sale at the Louis Vuitton store, bookstores, museum bookstores, and a list of dedicated bookstores in Paris. The guide is new and unedited and will be on sale like this for two years. The guide consists of 400 addresses.
Louis Vuitton City Guides
For the past two decades Louis Vuitton has been publishing City Guides, dedicated to specific cities around the world. This edition is a reworked version for Venice. It contains a guided twenty-four hours in Venice with Venice Film Festival president Alberto Barbera.
Louis Vuitton and the history of travel
Founded in 1854, Louis Vuitton became synonymous with travel. The travel bags have had a footprint in their current travel guides, as Louis Vuitton remains committed to their mission. From the unpickable lock in 1890, to the Keepall bag, the wardrobe and the driver bag. Louis Vuitton has been the travel companion for luxury endeavors. Servane Giol is a Parisian journalist who has been Venetian by marriage for more than twenty years and she recounts the Louis Vuitton Venice City Guide.
