This is perhaps the most beautiful city in the world. Venice – known as La Serenissima – captivated the hearts and minds of writers and musicians over the centuries. Bestselling author Peter Ackroyd presents the city through architecture, art, music and theater. In this episode, the author Peter Ackroyd discover the architecture of Venice in the footsteps of 19th century English writer John Ruskin. It traces the development of city buildings, the Byzantine period to the Renaissance, through the Gothic, and explores the remarkable cemetery island of Isola di San Michele, the last home of writers and poets. Henry James called Venice the most beautiful tomb in the world where the past “was put to rest with such tenderness, such sadness of resignation.”