Venice

Here, Simmel contrasts the architecture of Venice to that of Florence. In the palaces of Florence, Simmel claims we perceive the outside as the exact expression of its inner meaning. By contrast, he claims that Venetian palaces are a veil that betrays the life behind it in the act of concealing it. In this way, Florence appears as a work of art because its characteristic image is bound up with an ideal of true inner life, whereas Venice is the artificial city of the mendacious beauty of the mask. The beauty of Venice is the beauty of life without roots - the beauty of adventure. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd