Ten of the best visits to Venice in fiction

For the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best visits to Venice in literature.

One title on the list:

Candide by Voltaire

Voltaire's satire whisks its naive hero around the known world to witness human folly and savagery. In Venice Candide keeps thinking he sees happiness, but then being disabused. The women are mostly whores and the richest man in the city is a jaded epicure. Even the singing gondoliers, he discovers, are faking contentment for tips.

Read about another entry on Mullan's list.

Candide is a book Rolling Stone political columnist Matt Taibbi reads every couple of years.

--Marshal Zeringue