Venice Queen of the Adriatic

Rereleased onto DVD, these are the latest in a series covering cultural highlights in Western cities. Florence includes still photos of the great artistic masterpieces by Giotto, Michelangelo, Botticelli, and da Vinci. A very brief history of the role of the Medici family and the importance of the Renaissance serve as a frame to this video album. Venice focuses on the city's unique architecture, once again mostly through stills of the Palace of the Doges, Grand Canal, and Piazza San Marco. The ten-plus-year-old reissue offers scant mention of the pollution, danger to artworks, and general ecological frailty that the city faces from overtourism. New York is the most disappointing of the three. Starting with an organizing principle of how New York became a great city through the efforts of industrial giants like the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts, the DVD drifts to a pastiche of views of ethnic neighborhoods (all in Manhattan), a few good restaurants (at least one of which no longer exists), and a commercial for several department stores. Originally released in 1997, it includes a view and mention of the World Trade Center; an update would have been warranted. The only updates included are some web addresses for the listed museums, but, unfortunately, some of these have changed. Not recommended.-Herbert E. Shapiro, Empire State Coll., SUNY at Rochester (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.