Sounds of Silence

Gaby Wagner has called Venice home since 2009, which is more than enough time to appreciate the contrast between then and now: the endless throngs of cruise-ship weekenders inhabiting every square inch of this tiny city on water versus the scant few who stayed on once coronavirus restrictions went into effect. Suddenly the narrow streets felt “out of another world,” Wagner says. Canals morphed into “liquid mirrors,” reflecting the beauty of the Renaissance and Gothic buildings. Piazza San Marco was ghostly, deserted but for the pigeons. For the first time since anyone can remember, Venice belonged just to the places and people that inhabited it. Eight hundred photographs by Wagner, collected in the new book Venezia nel Silenzio, evoke the quiet of a city at peace, a glimmering silver lining to an otherwise disastrous year. —Julia Vitale