Links to Maps

Links to Maps and Itineraries

The church of San Nicolò and the Campanile in Perarolo as it exists today

Hi – I’d like to direct you in this post to some beautifully presented web pages designed by Pierluigi Artico.  As well as presenting much interesting information concerning the Veneto region (Venetia in the 19^th C) there are some lovely maps to view.  When writing my book The Door of Perarolo I took the decision not to include maps.  Instead I opted to let Fortin and his horse Éclair take the reader with them on their journey from Venice up the Piave valley to Longarone.  Hopefully, the reader builds up a mental map as a result of following this journey.

If you click on ‘Maps and Itineraries’ under Useful links on this blog and follow link No 6 you will see that the Piave River flows into the Adriatic north of Venice.  The section to river between San Donà and Cortellazzo is called the ‘new’ Piave.  The course of the river Piave (Fiume Piave in Italian – hence F. Piave on maps) was diverted centuries ago to reduce the depositing of silt in the lagoon around Venice.  The old course of the river is the Piave Vecchia, marked as such on the map.  In chapter 2 of the book, Fortin leaves Éclair at Musile (a place for the stabling of animals, nowadays absorbed into the modern city of San Donà) and travels to Venice (Venezia) via the Piave Vecchia.

Looking further north up the Piave valley (Map 5) you can find Nervesa (where the opening scenes of the book are set).  Further north still (Map 4) we can see Quero, Feltre and Belluno.  Capo di Ponte (a place name that occurs several times in the book) nowadays is called Ponte nelli Alpi (Map 3).  Map 2 takes us further north to Longarone, Codissago and Castello Lavazzo (nowadays Castellavazzo).  Map 1 takes us to Perarolo and, further north still, Auronzo. 

That's enough travelling for one post!  I'll write more in the next...

Note: This blog supports readers of The Door of Perarolo, a historical novel set in Cadore, Italy in the early nineteenth century.  You may examine feedback from readers in the UK here and in the US here.  The Door of Perarolo is a Kindle ebook comprising 140 chapters.  It can be downloaded from Amazon sites worldwide.  The launch post of this blog gives further details.

Launch of The Door of Perarolo on Kindle

This is a big portmanteau of a novel stuffed with history and adventure; humour and romance. It is set in Europe between 1810 and 1813 in French-occupied northern Italy, Austria and France.

Xavier Fortin, a young French forester, is sent to Italy and travels along the Piave valley to Longarone where there is a small French garrison.  Fortin is a civilian caught up in momentous events and he has no way of knowing just how much his life is about to change. France plans to rebuild its shattered navy and urgently needs timber for masts.  As Venice is under British blockade a most secret plan is devised for the smuggling of the masts along the river systems of Northern Italy; their final destination being the great shipyard at Toulon in Southern France.  The plan is the brainchild of a French naval engineer based in Venice, a hotbed of plotting, intrigue and unrest. 

In Vienna, Maria, the scheming wife of the feeble Austrian Kaiser, Francis, loathes the French who have taken the southern provinces of the Austrian Empire from them. Maria, from Modena in Italy, pulls the strings behind the scenes whenever the generals meet in Vienna in order to hasten the day when Northern Italy is part of the restored Austrian Empire.

But not all matters in Vienna are concerned with war and politics.  At the family home in Gumpendorfer Strasse, Karl Reithoffer is swotting for entry to the University.  Unknown to Karl his father has other plans relating to his son’s future career; should war break out again between Austria and France, the young man will be bought a commission in the army and become the pride of the family…

Note: This blog supports readers of The Door of Perarolo, a historical novel set in Cadore, Italy in the early nineteenth century.  You may examine feedback from readers in the UK here and in the US here.  The Door of Perarolo is a Kindle ebook comprising 140 chapters.  It can be downloaded from Amazon sites worldwide.  The second post of this blog provides links to maps, etc.