Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice
Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice. Explore his deep connection to Venice, that inspired his novel, Across the River and Into the Trees.
First published in 1950, it follows the protagonist Colonel Richard Cantwell, an aging and wounded American soldier, based in northern Italy. On a wintry weekend he travels to post-war Venice, seeking solace and reflection. Haunted by memories of war and the inevitability of death, he makes a final pilgrimage to the same places (Harry’s Bar, Hotel Gritti, Caffè Florian) frequented by Hemingway himself. Cantwell finds temporary escape, in a romantic relationship with a young and beautiful Italian countess.
The plot mirrored Hemingway’s own extended time in Venice; where he also fell in love with the Venetian noblewoman Adriana Ivancich, who was thirty years his junior.
This semi auto-biographical novel, explores the infatuation with a young girl and an aging city; evoking questions of mortality, love, identity, society and the effects of war.
While his Italian experiences brought him literary fame, it was Venice that firmly established Hemingway’s legacy as a writer and artist.
Biography
Relationship to Venice
Literary Themes: Romance – Death and Decay – Transience and Social Stratification – Duality and Multiple Identity
More notable quotes
Photographic Note
Links (internal–external)
This post is a collaboration with guest contributor, Charlotte Seal.
“Sometimes I think we only half live over here. The Italians live all the way,” Ernest Hemingway wrote to his sister in 1919, upon his return to the US; after serving in Italy as an ambulance driver, for the American Red Cross during World War I.
Biography – Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was an American author and journalist, known for his stark, economical prose and adventurous life. Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Hemingway began his writing career as a reporter, before volunteering as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in northern Italy during World War I; having reached the Italian Front at Fossalta di Piave; via Milan, Schio, and Bassano del Grappa.
Unfortunately, he was seriously wounded near to the Piave River by a mortar shell explosion in 1918, just one month into his service . He was sent for a lengthy recovery to the American Red Cross hospital in Milan; where he engaged in a momentous love affair with an American nurse, Agnes von Kurowsky.
Hemingway’s WW1 experience deeply marked him, and served as the basis for his novel A Farewell to Arms (1929); which explores love and loss during wartime in northern Italy.
Hemingway’s distinctive, minimalist style, characterized by short sentences and understated prose,helped redefine modern literature. His major works include The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell to Arms (1929), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952); the latter of which earned him the Pulitzer Prize. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.
Hemingway was married four times (Hadley Richardson, Pauline ‘Fife’ Pfeiffer, Martha Gellhorn and Mary Welsh) and had three sons (Jack by HR, Patrick and Gregory by PP). His relationships were often turbulent, shaped by his restlessness and intense personality. His fourth wife Welsh referred to each of her predecessors as “graduates of the Hemingway University“. Despite his tough-guy image, he was a sensitive and disciplined writer, passionate about love, war, bullfighting, and nature.
Later in life, Hemingway suffered from physical injuries, depression, and the lingering effects of alcoholism. He died by suicide with a shotgun in Ketchum, Idaho, in 1961. His love for northern Italy and Venice left a lasting imprint on his writing and personal mythology, blending romance, war, and the beauty of place into unforgettable literature.
Relationship to Venice
In the years between 1948 and 1954, Ernest Hemingway visited Venice and the surrounding Veneto and Friuli Region three times – October 1948 through April 1949, January to March 1950, and March to May 1954.
Ernest Hemingway formed a strong bond with Venice, which he first visited after World War II, in 1948. Accompanied by his fourth wife, Mary Welsh, the trip was a spontaneous detour; as the ship they were travelling on heading to Cannes, had to stop for technical reasons in Genoa.
Deciding to make the most of this unforeseen event, they initially explored Veneto, reflecting on his war experiences; before finally heading to Venice. Although his watime service was on the mainland, he had never visited the city itself. During this trip, the Hemingways stayed at the Hotel Gritti Palace, a luxurious hotel located on the Grand Canal and only a short walk from Piazza San Marco.
Hemingway forged friendships with several noble Venetian and Friulian families. Though not a snob, he had a certain admiration for their lifestyle, a shared love of hunting and fishing, and their ability to converse in English. It was through them, that Hemingway was introduced to the young noblewoman Adriana Ivancich. Their developing relationship inspired not only much gossip among the locals, but also his novel Across the River and Into the Trees (published in 1950 and where Adriana Ivancich became a “Contessa”). Although the novel received mixed reviews at the time, it captured Hemingway’s emotional and physical attachment to the city.
He famously spent much time in Harry’s Bar, where he befriended its founder, Giuseppe Cipriani, and became part of Venice’s high society. Hemingway frequented the elegant Caffe Florian on the Piazza San Marco, a magnet for literary and artistic figures. He would often stay at Cipriani’s villa, Locanda Cipriani, on the island of Torcello; seeking refuge from social distractions, allowing him to write with renewed clarity and emotional depth. He also enjoyed duck hunting and writing in the nearby lagoon and countryside, particularly around Cortina and Caorle.
In 1950, the Hemingways left Venice to live at their home “Finca Vigía” in Cuba, located just outside Havana. In January 1954, the Hemingways were on safari in Uganda, where they survived two light aircaft crashes. The first aircraft cllipped a telegraph pole and crashed, but they suffered relatively minor injuries. The next day their rescue plane crashed on take-off and set on fire. Hemingway suffered serious injury including burns, a concussion, and internal bleeding. However, by March to May, they were back in Venice, where Heminglngway enjoyed his favourite curative for all his ailments – Scampi, Lobster and Valpolicello!
Perhaps what set Hemingway apart from other great writers, was that while others romanticized or philosophized Venice; Hemingway lived it physically – through hunting, hard drinking, and falling in love.
Back in Cuba, rising political tensions with the U.S. by 1960, forced their relocation to Ketchum, Idaho, where he passed away in 1961.
Across the River and Into the Trees – Synopsis
Across the River and Into the Trees (1950) is a novel set in post-World War II Italy. The story follows Colonel Richard Cantwell, a 50-year-old American officer, who is recovering from both physical and emotional wounds incurred during the war.
The novel begins where it ends, with the Colonel duck hunting in the lagoon. Quickly, the novel turns to the previous day, during the drive from Trieste where he is based, to Venice through Veneto. In Venice, the Colonel finds Renata, the young Countess who has been waiting for him. The novel follows the pair throughout the evening, and then again when they reconnect the next morning.
Finally, the novel returns to the duck hunt that opens the novel, where the Colonel begins to feel the heart condition that has been haunting him throughout the novel take sudden and grave effect. Before getting in the car to go back to the military base, he signs over his belongings to Renata, and dies in the back seat of the car.
Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice
“Reality and Illusion-15” by Ian Coulling FRPS*.
Literary Themes – Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice
Romance
Venice, with its labyrinthine streets, quiet canals, and timeless beauty, mirrors the complex nature of the novel’s central romance. The city, often viewed as a symbol of romantic idealism, creates an aura of mystery and escape, an ephemeral world where time seems to slow down. The relationship between the Colonel and Renata is portrayed as both passionate and tragic, with the backdrop of Venice highlighting the tension between the transience of human connection and the longing for eternal love.
The Colonel, whose life has been shaped by the horrors of war and the passage of time, struggles to reconcile the vitality of his love for Renata with the inevitable realities of aging and death. Though the Colonel adores Renata, his character is hardened by a life in the army. “‘I would take anything I love and throw it off the highest cliff you ever saw and not wait to hear it bounce,’” he says to Renata unthinkingly, showing how ingrained in him both irony and emotional detachment is. Thus, the Colonel spends much of the novel trying to soften himself to her, to make himself vulnerable to her and so to share fully in their shared love. Venice, with its decaying beauty and romantic charm, acts as a symbol of this tension: a city that is rough yet romantic, beautiful yet fragile.
In essence, Hemingway’s exploration of romance in the context of Venice reflects the bittersweet nature of love: it’s a beautiful, fleeting experience that can’t escape the inevitable pull of time and mortality. Venice, with its timeless elegance and decay, embodies this paradox perfectly. Both characters are just as aware of the decaying beauty of their city as they are of the decaying beauty of their love. Just as it is tangled up with the canals and bars of Venice, so too is their love entangled with its necessary end. “‘What happens to people that love each other?’” says Renata. The Colonel responds, “‘I suppose they have whatever they have, and they are more fortunate than others. Then one of them gets the emptiness forever.’”
Death and Decay
Venice itself, much like the Colonel, is on the brink of death, and both are equally haunted by the inevitable passage of time. He is a man already grappling with the aftermath of battlefield trauma, but it is his recognition of his own imminent death because of a heart problem that shapes much of his experience in Venice. Venice, with its old-world charm and inevitable decay, amplifies these themes. It acts as a constant reminder that even the most beautiful and romantic things in life are ultimately transient. It is the recognition of this transience that seems to help reconcile the Colonel to the thing that he has been escaping all those years. In allowing himself to become vulnerable in love, he seems to accept the end of his life for what it is, as portrayed in the quote;
“She kissed him kind, and hard, and desperately, and the Colonel could not think about any fights or any picturesque or strange incidents. He only thought of her and how she felt and how close life comes to death when there is ecstasy.”
In the end, death and decay are unavoidable truths in both the life of the city and the life of Colonel Cantwell. His final moments in Venice reflect a profound acceptance of his fate, shaped by the understanding that decay is a natural part of life. His love for Renata, fleeting as it may be, represents one last attempt to defy the inevitable, but even that is tainted by the understanding that everything is ultimately bound to decay.
The Colonel’s journey in the car away from Venice is like a final pilgrimage. He has accepted his death, and accepted that he must leave that which he loves, Venice and Renata, as he enters the car.
“Reality and Illusion-16” by Ian Coulling FRPS*.
Transience and Social Stratification
The world of the Italian aristocracy in the novel is in a state of decay. Post-war Italy has experienced significant economic decline, and the once-glamorous aristocratic class finds itself struggling to maintain its former lifestyle. Venice, with its crumbling beauty, serves as a metaphor for this declining social order, where old money and fading titles no longer hold the same sway they once did. This mirrors the personal decay of the Colonel.
In his relationship with Renata, there’s a suggestion that even in the privileged circles of Venice, people are feeling the weight of war, economic change, and social flux. While Renata is a member of the Venetian elite, she is also aware of her family’s diminished position in the aftermath of the war. Her relationship with the Colonel is also marked by a tension between the aristocratic expectations of her class and the new, transient world that Colonel embodies. The fading aristocracy of Venice and the city’s decline represents the shift in global power, where traditional European aristocracies are losing their significance in the face of American dominance and economic changes.
The relationship between the Colonel and Venice thus mirrors this larger tension: though he enjoys the privileges of wealth and status, he is still a product of a different era, one shaped by war and the shifting tides of global politics. His outsider status in Venice underscores the divide between old and new worlds, as well as the displacement and loss of identity as a result of war. This is best surmised in the quote “He was not a young man and it had not been a long time, but it had been a long time to him. He had been a soldier, a good soldier, and a good officer, but in this city, this country, he felt like an exile.”
Duality and Multiple Identity
At the heart of the novel, the Colonel’s identity is defined by his dual role as a soldier and as a civilian. The Colonel’s military identity is prominent in his demeanor, language, and sense of discipline. His conversations, especially with Renata, often carry a military tone, a rigidity that reflects his years of service. However, the Colonel’s personal identity is in conflict with this soldier persona. The novel shows that he is far from the stoic, unfeeling war hero; beneath his exterior lies a man deeply haunted by his past, his injuries, the loss of comrades, and his failed marriage.
As a man who has experienced immense trauma during his time in the war, the Colonel’s self-perception is fraught with contradictions. He is a war hero, but he sees himself as physically broken and mentally scarred. He cannot fully embrace any one identity; he is neither purely a soldier nor purely a man of peace. The Colonel’s physical decay, the constant suffering from his injuries, is tied to the decay of his personal identity. In his moments of reflection, he questions who he is, what he has become, and whether he can ever fully reconcile these identities. His self-loathing and yearning for redemption are driven by his hopes of resolving his fractured self.
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Hemingway wrote to a friend: “I’m a boy of the Lower Piave… I’m a Veneto’s old fanatic and I will leave my heart here”
“Reality and Illusion-17” by Ian Coulling FRPS*.
Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice
Here are some more notable quotes by Hemingway from “Across the River and into the Trees”, encapsulating his unique perspective on life and mastery of language. They reflect profound insights into life, love, courage, and the human experience, that still resonate with readers today:
“In order to write about life first you must live it.”
“There was nothing to it, gentlemen. All a man need ever do is obey.”
“I drink to make other people more interesting.”
“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.“
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
“Courage is grace under pressure.”
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.“
“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”
“The first draft of anything is shit.”
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
Photographic Note
In the imagery presented in this post and his three others linked below, Ian Coulling creates a new visualisation of the Venetian urban landscape. A single original photograph, together with three other horizontally and vertically reversed images; were combined to form a new composite. Photographs were selected for showing how direct and reflected light, acts at the interface of air and water; to produce the magic, of “reality and illusion”, or in other terms “solidity and liquidity”. Others were chosen, capturing reflected light only, giving a more abstracted effect.
In these composites, a whole new Venetian world opens up and strange image components appear; such as new and rather “fantastical” structures and often biomorphic forms. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. They are best viewed online at a large image size, so that you can really look into and explore the new visual world created.
The inspiration to investigate the potential of the composite image-making process, to explore the effects of multiple image planes, altered perspectives and space in Venetian urban scenes; essentially came from quotes made by artists, writers and poets over the centuries; regarding the “floating nature of Venice, its magical direct and reflected light and its mirror effects”.
Links (internal–external)
See many more of these images and learn how they were conceived and made. The are several ways to order the images into a block. The fascination is in its unpredictability.
“Depicting Venice – Ian Coulling”
In this developing series in the category of “The Literature of Venice”, we dive deeper into literary works about Venice; focusing on how each chosen author tackles common themes, and highlighting their most illuminating quotes about the city.
The Literature of Venice (Introduction)
Henry James and the Allure of Venice
Read all about Hemingways three favourite haunts:
Venice – Great Poetry and Images
VIDEO 11 mins Across the River and into the Trees: Paula Ortiz Brings Hemingway to Life
VIDEO 30mins Ernest Hemingway – The Early Years | Biographical Documentary
VIDEO 45 mins Ernest Hemingway – The Later Years | Biographical Documentary
Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice Ernest Hemingway’s Love for Venice