Tripfiction pick the best reads for your destination of choice. Make room in your suitcase…

Venice. La Serenissima. A unique lagoon city, made up of 118 islands - joined by bridges, and navigated by aquatic public transport. The buzz of boats and the echoes of voices can be heard down the calli, campi and canali. The famous flock to the Biennale and the Film Festival, and tourists and travellers are enthralled by the crumbling Palazzi. One of the most beautiful and romantic places in the world - read about it all in these novels.

In The Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant (Virago)

1527 and the Sack of Rome. Fleeing from the battle are Fiammetta and Bucino - a beautiful courtesan and her dwarf companion. In Venice they court the grand and the wealthy, as they ply their trade of sexual favours. It is a fabulous life, until they meet a young blind woman, who plunges into their lives with devastating consequences.

City-Pick Venice, edited by Heather Reyes (Oxygen Books)

This book brings together over 60 of the very best writers on Venice: authors of novels, memoirs, diaries and more. Excerpts from their writing capture the feel of the city both past and present. The series is a wonderful way to catch glimpses of those hidden corners that visitors rarely get to experience.

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon (Arrow)

Donna Leon is the grande-dame of Venetian mysteries and presents the first in the series of 23 books (so far) featuring Commissario Brunetti. The famous opera house, La Fenice, has been at the heart of Venetian life, and many strange things have happened there. But when Maestro Helmut Wellauer is murdered during a performance of La Traviata, there is only one person to whom the authorities turn…

Join the ELLE Book Club here: This month's pick is Animals by Emma Jane Unsworth

Read the Baileys' Women's Prize for Fiction 2014 shortlist

Five of the best Venetian Bacari

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