Venetian Palaces.

RIZZOLI'S OTHER eminent book of the fall season is Alvise Zorzi's Venetian Palaces. As the author makes clear in his lengthy introductory chapter, Venice, like Rome, represents a hodge-podge of styles piled atop the soggy wooden pikes of the Realtine Archipelago. Although Venice, founded in the fifth century of the Christian era, naturally possesses no remains from antiquity, one finds there eminent examples of most of the other periods, Byzantine, Gothic, Early Renaissance, High Classical, Baroque, and Rococo. Zorzi devotes a brief chapter to each of over fifty palaces, beginning with the sturdy utilitarianism of the Byzantine Fondaco dei Tedeschi, moving on to the prickly Gothic of the Ca d'Oro and then to the full-blown glory of the Ducal Palace on Saint Mark's Square, which John Ruskin, who did not like much, considered to be the most beautiful building in the world. In the 42 color illustrations devoted to this Palace, we become intimate with that famous pink and white facade riddled with crenelations and sculpted arches that proceed with the stately rhythm of a Scarlatti sonata. Through the perforated ogees, we witness the merging of the blue sky and bluer lagoon, as well as the lavish interior, awash with the murals of Tintoretto and Tiepolo.

From here we pass on to the Biblioteca Marciana, designed by Sansovino in gleaming Istrian marble, and the Ci Rezzonico, by the finest of Venetian Baroque architects, Baldassare Longhena. Zorzi's relatively brief descriptions, full of interesting anecdotal details, are just enough to satisfy the curiosity of the average lay reader. The only real complaint that can be leveled against the book's production is that the print is unjustified-that is, the lines do not all end at the same point on the page, which creates ungainly and irritating serration. Who can explain this extraordinary lapse of judgment? Nevertheless, it seems to be something of the style these days, and one can only wonder how it got started, or how long it will continue.