Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 The fire in Venice happened on Monday evening, January 29, 1996. Archimede Seguso, an 86-year-old man who lived in Ca' Capello, a sixteenth-century house in the heart of Venice, waited patiently at the dinner table before joining his wife in the living room to lower the curtains. #2 The Seguso family had been glassmakers since the 14th century. Archimede Seguso was the greatest glassmaker of them all, and he had earned the nickname Wizard of Fire. He had been making glass since the age of eleven, and by the time he was twenty, he had earned the nickname Mago del Fuoco. #3 The Gran Teatro La Fenice was one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world, and one of the most significant. The Fenice had commissioned dozens of operas that had premiered on its stage. #4 The Fenice was a theater in Venice. It had been closed for renovations and was due to reopen in a month. The canal along its rear façade was also closed, having been sealed off and drained so work crews could dredge the silt and sludge from it

Mode of access: World Wide Web