Masquerade Ball

Compared with the small building occupied by the Spanish merchants where Pomona and the others were staying, Ca' Rezzonico had a distinctly Western European air. It looked somewhat French rather than Mediterranean, after all, this palace reflected Venice's final glory in the eighteenth century.

It was not large, with only three floors and just three rooms across, yet it pursued luxury to the utmost. The dining room in particular was filled with the ostentation of the newly rich.

The Chinese said wealth did not last beyond three generations, and this was proof before her eyes. The Rezzonico family had not been born noble. They had been wealthy merchants who donated a large sum to the Republic of Venice when its treasury was depleted, buying themselves a noble title and having their family name added to the Golden Book.

Yet the family had risen and fallen within barely sixty years. This house had originally belonged to the Bon family, but neither the first architect nor the original owner lived to see the palace completed. Funding problems had left it unfinished for a time. Later, the Rezzonico family bought it from the Bon family and hired a new designer to finish the incomplete palace.

In the seventeenth century, Venice and the Ottoman Empire fought for dominance over the Mediterranean. By then, there was no longer a favored concubine like Cecilia Venier whispering slander into the Sultan's ear. Coupled with the Black Death and the westward shift of trade centers, the old nobility had declined. Instead, the purely wealthy could donate vast sums to the Republic of Venice and thereby purchase the rights of nobility.

The Golden Book recorded those who had made special contributions to the Republic. Donating money when it was short of funds counted as merit too. Centuries earlier, Steno,