A literary journey that reminds us with the imagination of Marco Polo’s Silk Road and Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 days: if the furnishings of the new bookstore, in black boiserie, in fact, draw inspiration from the historic London bookstores of the end ‘800, the heart of the project recalls both the iconic elements of the luxury artistic perfumery brand and the most authentic Venetian style.

With this new location, inaugurated in May 2022, The Merchant of Venice continues the mission of the Vidal family, and in particular of its CEO Marco Vidal, to promote the art of perfumery and the Venetian manufacturing tradition through the enhancement of its history and artisan excellence.

Studium promotes literary culture and, in particular, the Venetian perfume art through a large catalog of international titles and olfactory training with the Perfume Workshops.

(Marco Vidal, CEO The Merchant of Venice)

Thus, Studium, which joins the other cultural projects by Merchant of Venice, including its wonderful flagship stores, Bottega Cini and the Perfume Museum at Palazzo Mocenigo, hosts a bookshop on the ground floor with a selection of over 10,000 titles (and the possibility to quickly order from a catalog of over 100,000 titles with free delivery) focusing on Venice and its history, art catalogs, fiction and children’s books, in English, French, German and Spanish, as well as a wonderful section dedicated to the imaginary adventurer Corto Maltese, designed by the great Venetian master of comics Hugo Pratt.

In addition, the bookshop offers a line of high-quality stationery exclusively developed for Studium and produced by Cartiera Artigianale Toscolano with themes related to Venice and in particular to the Marciana area.

On the second floor, there is a lounge dedicated to Italian and international fiction and the one-of-a-kind Perfume Bookshop with monographic texts on the subject and a large “perfume organ”; an olfactory library with over 200 essences, catalogued as if they were an ancient herbarium, that are used for composition and perfume training courses.

Here, among NasonMoretti’s Full Moon Murano glass lamps and the elegant shelves covered with a precious craquelé wallpaper in teal blue and gold, you can find real gems such as Le Petit Livre du Maquillage à Venise by Joan Giacomin which tells the secrets of the history of Venetian make-up, up to Anna Messinis’ History of Perfume in Venice.

Bookshop, stationery shop, location for events, perfume bookshop and olfactory library, thanks to the many presentations and workshops organized every week, including the famous Perfume Workshops by The Merchant of Venice, Studium is certainly one of the most lively and cultural centers in the lagoon city.

The Secret

The premises that host Studium belong to the Patriarchate of Venice which, a few meters further on, near the Bridge of Sighs, manages the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art “Sant’Apollonia” with its famous Romanesque cloister. The oldest in Venice, it belonged to the former Benedictine monastery of Santa Apollonia and was built between the 12th and 13th centuries. It is here, one of the most evocative locations in Venice, that The Merchant of Venice organized Studium’s opening event.

Useful Info

Studium
S. Marco 337
30124 Venezia
Tel. +39 041 5222382