Sarasota’s love affair with Italy goes back to the city’s earliest days. There’s the Ca’ d’Zan, John Ringling’s immense Venetian-style mansion on Sarasota Bay, plus, of course, the man’s immense Renaissance art collection, which includes the famous replica of Michelangelo’s David—so recognizable that the City of Sarasota made it its logo.
But that’s just scratching the surface. There’s also the city of Venice, not to mention the Asolo, named after a small town in Italy’s Veneto region where the 18th century interior of the theater was sourced, and Lido Key, which shares a name with a barrier island in the Venetian lagoon.
