On the occasion of the tercentenary of Saint Petersburg, Vladimir Fédorovski stages the great moments of the romantic history of this unusual city created by the sole will of Peter the Great on the banks of the Neva. Peter I and his peasant empress, Catherine II and her vigorous companion Prince Potemkin, Alexander I and his occult muse, but also the great Russian and Western artists and men of letters (Pushkin, Dostoevsky, the poets of the Silver Age, the Chevalier d'Éon, the Marquis de Custine, Balzac) are the characters of this true novel which invites us on a romantic stroll in the Venice of the North. An astonishing journey through time and space, in the sparkling palaces of Saint Petersburg of yesterday and the winding streets of Leningrad, in the footsteps of the men and women who fell in love there. This book draws on archives from confidential funds recently made accessible in Russia and on previously unpublished testimonies. Pages marked by mystery, escape, adventure, and challenge.