VENICE FOR BEGINNERS
When in Venice, without an insider guide, you will never have the chance of really exploring the city, far from the busiest areas, and you will never fully enjoy its uniqueness and mesmerizing beauty!
Every corner will remind you of a movie, a picture or painting you saw, of a book you read, and you will soon find out that Venice isn’t small, that you can walk for hours and there’s so much to say and see!
The presence of art and history is so pervasive here, and, with no cars at all, you will feel drawn back in time, while your guide’s words will conjure up the memories and the people of the past centuries.
Our guides will share with you their knowledge and personal experience, the present scenario, offering you a key of interpretation and not just a didactic approach. As if you were visiting Venice with a local friend.
And you can bet, we will get you into St Mark’s Basilica and the Doges’ Palace without stressful lines!
Our guide will be pleased to help you with suggestions about what else you can see and do in Venice.
LAGOON & ISLANDS
Murano, Burano, Torcello are the pearls of the Lagoon, they can be visited in few hours on a private water-taxi. Each island has its very distinctive attractions, it is certainly worth to stop over the three of them.
Murano for its glass industry and Museum, Torcello and its mosaics, Burano with its charming atmosphere.
In this section you will also find a couple of rowing boat experiences, to explore the Lagoon and the canals at a more ‘Venetian’ pace. Some drinking and food tasting off-the-beaten path may be also involved.
A photographic tour of the Lagoon will be a treat for any image-hunters. Burano colors will enchant you!
KIDS & DISCOVERIES
St Mark’s Square, the Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge…Venice may look like a videogame but has a surprisingly rich history and a handful of legendary figures, such as Marco Polo, Casanova, Vivaldi.
Walking around is extremely pleasant, at every turn a surprise…navigating the 150 canals an adventure!
San Marco, Cannaregio, Castello, San Polo, Santa Croce, Dorsoduro are the names of the six ‘sestieri’, each of these districts has its own peculiarities and its own charm, its own ‘best gelato’ and intriguing stories…
Our tours will help you to understand how and why the city was built on water, how it became so powerful.
You will bring home with you loving and lasting memories, you will look forward to coming back soon!
ART & HISTORY
Like Florence, Rome, Naples, Siena, Pisa, Verona and many other Italian towns, Venice is a living museum.
Since the Middle Ages a well-organized city state, it based its wealth on international trading. It became a cultural bridge between Europe and the Near & Middle East. It was also an important industrial center.
The arts flourished for a thousand years. Venetian painters such a Titian and Tintoretto gave a unique contribution. Music, theater, opera, literature, printing, craftmanship developed immensely here.
Venice & its Lagoon have been UNESCO’s World Heritage since 1987. Need to spend here at least 5 days.
CONTEMPORARY & PHOTO
Far from being just a city of the past, Venice also shines for the extraordinary quality of its modern art collections, both private and public: Mariano Fortuny Museum, Ca’ Pesaro and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection on the Grand Canal, the International Biennale of the Visual Arts and the Architectural one.
We also keep an eye on the momentous exhibits inside the two venues of the François Pinault Collection.
In this section a small choice of photographic tours: Venice has always inspired the eye of painters, photographers, movie makers, and we have no doubt that will entice your imagination at every step.
GOURMET & LIFESTYLE
Venetians cherish the simple pleasures of life. Every day they must eat and drink something good!
If you want to be Venetian for one day start with breakfast standing in one of the many ‘pastries & coffee’ spots dotting the Rialto food market area, where you come often to buy fresh fish fruits and vegetables.
Around 11.00: time for a first glass of wine, or for a spritz, and a couple of ‘cicheti’, or finger-food.
Afternoon: hot chocolate or coffee at one of the historical cafes. In 2020 Café’ Florian will be 300 years old.
Lunch and/or Dinner: preparing what you bought at the market, with an eye to traditional Venetian cuisine.
Our wine & food tours and cooking experiences will help you to feel ‘local’ and delight your palate as well.
CONNOISSEURS & SHOPPING
“If you read a lot, nothing is as great as you’ve imagined. Venice is _ Venice is better.” (Fran Lebowitz)
Venice deserves multiple stays… every time you come you can focus on a different topic.
This section is for those that like to investigate a bit deeper, examining aspects of Venice and its civilization that might not have been touched on a first visit: music, medical history, craftmanship, cinema, literature.
Some suggested tours are dedicated to specific themes, such as Venetian Jewry, women’s history, historical figures, discerning shopping in artisans’ ateliers. We can customize your tours as well… please write!
VENICE AT A SLOWER PACE
If ‘quality over quantity’ is your motto then you can savor Venice in style with our ‘slow tours’, involving limited walking around the city, proposing a variety of peaceful canals and Lagoon private water-taxi rides.
Enjoy inspiring food and wine tastings. Visit artisans’ ateliers and exclusive shops – away from the crowds. Take part into cooking classes. Visit museums and exhibits privately. Unwind… and absorb the beauty!
We can also give a hand suggesting most comfortable and charming boutique hotels and advising about restaurants. Venice can be paradise or hell… let us help to make your stay a true vacation, not a rush.
VERONA, VICENZA, DOLOMITES & MORE…
The Veneto Region is blessed by a row of spectacular historical cities, easy to reach by train or by car: Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Treviso – hard to tell which is the most attractive, better visit them all!
If you prefer instead to leave the cities behind and immerse yourselves in the natural landscape, you can choose among scenic mountains, uncontaminated lakes, verdant hills dotted with vineyards and castles.
Should you be more on the foodie side, or should you be interested in tasting some good local wines, the Veneto will appear to you like a garden full of wondrous delights…! You will not believe your palate!