Unusual Venice

These are tours for visitors who are already familiar with the main monuments of Venice, and for those who want to explore some of the lesser-known places. “Lesser-known” does not imply less beautiful or interesting: the riches of Venice are so profuse that few, even among regular visitors, have ever seen all that is worth seeing.

Of course unconventional travellers who seek for a totally different approach to Venice might find these tours even more attractive than the classical ones.

It is a “Venice Revisited” with the aim of taking you to discover some of the lesser known treasuries of the city, selected and combined together according to unusual and specific themes.

Places that sometimes are indeed alluringly arcane, while some are accessible only by special arrangement. Far from the crowd of tourists packing the main tracks of the City, you will almost feel that Venice discloses its secrets just for you.

See our 11 unusual tours to explore the Hidden Venice!

Byzantine Mosaics

The Byzantine Mosaics  in Venice, Murano and Torcello In its earliest days Venice was a province of the Byzantine Empire. Though soon emerging as an independent state, the cultural and artistic influences of Byzantium  on Venice were to remain  evidently strong…Continue Reading →

Mosaics and Icons

Byzantine Venice: Mosaics and Icons Centuries of commercial and cultural interchange with the eastern Christian Empire had lent earlier medieval art and architecture in Venice a strongly Byzantine character. Many artists from the Eastern Empire worked in the city producing…Continue Reading →

Gothic Venice

Gothic Venice: Ca’ d’Oro and Madonna dell’Orto The Grand Canal, as the “main Street” of the city, was meant to impress foreigners and delight natives. We have only a dim sense of what the canal looked like in the past,…Continue Reading →

Dawn of Renaissance

The Dawn of Renaissance in Venice: the church  of San Zaccaria, the Scuola degli Schiavoni  and the Miracoli’s Church Renaissance reached Venice relatively late, maybe due to a strain of conservatism in the Venetian character or to the perennial local…Continue Reading →

From St Mark’s to Rialto.

From St Mark’s Square to Rialto: what you don’t usually see when you walk through the most popular alleys of Venice You probably won’t believe it possible: walking down the most “people-jammed” alleys of  Venice, where you might have already…Continue Reading →

Castello and Shipyard

Castello: the old Shipyard,  San Francesco della Vigna and Santi Giovanni e Paolo Starting from St Mark’s, we will soon leave behind us the madding crowd of the Square to venture ourselves in the quiet and charming little alleys of…Continue Reading →

Baroque and ..ice-creams

Dorsoduro 1: Salute, Squero e gelato da Nico The massive round votive church of Our Lady of Good Health (Salute) dominates the inner basin of Saint Mark , where the Grand Canal run into it. It is the greatest Baroque…Continue Reading →

Poets and Writers

Venice seen through the eyes of poets and writers. Venice has captured the hearts of an extraordinary range of writers, all drawn to it to find their inspiration, or desperately seeking for consolation, or just for the sheer pleasure of…Continue Reading →

Music in Venice

Following the traces of Music in Venice: from Vivaldi to the Fenice Opera House A journey through the history of Music in Venice will take us to the area of the city where the Venetian celebrated musician Antonio Vivaldi was…Continue Reading →