Venice is a maze of narrow streets and canals. Follow the maze, just once… let the street decide by itself your route, don’t let your route dictate the streets you choose. Learn how to wander, how to roam. Lose your bearings. (Tiziano Scarpa)
Walking around Venice, you can see kids and teenagers playing with balls, bikes and scooters, or climbing old wells and ancient monuments. They play under the watchful eyes of their Mums and grandmas who chat and enjoy the Spring breeze or the last hot sun in Autumn, an idyllic scene set amongst buildings rich in history and works of art hidden in every corner. In Venice, there are no dangers; there are no cars centimetres from the pavement. Because of this, any Campo (Square) and any Calle (street) can be freely lived, tasted, experienced. This is the City that I love and the one that I want to introduce to people through my Itineraries: authentic, magic and out of time, far away from the crowd that invades the city centre every day without any respect for the very delicate balance which attracts such tourism and remains – almost intact – till nowadays.
To appreciate and admire the real Venice, I always suggest a relaxing walk in some of the residential and authentic areas of the city, after a visit to the magnificent St Mark’s Square, where everything you see forms part of a giant mosaic that depicting the wonderful history of the Serenissima Republic. After this, we will take a wander through the narrow calli (streets) and the winding canals that have been witnesses of Centuries' daily Venetian life. A brief stop is essential to try a Cicchetti (or “finger food”), a glass of good wine or gelato for the kids, to experience Venice through taste as well as sight. And how about taking a traghetto (the typical small gondola used by Venetians to cross the Grand Canal), instead of a crowded Vaporetto, to come back?