Alongside the history walks in Venice, and the work I do at the Lazzaretto Nuovo, I have decided to offer boat tours in the Venetian lagoon to some of the abandoned or difficult to visit islands.
So, if you want to visit the fortress of Sant’Andrea, get up and close to the island of Poveglia, or just want to visit the Franciscan monastery on San Francesco del Deserto, I can get you there.
Experience
Furthermore, I can get you there safely.
For various long-winded reasons, I found myself running a kayaking company in Venice between 2008 and 2019.
That experience ended for several other long-winded reasons, but it did leave me with a thorough knowledge of lagoon. I know the islands of the Venetian lagoon very well, in particular the abandoned islands. I know about how to get around the lagoon without getting in trouble.
There are very few lagoon islands where I haven’t been.
We need a boat
Last, but not least, I also have a boat. Not a fancy boat, but a practical boat. A boat that can get you to many of these abandoned or harder to get to islands in the lagoon of Venice. Even if the tide is not optimal, and the lagoon is rather shallow.
The boat is a modern topetta — a variation of a traditional Venetian boat, but in fibreglass. It is six meters long (about 20 ft) and can legally take four passengers.
The word topetta means a small female mouse. A mousette, maybe?
Where can we go?
Anywhere within 15km of Venice, without any problems. On a full-day tour, we can get further. With over fifty islands north and south of Venice, there’s lots to see and lots to talk about.
The Venetian lagoon is not a boring place, if you care about history, culture and nature. There’s an abundance of everything.
Read all the details about the boat tours. Prices are between €200-€300 for half-day tours, and between €350-€500 for full-day tours.
There are many islands in the lagoon, so I’ve made a list and a map of the most interesting lagoon islands.
I have also written about some of the islands, and extensively about some.
- The fortress of Sant’Andrea
- Lazzaretto Nuovo – the first quarantine station
- Lazzaretto Vecchio
- Poveglia – more than ghost stories
- The Certosa island
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