Anywhere you look, hidden history stares back at you.
An inconspicuous sign on a wall tells a story about long forgotten crafts and social welfare in the 15th century. Ancient graffiti under a portico reminds us how public transport worked in the 18th and 19th centuries. An oddly placed altar shows how faith was used to fight crime. History is all over.
The humblest of little signs on a wall hides a story worth being retold.
Even a short walk down the calli with a knowledgeable guide can teach you as much as a shelf full of guidebooks.
The Hidden History tour
I will meet you at your hotel, or at the restaurant where you’ve had lunch, or wherever it suits you in Venice, and we’ll walk around the city together, searching for messages from the past.
This is not a tour of great monuments and famous places. That’s all in the guidebooks, and you won’t need to for that. Rather, it is a search for all those little messages past Venetians have left around the city, that we don’t see even if they’re just in front of us.
We’ll talk about how social welfare worked in the renaissance, about the ancient links between Venice and the Byzantine Empire, about the Venetian trade on the Levant, and much, much more.
The hidden history is in front of our eyes, but we don’t always see it.
These articles cover some of the subjects we might cover on a hidden history walk:
-
Daghe adosso, Nino!
An Austrian admiral giving orders in Venetian, in a naval battle against Italy, which eventually led to Venice becoming Italian
-
Differentiated rubbish collection in Venice
Venice had an organised system of differentiated garbage collections from the 1400s, to keep the city clean and the canals…
-
Long live the doge
Viva il doge – Long live the doge – the writing on the wall celebrating the election of Andrea Gritto…
What others said
It’s the perfect tour to get to know the history of the city, and in a small group. Rene was a wonderful, knowledgeable guide. Answered all our questions and we enjoyed every minute of it. Would def recommend.
Our tour with Rene was fascinating, we chose it because we wanted to avoid the most touristy areas and really learn about the history of Venice. The tour with Rene did not disappoint, think of it as looking at Venice with a macro lens focusing on minute details. Rene will explain, how Venice develop led and changed throughout history, changes to canals and bridges as well as governance and wealth. He offered unique perspectives we did. It receive on other tours we did in Venice. As we were first time visitors to Venice we also did a “wide angle” tour of the touristy highlights. To even remotely understand the city, I recommend both.
René’s tour will change the way you look at Venice – he showed us a lot of small details that you can only understand once you know the history that he shares. He was incredibly generous with his time and knowledge and willing to answer questions in great detail. Definitely different than the typical walking tour – we didn’t go very far but got to do a deep dive into the smaller details that you can’t see without someone knowledgeable to point them out to you!
Prices and booking
The hidden history walking tour can be two or more hours. The more time we spend together, the more we’ll see and explore.
Group tours
Groups can be from two to eight persons, so everybody can see and hear everything. The tour lasts 2-2½ hours.
The price for group tours is €30/person for the first two hours, and €10/person for each additional hour.
Children under five can come for free, and children fourteen or younger for €10.
Group tours usually start in Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo, either at 10am or 2pm.
Please note that I don’t do these tours every day, so if you want to come, please drop me a message, preferably at least the day before.
Private tours
A private tour can start at a time and place of your choosing, and we can concentrate on whatever subjects you want.
A two-hour private tour is minimum €160 for the group, or €30/person. Longer tours are charged at €50, or €10/person, for each additional hour.
You can use this link to book a private tour directly in my calendar. You’ll get a confirmation email, and I will be notified immediately when you click the link in that email.
Meeting place and time
Group tours usually start in the Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo in central Venice.