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:
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Long live the doge
Viva il doge – Long live the doge – the writing on the wall celebrating the election of Andrea Gritto as doge in april 1523
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Daghe adosso, Nino!
An Austrian admiral giving orders in Venetian, in a naval battle against Italy, which eventually led to Venice becoming Italian
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Gaetano Zompini and the trades of Venice
The “Arti che vanno per via nella città di Venezia”, by Gaetano Zompini, is a fantastic source for how people appeared on the streets of Venice in the mid-1700s.
What others said
Una experiencia maravillosa. René logró captar la atención de toda la familia. Dinámico, didáctico y muy instruido. Definitivamente recomendamos a Rene para descubrir a una Venecia mágica llena de sorpresas y misterio.
René zeichnet kompentent und unterhaltsam ein Bild des historischen Lebens in Venedig. Er hat uns auf so viele Details aufmerksam gemacht, die wir ohne ihn nie entdeckt oder verstanden hätten. Perfekt für alle Neugierigen, die mehr als einen schnellen Überblick möchten. Wir sind mit vielen bleibenden Eindrücken nach Hause gekommen und haben wieder ein etwas anderes, genaueres Bild von unserer Lieblingsstadt.
I can highly recommend this tour if you want to discover more about Venice and it’s history. René has a deep knowledge of the subject and you can feel his enthusiasm. The walking part of the tour is rather short but it helps you to see Venice with a “trained” eye, which will help you to appreciate the different faces of the city even more than without the tour. I recommend taking the tour if you spend more than just one or two days in Venice in order to enjoy what you’ve learned when walking through the city.
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 €40/person for the first two hours, and €15/person for each additional hour.
Children under five can come for free, and children fourteen or younger for €15.
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 don’t just show up. I might not be there. If you want to come, please check the calendar of scheduled tours and use the links there to send me a mail, 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 €200 for the group, or €40/person. Longer tours are charged at €75, or €15/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.