Your tour, your interests
A private Hidden History tour can be anywhere in central Venice, at any time of day, and concentrate on the topics which interest you.
I can meet you at your hotel in the morning, 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.
If you have any particular interests, we can concentrate more on those subjects.
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.
Payment is normally at the end of the tour. I accept most credit cards (Visa, Master, AmEx, etc.) and, of course, cash. Payment in advance is also possible, but not a requirement.
You can book by email to info@historywalksvenice.com.
Alternatively, you can browse the available times, and book your 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.
These articles are examples of some the topics we can discuss on a private tour:
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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 open.
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Le Arti che vanno per via (1753) — Gaetano Zompini
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.
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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
What others said
A fascinating discourse exploring the nature of community and the intrinsic importance of culture
An outstanding exploration of the complex history of Venice. Rene is passionate, his breadth and depth of knowledge is impressive and his capacity to explore a plethora of subjects, with regard to the changing nature of Venetian life over the centuries was quite inspiring. We walked away with a far greater understanding and appreciation.
We would highly recommend this tour.
I wish we would’ve discovered René’s guided tour earlier and not only on our last day in Venice. We definitely would’ve rebooked another tour with him. René is very knowledgeable, and we learned so much about Venice’s history from him. We explored many hidden signs in the city, and he was able to answer all of our questions in much detail. You can really see that he is passionate about history! We would highly recommend this tour.
Thanks for some very exciting hours in Venice!
René told us a very exciting and living story about Venice. René’s way of telling made the long story of Venice manageable, easy to understand, and so interesting that we wanted to spend the whole day alone with René. Thanks for some very exciting hours in Venice!
Fascinating and broad history of Venice
My wife and I went on a tour this weekend with Rene (and his delightful dog!). Rene was a font of knowledge and was able to answer questions on any period of Venetian history. Helps to see Venice in a different way once you understand its history. Highly recommended.
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Amazing tour. A true historian with a font of knowledge. Gave us a lecture on the history of Venice starting with the ancient Roman empire…a perfect example of someone who believes you need to understand where you’ve been in order to know where you are now.
Thank you for giving us a glimpse and allowing us to appreciate what this city has to offer
Although we’ve barely scratched the surface, the tour was a fascinating introduction to Venice history, culture and complex society. René is extremely knowledgeable, very articulate and most importantly, a passionate storyteller. This experience has triggered our curiosity and I immediately purchased a couple of books to read more about the city. I also recommend René’s numerous blog posts, articles, newsletters, lists and translations, providing an idea of the range of possible subjects for discussion during the walks.
Excellent encyclopaedic knowledge
Excellent encyclopaedic knowledge. I wish I had prepared a list of questions, because I’m sure Rene would have had the answers!
Thank you so much for your time and sharing your knowledge!
René is SO knowledgeable about history in the area. René also does an outstanding job of connecting events and movements from around their world and their connections to Venice.