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Venicescapes'
privately guided tours of Venice offer a unique, comprehensive picture of the world's most
extraordinary city. Conceived and developed only after years of meticulously
studying the many political, economic, social, and religious forces that came
together to create the city, these content-rich walking tours provide scholarly
insights and a wealth of fascinating information that simply aren't available
in standard guide books or guided tours and give the intellectually curious traveler
the unique opportunity to go beyond the clichés and urban legends and discover a Venice
of far-reaching historical and cultural relevance.
Rather
than visiting random, disconnected sights, these guided itineraries have been carefully designed
to focus on specific themes or eras in Venice's eventful history thus providing the context and
perspective necessary not only to enjoy the incomparable artistic and architectural masterpieces
to their fullest but to relate the individual sights to one another and to overarching historical
trends that show Venice’s place and importance in the greater world. They are consequently the
ideal way to explore and understand Venice and transform a standard visit into a dynamic, culturally
enriching learning opportunity. Even more, since each walking tour is privately guided in order to
favor dialogue and interaction, every sight and point of interest becomes a direct and personal
experience that will be long remembered.
For
a greater appreciation of the unique nature and unmatched quality of these itineraries, read
reviews and find answers to
frequently-asked questions.
Arsenal
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Story of a
Mercantile Empire
history and
urban development
Barbarians,
crusaders, pirates, popes, emperors, and saints all take part in
an exciting story filled with internal conflicts, deadly plagues,
and distant wars. In a
sweeping historical chronology, you’ll relive over 1000 eventful
years while winding through the picturesque streets of Venice and
visiting some of its major monuments and lesser-known sights: the
gondola building yard where master craftsmen still use
time-honored construction techniques, the splendid baroque Basilica
di Santa Maria della Salute, Saint Mark’s Square, and
the shipyards of the famed Arsenal among others. This is
truly a must-do for anyone looking to discover how and why the
major events that shaped the story of Venice affected the
world-famous city of today: its lifestyle, culture, architecture, and art.
full description, price, and availability
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Doge's Palace
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A Most Serene Republic
constitution and government
Relive
Venice’s tumultuous early period when doges were blinded or
overthrown in an attempt to gain control of a commercially rich Byzantine
province and witness the full flowering of the mercantile
aristocracy that once ruled the world’s wealthiest trading
nation and mightiest sea power. Through the gilded halls and
dark prisons of the Doge’s Palace, you’ll discover the inner
workings of Venice’s remarkable government: the ingenious
electoral systems, the controls to prevent intrigue, and the
penalties for corruption and abuse of power.
full description, price, and availability
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German Exchange
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A City of Nations
foreigners and immigrants
Cross
over ancient thresholds and enter into strange and exotic worlds
hidden in the very heart of the Mediaeval and Renaissance city.
From the golden, oriental splendors of the Greek and Armenian churches
and the solemn, dimly lit Dalmatian school to the once frenetic
trade centers of the Germans and Turks and beyond to the quaint
shops and richly decorated synagogues of the first Jewish Ghetto
in history, you’ll experience a completely different,
cosmopolitan Venice and hear about the people who came to the city
in search of fortune, about the difficulties they faced, and about
the role they played in the shaping of Venice and the Venetian culture.
full description, price, and availability
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Basilica of
Saints John and Paul
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The Splendors of Piety
religious life and art
From the imposing,
fourteenth-century churches of the Dominican and Franciscan friars
to the magnificent meeting hall of the charitable confraternity of
Saint Roch, you'll penetrate the aura of the sacred places created
for the glory of God and the prestige of the State to discover how
the city's greater artists responded to the call of faith and fame
and created the incomparable works of religious art renowned
throughout the world. The flowing, vibrant colors of Titian,
the violent shadows and dramatic light of Tintoretto, and the
aristocratic elegance of Veronese all await you in a world of
contradiction where piety and ambition contrast in an ongoing quest for divine favor and the
everlasting glory of man.
full description, price, and availability
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Marciana Library |
Custodian of Wisdom
education and humanism
Enter
the fascinating world of Renaissance education
where humanist-minded pedagogues work hand-in-hand with the ruling class
to intellectually prepare young nobles for government and to forge temperate
and stalwart rulers in emulation of the heroes and legislators of Antiquity.
Within the Marciana Library, Venice’s treasure house of classical knowledge,
you’ll discover how esoteric symbols and depictions of pagan myths were used
in its decoration to propagate austere Stoic principles and to
remind the noble boys who studied in the
Library that they were expected to work with diligence so that they
could one day rule wisely and
perpetuate through their actions the ideal of the virtuous noble – the devoted servant of the
Republic and of the public
good.
contact for further information
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Basilica of
the Most Holy Redeemer
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A New Rome
architecture and politics
Innovative
architects penetrate Venice's conservative circles with bold ideas, and
government officials, scholarly patrons, and influential clerics all line up for and against the radical building projects.
Political orientation, foreign policy, wealth, education,
and allegiance to Venice and its traditions all come into play when
proponents and detractors clash within the Senate. For Venice, architecture becomes
self-promotion as the stark temple fronts of Andrea Palladio's great
churches slowly rise and Saint Mark's Square is re-made into a
classical forum. At a defining moment in Venice's history, you'll go beyond the “façade” to understand
the city's need to evoke its origins at the time of the fall of the Roman Empire and
proclaim its government as the true heir of Rome's republican ideals.
This itinerary is currently in preparation.
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Great School of Saint Roch
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The Art of Salvation
painting and theology
of the Counter-Reformation
Step
into an age of inquisitors, heretics, and reformers and into a
city plagued by ongoing war and commercial decline. As the tide of Protestantism rises,
a weary Venice and a besieged Catholic Church join forces to ensure civic harmony
and defend traditional values and teachings. In this conflicting world of repression and renewal, of
reaffirmation and reformation, painting bows to religious dogma, and Tintoretto,
Veronese, and Palma Giovane create their celebrated masterworks to visually present the eternal mysteries of redemption,
impassion the faithful, and invoke the ultimate triumph of Catholic spirituality.
full description, price, and availability
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Saint Mark's Square
during carnival
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The Age of Decadence
gaiety and immorality
in the eighteenth-century
Revel
in the waning days of Venice when frivolity and immorality reigned
supreme and art and literature concealed rumblings of political
discontent. The lavish rooms of Ca' Rezzonico, filled with the
treasures of eighteenth-century Venetian art, the world-famous
coffeehouses of Saint Mark's Square, the ornate church of Santa Maria del
Rosario, and the private casinos
and theaters of the decrepit aristocracy swept away by the ideas
of the French Revolution all form the opulent stage for a world of
hypocrisy and folly. Against the backdrop of distant political and
social upheavals, masked merrymakers, gamblers, and courtesans
blissfully act out the final scene as the curtain slowly descends
on Venice's millenarian civilization.
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