The Venetian Vista is at the heart of our Slow Serenissima approach.
After meeting you we compile a summary with suggestions for routes your special day in Venice.
We call this your Venetian Vista. This Vista outlines your shared sense of the city.
At first glance it is a simple summary showing our clients that we have listened to their vision. It works well that way.
However your Venice Vista is more than that. It is your shared vision of the city. It’s the starting point for planning the specifics of your Slow Serenissima experience.
It provides the thread which guides us as we plan an individual day in the city.
We’re happy to plan more than a day, and include half days – just ask about costing as there will be discounts from the daily fee for a half day.
Your Venetian Vista is shaped by our conversation, it is your ideas and dreams for your vacation. However many clients we work with we know that two bespoke days will ever be the same.
In a Venetian Vista we pull together the main themes and suggest a few options for your day.
It brings together places, stories and history:
- places you would like to see;
- your interests;
- the pace you prefer;
- what you have enjoyed on any previous visits;
- how you would like Venice to feel – the atmosphere
For two people travelling together, the Venetian Vista includes a shared view of Venice and anything special for each person.
Your Vista also provides a keepsake from your time in Venice.
Helen & David’s Venetian Vista
Let’s imagine your individual Venetian experience. It’s about what is important to you both.
You are agreed that Venice begins with a long-awaited moment in Piazza San Marco: the world famous views seen through pictures and films. It finally becomes real. You could be standing in a Canaletto painting. The largest drawing room in the world!
We’ll take this into account and give ideas about how to make this happen without being surrounded by so many people that you don’t feel the full experience.
You also hope to experience a quieter Venice, exploring the back streets and ‘getting to know’ the city.
We can make sure you have time to notice how people live within this extraordinary place. It might be looking up at window boxes, a terrace high above you, or a campo where you look around and no one else is there.
The books and music you love should be part of the day we build for you. Here’s what you both thought were your priorities:
Helen’s Venice – tunes into Brunetti’s world, although not as a trail of locations. You’d like to get a sense of ordinary lives and look up and imagine the Brunetti family in their top floor apartment. We’ll make sure you see the Questura (even though it has technically moved to the outskirts now, Signorina Elletra, Vianello and Griffoni will still be opposite that church which was being renovated for so many years! )
So, exploring streets with faded, though beautiful façades, familiar neighbourhood places like Campo Santa Maria Formosa where people meet to chat and children play football.
Let’s bring that Venice of imagination,mystery that you have read about alive.
David’s Venice is similar in some ways, and different in others. It’s shaped by curiosity about how the city was built: how buildings meet the water, are the canals still emptied and cleaned, how people and goods move, and even how the streets are cleaned. This unique place with its systems for delivering parcels by boat, and the vaporetti (bus boats) with their low geared engines.
How does this improbable city continue to function in a modern era – and it does – while remaining a Medieval and Rennaissance jewel.
Your shared day needs space for significant sites, combined with wandering at an unhurried pause.
The Venice you recognise from the big screen, or created in your imagination from reading novels set in Venice.
So, we think your Slow Serenissima day should begin with an early morning visit to Piazza San Marco to gaze around and feel the atmosphere of the centre of Venice. The Cathedral, the Doge’s Palace, the elegance of the Istrian marble buildings. We’ll plan this as a separate section in case you choose to do this on another day.
We’ll give suggestions for visiting Rialto and the Basilica another day – and you have enough time to experience these places without hassle or hurry.
For your itinerary we think you could start by exploring a few places close to your hotel, around Santa Maria Formosa. After that a walk to the Riva degli Schiavonni and the Pièta Church for a Vivaldi moment.
We think it is important for David to see the powerhouse of Venice at the Arsenale where the ships were built. It’s phenomenal and often surprisingly quiet, with a bar to pause and take in the views.
Brunetti grew up in Castello so you will be walking through his childhood neighborhood.
We’re going to put in some ideas for an extension – a vaporetto from Arsenale over to San Giorgio where you will see magnificent views both ways. If you feel energetic you can climb the Campanile for the best view in Venice (shsh!) but rest assured there is a lift.
You have choices then of seeing The Redentore church of returning to San Zaccharia, braving the crowds for a few seconds before disappearing into the side canals and walking back to your hotel. If you feel adventurous and still have energy then we suggest a gondola ride would make a lovely ending to your Slow Serenissima Day.
We’ll add the information about seeing San Marco and Rialto differently – and you’ll enjoy the experience so much more.
This Vista would be difficult to transfer unchanged to another couple. Anyone could enjoy it – but it stands out as individual to Helen and David.
