Venice Tours

Your guide will meet you at your accommodations for a journey through winding streets, small squares, and picturesque bridges to the ghettos vecchio, novo, and novissimo (old, new, and newest). The Venetian word “ghetto” referred to its officially-mandated Jewish enclosure, a 16th century mixture of imposed ordinances, lively everyday life, and generally tolerant cosmopolitanism. The Cannaregio area’s open air markets are where Venetians do their food shopping, and the tour will include a break...

Your guide will meet you at your accommodations. The collections in these museums are among Venice's greatest, ranging from Byzantine and Gothic paintings through Renaissance masters to contemporary art. The opulent, marble-faced Baroque palazzo of the Ca’ Rezzonico Museum, on the Grand Canal, houses art works and objects of 18th century Venice, including paintings by Pietro Longhi, Canaletto, and Francesco Guardi; a collection of Murano glass; and furnishings from an antique Venetian pharmacy...

Your guide will meet you between the square columns in Piazza San Marco to begin your tour at St. Mark’s Basilica. Begun about 1,000 years ago, the basilica has a strong Byzantine flavor due to Venice’s trade with the east. From there you will visit the Doge’s Palace, the residence and office of the head of state (a position neither hereditary nor elective), which today houses artistic, architectural, and historical treasures from Venice’s glorious past, and, finally, you will cross the Bridge...

Your guide will meet you at your hotel and accompany you to Piazza San Marco where your tour will begin with a walk around the square, with special attention to the outside of St. Mark’s Basilica, its Byzantine mosaic renditions of scenes from the life of Christ, and the history of the relics within the basilica. From there you will pass through narrow streets and small squares to La Fenice, Venice’s great opera house. Your tour ends with a private gondola ride.

If you are looking for a unique and memorable experience in Venice, you should not miss this private boat tour to Murano and Burano, two islands famous for their handicrafts and architecture. Your guide will pick you up at your hotel and will accompany you to your private boat. You’ll speed along the Venetian Lagoon and enjoy the stunning views of the city and its surroundings.

Your guide will meet you at your accommodations to discover the osterie (taverns) of Venice’s historical center. The beauty of Venice becomes ever more compelling when savored with local wine and cichetti (small appetizers) in some of the city’s most typical osterie. One glass of wine and one cichetto at each stop is included in the tour.

Your guide will meet you at your accommodations and accompany you to meet your driver. This region was, for most of its history, an independent republic, beginning life at the close of the Roman Empire as an outpost of refugees fleeing barbarian invaders; by the early Renaissance, thanks to some strategic looting and a location at the head of the Adriatic Sea, it had become an independent "republic" and one of the richest and most powerful cities in Europe. It did not become part of Italy until...

Before reaching Ravenna, your guide will show you Chioggia, an old fishing city with the canals and bridges of Venice but without its palaces and crowds. Moving back in time, you will tour Pomposa Abbey, an important Benedictine spiritual center near Ferrara begun in the late 800s in a simple Romanesque style; its lack of ornamentation and minimal later additions make it an excellent example of the transition from classical to medieval architecture. Finally, in the Neonian baptistery and St...