Lagoon Stories of Venice

Leave Venice's footbridges behind and board a private boat from Fondamenta Nuove, where Venice brushes up against the open lagoon. This 2.5-hour excursion cruises past quiet islands and historic landmarks, offering a new perspective on the city — one shaped by wind, water, and fortification. As you glide past the Arsenale, you'll hear stories of how Venice once ruled the seas with a shipyard so efficient it rivaled modern factories. From there, you'll approach Forte Sant'Andrea, a 16th-century stone fortress designed to protect the city's watery borders. The route continues past Sant'Erasmo, Venice's agricultural island, and Lazzaretto Nuovo, the city's former quarantine station, now revealing its layered past through excavated ruins and quiet legends. With no stops other than at Forte Sant'Andrea, this is a journey of shifting views and thoughtful narration — a moving lens on a city built to float, defend, and endure. The route returns you to Fondamenta Nuove.

Most of Venice's millions of annual visitors never leave the city's footprint. The lagoon, which is what made Venice possible in the first place, is treated as scenery. This experience treats it as the system it is — defensive, agricultural, political — and gives you a few hours to see it from the water. This is not a detailed immersion in each of the islands, but a way to get your bearings in the Venice lagoon — to understand how everything was placed in relation to everything else, and how the geography you see still reflects the choices the Republic made centuries ago. Davide has a deep connection with the lagoon and is passionate about sharing it with visitors — he is as much a boatman as a storyteller – why Venice built what it built, and what those choices reveal about the city's history. As the boat glides past Forte Sant'Andrea, Sant'Erasmo, and Lazzaretto Nuovo, the stories Davide shares draw on lived knowledge of these waters rather than what's in the history books.

Davide is a master boatman and a storyteller whose roots are deeply intertwined with the Venetian Lagoon. His insights go beyond the historical, incorporating personal anecdotes and a deep love for Venice’s cultural heritage. Davide’s guidance transforms this experience into a narrative journey, making the history more palpable and the modern-day Venice more relatable.

Non-slip footwear for safety on the boat. A camera to capture the stunning scenery and unique moments. A warm layer for the cooler evening air.