4 Unique Experiences in Venice, Italy

You’ve finally booked your tickets to Venice, Italy. You’ve even found the perfect accommodation, your itinerary covers the must-see sights like Saint Mark’s Square, Rialto Bridge, the Doge’s Palace, and the Galleria dell’Accademia, you’ve also included the unmissable ride on a gondola, and a short trip to Murano and Burano.

But somehow you feel like you have left something out, that the Venice that you are about to visit is too fairy-tale like.

Burano

Not a bad thing really, yet you want to also have a sense of the real Venice – the Venice that locals experience and have come to love.

The Venice full of history and tradition, the Venice of the labyrinth of calle and small campi, the Venice of the water, and the amazing food found off-the-beaten path. If that’s what you are looking for, here are 4 unique experiences that you won’t want to miss.

4 Unique Experiences in Venice, Italy

Experience its traditions

Discover the hidden Venice, the one where you can walk for a good 15 minutes and not meet a single tourist! The one with all the washing hanging out to dry on the line, the one with the children playing hide and seek, the one with the old ladies having a chat from the windows of opposite buildings! That’s the real Venice.

Laundry hanging out to dry

Beyond the usual trails, Piazza San Marco, the Bridge of Sighs and the Rialto Bridge, there is in fact a set of streets, campi and legends that few people know.

Away from the river of tourists, who are held back by the fear of getting lost and are always seeking the usual routes, you can discover the hidden soul of this amazing city, the anecdotes of its daily life, both past and present, the secrets and the magic of this ancient city of water.

Talk a walk with L’altra Venezia (The Other Venice) in the ancient Venetian Ghetto, the first ever to be created in history, and located in Cannaregio, one of the oldest and most charming part of the city. Or make your way up to the Arsenal, the old Venetian shipyard where the unbeatable Venetian fleet was built, a city within the city.

The real hidden Venice

Or discover the importance of women in the life of this city. With the help of local Venetian guides you will be able to get in touch with the heart and soul of the city!

Water Experience

Everyone knows Venice is built on water, it’s full of bridges and canals. You can easily get around the city either by walking, using the public transport service called the Vaporetto (water bus), hopping on a water taxi, a much more expensive but unique experience, or you can treat yourself to a gondola ride, the oldest form of transport in Venice.

But did you know that you can also admire the city at water level by going on a kayak with the help of Venice Kayak? An incredible experience as you can imagine. It ‘s like going around on a bike in the streets but the only difference is that you are floating on a small boat.

It takes a little bit to learn at first: you must respect the direction priorities, the one way entries, give the right of way to the gondolas and be careful, especially in the Grand Canal and in front of Piazza St. Mark, due to waves of the vaporettos and the motor boats that dock at the piers. But with the help of Loretta, René and Marco, the people running Venice Kayak, you will probably have one of the best experiences in your life. As long as you can swim, of course!

Food experience

Many people associate Venice with bad food, due to the fact that for many years local restaurants, in an attempt to please American tourists, offered on their menu pizzas, spaghetti Bolognaise or Amatriciana. Not only is the quality of the food questionable but these dishes aren’t even typical at all of Venetian gastronomic history.

Filling up on some energy food before cooking begins!

Venetian cuisine is one of the oldest regional cuisines in Italy, dating back over a 1000 years, a cauldron of ingredients, flavors, traditions and influences. And the cuisine of the historic city, consisting mainly of fish, vegetables, risotto, polenta, is also different from the cuisine from the Terraferma, the mainland, which is based on animal meat, vegetables, risotto and pasta, and much more.

If you want to learn about authentic Venetian food and recipes, those that locals eat every day, then consider taking a cooking class with the help of  local cooks. Arianna and Monica, two real Venetian housewives, cook from a tradition which has been passed on from mothers to daughters for generations and generations.

Take a hands on cooking class with Cook In Venice in the countryside of Venice, learn about the culinary tradition of Venice and learn to cook real typical Venetian dishes and techniques, like the Saor (sweet and sour cooking), how to prepare the perfect risotto and how to make the original Tiramisu recipe.

Experience its mysteries

And if you love mysteries, legends and the supernatural, then do not miss a Food & Ghost tour of Venice. Monica, a local Venetian guide,  will take you to explore those corners of the city where some of the most horrendous crimes have taken place and where sometimes the spirits of the dead still like to linger.

Mysterious Venice

But the tour comes with an unusual twist, because it offers also the opportunity to taste some of the best wine and food which the city can offer, by stopping in few local osterie and bacaros, the typical Venetian small bars, which offer great local wines and the famous “cicchetti”, small snacks very similar to tapas.

Enjoying a glass of wine after a ghostly story

As you savor and enjoy some tasty “sarde in saor” or some “baccalà mantecato”, Monica will entertain you with some food and wine history as well as with more ghost stories. Too scared for a ghost tour? Then just take it easy and take a Cicchetti tour or a Wine Tasting experience, always led by Monica, and let yourself get lost in the flavors of Venice, and experience the city with your tastebuds!

Editor’s note: I reached out to Monica, a native Venetian, to share some experiences in Venice that are beyond the usual attractions. It’s always nice to get an “alternative” look at Venice, one that few visitors have the opportunity to experience but should. Thanks Monica!