VENICE FOR CHILDREN – The history of Venice is so fantastic and the city so incredible that touring it cannot be boring!

During the Middle Ages it was, together with Genoa, Pisa & Amalfi, one of the Four Maritime Republics, that made their glory and money by ship-building, trading deluxe goods in the Mediterranean Sea, and conquering territories in far away lands. Sailormen, merchants, shipbuilders and warriors…

Venice is the city where Marco Polo, one of the most famous explorers was born in 1254. It is the city where Casanova was born, one of the greatest adventurers of the 18th century. It also gave birth to Antonio Vivaldi, the celebrated composer of hundred of concerts, whose music is still successfully played today!

A city with no cars, no traffic lights, were even ambulances and firemen move around by boat. Exploring its narrow alleyways, taking pictures of its meandering canals, learning about legendary Venetians, such as Marco Polo and Casanova will be part of the adventure.

Quite obviously Venice for Children begins with a visit to St Mark’s Square – as it is from here that the city was ruled. The architectures are quite surprising, as they mix exotic Middle Eastern domes and Moorish arches with more classic Roman statues and styles.

What immediately catches your eye is the number of symbolic animals and flying creatures, frequently painted in gold, or gold and blue, that enrich the already super fancy architectures.

Flying lions everywhere? A warrior killing an alligator? Horses galloping in the air? Your guide will help to make sense of all this…

The Winged Lion is the symbol of St Mark, who’s supposed to be buried inside the Church. He was brought to Venice 1,200 years ago by two Venetian merchants who stole the body in Egypt and covered it under pork meat!

The 4 Golden Horses stood once on the triumphal Arch of a Roman Emperor, but then Rome fell and they were sent to Constantinople, then Constantinople fell and they were brought to Venice. And then Napoleon came…! It’s a long, fascinating story.

After an hour or so Venice for Children  happily leaves the Square: it is beautiful but far too crowded! And there’s much more to see in Venice. A real traveler wants to go far and beyond…

Our private water taxi will wait for us not too far from the alligator (which is in fact a dragon) and we’ll start viewing Venice from the water. Part of our tour will be along the Grand Canal, to see the houses of the outrageously rich people of the past centuries, trying to imagine how they lived.

But we’ll also follow some of the minor water-courses, entering more secret and intriguing parts of Venice, and talk about how the city was built on mudbanks and millions of wooden pilings.

After approximately an hour our water taxi driver will say goodbye, our boat will leave, and we’ll continue investigating Venice on foot.

To refresh, after two long hours of strenuous touring, we’ll first stop for a very good gelato. The variety of flavours will impress you!  Forget for once your ‘chocolate and vanilla’ and savour stracciatella, hazelnuts, pistacchio, gianduja, malaga or, if you’re more for fruit, enjoy figs, strawberries, pink grapefruit, mango, and many others.