Venice and its Lagoon

Stop. As soon as you arrive, before you even take a picture of the boats floating on the canal, before you get swept away by the crowds, stop and look at the city. It may seem strange to say, but Venice is first and foremost a city with a slow deep breath, made up of water, stones and people. If you really want to discover it, you have to adjust to its authentic rhythm.

Now start walking. Leave your mobile phone behind, forget the maps and navigators, follow your instincts: if you don't know where to start, let yourself be guided by the Grand Canal; if you are adventurous, get out into the streets, cross the fields and bridges; as soon as your attention is grabbed by a glimpse of something, pursue it; enter a covered underpass and abandon the main routes. Feel free to lose yourself. In the end, all roads lead to San Marco. And when you get there, the sky is turning orange and the marble of the Basilica reflects the final rays of the day.

When night falls, the hustle and bustle of the day dissolves, offering comfort in the taverns where the most genuine encounters take place, in the company of a shadow and a small tipple. With a full stomach and a free mind, you still have time for one last walk, in the strong embrace of the dimly lit streets or on the vast bedrock that show the dark and taciturn lagoon.

But Venice is not alone: it is the centre of an ecosystem made up of islands that you can only explore by crossing the waters of the Lagoon.
To the north, the land is pure and genuine, made of sandbays, reeds and silent islands where nature is the protagonist and art suddenly appears in the most unexpected places.
At the centre, the best-known islands are custodians of ancient crafts, art treasures and traditions.
To the south, the horizon widens and seems to merge into the sea, held back only by the narrow strips of land of the Lido and Pellestrina, where life flows with a balance all its own.

Venice and the Lagoon are two inseparable souls, which together create the journey.