Gifts, craftsmanship, lights, and 1600 years of history. It is always the right time to explore Venice.
For the Christmas and New Year holidays, the city is full of lights and museums are open late.
It is always the right time to explore Venice, and as a year-end gift, we have prepared a series of Venice guides to discover creative workshops, art galleries, gardens, and cocktail bars.
Discover them all, and happy holidays!
Be inspired—let’s start from San Marco
The starting point of this Christmas itinerary is the San Marco district, the gateway to the city through its Piazza. In 2022, the Marciana area is enriched by a new place for culture and social gathering: after 500 years, the Procuratie Vecchie are opening to the public.
After having breakfast at Caffè Lavena in Piazza San Marco, under the porticos we find Valeria Boncompagni, the artisan artist who creates her jewelry using the lost wax technique. You can see her at work every day in her workshop under the Procuratie Vecchie. If you wish to create your own piece of jewelry, you can book a workshop with her.
The exhibition held in the Doge’s apartment at the Doge’s Palace, VENETIA 1600: Births and Rebirths, is an excellent way to learn about Venice’s 1600 years and all the planned celebrations. The exhibition is open to the public until March 25, 2022.
To enjoy the view of the San Marco Basin, right in front of the Doge’s Palace, a hot chocolate at Caffè Al Todaro is delightful.
Venice, city of diamonds
Venetian goldsmiths were masters of diamond cutting, and in Piazza San Marco, a Venetian family carries this important responsibility into the future: a member of the world’s most important Diamond Exchanges in Antwerp and Tel Aviv, Gabriele Pendini has transformed the Salvadori brand, in Venice since 1857, into a diamond and high jewelry atelier that combines craftsmanship with cutting-edge techniques: Salvadori Diamond Atelier. The photo is by Igor Serdyukov, and the model is wearing Peserico clothing.
For a gift to ourselves, we often go to the Royal Gardens, the garden of the Venetians—a place to restore oneself, listen to the silence, and admire the botanical restoration designed by landscape architect Paolo Pejrone. Until January 12, 2022, at the Royal Gardens Greenhouse, we can visit the exhibition presenting the restoration project of the Procuratie Vecchie in Piazza San Marco and their future: they will open to the public in spring 2022 and become the home of The Human Safety Net, the global foundation of Generali committed to developing people’s potential.
The exhibition, free and open Tuesday to Sunday from 9 AM to 5 PM, also features a large wooden model; we recommend walking through it to experience the restoration, new functions, and new spaces firsthand, and to imagine the future of the heart of Venice. Photo by Marta Formentello.
A solitary little house
In Campo Santa Maria del Giglio, we find a brick house covered in flowers that brings fairy tales to mind. If we look closely among the paving stones in front of the building and on the stones inside, we will find colored glass murrine. It is the workshop for Murano glass lamps and objects of the Bubacco Bros, brothers Alessandro and Sebastiano Bubacco.
The milliner who loves Panamas and the chic knitter
A hat is forever, and those by Giuliana Longo are unique, handmade, and customizable. From her workshop on Campo San Salvador, Giuliana creates wonders using various techniques in her family’s shop, which is over a hundred years old. A curious fact: this is exactly where gondoliers’ hats are made.
If knitting is your passion, at Lella Bella you will find everything you need to create knitted or crocheted scarves, hats, sweaters, bags, and dresses: rare yarns, Made in Italy products, plenty of advice on new techniques or trade secrets, and the possibility to order your custom-made sweater.
Continue reading to discover all the ateliers of San Marco.
In Rialto between design and spices
Rialto was the place of government, goldsmiths, fabrics, and banks. From here, the Serenissima directed its commercial empire extending into Asia, Africa, and Europe, and here precious goods, fabrics, spices, and perfumes arrived. This is the area of Venice that offers maximum inspiration due to the Rialto Market, which is over a thousand years old, and its concentration of artisan shops and ateliers.
The boutique of traditional handmade furlane slippers by Piedàterre and the small Tabinotabi atelier of sustainable seaweed fiber clothing are the results of Alessandra Defranza‘s creativity.
The last “traditional” jewelry store that practiced upcycling long before it was trendy is L’Artistica, located right in the Sotoportego degli Oresi, alongside creative design studios, jewelry workshops, and Murano glass and steel bead makers like Attombri, and contemporary glass art like the Sorelle Sent. In Campo San Giacometo and Ruga Rialto, we find master mask-makers like Sergio Boldrin (Mascarer.com) and sculptors like Sofia, a sustainable artisan who, in her surprising Atelier Volante, tells papier-mâché fables featuring wolves, foxes, bears, and magical owls. A special gem: there is also an antique puppet theater in the atelier.
The ritual of #SabatoVeneziano deserves a hashtag: market shopping and then, with bags, flowers, and children, everyone to the bàcari in front of the Pescheria, in Erbaria, in Campo Cesare Battisti, or Bella Vienna. The names of the bàcari, our taverns, are picturesque, historical, and evocative: Ai Storti, Ai Compari, Al Diavolo e l’Aqua Santa, Al Sacro e Profano, Alla Madonna, All’Arco, Ai Do Mori, Ae Do Spade, and Pescaria.
Not to be missed, before and after, are the historic pastry shops: Targa and Rizzardini, where you might meet director Mattia Berto during a moment of relaxation or a Teatro di Cittadinanza performance.
In Venice, it isn’t Christmas without the Frari Nativity Scene, which will remain open to the public from 9 AM to 6:30 PM until February 2. The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari dedicates this year’s nativity scene to the 1600th anniversary of the founding of Venice.
The most sensual of Venice’s cocktail bars is located in front of the Frari Basilica: Il Mercante di Venezia, a story waiting to be told.
In Dorsoduro, museums and bookstores are open until late evening
The Dorsoduro area is representative for its important universities and museums, which are open late during the holidays.
The Natale di Luce 2021 illuminations light up the city until January 9, 2022, and the Civic Museums are open in the evening to give everyone time to discover and rediscover the city’s artistic heritage.
There are many boutiques, artisan workshops, and independent bookstores around the center of the Venetian nightlife in Campo Santa Margherita: the handmade prints created before your eyes at the Small Caps studio, the fascinating lampworked and blown glass jewelry of Perlamadre Design in Calle delle Botteghe, the KANZ Architetti design studio and Libreria Bruno in Calle Lunga San Barnaba, the Libreria Toletta, and the two Marco Polo bookstores that never close (though they are closed on December 25 and 26). The first is in an old antique shop, and the second, recently opened, is called Usata.
Let’s not forget Venice’s only independent theater, historic and defiant, which has recently reopened with a rich season of shows, stand-up comedy, and a conspiratorial atmosphere that is so very Venice: the Teatro All’Avogaria.
Discover the entire area and its ateliers in the Venezia da Vivere guide to Dorsoduro.
Unseen Cannaregio
The Cannaregio district always has new places to discover!
Getting lost in Cannaregio is a pleasure. Here you can find ancient printing houses and artistic print shops where you can gift a printing course, such as the Bottega del Tintoretto, visit the spaces of Grafiche Veneziane, or meet artists at work at the Fallani Venezia art printing house.
Young female artisans and ceramicists create wonders in magical places: in Campo dei Mori there is Eat & Run, an atelier for wax candles and jewelry; in Calle del Forno, fittingly, the sweet Laura Aletti of LauraAndPottery bakes wheel-thrown ceramics and teaches how to grow avocado plants; while in Salizada del Spezier, the New Yorker and Venetian Michele Hickey Gemin of LAM Ceramica hand-paints her unique and poetic ceramics.
Bars, bacari, and café-bookstores are like many little houses overlooking the Fondamenta della Misericordia, where you can taste biodynamic wines at VinoVero, drink a good coffee at Torrefazione Cannaregio, or choose an illustrated children’s book while eating a vegan cake and drinking a Lunatico prosecco at the Sulla Luna bistro-bookstore.
There are many establishments and all deserve a visit. Read more in our dedicated guide to Cannaregio.
Authentic and magical Castello
Waiting for the next major art event, the Venice Biennale at the Giardini and Arsenale venues (we are waiting with bated breath for the press conference on February 2), the Castello district always offers new things to discover among tree-lined avenues and increasingly green gardens.
Having a coffee or stopping for brunch at the Serra dei Giardini is always a unique experience, welcoming you with its lush panoramic view of nature. It is also a nursery where you can buy special plants or gardening books.
A stop in Via Garibaldi is essential because it shows what the real Venice was like over the centuries: bustling with a thousand shops, restaurants, taverns, art galleries, stores and ateliers, a fruit boat, and many places for evening aperitifs and cocktails. In the splendid Viale Garibaldi is the headquarters of the Associazione dei Bochaleri, a center for passionate ceramicists testifying that Venice is also a city of ceramics. Its president is Daniela Levera, who has her atelier on the Sant’Anna canal along with Kirumakata, an atelier for precious metal and lampworked glass jewelry by Alessandra Gardin, near Cosima Montavoci, artist of the brand Sunset Yogurt, featuring unique Murano glass jewelry.
Campo di Santa Maria Formosa is crowned by historic palaces and features two museums in particular that were once the homes of ancient Venetian families: Palazzo Querini Stampalia, a city library and museum with a collection of paintings that exhaustively illustrates Venetian customs and traditions over the centuries, which also houses Carlo Scarpa’s masterpiece. In Ruga Giuffa, the Palazzo Grimani museum is the home of a unique collector, Patriarch Giovanni Grimani, who, in nearly a century spent traveling in the 1500s, created a very rich collection of statues in Venice. Note: look for a dragon in the house!
In Calle de Mezo, there is the small atelier of the young tailor Roberto Piffer, a recent discovery we like to suggest: we invite you to make an appointment with him to enjoy a good tea and give shape to creative tailoring ideas.
Some young artists and artisans you must get to know: Lisa and Orsetta of Rimani Venezia, the design & food concept store in Barbaria de le Tole. In the Sant’Antonin area, we find the tailoring of Daniela Lombardo of Patience Atelier, sustainable fashion that is also a community space with exhibitions by contemporary artists.
Continue your discovery of the ateliers and workshops of Castello in the Venezia da Vivere guide.
The article is by Lucia Pecoraro and Laura Scarpa.
Photos are by Igor Serdyukov, Lucia Pecoraro, Laura Scarpa, and Marta Formentello for Venezia da Vivere, and Nicoletta Fornaro for Sulla Luna.
