Many guides and guide books can answer a lot of the ‘what’ questions about Venice, but very few can answer the harder ‘why’ questions. With my history walks in Venice, and boat tours in the lagoon, I try to explain why Venice is the way it is.
The over two hundred blog posts, long form articles, newsletters, lists and translations on this site should give an idea of the breadth and depth of the possible subjects for discussion during our walks.
My name is René Seindal, and I’m a Danish historian living in Venice for almost two decades with my Venetian family. I am an authorised tour leader (accompagnatore turistico) in English, Italian and Danish. Besides my walks and boat tours, I’m also a guide on the Lazzaretto Nuovo island.
All my activities are bespoke, centred on what interests you about the history of Venice. I only do walks in small groups, to leave time and space for dialogue, questions and interactions. There are no microphones or ear buds, I do not want to be a walking audio guide.
The tours are not as such targeted for children, but kids are very welcome, and I will do my best.
Tours on offer
Hidden History
A walk around Venice, exploring the many messages from Venice of yore, often hidden in plain view.
Plague Island
A guided visit to the island Lazzaretto Nuovo, where quarantine was invented to fight the Black Death.
Lagoon tours
A boat tour in the Venetian lagoon reveals that there’s much more to Venice than just the city.
What others said
★★★★★
Rene beats all other guides here 10 to 1
I took every available tour of Venice during my three days here. Rene beats all other guides here 10 to 1, he is simply the BEST story teller, accurate research, curious facts and attention to detail, very passionate about the city and loads to learn even for a book worm like me. If I could give him ten stars I would. He will definitely be my guide next time in Venice. You can miss out on all the other tours here but you will not have seen Venice if you don’t go on his tour. Thank you so much Rene for making this visit so special!
— Anna (Nov 2021)
★★★★★
Book this experience, you’ll thank me later!
Rene is a phenomenal story-teller and possesses such a wealth of knowledge on the history of Venice. If you want something more beyond the basic facts you learn on the mainstream history tours, this is the experience for you. He opened our eyes to a Venice we would have never seen otherwise and kept us engaged the entire time and even long after we finished the tour. From climate-change and political/socio-economic forces that shaped the city to ancient graffiti and chips on a blank stone that mean way more than you would think they do. This was, hands-down, one of the most valuable experiences we had as first-timers and lovers of history in Venice.
— Michael (Nov 2021)
★★★★★
Rene is incredibly knowledgeable
Rene is incredible knowledgeable about history in common and Venice in particular! he knows a lot about The history but also how it is to live in a city that is so special! ask questions and you will get tons of answers and he is someone who won‘t stop after the time is over, when he has time he will go on telling you stories about things you probably would not notice. we have done another typical tourist tour which wasn‘t good at all, so we can only recommend this kind of tours, if you are interested to hear something off the beaten path and where you don‘t have the feeling to being ripped off.
— Jörg (Dec 2021)
Venetian Stories – newsletter
Our email newsletter comes out two or three times each month, with stories about Venice, past and present, and updates from the web site.
Writings on the
History of Venice
On this site you’ll find blog posts, long form articles, newsletters, various lists and translations from the Curiosità Veneziane and others.
To bring everything together, there’s a single unified list of all the articles.
Recent writings
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Feast and Celebrations in Venice
The calendar of feasts and celebrations in Venice was full of events which are now largely forgotten.
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Scuole Grandi
The Scuole Grandi — or the Great Schools — were Venetian medieval charities which due to their wealth became important…
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The Venetian constitution
The constitution of the Republic of Venice never really existed. The Venetian nobility just made it up as they went.
In-depth article series
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Strada Nova – from the Station to Rialto
Venice changed from a city which primarily existed for its inhabitants to a city dominated by tourism, and the Strada…
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State institutions of the Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice changed continuously as conditions inside and outside of it changed, until it gradually found its final…
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The Venetian Lazzaretti
The lazzaretti in Venice were the Venetian republic’s response to the emergency of the plague, and an efficient response too.
Most popular articles
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Population 49,999
The population of the city of Venice has been in a steep decline for the last seventy years, and is…
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Old maps of Venice
Old maps are an important source for our understanding of how Venice looked and functioned in the past
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Archaeological digs in St. Mark’s square
Archaeological digs in the Piazza San Marco have uncovered parts of the ancient church of San Giminiano and a grave…
A list of some of the sources and publications used to prepare this site.
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