VENETIA - the City & Republic bridging East and West
Not your usual Venice Guide: When our grandmother Lina opened her hotel in Venice in September 1968, she took a lot of time to explain Venice to her guests.
She told them about our neighborhood (San Zaccaria and Greek Venice), hidden gardens and a favorite campo where Marco Polo's family lived and worked. Stories and wisdom you can find nowhere else, and the city will open up in a very different way! This is the kind of hospitality we envision for all guests of Venice, so we invite you to join us virtually via this online class!
VENETIA is a three-step roadmap to discovering the real Venice as it existed until 1797. This online class is based on 185 books written by Venetian historians between 1250 and 2021, never published before in English.
I want to live in your Venice! You describe the city in such rich and loving detail. Such wonderful information about a Venice we usually don’t see! Thank you for lending me your eyes and your knowledge! - Kathleen Ann González
What can we learn from Venice?
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Module One: The adventure begins .. our unknown history
Venice will celebrates her 1600th birthday in 2021! Time to explore what made her look - and taste! - the way she does in the first place.. We start with taking you to our own neighborhood, which is San Zaccaria, first settled in the 4th century.
Discover 20 unknown and surprising facts about Venice, which will completely change the way you view this city.
We'll then take you virtually to San Lorenzo, Marco Polo's neighborhood, and we'll cover the one, really dark chapter in Venetian history, and what her true legacy is in our times.
6 lessons + 1 ebook + video walks
Module Two: In the footsteps of the pioneers: Explorers, merchants, artists
More than 900,000 books are written in Venet (just imagine, how much we DON'T know about Venice!), but what are they all about? Some are official state documents, while so many other books are about making human life better and more beautiful. In Module 2, we take you virtually into the homes of these books, the San Francesco della Vigna Library and the Venetian State Archive.
We also step into the merchants' realm, and you will discover how the merchants of Venice shaped art and culture in Venice.
The merchants brought back inspiration and spices to Venice from the Levant (Byzantium, Alexandria, Beirut, Damascus, ...). This brings us to finally discover the surprising story of the Rialto Market (NOT the fish market!).
6 lessons + 1 ebook + video guides
Module Three: Liquid Gardens: Building a home in the Lagoon
The merchants and artisans needed a home base, but what does it take to build homes and grow gardens on salty marshlands and islands in an ever-changing Lagoon? Venice almost wasn't built because of two major problems in a liquid and difficult environment, which slowly were aggravated by the 12th century: Seaquakes that had destroyed entire archipelagos like Malamocco, was just another risk ..
So, how did the Venetian engineers of the past succeed in preventing the city from drowning in the sea?
You'll discover the success stories, and mistakes, of the past in "The Seven Seas" as we travel virtually to the Ammiana and Santa Cristina archipelago, and you will see why four types of gardens helped preserve life in the Lagoon. And, we'll finally lift the secret of the spice gardens!
6 lessons + 1 ebook + video tours
Module Four: Culinary culture: Food, spices and wine
The Venetian State Archive is home to 43 miles (70 km) of shelves, filled with books written between 516 AD and 1797! We estimate that less than four percent of these books have been explored so far! Amongst them are recipe books (!!) covering medical and beauty food. This was the food eaten in Venice for more than 1000 years, and it was also well-known and loved in Europe.
Wouldn't that be useful knowledge for our times? Just think of the Venetian spice mixtures famous in Europe for 1,200 years, which went into food, beauty products and natural remedies.
After exploring the world of spices, we'll take you out into the Lagoon to see the vineyards! We'll share tips for you to taste historical recipes and wine in Venice, and you receive a recipe to taste at home :-)
6 lessons + 1 ebook + video guides
As usual, you bring Venice alive for my senses, even from seas away. - Arundhati Basu
Bonuses and little gifts for you!
We've prepared 3 bonuses and 5 little gifts for you to enjoy throughout the class
Bonus 1 - The gardens of San Zaccaria
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Bonus 2 - A Special Venice Travel Guide
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Bonus 3 - Le Spezie di Venezia: Private Community
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What's inside Venetia
See all the details: This is a class for residents, armchair travelers, first-time and frequent visitors.
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Welcome Message + How to benefit from this class
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Course book and syllabus
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Access the Private Community
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September 2020: Note for Students
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The forgotten world of San Zaccaria
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Download the e-book here (from September 2020).
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First impressions: How much of Venetia is there in today's Venice?
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Living in Venice: 1989 - 2019
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Beyond the legend: The unknown origins of Venetia
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Venice, the port, and the big ships
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20 snippets of Venetian history you didn't know
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Diplomacy and foreign policy: How the ambassadors saved Venice
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Le łéngoe vènete: Venessian, and the three official languages of Venice
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12 May 1797: The last day of the Republic
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Custodians of Venetian stories: Virtual visit to the State Archive and other libraries in Venice
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CREATIVE Venice: Marco Polo's neighborhood
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The artisans of Venice
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Venice Style Guide: Inspiration and color almanach
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Venice Design Guide: Life between mosaics and marble
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VENICESTYLED - Design Guide
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Rediscovering the unknown sides of Venetian cuisine
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Le sette isole di San Francesco: How to grow wine in Venice and the Lagoon
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Visit to Drogheria Mascari & spice glossary
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Venetian coffee house culture & Caffé Florian
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Historical recipe: Venetian coffee (14th century)
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Historical recipe: Creamy spice cake (12th century)
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The Lagoon of Venice for beginners
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The Sunset islands and the rebirth of the Ammiana archipelago
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Acqua alta: Why and when does Venice flood
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Hortus conclusus: The botanical lifestyle of Venice
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Marco Polo and the spice gardens of Venice
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About this course
- €52,00
- 37 lessons
- 4 modules and history guides
- Free updates, unlimited access
- Lots of surprise gifts inside
Meet your instructors

Lina Teresa
Associazione Cavalieri di San Marco, founder of three restaurants in Venice. Co-Founder of La Venessiana
info@laspezeria.com