Venice on Stage

Your tour starts in Campo San Toma’, close to Ca’ Centani, the birthplace of Carlo Goldoni, Venice’s famous eighteenth-century comic playwright. The picturesque historic home is located in the heart of the San Polo district, one of the most characteristic parts of town. Since 1953 Ca’ Centani has been open to the public as a museum dedicated to Goldoni and his plays. Surrounded by costumes, masks and an exquisite original marionette theatre, we will immerse ourselves in the sometimes decadent and frivolous world of Venice in the eighteenth-century. Here you feel like you are stepping onto the stage, an actor in one of Goldoni’s comedies. After Ca’ Centani, we cross the Grand Canal on the traghetto (the ferry-gondola), to continue your tour on foot in the San Marco district. We will visit the sites of former theatres like the Sant’Angelo and the San Samuele, where the young Giacomo Casanova played the violin. You will learn of the dramatic history of Venice’s renowned La Fenice opera house, consumed by fire on two occasions, most recently in 1996, but which has risen from the ashes to host premiers by famous composers and performances of opera stars and musicians. We conclude our tour close to the Rialto Bridge, in Campo San Bortolo, at the foot of the statue of Carlo Goldoni himself, the star of our show.