Welcome to the island of Lido, our home base for the week. Beloved for its unique mixture of glamorous beaches, quiet neighborhoods, nature preserves and family-friendly lifestyle, Lido is a beautiful long spit of land that’s five minutes from Venice–but a world apart. We’ll be the only guests at Villa Ines, a boutique bed & breakfast set in an enchanting historical garden perfumed by Mediterranean herbs and old roses. Villa Ines also houses the cooking school Acquolina, founded by Marika Contaldo Seguso, our cooking instructor for the week. On this first day, you’ll get settled into your room and enjoy welcome drinks and a candlelit dinner al fresco in the garden.

Photos by Villa Ines

Venice here we come! While we’ll explore the smaller islands of the Venetian lagoon the rest of the week, today we go to Venice proper. After a leisurely breakfast at the Villa, we’ll hop a private boat to San Marco and get our bearings on the history and gastronomy of Venice. On a guided walking tour we will navigate the quieter areas of the city on our way to the foot of the Rialto bridge, where we visit Venice’s supreme outdoor food market for a crash course on local ingredients.
Then we will snack our way across town visiting several small restaurants famous for cicchetti, the renowned finger foods of Venice. We’ll end the tour by returning to Lido for some rest before our first hands-on cooking class with Marika, which will feature fresh local seafood and the seasonal produce spotted at the markets.

Photo by Milk Street

After an easy morning to explore Lido on your own, we will venture across the lagoon to the islands of San Michele and Sant’Erasmo, the vegetable gardens of Venice. Their terrains are moistened by the salty waters of the lagoon and Adriatic and produce intensely flavored vegetables as a result. This is a cook’s paradise.
On Isola di San Michele, we will meet the leaders of a local association committed to preserving and promoting agriculture in the lagoon. They’ll welcome us into their vineyard and orchard for a tour and picnic accompanied by wines they produce on the island. Then, we’ll visit Sant’Erasmo and a small beautiful farm that boasts a dazzling variety of seasonal vegetables. We’ll pick eggplants, fennel, peppers and more to become the centerpiece of the evening’s cooking class with Marika and our dinner at the Villa.

Photo by Acquolina

Today we shift our focus from food to the arts. Venice is renowned for glass and velvet craftsmanship and both industries are affected, much like agriculture and food, by an ever-changing world. We’ll get a deep-dive education into both. We start today in San Marco for an exclusive visit to Bevilacqua, the last velvet workshop in Venice. You will meet a small cadre of craftswomen who use 18th century looms to produce velvet. Then we’ll tour Giardino Mistico, a garden and vineyard within a Carmelite monastery and go for lunch of artisanal cheeses, grilled local vegetables and DOC wines. After that you’ll have the afternoon to explore San Marco on your own or return to Lido. We will all meet up in the early evening for a private sunset boat ride to the working fishing town of Pellestrina, a quiet village of colorful homes and a slower way of life. Awaiting us when we disembark will be an immense and lively feast of the freshest local fish prepared in traditional dishes.

Photo by Claudia Shwarz

On this day we will explore a pair of islands with a rich tradition of production. We’ll visit Mazzorbo Island and immerse ourselves in the history of Venetian winemaking. We start with a guided tour and tasting at Venissa Winery to learn about the fascinating revival of the dorona grape, a variety that almost disappeared during the infamous acqua alta, high water, of 1966. Thought to be extinct, it is now the shining star of the Venissa vineyards. After a wine tasting we’ll have lunch in the winery’s highly acclaimed restaurant. We’ll then stroll over a footbridge to Burano Island, most popular for its charming brightly colored houses and beautiful canals. We’re here, however, to learn about moeche, the famous green softshell crabs that are a mainstay of Venetian cuisine. In a fishing boat, we’ll head out to their floating hatcheries to understand how the crabs are raised and then we will get to meet and watch moecanti, the crab fishers, at work, a special experience available to very few, and learn about the traditional practices the moecanti have practiced for at least three centuries. We then switch gears to the sweeter side of Burano and visit Carmelina Palmisano at her historical bakery, where Carmelina will teach us about the art of bussolà, the classic Venetian biscuit. After a long day on the water, we’ll take the evening to relax.

Photo by Villa Ines

Enjoy a free morning to explore Lido by bike or head into town to visit museums or shops. In the afternoon we’ll reconvene at Villa Ines for a pasta intensive. In this half-day class, Marika will teach us how to make classic Venetian pasta dishes like spaghetti with shrimp, tomatoes and white wine, squid ink pasta and potato gnocchi. Some require fresh pasta, which we will make, and others dry pasta. Marika will teach us why. Each dish features a sauce we will make from the seafood and vegetables of the lagoon. After cooking, we’ll have a late, large and leisurely lunch together. The evening is yours to enjoy as you wish.

Photo by Acquolina

On our final full day together, we’ll be treated to a private tour of one of Venice’s most stunning attractions, the Seguso glass factory. Traveling by private boat with Marika’s husband and Seguso director Gianluca, you will get a rare insider-view of his family’s 34th generation business. After a light lunch on Murano we’ll head back to Lido to rest, pack and get ready for our goodbye dinner at Villa Ines, prepared by Marika.

Photo by Seguso Glass

Breakfast and Departures

Photo by Dan Novac