There was a time when you asked questions because you were looking for answers, and you were happy when you got them. Come back as a child: ask again.
(CS Lewis)
Can you imagine a child seeing Venice for the first time?
A magical labyrinth reflected on the water.
A city to be discovered holding hands.
A city where the ancient and the modern come together in the magical setting of glittering treasures, marbles, waters, legends and stories that run over the centuries. Even as adults this incredible city built on water is full of wonders.
It would be difficult to find a more visually exciting city than Venice. Each time you enter a calle you come across a new series of colorful houses, imaginative architecture or canals full of boats; there is always something that catches the attention of children, even for families with children of different ages.
It’s hard not to be inspired by the boats whizzing in and out of the canals, the people who disappear along the small streets and over the bridges, with the domes of the churches and the faded palaces soaring high.
A city where everything is so different: the streets are water, the pedestrian crossings are bridges, the cars and buses are gondolas and vaporettos, the windows are rarely square and the buildings are all the colors of the rainbow.
Venice is perfect for children because there are no cars and the little ones can have fun climbing and descending the bridges – do you know that there are well over 400? And they can run freely in the campos, as the squares are called here in Venice.
The best time to visit Venice as a family is definitely Spring. Compared to summer, it is easier and less tiring to go around the city all day. Compared to the winter months, however, spring promises a definitely better time and it is more likely to avoid inconveniences caused by rain such as the use of umbrellas in narrow streets or the use of umbrellas, which make it more difficult to use strollers and baby carriers.
And to make your children appreciate the city to the fullest, there is nothing better than to have it explained by guides who know how to interact with the little ones and make them participate in the discovery!
And here comes the Children’s Treasure Hunts in Venice, a new way of experiencing experiential tourism with your little ones, living Venice slowly and at the same time making them have fun!
We talk about it with Monica Gambarotto of Guided Tours in Venice, one of the first and greatest supporters of Anima Veneziana Project.
Who is Monica Gambarotto?
Hello! My name is Monica Gambarotto and I am a licensed tour guide for the city of Venice.
I love my job very much, I love meeting people of various cultures, from different places, and I am trying to bring a few drops of Venice into their lives, as if I were scattering little pearls of my city, from time to time collected by my guests and brought to the four corners of the world.
I like to bring to the attention those lesser known places in Venice, yet full of vitality, of lived life, of artisan shops where centuries of tradition are handed down.
I am particularly committed to bringing children closer to the Venetian reality, so that they can grasp, with their candid soul, the essence of today and yesterday. Because Venice is unparalleled …In the words of Josif Brodskij, “Venice. The only thing that could overcome this city of water would be a city built in the air””.
Why did you decide to support Anima Veneziana Project?
As soon as Monica Cesarato contacted me to present her project, I accepted with enthusiasm. The idea of the film seemed to me amazing, moving.
It is not only a question of paying homage to Venice, the Pearl of the Adriatic, but also of restoring its dignity as a city, from a historical, artistic, cultural, economic and social point of view.
A dignity too often ignored and even trampled on. Venice, in order to continue living, must be reborn, and we can all become architects of its rebirth, as citizens and as guests.
In recent months we have all worked hard to plan our future in Venice. “Anima Veneziana” goes further: involving all the city realities, it shows us the way to the future of Venice itself.
How do you dream your Venice?
When I dream of my Venice of the future, I realize that perhaps I am a little dreaming of that of my past, of my youth at university, when I began to visit it inch by inch, trying to unravel all its secrets.
It is a Venice made of chatter, of children playing in the field, of grandmothers talking to each other looking out from the windows on opposite sides of a street, of baskets lowered with a rope to receive milk or bread…
Of course, some realities will never be able to return, and maybe that’s okay, the melancholy for the old days can also be sweet. But we can certainly return to slowness, to the small neighborhood shops spread over the urban fabric, to the perception of the uniqueness of Venice, both by those who live there and by those who visit it.
My dream would be that the guests also see Venice in its elegance and fragility, that they visit it with awareness, because the destiny of this city is also in the choices of each of us.
I dream of a Venice inhabited by people in love with its uniqueness.
And I dream of being able to be an ambassador of its millenary culture myself.
Thank you Monica Gambarotto for your kind words and your constant support!
IF YOU WANT TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT LIKE MONICA GAMBAROTTO, DONATE BY CLICKING BELOW!
