Chioggia as real sea dogs

arrival in the afternoon: at 7 p.m. we have to be at the Ponte dell'Unione to board a fully equipped fishing boat that sails through the wonders of the Venetian Lagoon. We enjoy an aperitif with appetizers, pinzimonio and seasonal fruit, en route to the picturesque Island of Pellestrina, the southernmost and most colorful of the islands. Free one-hour tour of the island: the Pellestrina sunset takes your breath away! We will take to the sea again at the Bay of Pigs, in the middle of the Lagoon. Having found a briccola to dock at, in the quiet of the sunset, we enjoy an excellent dinner floating on the water, with a typical seafood menu

we visit the fish market, a magical place full of the flavors and smells of the sea, where we discover some of the traditional fishing techniques, as well as get to know the local fishermen and enjoy a special lunch. We still don't feel very seafaring: we miss a real Popeye pipe. Just around the corner, we find the workshop of the last surviving chioggio pipe craftsman. Giorgio Boscolo produces his unique pipes still as they were in the 1600s: made of terracotta and wood, poor elements but capable of creating one-of-a-kind products, true small works of art. We take a small tour of the bacari among the calli to taste the best cicchetti accompanied by good wine, guided by an expert local guide. Pipe and wine, we are ready to set sail: we take a bragozzo, a typical Venetian boat used for fishing, and relax a bit among the calli. Just a one-hour stroll through Chioggia's canals to learn about all its stories and fascinating legends. In the evening we witness a real play among the bridges and calli of Chioggia: Le Baruffe Chiozzotte, a comedy generated by Carlo Goldoni in 1762. Professional actors and Venetian dialect will make us feel immersed in an 18th-century Venetian play.

Today we have a truly exclusive experience planned: we head to a casone, a typical restaurant in the Chioggia Lagoon suspended on stilts in the middle of the water. We travel on a boat that gives us a breathtaking view of the lagoon and arrive at Casone da Sandro. Here we eat only fresh fish, even the only oysters raised in the entire Venetian lagoon! In the casone you can visit the small collection of contemporary art on display, listen to the sounds of the lagoon and its smells. We head back toward Chioggia. In case of a long weekend, we transfer to the WWF Oasis of Avreto from which we take another boat for a tour of the Fishing Valleys, a lagoon area where valliculture, or extensive fish farming, is practiced. We pass among fascinating casoni of different eras along the way, including the casone of Valle Zappa, a little corner of Holland in the Venetian lagoon. When the tour is over, we return to Chioggia, where we can enjoy local specialties at the Taverna Chioggia restaurant.

for this additional day you can choose between two alternatives: we take a final boat trip to Poveglia Island, then Lido-Alberoni and finally Pellestrina; Or we venture to Venice, where a visit to one of the last historic squeri, gondola workshops, awaits us, where we will learn about the history of this unique manufacture and participate in a Venetian rowing lesson.