Inside the Lagoon — Stories, Places and Experiences from the Venetian Lagoon
Rooftops of Venice at sunset, looking out across the lagoon toward the mainland.

An independent view of Venice

Life, seen from inside the lagoon.

Stories, places and experiences shaped by water—the people, islands, rituals and quiet details that make the Venetian Lagoon unlike anywhere else.

Photograph: Paul Colin Hennig, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

The editors

Inside the Lagoon is reported, written and photographed independently—no hotel group or tourism board behind the byline. What follows are seventy field-researched features across seven chapters, each one an attempt to see the lagoon as the people who live in it do: tidal, particular and still very much working.

New stories

Six secrets
of the Republic

A saint smuggled under pork, a statue missing its foot since 1204, a shipyard built to outpace every rival, a mailbox designed for accusations, a bench broken into a new word, and a warehouse still reinventing itself after eight centuries.

Editorial photograph of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi's Renaissance facade along the Grand Canal, with a muted reflection in the water and a working boat, evoking the building's historic presence and connection to Venetian life.

Venice Now

The Fondaco dei Tedeschi: A Venetian Landmark Faces an Uncertain Future

Venice's Fondaco dei Tedeschi, a historic Grand Canal building, will close in 2025 as DFS Group's lease ends. Discover its past and uncertain future.

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Editorial photograph of a contemporary, abstract glass sculpture with a matte finish, nestled among green leaves and soft shadows in a historic garden, evoking a sense of quiet integration.

Venice Now

Contemporary Glass Finds a Historic Home in Murano's Museum Garden

Explore the Murano Glass Museum's 'Glass in the Garden' exhibit, showcasing contemporary glass art within the historic setting of Murano island.

Read the story
Editorial photograph of the newly renovated pavement on Fondamenta della Misericordia, showing its subtle integration into the Venetian streetscape, evoking quiet urban renewal.

Venice Now

A Quieter Foundation: The Recent Pavement Renovation on Fondamenta della Misericordia

Explore the impact of the late 2023 pavement renovation on Fondamenta della Misericordia in Venice's Cannaregio, a key area for local life and businesses and accessibility.

Read the story
Editorial photograph of a contemporary glass sculpture with celestial patterns on a workbench in a Murano workshop, evoking the 'Glass from the Stars' exhibition.

Venice Now

Celestial Visions in Glass: The Murano Glass Museum's New Exhibition

Discover 'Glass from the Stars' at the Murano Glass Museum, showcasing contemporary glass art inspired by celestial themes. Explore Murano's rich glassmaking history.

Read the story
Editorial photograph of mid-century modern Venini glass lighting fixtures in a museum display, evoking the innovative spirit of Murano design.

Venice Now

Venini's Legacy: Illuminating Mid-Century Murano at the Glass Museum

Explore 'Venini: Light 1921-1985' at the Murano Glass Museum. Discover Paolo Venini's impact on Murano glass and mid-century modern lighting innovation.

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Editorial photograph of a renovated historic building in Castello, Venice, possibly the former Imprese Marittime, reflecting soft light on its brick facade, with a canal and a working boat in the foreground, evoking the integration of new cultural spaces within the city's ancient fabric.

Venice Now

The Biennale's New Permanent Home in Castello: An Acquisition for Future Exhibitions

The Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia acquired the Imprese Marittime building in Castello in February 2024, enhancing its cultural footprint and exhibition capacity.

Read the story

Start here

Six ways in,
drawn from seventy

A small selection from the stories, places and experiences already published—a place to begin before you follow your own thread through the lagoon.

The covered fish market hall at Rialto, empty in the early morning light.

Stories

A Morning With Rialto's Market Vendors

Before the day-trip crowds arrive, the fish and produce markets run on a much older rhythm.

Read the story
Fishermen navigating a boat off the shore of Torcello island.

Places

A First-Timer's Guide to Murano, Burano and Torcello

Three northern lagoon islands, each built around a different trade, and how to visit each one without rushing.

Explore places
A traditional Venetian rowing boat moving along a canal.

Experiences

Learning to Row Venetian-Style

A first attempt at the lagoon's own standing, forward-facing rowing technique.

Find experiences
A flooded Venice street during acqua alta, with water reaching building thresholds.

Living Style

Living With Water: How Venetian Homes Adapt to the Tide

How Venetian buildings are engineered, floor by floor, around a tide that comes indoors.

Discover living style
The interior of a squero boatyard with a gondola under construction.

Culture

Gondola Construction: Inside a Squero

How eight types of wood become an asymmetric hand-built boat.

Explore culture
Fishermen working on the docks at Chioggia, at the southern edge of the lagoon.

Food & Drink

Moeche: The Soft-Shell Crab Season Venetians Wait All Year For

Why Venetians track the two brief weeks a year when lagoon crabs shed their shells.

Taste the lagoon

La vita veneziana

Style begins with attention.

To proportion and patina. To what the season brings to the table. To materials made more beautiful by use. Italian living, refracted through Venice, has always been a conversation between elegance and necessity.

Discover Venetian living style

An editorial compass

Follow what
interests you

Every chapter offers another way into the lagoon—from island geography to interiors, craft to cellar.

Stories

Portraits from the water's edge

Fishermen, glassmakers, market vendors and the households carrying lagoon knowledge forward.

Read stories

Places

An archipelago, not a backdrop

Sestieri, outer islands and the routes that connect a lagoon larger than the postcard suggests.

Explore places

Experiences

Ways to move through it well

Boats, workshops, wetlands and itineraries chosen for pace over spectacle.

Find experiences

Living Style

Everyday elegance, shaped by water

Interiors, ritual and the seasonal rhythms of a home built to live with tide.

Discover living style

Culture

Inherited, practised, renewed

Architecture, glass, print, music and traditions understood in context.

Explore culture

Food & Drink

From water to table

Lagoon ingredients, markets, bacari and the wine that fills Venetian glasses.

Taste the lagoon

Stays

A room within a place

Independent profiles chosen for character, setting and a relationship with the lagoon.

Where to stay

Our approach

Independent by design

How we research, choose, disclose and care for the stories we publish.

About the project