Venice Talks

In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica Cesarato sits down with Elena Bozza, Head of Digital at Linkness and one of the voices of Face To Face, the program produced by a local television channel based in the Venice area that tells stories from Venice and the Veneto region.
Together they explore how Venice is communicated today: not only as a beautiful postcard, but as a living, working, changing city made of people, businesses, creativity, innovation and local voices.
Elena brings her experience in digital strategy, social media, community management, video content and media communication to a conversation about what it really means to tell a place like Venice in the digital age. How can local businesses communicate online without losing their soul? How can technology, television, podcasts and social media work together? And how can AI become a tool without replacing the human voice behind every meaningful story?
This episode looks at Venice beyond clichés, beyond likes, beyond the algorithm: a Venice that still has many stories to tell, if we learn how to listen.
In this episode we talk about:
Who Elena Bozza is and her role as Head of Digital at Linkness
Why local media still matters
The idea behind Face To Face and the importance of public conversations
How to tell a more real, modern and living Venice
Why Venice must be communicated as more than a postcard
What local entrepreneurs, creators and professionals reveal about the energy of Venice and the Veneto today
The future of local storytelling across TV, podcasts, YouTube, Spotify and social media
How Venetian businesses can use digital communication without losing authenticity
The most common mistakes small businesses make online
Why social media should not be the only place where a brand exists
How AI can help communication without making it cold, fake or soulless
Why community management, listening and human connection matter
How to create content about Venice that still feels fresh and meaningful
The importance of showing the people behind a brand
What kind of communication Venice needs for the future

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to Venice Talks, follow the podcast on your favourite platform, and leave a review. It helps more people discover the real Venice: not only the one seen in photographs, but the one made of voices, stories, work, creativity and everyday life.
You can also follow Monica Cesarato and Venice Talks for more conversations about Venice, its people, its food, its traditions, its artisans and the many stories that keep the city alive.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.
✨ Credits:
Hosted by Monica Cesarato
Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media
Guest: Elena Bozza for Linkness
If you love hearing the voices of Venice, subscribe and leave a review — it helps others discover these stories too.
💌 Want to share your own Venice?
Send me a short audio clip (1 minutes max) telling me what you loved most about the city — at info@monicacesarato.com.

In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica Cesarato welcomes back the story of Women for Freedom, an organisation dedicated to supporting women, girls and children living in situations of poverty, violence, exploitation and fragility.
After the first conversation in 2023, this new episode takes the story forward with Sara Memo, part of Women for Freedom, to understand what has changed, what has grown, and what still needs to be done.
The conversation begins with the heart of the organisation itself: dignity, protection, freedom, and the concrete projects that help turn compassion into real action. From there, Monica and Sara move into one of the most powerful cultural expressions of this mission: Women for Freedom in Jazz, the Venetian festival founded by Elena Ferrarese, now celebrating 10 years of music, solidarity and women’s voices in Venice.
This is an episode about listening. Listening to stories that are difficult but necessary. Listening to women whose voices deserve space. Listening to jazz as a language of freedom, resilience and connection.
Because in Venice, sometimes freedom does not arrive as a speech. Sometimes, it arrives as a song.
Show keynotes
What Women for Freedom does and who the organisation supports
Sara Memo’s connection with the mission of Women for Freedom
What has changed since the 2023 Venice Talks interview
How to speak about poverty, violence and exploitation while protecting dignity
The difference between charity and true solidarity
How emotion can become concrete action
The role of culture in raising awareness
Women for Freedom in Jazz and the vision of its founder, Elena Ferrarese
Why jazz is such a powerful language for women, freedom and resilience
The 10th anniversary of Women for Freedom in Jazz in Venice
Venice as more than a backdrop: a city that listens, hosts and amplifies stories
The future of Women for Freedom and the next chapter of the festival

If this conversation moved you, please subscribe to Venice Talks, leave a review, and share the episode with someone who believes that culture can still make a difference.
You can follow Venice Talks for more stories about Venice, its people, its voices, its hidden layers, and the projects that keep the city alive in ways visitors do not always see.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.
✨ Credits:
Hosted by Monica Cesarato
Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media
Guest: Sara Memo for Women for Freedom
If you love hearing the voices of Venice, subscribe and leave a review — it helps others discover these stories too.
💌 Want to share your own Venice?
Send me a short audio clip (1 minutes max) telling me what you loved most about the city — at info@monicacesarato.com.

In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica speaks with Laura from Maranteghe, a vintage and second-hand shop in Cannaregio where fashion becomes memory, identity and a small act of resistance.
Founded by Miriam, Sara and Laura, Maranteghe was born during the pandemic, among wardrobes to reinvent, forgotten clothes to rescue and the desire to create something with meaning. What began as a shared passion between friends became, in spring 2024, a physical shop in Venice: a “covo”, a little den, filled with pieces that carry stories, character and soul.
But Maranteghe is not just about vintage fashion. It is about giving clothes a second life, celebrating Made in Italy, listening to the stories hidden in Venetian wardrobes, and pushing back against fast consumption and the sameness of mass tourism. In a city too often reduced to souvenirs and quick visits, Maranteghe offers something slower, stranger, more personal, and beautifully Venetian.
Together Monica and Laura talk about friendship, style, sustainability, female energy, old clothes with new destinies, and the wonderfully ironic meaning of the word “marantega”, rooted in Venetian dialect and linked to witches, old women, sacred female figures and a touch of glorious mischief.
Show Keynotes
In this episode, Monica and Laura discuss:
How Maranteghe was born during the pandemic from friendship, wine and wardrobe reinvention
Why vintage fashion can be emotional, cultural and sustainable at the same time
The meaning of the Venetian word “marantega” and why it became the perfect name
How Miriam, Sara and Laura choose the pieces that enter the shop
The stories hidden inside the wardrobes of Venetian women
Why second-hand fashion can be a form of resistance against waste and mass-produced style
How Venice inspires style, theatricality and personal expression
Why Maranteghe stands against the “mordi e fuggi” tourist economy
The playful Venetian detail behind their logo: a lion sticking out its tongue, inspired by a medieval bas-relief in the Archivio di Stato di Venezia

Listen to the new episode of Venice Talks and step inside a shop where clothes are never just clothes. They are fragments of lives, whispers from wardrobes, and tiny spells stitched into fabric.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.
✨ Credits:
Hosted by Monica Cesarato
Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media
Guest: Laura Gamba from Maranteghe
If you love hearing the voices of Venice, subscribe and leave a review — it helps others discover these stories too.
💌 Want to share your own Venice?
Send me a short audio clip (1 minutes max) telling me what you loved most about the city — at info@monicacesarato.com.

Venice is a city that moves on water.
Every day, thousands of residents, workers, students and visitors step onto a vaporetto without always thinking about what happens behind that simple act of getting from one stop to another.
But in Venice, public transport is not a road, a bus lane or an underground line. It is the lagoon. It is the Grand Canal. It is tides, fog, wind, night shifts, crowded landing stages, sudden changes in weather, wave motion, and the constant responsibility of moving people safely through one of the most delicate cities in the world.
In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica speaks with Lorenzo Boscolo, President of the Associazione Capitani Navigazione Lagunare, and Agostino Benvegnù, Vice President of the association, to explore the world of Venice’s public water transport commanders.
Together, they discuss what it really means to command a vessel in the lagoon, the difference between a captain and a commander, the training and skills required for this profession, and the unique challenges of keeping Venice moving 24 hours a day.
This conversation also looks at some of the most important issues facing the city today: wave motion, overtourism, respect for public transport, safety on board, and the need to understand that a vaporetto is not just a scenic ride. It is an essential service for the people who live and work in Venice.
Through their words, we discover Venice from a different point of view: not from a postcard, not from a tourist map, but from the cabin of those who navigate its waters every day.
Key Notes
In this episode we talk about:
What the Associazione Capitani Navigazione Lagunare is and why it matters in Venice today
The difference between a captain and a commander
The path and training needed to become a commander in Venice’s public water transport system
Why navigating a public transport vessel in Venice requires far more than simply knowing how to steer a boat
The most delicate areas of the lagoon and the city from a navigation point of view
Why Venice’s public transport system is unlike buses, metros or trams in any other city
What it means to be responsible for a vessel full of passengers in a city where the “road” is made of water
The beauty and the hidden difficulties of life as a commander
The importance of remembering that vaporetti are an essential service for residents, workers and students
What it means to guarantee public transport 24 hours a day, through fog, rain, high tides, events and tourist peaks
Why wave motion is such a serious issue for Venice
The impact of wave motion on safety, boats, landing stages, embankments and the city itself
How overtourism affects the daily work of commanders
The future of this profession and whether young people are interested in becoming part of it
Which tourist behaviours make the service more difficult, and which ones would help everyone

Listen and Subscribe
This episode is an invitation to look at Venice differently.
The next time you step onto a vaporetto, you may notice the city in another way: the movement of the water, the precision of an arrival, the patience behind a crowded stop, the responsibility carried by those who keep Venice moving every day.
Listen to the full episode of Venice Talks and subscribe to the podcast to discover more stories from the people, places and voices that make Venice extraordinary.
Because Venice is not only a city to visit.
It is a city to understand.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.
✨ Credits:
Hosted by Monica Cesarato
Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media
Guest: Lorenzo Boscolo & Agostino Benvegnù from ACNL
If you love hearing the voices of Venice, subscribe and leave a review — it helps others discover these stories too.
💌 Want to share your own Venice?
Send me a short audio clip (1 minutes max) telling me what you loved most about the city — at info@monicacesarato.com.

What does Venice smell like?
In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica sits down with Joan Giacomin, Brand Ambassador for The Merchant of Venice, for a journey into the fragrant history of Venice. Together they explore how the city became a crossroads for rare ingredients, refined beauty, and perfume culture, and how scent offers a unique way to understand Venice beyond what we see.
This conversation moves through history, trade, daily life, and memory, showing how perfume was woven into the story of the Serenissima and how that legacy still lives on today.
Show key notes
Meet Joan Giacomin of The Merchant of Venice
Venice and its historic role in the world of perfume
The trade routes, spices, and precious raw materials that passed through the city
Rare ingredients, trade, and the global reach of the Serenissima
Fragrance in Venetian beauty, ritual, and daily life
The scents that best capture historic Venice
The Merchant of Venice and perfume heritage today
Why scent is such a powerful storyteller

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.
✨ Credits:
Hosted by Monica Cesarato
Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media
Guest: Joan Giacomin Brand Ambassador for The Merchant of Venice
If you love hearing the voices of Venice, subscribe and leave a review — it helps others discover these stories too.
💌 Want to share your own Venice?
Send me a short audio clip (1 minutes max) telling me what you loved most about the city — at info@monicacesarato.com.