Venice Talks

Before Peggy Guggenheim became one of the most influential collectors of modern art—and before Palazzo Venier dei Leoni became her Venetian home and museum—she opened a small but remarkably ambitious gallery in London.
In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica Cesarato speaks with Gražina Subelytė, curator at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, about the exhibition Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector.
The exhibition explores the crucial years of 1938 and 1939, when Peggy founded Guggenheim Jeune, her first London gallery. During its brief eighteen-month existence, the gallery presented more than twenty exhibitions, promoted abstraction and Surrealism, introduced London audiences to major European artists and helped Peggy develop the vision that would eventually shape her celebrated collection.
Gražina guides us through this formative period, revealing a Peggy Guggenheim who was still learning, experimenting and finding her place in the international art world. We discuss the artists, advisers and friendships that influenced her, the radical exhibitions she organised and the archival discoveries that offer a more complex understanding of her development as a collector.
The conversation also explores the role of women artists within Guggenheim Jeune, the gallery’s controversial contemporary sculpture exhibition and the first signs of Peggy’s dream of creating a museum of modern art.
Presented inside Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, the exhibition allows visitors to look back at the moment when Peggy’s extraordinary story was only beginning—and to understand how her London years laid the foundations for the collection we know in Venice today.
Key Notes from This Episode
Gražina Subelytė’s journey into art history and curatorial work
Peggy Guggenheim’s life before she became a legendary collector
The opening of Guggenheim Jeune in London in 1938
How Marcel Duchamp, Samuel Beckett and Mary Reynolds influenced Peggy’s artistic education
The gallery’s extraordinary programme of more than twenty exhibitions in eighteen months
Kandinsky’s first solo exhibition in London
Peggy’s support for abstraction, Surrealism and experimental contemporary art
The role of women artists
The controversial contemporary sculpture exhibition
Letters, photographs and archival documents that reveal a more personal side of Peggy
The origins of Peggy’s ambition to establish a museum of modern art
How the London years anticipated the collection now housed in Venice

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Venice Talks and discover the story of Peggy Guggenheim before Venice—when a small London gallery became the starting point for one of the most important collections of modern art in the world.
Follow Venice Talks on your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a new conversation about the people, history, art and culture shaping Venice.
Follow Monica Cesarato and Venice Talks for new episodes, behind-the-scenes stories and more voices from the lagoon.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.
✨ Credits:
Hosted by Monica Cesarato
Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media
Guest: Gražina Subelytė curator at Peggy Guggenheim Collection
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💌 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 Sara Cattani, co-founder of Staging Alive, a new Venetian project created to bring fresh, joyful and high-quality live entertainment formats to the city.
From musical theatre to live performance, from historical costumes to private productions, Sara’s work asks an important question: can Venice still be a place that creates culture, rather than only a place where culture is consumed?
Together, we talk about the need for more accessible, inclusive and entertaining cultural experiences in Venice — shows that can speak to residents, visitors and new audiences without losing quality or identity.
The conversation also takes us inside Atelier Le Boudoir, the new spin-off connected to the historic costumes of Atelier Pietro Longhi: not a large costume warehouse, but a hidden dressing room near Campo della Bragora, surrounded by artisans and Venetian life.
A conversation about theatre, costumes, creativity, courage, and the dream of seeing Venice once again as a port of departure for new ideas.
In this episode:
How Staging Alive was born and what Sara felt was missing in Venice
Why musical theatre and joyful entertainment deserve more space in the city
The divide between “tourist product” and “local product”
How to create cultural experiences that can speak to different audiences
The role of fun, beauty and lightness in contemporary culture
The story behind Atelier Le Boudoir
The legacy of the historical costumes from Atelier Pietro Longhi
What it means to build a creative company in Venice today
Why Venice should not only be a destination, but a place that produces ideas
The dream of bringing Venetian creativity beyond the lagoon

Follow Sara and her projects:
Staging Alive
Atelier Le Boudoir

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.
✨ Credits:
Hosted by Monica Cesarato
Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media
Guest: Sara Cattani for Staging Alive and Atelier Le Boudoir

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 Sara and Virginia, the two friends behind Due Fie Venexiane, a digital project sharing Venice through the voices, flavours and everyday experiences of two Venetian women.
What began as a spontaneous collaboration between friends has grown into a lively online community, with videos, recommendations and downloadable guides helping visitors discover where Venetians really eat and how the city is experienced beyond its most famous landmarks.
Sara and Virginia talk about the friendship at the heart of the project, the different personalities they bring to their content and what it means to present their own city to a large online audience.
The conversation moves beyond food to explore Venetian identity, authenticity and the responsibility that comes with recommending small restaurants, bacari and local businesses in a city as delicate and intensely visited as Venice.
They also discuss how they select the places they feature, how they balance commercial collaborations with honest recommendations and why they decided to create detailed digital guides dedicated to bacari and seafood restaurants.
In this episode, we talk about:
The meaning behind the name Due Fie Venexiane
How Sara and Virginia’s friendship became a shared digital project
Their first videos and the growth of their online community
How they divide the work and combine their different personalities
What makes a restaurant or bacaro feel authentically Venetian
How they choose the businesses and experiences they recommend
The importance of remaining honest when working with local brands
Showing a side of Venice that goes beyond postcard images
Creating downloadable guides to bacari and seafood restaurants
The responsibility of influencing where visitors spend their time and money
Their hopes for the future of Venice and Due Fie Venexiane

This is a conversation about food, friendship and the power of telling a city’s story from the inside—with humour, affection and a deeply Venetian point of view.
Listen to the episode and discover Venice through the eyes of two women who live it, love it and are determined to share it with honesty.
Follow Due Fie Venexiane on social media to discover their latest recommendations, videos and guides.
And remember to follow and subscribe to Venice Talks so you never miss a new conversation with the people who make Venice the extraordinary, complex and endlessly fascinating city it is.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.
✨ Credits:
Hosted by Monica Cesarato
Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media
Guest: Sara & Virgina from Due Fie Venexiane
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 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.