Venice Talks

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 [email protected].

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

Call to action
🎧 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 [email protected].

In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica meets Shanti Ganesha, founder of Meracu, a contemporary leather workshop in Venice.
We talk about the first moment leather felt like a language, the leap that led to opening a workshop in 2022, and how living between Venice and India shapes a design identity that feels built into every piece, not added on.
From material to method, we explore how a hide is chosen, what certified vegetable tanned leather changes over time, and why some steps cannot be rushed. We also get into the unseen side of independent craft: refusing serial production, learning to say no, and answering the question every artisan hears sooner or later, “Can you make it exactly the same?”
A conversation about hands, time, and integrity, with Venice as a living backdrop where making still means something.
Show key notes
Shanti Ganesha, founder of Meracu, on building a leather workshop in Venice (2022)
Between Venice and India: how heritage becomes structure, not decoration
Choosing a hide, reading grain and scars, and working with certified vegetable tanned leather
The slow step you cannot rush and the signature gesture that reveals the maker
Refusing serial production, learning to say no, and answering “Can you make it identical?”
Looking ahead: collaborations, apprentices, and a five year vision for the workshop

Call to action
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.
✨ Credits:
Hosted by Monica Cesarato
Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media
Guest: Shanti Ganesha from Meracu
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 [email protected].

In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica sits down with Bryan Brazeau, Academic Director of the Warwick Venice Centre, to talk about what happens when a university and a city begin to think together.
We explore Venice not as a setting, but as a working intellectual environment, and Warwick not simply as an institution abroad, but as a way of approaching knowledge through place, daily life, and lived experience.
Episode key notes:
What Warwick and Venice genuinely have in common beneath the surface
Why Venice works as a living classroom rather than a historical backdrop
How place shapes academic thinking, research, and teaching
The experience of studying and teaching with the city, not around it
The dual identity of the Warwick Venice Centre, both local and international
What students carry with them after living and learning in Venice
A shared love for Venetian cuisine, and how food becomes another way of understanding the city
Why eating, cooking, and sharing meals are part of truly living Venice
The value of intellectual distance, and why studying elsewhere matters
Looking ahead: the future of the Warwick Venice Centre and place-based education

A conversation about learning, location, and culture, where ideas, flavours, and stories move slowly and stay longer.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.
✨ Credits:
Hosted by Monica Cesarato
Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media
Guest: Prof. Bryan Brazeau from Warwick Venice Centre
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 [email protected].

In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica speaks with Sergio Vidal of Atelier Martina Vidal Venezia, a family atelier that has safeguarded the art of Burano lace for four generations.
They talk about patience as a creative act, about heritage that does not live in museums but in the hands of artisans, and about the quiet strength required to carry an ancient craft into the present without losing its soul.
This conversation moves through memory, responsibility, beauty, and the fragile power of thread that, stitch after stitch, still tells the story of Venice.
Listen slowly. Venice is speaking softly.
Episode key notes
The Vidal family history and the roots of their lace tradition in Burano
What it truly means to preserve a craft that cannot be rushed
The balance between tradition and innovation inside the atelier
The role of artisans in keeping Venice culturally alive
Why Burano lace is far more than decoration or souvenir
The human and emotional side of working with a centuries old technique
The future of lace and why younger generations should care

If you love Venice, craftsmanship, and the stories behind the hands that make beauty possible, this episode is for you.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.
✨ Credits:
Hosted by Monica Cesarato
Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media
Guest: Sergio Vidal from Atelier Martina Vidal
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 [email protected].