La Dolce Vita - Luxury Hotel Barge Vacation Venice Italy & Brenta River

LA DOLCE VITA
Luxury barge cruises - Venice, ITALY

Venice, the Islands of the Lagoon, the Brenta River, Padua.

Guests are met at 5 PM at Hotel Villa Goetzen in Dolo, just 20 minutes by taxi from Venice and Marco Polo Airport. After a welcome drink of Prosecco, La Dolce Vita cruises to the Fort of Sant’Andrea, the ancient Venetian artillery defence base, where we moor for the night and enjoy a superb fish dinner on board.

In the morning La Dolce Vita hugs the coast of Sant’Erasmo with its orchards and vegetable gardens and arrives in Torcello, the first island of the lagoon to be colonised 2000 years ago. We see the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, a beautiful example of Veneto-Byzantine style. We have lunch while cruising on the Siloncello canal and in the afternoon we visit Burano, a picturesque fishermen’s island in the northern lagoon. We walk through the colourful streets of Burano and visit the Lace Museum. We moor for the night on the calm waters of Burano. Dinner on board.

We start our cruise passing by San Francesco del Deserto Island, where we can moor and visit the monastery. We then proceed to San Lazzaro degli Armeni where we visit one of the most interesting libraries of Venice with 150,000 volumes and more than 4,000 Armenian manuscripts, some nearly 1,300 years old. The monks of the San Lazzaro monastery have welcomed visitors for more than two centuries. In 1816, Lord Byron visited the island twice a week for six months, studying Armenian and envying the monks' comfortable academic lifestyle. A plaque quotes Byron as saying, "The visitor will be convinced that there are other and better things even in this life”. We end the day with a short cruise around Venice to reach Murano and moor for the night on the Grand Canal of the island of glass. Dinner on board.

We visit a glass-blowing workshop in Murano. Then we move on for a tour of the Grand Canal in Venice aboard a water taxi and reach San Giorgio Island for our lunch facing Saint Mark. In the afternoon we take you on a guided tour of the Doge’s Palace and Saint Mark in Venice. Later you have some free time to visit Venice. We moor for dinner on San Giorgio Island.

This morning we cruise up River Brenta to Mira, passing by Villa Foscari in Malcontenta, a masterpiece of the Renaissance architect Palladio. We visit Villa Widmann, a typical Venetian luxurious villa with wonderful frescos. In the afternoon we move on for 2 more hours to Dolo, where we moor for the night. For those who like cycling, it is possible to follow the barge on a bicycle today. Before dinner we take you for a glass of wine at the old water mill of Dolo.

Further ascent of river Brenta to Stra, where we visit Villa Pisani, an 18th century masterpiece of Venetian architecture with frescos from Tiepolo. Whilst we cruise you can follow the barge by bicycle along the river and by the afternoon our cruise brings us in Padua, where we moor at Portello gate, one of the best preserved parts of the ancient city walls. We then visit Giotto’s Chapel and then we walk into the centre, which is as full of history as Venice herself. The Farewell Dinner will be at a restaurant in the centre of Padua.

After breakfast at 9 am you are transferred to Hotel Villa Goetzen in Dolo, Marco Polo. If you have an early flight or if you are staying at a hotel in Venice, we can make custom arrangements for you at your expense.