Daily Life in Renaissance Venice

The Renaissance, the period from roughly 1350 to 1550, was a prosperous time for Venice, as the Venetian empire greatly expanded its overseas trading routes even as it was feeling a threat from the encroaching Ottoman Turks.

Meet your guide, a scholar of the city and the time period, in central Venice and begin a stroll through the city and over some of its many bridges. The guide might point out a symbol over a doorway or note the name of a bridge and explain how this reveals a great deal about what life was like for merchants and traders, fishmongers and artists. Learn about the social and political functions of the city’s squares and open spaces. And find out what some of the decorative motifs affixed to the façades of houses and palaces show about the politics and class issues of the time.

Visit the Ca’ d’Oro, a palace on the Grand Canal (entry fee not included in tour price), to learn about the layout and decoration of homes in Renaissance Venice. The tour also covers the clothing fashions, personal hygiene, etiquette, sex lives and leisure time of Venetians during the time period.

Depending on time and the group’s inclination, the tour might conclude at the Museum of Fabric and Costume History inside the Palazzo Mocenigo (entry fee not included in tour price). Get an up close look at the clothing of the day as the guide explains in further detail the function of fashion during the Venetian Renaissance.