Rialto Market & Secret Venice Tour with Cicchetti & Wine

Explore a charming piece of Italy in this tour of San Polo and Rialto market areas. You will have the experience of what Venetians do before lunch. You will visit an Osteria and have the chance to taste a few Cicchetti, Venetian tapas, with a glass of wine. But, the first-hand Venetian experience does not stop here. You will then cross over the Rialto Bridge on a special gondola which is typically used as public transportation. The Rialto market will put a spell on you as you explore it, gazing at its beautiful colors and smells. Learn about the history of the market as one of the richest and prospering of the western world. Then you will explore a little Campi (campielli in Venetian) facing the Grand Canal, where in a different time there were workshops for the gondolas. Walk through the Cannaregio district to see an old Venetian church that dates back to the 7th Century and was restored in the early Renaissance. You can relax on a gondola, as it crosses the grand canal to reach the other side of Venice, where Rialto and San Polo await you. Next, you will embark on a walking tour through some of the most hidden areas of San Polo. This is where spices, glorious fabrics, silk and many other goods were traded by merchants from the eastern and western worlds. Merchants needed places where they could sleep, eat and drink, and store their goods. The Venetian government sometimes gave these people entire palaces for this. The merchants also needed a way to relax and during this tour of the Hidden Venice, you will visit the medieval red light district of Castelletto. As you go even further into the Hidden Venice where new postcard perfect views appear around every corner and where you can enjoy the perfect charm of this quiet city, far from the mounds of tourists. You'll visit one of the most magnificent Campi (squares) of Venice - San Polo. The tour will conclude back by the Rialto bridge.