Venice Talks

In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica sits down with Regina Maksimova and Alexandra Zagrebelnaia, the team behind Venice Art Insider, a platform created to help people discover and understand the extraordinary art world of Venice.

From historic masterpieces and museums to foundations, galleries, independent spaces and the Biennale, Venice Art Insider looks at the city as one vast cultural landscape. Regina and Alexandra explain how they select what to feature, how they build curated routes and how they help visitors navigate a city where art is quite literally everywhere.

The conversation also explores the relationship between art and place, the impact of the Biennale on Venice, the role of social media in the way we experience exhibitions and the challenge of making art accessible without oversimplifying it.

This is an episode about looking at Venice differently, slowing down and learning how to notice what is often hidden in plain sight.

• Who Regina and Alexandra are and how Venice Art Insider began
• Why Venice needed a clearer way to navigate its immense art scene
• How they choose exhibitions, museums, galleries and cultural spaces to feature
• The importance of connecting art with the neighbourhoods and architecture of Venice
• How the Biennale changes the city and what remains once it is over
• Discovering Venice beyond the major museums and famous masterpieces
• The different perspectives Regina and Alexandra bring to the project
• How social media is changing the way people discover and experience art
• Making art more accessible without losing depth or context
• How to approach Venice as one enormous, layered art experience

A conversation about art, Venice, discovery and the many layers of a city where masterpieces, galleries, museums and unexpected cultural spaces are waiting around almost every corner.

If you enjoy Venice Talks, follow the podcast and subscribe on your favourite platform so you never miss a new episode. And if you enjoyed this conversation, share it with someone who loves Venice, books and a good mystery.

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, Vivace Media

Guest: Regina Maksimova and Alexandra Zagrebelnaia from Venice Art Insider

If you love hearing the voices of Venice, subscribe and leave a review — it helps others discover these stories too.

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In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica sits down with Gregory Dowling, Philip Gwynne Jones and David Hewson, the three writers behind Venice Noir, Venice’s international festival dedicated to crime writing, noir and the darker side of storytelling.

What began as an ambitious literary idea has grown into a distinctive festival bringing together Italian and international authors, historians, journalists and readers in the heart of Venice.

We talk about how Venice Noir has evolved, how the programme is shaped, the relationship between Italian crime writing and the international noir scene and what happens when three crime writers have to agree on what actually belongs in a noir festival.

There is also plenty of discussion about growth, identity, literary festivals, dream guests and, inevitably, a little friendly disagreement.

Key Notes from This Episode

• How Venice Noir has evolved from an idea into an international literary festival
• The role of Italian authors within an international programme
• The relationship between Italian giallo and English-language crime fiction
• How Gregory, Philip and David choose writers, themes and events
• How broad the definition of “noir” can really become
• The festival’s relationship with the international crime-writing world
• What organising a literary festival teaches writers about being guests themselves
• How the three founders balance different tastes and ideas
• The challenges of growing while keeping the festival intimate
• The authors they would love to invite in the future

A conversation about books, murder, Venice and the dark literary creature that Gregory Dowling, Philip Gwynne Jones and David Hewson continue to shape year after year.

If you enjoy Venice Talks, follow the podcast and subscribe on your favourite platform so you never miss a new episode. And if you enjoyed this conversation, share it with someone who loves Venice, books and a good mystery.

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, Vivace Media

Guest: Gregory Dowling, Philip Gwynne Jones and David Hewson From Venice Noir

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 Simon and Jess from The History of Venice Podcast about the women who lived, worked and helped shape Venice across the centuries.

Moving beyond the better-known stories of noblewomen and courtesans, the conversation explores what everyday life was really like for Venetian women from different levels of society. From work and family life to money, independence, marriage and social expectations, Simon and Jess bring to light the stories of women whose contribution to Venice has often remained in the background.

The episode also looks at lesser-known female figures, the kinds of jobs women carried out and what historical records can reveal about their lives. A fascinating journey into another side of Venetian history: the city seen through the experiences of its women.

• Simon and Jess from The History of Venice Podcast on telling the story of Venice through the people who lived it.
• Lesser-known women whose stories deserve a place alongside Venice’s more famous female figures.
• What everyday life looked like for women from different social classes.
• The jobs and trades carried out by Venetian women.
• Women as artisans, shopkeepers, servants, market sellers and workers.
• Money, property and the economic independence available to women.
• Marriage, widowhood and the options open to women outside traditional family structures.
• The differences between the lives of noblewomen and working women.
• Women from Venice’s different communities and backgrounds.
• What archives, legal records and other historical sources can tell us about women’s lives.
• How women contributed to the economic and social life of the Venetian Republic.
• Why so many of these stories have remained less visible in traditional accounts of Venetian history.

Tune in for a journey beyond the familiar names and discover the women whose work, choices and everyday lives were part of the fabric of Venice.

Listen now and subscribe to Venice Talks for more stories about Venice, its history, its people and its culture.

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: Simon & Jess from History of Venice Podcast

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].

n this episode of Venice Talks, Monica speaks with drinks writer, podcaster and author Susan L. Schwartz about her new book, A Guide to Drinking in Venice.

Venice is a city where drinking is never just about what is in the glass. It is about ritual, place, history and the people behind the bar. Susan takes us through the research and stories behind the book, from traditional bacari and Venetian drinking habits to cocktails, wine, coffee and the changing bar scene of the city.

We also talk about what surprised her while researching the book, how Venice’s drinking culture differs from what visitors often expect and why understanding where and how Venetians drink can reveal so much about the city itself.

• How the idea for A Guide to Drinking in Venice began
• What inspired Susan to dedicate an entire book to Venice’s drinking culture
• The research behind the book and the people she met along the way
• Why Venice is about much more than just Spritz
• Bacari, wine bars, cocktail bars and the different ways of drinking in the city
• The role of tradition in Venetian drinking culture
• How Venice’s bar and cocktail scene has evolved in recent years
• What visitors often misunderstand about drinking in Venice
• Some of Susan’s favourite discoveries while researching the book
• How a drink can become a way of understanding the history and identity of a place

If you love Venice, food, wine, cocktails and the stories hidden behind everyday Venetian rituals, this is an episode to listen to with a glass in hand.

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, Vivace Media

Guest: Susan L. Schwartz from A Lush Life Manual

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 happens when two history lovers decide to tell the story of Venice from the very beginning?

In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica Cesarato is joined by Simon and Jess, the creators and hosts of The History of Venice Podcast, a chronological journey through the people, politics, conflicts and extraordinary events that shaped the Venetian Republic.

Simon and Jess share how their mutual fascination with Venice inspired them to begin the podcast, and what it is like to research, write and present such an ambitious historical project together.

We talk about the challenge of separating historical fact from legend, especially in a city where myths have been repeated for centuries. They explain how they approach conflicting sources, complex political events and the colourful personalities who brought Venetian history to life.

The conversation also explores how studying Venice’s past changes the way we experience the city today. Behind every bridge, campo and palace lies a story—and the deeper we look, the more Venice reveals itself as far more than a beautiful destination.

From the origins of the lagoon settlements to the rise of one of Europe’s most powerful republics, Simon and Jess invite listeners to discover the real history behind the Serenissima.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How Simon and Jess created The History of Venice Podcast
• Their personal connection with Venice and its history
• What it is like to produce a podcast together as a couple
• How they divide the research, writing and presenting
• The difficulties of separating Venetian history from legend
• How they make complex historical events accessible
• The personalities and stories that have surprised them most
• Common misconceptions about the Venetian Republic
• How historical research has changed the way they see Venice
• What Venice’s past can teach us about the city today

Listen to The History of Venice Podcast to follow Simon and Jess on their chronological journey through more than a thousand years of Venetian history.

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: Simon & Jess from History of Venice Podcast

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].

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.

• 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

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 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 [email protected].

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.

• 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 [email protected].

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.

• 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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].