Guide to Venice and the North-East
Everything worth knowing to move well between lagoon, hills and Dolomites — starting with the fact that in Venice the car stops early.
Every transfer we run is designed to make you feel expected from the first moment. Not a simple journey, but the opening chapter of the trip: and in a city where the roads end and the canals begin, knowing in advance how you arrive matters as much as knowing where you are going.
Our services
The journey begins before you reach the destination.
Airport transfers
Your driver monitors the flight in real time. Meet & greet in the arrivals hall with a name board, luggage assistance and immediate departure. We cover Venice Marco Polo (VCE), Treviso Canova (TSF) and Trieste (TRS).
Cruise transfers
Marittima, Fusina or Chioggia: the berth depends on the ship and we take you to the right one, with the timing calculated backwards from boarding close.
Dolomites and ski weeks
Cortina, Arabba, Alleghe and the valleys of the Dolomiti Superski network. Skis and snowboards carried free, winter tyres and chains on board from November to April.
Chauffeur by the hour
For a day among the Prosecco cellars, on the Karst or around the Venetian villas: flexible stops, your itinerary, no clock at your back.
Business travel
Trade fairs, congresses and company addresses across Venice, Padua, Treviso, Udine and Trieste, with the return booked on the same reservation and an invoice to your company.
Treasures of the north-east
Eighteen places worth the detour, with what to know before you get there.
Cicheti, bacari and lagoon cooking
The Venetian way of eating standing up, and what to order without going wrong.
Cicheti in the bacari
A bacaro is the Venetian osteria: a counter, an ombra of wine and cicheti — small bites eaten standing, usually before dinner. The giro de ombre is an aperitivo that moves from bacaro to bacaro.
Baccalà mantecato
Stockfish poached and whipped with oil into a white cream, served on a slice of grilled polenta.
Stockfish reached Venice from the Lofoten islands thanks to Pietro Querini's shipwreck in 1432.
Sarde in saor
Fried sardines marinated with stewed onions, vinegar, raisins and pine nuts: sweet and sour together.
Born as a preserving technique on board ship: the vinegar kept fish edible for days.
Folpetti
Small boiled octopus, served warm with oil, parsley and lemon. The simplest and most Venetian cicheto there is.
Daily lagoon fishing: they were sold hot from stalls near the markets.
Mozzarella in carrozza
Bread, mozzarella and anchovy fried in egg: the cicheto that wins children over too.
Common across the upper Adriatic, in Venice it became a counter classic.
Mainland cooking
Bigoli in salsa
Thick wheat spaghetti dressed with onion and anchovy: a lean dish, today an osteria staple.
The bigoli press is documented in Bassano from the seventeenth century.
Treviso red radicchio PGI
Late or early, eaten raw, grilled or in risotto. The season runs December to February.
The blanching technique in spring water dates from the late nineteenth century.
Jota triestina
A thick soup of sauerkraut, beans and potato with a pork trotter: the dish that explains how far east Trieste looks.
Border cooking, shared with Friuli, Slovenia and Carinthia.
The sweets
Between Venice and Treviso the desserts tell the city's own story: trade, feast days and ingredients that arrived by sea.
Tiramisù
Savoiardi, mascarpone, eggs, coffee and cocoa. The historic recipe contains neither cream nor liqueur.
Fritole veneziane
Carnival fritters with raisins and pine nuts: in the eighteenth century they were the Republic's national dessert.
Baicoli
Very thin dry biscuits, made to last in ships' holds. Dipped in zabaione or coffee.
Bussolai buranei
Ring or S-shaped biscuits from Burano, of butter and egg yolk, traditionally made by fishermen's wives.
Presnitz
A Triestine roll of puff pastry with dried fruit and spices, Central European in origin.
Wines of the north-east
Four denominations that explain the territory better than a map.
Prosecco Superiore DOCG
The UNESCO hills
Glera grown on the ridges between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, on slopes that rule out machinery. Cartizze is the most famous cru.
Friulano and Ribolla Gialla
Collio and the eastern hills
Structured whites from vineyards climbing toward the Slovenian border, on marl and sandstone known as ponca.
Raboso del Piave
The stubborn red of the plain
A high-acid native grape, for centuries the house wine of Veneto farmers. Now also made as a passito.
Vitovska and Terrano
The wines of the Karst
Karst varieties grown on red earth between Trieste and the border, often fermented in amphora or with long macerations.
Our concierge
Practical advice from people who drive here every day.
An hour from Venice
Four cities worth a day that almost no visitor to the lagoon plans for.
Padua
Caffè Pedrocchi, which had no doors and stayed open day and night for a century, then the Scrovegni by reservation, Prato della Valle and an ombra under the Palazzo della Ragione.
Treviso
A circuit of the walls, the island fish market, a plate of radicchio in season and tiramisù where they claim to have invented it.
Bassano del Grappa
Palladio's bridge, a tasting in a historic distillery and the climb to Monte Grappa if the air is clear.
Chioggia
The morning fish market, Corso del Popolo on the level — no bridges to climb — and fried fish beside the canal.
The golden hour
Where to ask for a stop, if your transfer falls at the right time of day.
| Route | Sunset spot | Why it's special |
|---|---|---|
| Marco Polo → Venice | Ponte della Libertà | At sunset the lagoon turns pink on both sides of the causeway |
| Venice → Cortina | Cinque Torri viewpoint | The enrosadira sets the dolomite walls alight in the last minutes of sun |
| Venice → Valdobbiadene | Ridge road above Santo Stefano | Terraced rows backlit, with the plain fading below |
| Trieste → Venice | The Sistiana coast road | The gulf opens from above with Miramare white on its point |
| Marco Polo → Jesolo | The Sile embankment at Caposile | The river mirrors the sky before the sea appears |
| Treviso → Asolo | The climb to the Rocca | The hundred horizons that gave the verb asolare its name |
| TRS → Grado | The lagoon causeway | Shallow water and fishing casoni against a low sun |
The soundtrack
What we play on board, when the guest has not brought a playlist of their own.
Airport transfer
Vivaldi, who was born in Venice and taught at the Pietà: strings that accompany the arrival without demanding attention.
Toward the Dolomites
Wide instrumental music as the road climbs: the valley narrows and the landscape does the rest.
Coming back after dinner
Soft jazz at low volume, for anyone who has walked twelve hours over calli and bridges.
Business travel
Silence, or whatever you ask for. On board you work, take calls or sleep: your choice.
Ready to go?
Book your transfer and tell us the hotel name: we will tell you exactly how to reach it, bridges included.
Book now