Art Lover’s Tour: Venice Biennale “In Minor Keys”

We invite you to settle into the rhythm of Venice from the moment you arrive, beginning with a warm welcome, an orientation walk, and an opening dinner that sets the tone for a richly layered week of art, history, and discovery. Guided by local experts, the itinerary moves through Venice’s artistic and civic foundations, from early Renaissance treasures to intimate neighborhoods where art, architecture, and daily life have long been intertwined.

Contemporary creativity comes vividly into focus through multiple visits to the Venice Biennale, including immersive exhibitions at the Arsenale. At the Giardini, admire carefully selected national pavilions that reflect today’s global artistic voices. The experience is enriched by a rare, hands-on encounter, admiring the works of master costume makers at Nicolao Atelier. Journeys across the lagoon reveal Venice’s deeper origins, with a serene day on Torcello centered on Byzantine mosaics and a garden lunch at Locanda Cipriani, followed by Murano’s glassmaking heritage. An excursion beyond the lagoon brings the group to Padua, a historic university city renowned for its fresco cycles, scientific legacy, and enduring role in the intellectual life of northern Italy. Enjoy a final day of museum highlights and further Biennale exploration before a celebratory farewell dinner that brings the week to a memorable close.

Register by August 31, 2026, to secure your spot!

Tour Highlights

• Experience the Venice Biennale at its historic core, from the national pavilions of the Giardini della Biennale to the monumental Arsenale, where vast former shipyards provide a dramatic setting for large-scale contemporary works
• Complete the Biennale journey at Forte Marghera, the exhibition’s newest venue, where contemporary art unfolds within a reclaimed military complex on the Venetian mainland
• Visit Venice’s Jewish Quarter, the world’s first ghetto established in 1516, which offers a quietly powerful encounter with layered history and enduring cultural resilience
• Admire the works of costume makers at the Nicolao Atelier
• Explore the islands of Torcello, San Giorgio Maggiore and Murano, where we trace centuries of glassmaking traditions
• Enjoy an excursion to Padua, a historic university city founded in Roman antiquity and renowned for Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel, the University of Padua where Galileo taught, and a humanist urban fabric that shaped the course of Western art and science
• Optional: Mask making workshop at San Marco 596, offering a hands-on connection to one of Venice’s most enduring traditions
• Admire cultural institutions including the newly opened San Marco Art Center and the Querini Stampalia Foundation, housed in a historic Venetian palazzo

Itinerary

The journey begins with departure from the U.S. and arrival in Venice, a city suspended between land and water and shaped by centuries of maritime power and artistic achievement. After independent arrivals and check-in at Starhotels Splendid Venice, gather in the late afternoon for a short orientation walk introducing the surrounding neighborhood, including the Querini Stampalia Foundation, housed in a historic Venetian palazzo. Enjoy a welcome dinner, setting a relaxed and convivial tone for the days ahead.

Enjoy a private morning walk accompanied by a local expert that traces the foundations of Venetian art and society, beginning at San Zaccaria with its luminous early Renaissance works, and continuing to the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni to explore Carpaccio’s narrative cycles and the role of confraternities. In the afternoon, attention turns to the Venice Biennale, with an in-depth visit to the Arsenale, where vast historic shipyard spaces host immersive installations within the central exhibition In Minor Keys, bringing contemporary global art into dialogue with Venice’s industrial past.

Explore a behind-the-scenes visit to Nicolao Atelier, where master artisans continue Venice’s tradition of historic costume-making for opera, theater, and Carnival. Nearby, a walk through the Jewish Ghetto, the world’s first, offers a powerful encounter with history, memory, and resilience in the Cannaregio district. Travel by vaporetto to the Giardini, the historic heart of the Biennale, to explore selected national pavilions, including those of USA, Great Britain, Canada, and the Netherlands, each presenting distinctive contemporary perspectives within the Biennale’s overarching curatorial vision.

Cross the lagoon to Torcello, where highlights include the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, with its monumental Byzantine mosaics, and a leisurely lunch at Locanda Cipriani, set in tranquil gardens. Continue on to Murano, famed for its glassmaking heritage, with a special private visit to the studio of master glass artist Lino Tagliapietra.

Depart Venice this morning by train for Padua, a historic center of learning and art shaped by Roman, medieval, and Renaissance traditions, anchored by the University of Padua where Galileo Galilei once taught. Highlights include Giotto’s frescoes at the Scrovegni Chapel, the medieval civic grandeur of the Palazzo della Ragione, and the Orto Botanico di Padova, before returning to Venice with the evening at leisure. Our last day includes an optional hands-on creativity at a Venetian mask-making workshop, visits to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and a farewell dinner, bringing together a week that seamlessly blends historic art and architecture with the contemporary expression of the 61st Venice Art Biennale.

Our ART LOVER’S tours are organized and sponsored by the MAG Council to benefit MAG and are open to all interested travelers.

For more information, email Michelle Turner at mt1@rochester.rr.com or Cynthia Arroyo at Cynthiaa@Distant-Horizons.com. For questions or assistance, please contact the MAG Council at magcouncil@mag.rochester.edu or 585.276.8910.

Anyone unable to attend a MAG Council Art Tour must make their request for a refund by contacting the MAG Council Office prior to the event registration deadline. For international/overnight tour refunds, the policy of the managing travel agency will take precedence.

If it is necessary for the MAG Council to cancel an Art Lover’s Tour, all payments made will be refunded in full.

The Memorial Art Gallery’s tour operator, Distant Horizons, is a California Seller of Travel (CST #2046776-40) and a participant in the California Travel Restitution Fund. Information regarding the rights of California residents to make a claim may be found at tcrcinfo.org. California law requires certain sellers of travel to have a trust account or bond. Distant Horizons has a trust account.