Private tour san polo walking tour merchants courtesans and painters

This enthralling private walking tour starts at Venice's commercial quarters near the Rialto Bridge and concentrates on the ancient area of San Polo. Here the bankers, brokers and merchants conducted their affairs by day, and the renowned courtesans by night! You'll also explore San Polo's number one highlight, the Frari Church, enjoying personalized attention on your private walking tour of Venice.

In a city where west met the east, exotic items like silk and oriental spices were traded along with copper and wood. Many of the courtesans lived in sumptuous apartments, and were accomplished musicians and brilliant conversationalists. They were even secretly used as spies for the state.

The second part of this tour allows you to admire the Gothic Frari church, which dwarfs the eastern section of San Polo. Built by Franciscans in around 1250, it is one of the city's largest places of worship. You will admire its striking interior, both for its sheer size and for the quality of its masterpieces ' the most famous being Titian's 'Assumption'.