In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica sits down with Bryan Brazeau, Academic Director of the Warwick Venice Centre, to talk about what happens when a university and a city begin to think together.

We explore Venice not as a setting, but as a working intellectual environment, and Warwick not simply as an institution abroad, but as a way of approaching knowledge through place, daily life, and lived experience.

Episode key notes:

1. What Warwick and Venice genuinely have in common beneath the surface
2. Why Venice works as a living classroom rather than a historical backdrop
3. How place shapes academic thinking, research, and teaching
4. The experience of studying and teaching with the city, not around it
5. The dual identity of the Warwick Venice Centre, both local and international
6. What students carry with them after living and learning in Venice
7. A shared love for Venetian cuisine, and how food becomes another way of understanding the city
8. Why eating, cooking, and sharing meals are part of truly living Venice
9. The value of intellectual distance, and why studying elsewhere matters
10. Looking ahead: the future of the Warwick Venice Centre and place-based education

A conversation about learning, location, and culture, where ideas, flavours, and stories move slowly and stay longer.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.

✨ Credits:

Hosted by Monica Cesarato

Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media

Guest: Prof. Bryan Brazeau from Warwick Venice Centre

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In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica speaks with Sergio Vidal of Atelier Martina Vidal Venezia, a family atelier that has safeguarded the art of Burano lace for four generations.

They talk about patience as a creative act, about heritage that does not live in museums but in the hands of artisans, and about the quiet strength required to carry an ancient craft into the present without losing its soul.

This conversation moves through memory, responsibility, beauty, and the fragile power of thread that, stitch after stitch, still tells the story of Venice.

Listen slowly. Venice is speaking softly.

1. The Vidal family history and the roots of their lace tradition in Burano
2. What it truly means to preserve a craft that cannot be rushed
3. The balance between tradition and innovation inside the atelier
4. The role of artisans in keeping Venice culturally alive
5. Why Burano lace is far more than decoration or souvenir
6. The human and emotional side of working with a centuries old technique
7. The future of lace and why younger generations should care

If you love Venice, craftsmanship, and the stories behind the hands that make beauty possible, this episode is for you.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.

✨ Credits:

Hosted by Monica Cesarato

Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media

Guest: Sergio Vidal from Atelier Martina Vidal

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 info@monicacesarato.com.

Beyond the Facade: Not Just Churches

In this episode of Venice Talks, Monica Cesarato sits down with Monica Gambarotto for an informal conversation that drifts away from the usual itineraries and into a quieter Venice.

Together, they explore five churches that rarely make it onto must see lists, yet reveal something essential about the city. These are not monuments to rush through, but places shaped by neighborhoods, communities, silence, and time.

This is a walk through Venice when the crowds thin out, where churches are not just places of worship, but mirrors of everyday life, forgotten histories, and layered identities.

Listen slowly. Venice is speaking softly.

1. Why Venetian churches still matter beyond faith and tourism
2. What it means to look past façades and guidebook highlights
3. Madonna dell’Orto and the idea of the neighborhood church
4. Tintoretto, daily life, and sacred spaces that feel lived in
5. San Sebastiano and the power of a single artistic voice
6. How Veronese transforms a church into a continuous visual story
7. San Francesco della Vigna as a place of balance, silence, and authority
8. Architecture as a language of power and restraint
9. San Pietro di Castello, once Venice’s cathedral, now far from the spotlight
10. Geography, distance, and the feeling of being outside the usual Venice
11. San Giorgio dei Greci and Venice as a crossroads of cultures
12. What lesser known churches reveal about identity, imperfection, and belonging
13. How slowing down changes the way we see Venice

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.

✨ Credits:

Hosted by Monica Cesarato

Produced by Monica Cesarato, Sentire Media

Guest: Monica Gambarotto

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 (2 minutes max) telling me what you loved most about the city — at info@monicacesarato.com.