Fishing tourism in the Venetian Lagoon

An idea for a slow, sustainable holiday

Going out with the fishermen, listening to their stories, watching them while they haul in their nets and collect the “catch”: all this is fishing tourism – a day spent onboard a fishing boat and becoming a skilled fisherman.

It's a different and unusual experience, suited to whoever wants to live Venice and its lagoon as only its connoisseurs do – the fishermen – pretending for a day to be someone who has always lived and worked there.

Fishing tourism - combined with tourist fishing- is without doubt the most authentic way to know, learn, and love the culture of the lagoon, the sea and the fishing, and personally discover the fascination of an ancient profession  that has evolved over time; spending a day in the open air, having fun, and of course, eating freshly caught fish, cooked according to the best traditional Venetian recipes.

Burano - the biggest community of local fishermen 

The fishermen on the island of Burano are the Fishing Tourism venture's main characters in the North Lagoon area: an open air museum, a project developed to promote an alternative form of tourism, aimed not only at publicizing the beauty and extraordinary resources of the sea, but also at showing how to live, love and respect the natural environment of the North Lagoon.

Traditional sea and lagoon fishing is still widely practised by the fishermen in Venice.  They are the real, true guardians of an age-old tradition,  and are well-informed about the wetlands that have to  be safeguarded to guarantee their own economic survival. They themselves are responsible for its protection. 

You can choose between two different fishing tourism itineraries, - a “sea version” to learn about the tegnùe (coral barrier reefs in the Adriatic) along the Lido di Venezia coastline, and visit the mussel farms along the Cavallino Treporti coastline; and a “lagoon” one in the Mazzorbo and Torcello areas, where Novellame(white bait)  and Moeche (crabs undergoing the moulting phase) are caught, and go to the Palude del Monte area where you can see clam farms and lagoon birdlife. 

A tablet to learn about the North Lagoon: iLagoon

During the excursion  iLagoon – an interactive guide- will accompany you  around  a real open air museum of lagoon and sea fishing.
iLagoon is an application for tablets, in four languages, equipped with a touch screen that can reproduce videos, sound, images and texts. The guide allows you simple and intuitive access to multimedia contents associated with the items you want to know more about. Thanks to the incorporated GPS system, that recognises the location you are in, the information and in-depth data appear directly on the  screen when you are close to each point of interest.

How to plan your trip

To learn more about fishing tourism in the Venice lagoon please write an email to info@pescaturismoburano.com