A love letter to a year made of people, stories, challenges, and once-in-a-lifetime moments — and a toast to what’s coming next.
There are years you plan carefully, years you try to control, years you survive.
And then there are years like 2025 — the kind you live fully, often breathless, sometimes overwhelmed, always grateful.
For us at Tour Leader Venice, 2025 wasn’t just a calendar year. It was a living, moving, emotional journey through Venice and far beyond its canals. A year made of extraordinary guests, unexpected opportunities, international visibility, personal challenges, and moments so intense that even now, looking back, they feel slightly unreal.
This is our way of saying thank you — to Venice, to the people we met, to the paths that crossed ours, and to everyone who trusted us with their time, their curiosity, and their dreams.
Venice, Always the Main Character
No matter how far our work travels, Venice remains the heart of everything.
In 2025, we walked thousands of steps across bridges and calli, often before the city fully woke up. We watched the lagoon change color at sunset from private boats. We listened — again and again — to guests saying “I never imagined Venice like this.”
That sentence alone would have made the year worth it.
Because Tour Leader Venice was born with a clear idea:
Venice isn’t a checklist. It’s an experience.
And experiences only make sense when they’re shared.
This year, Venice showed herself in all her moods:
-
Quiet winter mornings with mist rising from the canals
-
Electric summer evenings filled with voices and reflections on the water
-
Autumn days when the city feels like it belongs only to those who know how to wait
And we were lucky enough to interpret her for people coming from all over the world.
The Guests Who Became Friends
If there is one thing that defined 2025, it wasn’t headlines or media appearances.
It was people.
Couples celebrating anniversaries. Families reconnecting. Solo travelers rediscovering curiosity. Guests who arrived as clients and left as friends — the kind you keep hearing from long after the tour ends.
Some highlights we’ll never forget:
-
Conversations that continued over aperitivo long after the tour “officially” ended
-
Laughter echoing in empty squares at night
-
Emails months later that start with: “We still talk about that day in Venice…”
These are not reviews.
These are lifetime memories.
And they are the real currency of what we do.
A Year of Challenges — and Growth
Let’s be honest: 2025 wasn’t effortless.
Behind the scenes, it was a year of:
-
Logistics made more complex than ever
-
Rising expectations from travelers who want everything to be perfect
-
Constant adaptation — to seasons, crowds, regulations, and opportunities
But challenges have a strange gift: they force clarity.
They pushed us to refine our identity even more clearly:
-
Only private experiences
-
Only licensed professionals
-
Only tailored itineraries
-
Only quality over quantity
Every obstacle strengthened the idea that Tour Leader Venice is not about volume — it’s about meaning.
The Bezos Wedding Moment — When the World Looked at Venice
One of the most surreal chapters of 2025 was undoubtedly the Bezos wedding.
Venice once again became the stage for a global event that captured international attention. Cameras, journalists, television crews, security, whispers, anticipation — and suddenly the world was watching.
For us, it wasn’t about celebrity.
It was about witnessing Venice doing what she has always done best: hosting history in silence and elegance.
Events like this remind you that Venice is not frozen in the past. She is still relevant, magnetic, powerful.
And being professionally involved during such moments confirmed something deeply important to us:
local knowledge matters.
Working with Television — Telling Venice to the World
2025 was also the year when our work stepped fully into the world of television and international media.
Collaborations with TV productions brought a new responsibility:
explaining Venice not just to guests — but to millions of viewers.
Television demands clarity, authenticity, rhythm. You don’t just guide — you translate a city into images and stories.
And Venice, when treated with respect, gives back endlessly.
Meeting Rick Steves — A Full-Circle Moment
Some moments feel symbolic.
Meeting Rick Steves was one of them.
For anyone working in travel, Rick Steves is more than a name — he’s a philosophy. Curiosity over speed. Context over surface. Respect over consumption.
Taking him around Venice wasn’t about showing monuments.
It was about sharing layers, contradictions, daily life, and details most people miss.
Being mentioned and featured in:
-
the Rick Steves blog
-
his radio program
-
and American media connected to his world
wasn’t just professional recognition.
It felt like a quiet nod saying: you’re doing it the right way.
Appearing on American Television
Seeing Tour Leader Venice appear on American television was another milestone that still feels slightly unreal.
Venice, spoken about not as a postcard, but as a living city.
Guiding explained not as a service, but as storytelling.
For a business born from personal passion, that visibility meant something profound:
-
Validation of years of consistency
-
Confirmation that authenticity travels far
-
Proof that depth still matters in a fast world
Italian Press, Magazines, and Interviews
2025 also brought interviews and features with Italian magazines and newspapers — moments to reflect publicly on:
-
tourism
-
sustainability
-
the future of Venice
-
and what it really means to work here, every day
Speaking to Italian media is different. It’s more intimate, more demanding. Venice isn’t an idea — it’s home.
And being asked to speak about her is an honor that comes with responsibility.
Tour Leader Venice Today
As 2025 closes, Tour Leader Venice is stronger, clearer, and more focused than ever.
What defines us now:
-
A global audience, especially American travelers seeking depth
-
A reputation built on trust, not noise
-
A network of artisans, boat captains, drivers, historians, and locals
-
A voice recognized across blogs, radio, television, and press
But above all:
a human-scale business in a world that keeps getting louder.
Why People Choose Tour Leader Venice
Clients choose Tour Leader Venice because they don’t want to visit Venice — they want to understand her.
They choose us because:
-
They want private, unhurried experiences
-
They value professional, licensed guides
-
They appreciate honesty and realism
-
They trust someone who lives this city daily
And they stay in touch because the experience doesn’t end when the tour does.
Looking Ahead to 2026
If 2025 was intense, emotional, and full of surprises, 2026 feels open.
Full of possibilities not yet shaped.
Stories not yet told.
People not yet met.
We are happy to close this chapter — grateful, a little tired, and deeply fulfilled.
And we are already looking forward to what’s next.
To new challenges.
To new collaborations.
To new friends.
To new mornings in Venice when the city belongs only to those who wake up early enough to listen.
A Final Thank You
To everyone who walked with us in 2025.
To those who trusted us for a few hours — or for an entire journey.
To those who shared stories, laughter, silence, and wonder.
Thank you.
Venice isn’t a city you simply see.
It’s a city you feel — and 2025 reminded us why we chose to tell her story.
Here’s to 2026.
We’re ready.
