Rita Sartori, Guide in Venice

I love differences. I have always found a strong aesthetic appeal in people other than me and languages other than mine. The more different, mysterious, unintelligible – both people and idioms – are, the harder I try to overcome any surfacing cultural divide. As a result, studying foreign languages became a necessity, not an option.

I love challenges. My new life began after the company I worked for closed down. Everyone was fired. The day I had to leave my desk, I knew that I would not want to be sitting behind any other in the future. I started off investigating my territory and investing on my education. Venice became my new passion, and a soft addiction.

Alternative Venice, my new beginning. ‘Alternative’ suggests a different, unconventional approach. As a compound (‘alter’ + ‘native’), it combines the act of altering, making different, with the idea of something local, original, unsophisticated. A promise of an authentic experience.

More information about Rita Sartori

A professional guide since 1998, officially qualified for illustrating the Cultural Heritage of Venice & its Lagoon, the Venetian Villas and the Eastern Veneto, including museums, exhibitions, and all those secret places that only natives know.

Bachelor’s Degree in Foreign Languages, Art, History & Civilization (University Ca’ Foscari, Venice)
Topic of dissertation: Caravaggio and Malta

Master’s Degree in Economics and Management of Arts (University Ca’ Foscari, Venice)
Topic of dissertation: Sacred Spaces and Tourist Spaces. ‘Chorus’, A Model of Conciliation.

A researcher in the field of redundant religious heritage under the supervision
of the Laboratory of Management of Arts and Culture (M.A.C. Lab),
University Ca’Foscari, Venice. 

A member of the international, lay and not-for-profit organization Future for Religious Heritage,
whose main concern is the future of nowadays ‘redundant’ historic religious (christian and non-christian)buildings, and their potential ‘extended use’, or re-use.

Main collaborations:

• National Geographic Television (USA), for The Rising Tides of Venice, a documentary on the environmental issues of the Venetian Lagoon;
• BBC (UK), for Holiday Programme;
• Dreamworks Animation Television (USA), as a previewer
• ZDF (D) in Hallo Deutschland;
• RAI (Italy’s National Broadcasting Network) for Ulisse, il Piacere della Scoperta: Venezia, sette secoli di splendore,
  a program by Piero Angela and Alberto Angela, as a researcher;
• RTI-Mediaset (I), with a script for a documentary on Venice, its culture and traditions;
• Venice Tourist Board (I) (Azienda di Promozione Turistica di Venezia) 
• Aareal Bank Group (D), for which I designed a ‘learning experience’ in the Arsenal of Venice, as a case study.

My passions:  my job, art, dance, The Beatles.

My latest passion:   Old Venetian glass ‘trade beads’!