Every two years, the Venice Biennale engulfs the floating city, rushing over every winding calle and flagstoned piazza like a forceful high tide. Originating in the historical Giardini gardens and grandeur of the Arsenale, the international art fair now radiates throughout the city, with pavilions popping up all over town, together with collateral events, and independent projects: Spring is when Venice truly comes alive. For 2026, the event kicks off on May 9 and will run through November 22.
For a city of famously labyrinthine alleyways, getting a table, a good drink, and a locally sourced souvenir might feel like going against the current at the best of times. To help you navigate the rising tourist tides of the city, Artsy spoke to some of the city’s local art world figures. They’re all in deep preparations for the 2026 Venice Biennale, but nonetheless offered some welcome tips on exploring the city (answers have been edited for length and clarity).
Gražina Subelytė
Curator, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Subelytė first came to live in Venice as an intern back in September 2007. Over the last decade she’s made the city her home, climbing the ranks at the storied Peggy Guggenheim Collection, where she now makes her mark as a curator. Her latest exhibition, “Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector,” co-curated with Simon Grant, opened on April 25th.
What are your main tips for someone visiting Venice for the first time during the Biennale?
Pace yourself and accept that you won’t see everything. Start with the Giardini and Arsenale, then branch out to smaller collateral shows that offer a different rhythm. Leave time to just walk and enjoy the city.
Where’s your go-to for an aperitivo?
Cantine del Vino già Schiavi is perfect for a quick stop. A drink, a few cicchetti, and you’re set. Palazzo Experimental for something a bit more refined, but still relaxed.
Where are we going for dinner?
La Zucca, Antica Locanda Montin, Antiche Carampane, or Anice Stellato.
Where are your favorite places to browse on a lazy weekend?
I like to go to Peter’s Tea House in the San Marco area to stock up on Genmaicha tea (never quite enough!), and then usually end up at the Rialto Market. I also enjoy passing through galleries along the way and in nearby areas, such as Victoria Miro, Giorgio Mastinu, or A plus A. Also, I’ll pop into Chiarastella Cattana’s atelier for beautifully crafted textiles. Then, in San Polo, I enjoy browsing small independent makers and artisan shops, like Kooch.
Give us your Venetian classic, underrated gem, and new kid on the block.
Classic: Scuola Grande di San Rocco. And I wouldn’t say it is underrated, but certainly a true gem: Fondazione Querini Stampalia, with the ground floor redesign by Carlo Scarpa, a masterpiece in its own right. New kid on the block: Fondazione Dries Van Noten. Another one to watch is Isola di Sant’Andrea, a former military island in the lagoon that’s quietly becoming a new cultural venture, now shaped by Microclima into a future site for experimental and artist-led programming.
Marta Barina
Founder and director of Mare Karina
After leaving Italy at 19 and working in London for galleries (like David Zwirner) and artists (Oscar Murillo), Barina founded Mare Karina in 2020 as a hybrid artist studio, gallery, and agency. When she decided to return to Italy with her partner after the pandemic, the two put down roots in Venice, where her gallery in Castello has already established itself as a thriving contemporary hub.
What are your main tips for someone visiting Venice for the first time during the Biennale?
Soak up the energy of the city, don’t just follow the official program. Visit local artists’ studios.
Where’s your go-to for an aperitivo?
All’Arco near Rialto, Ozio in Santa Maria Formosa, La Sete in Cannaregio, Ai Do Leoni in Piazza San Marco.
If you had to get someone a gift from Venice, what would you get them, and where would you buy it?
A vintage piece from Sangueblu, or a book from Bruno.
Give us your Venetian classic, and new kid on the block.
Venetian classic: ice cream from Gelateria Nico. New kid on the block: the new center of artist studios STUDIO VENEZIA.
Camilla Glorioso
Photographer and co-founder of Versatile, a Venetian work club
Born and raised in neighboring Padua, Italy, Glorioso originally hopped over to study Visual Arts and Theater at IUAV University in Venice. After graduating, she moved to London for a master’s degree in photography. Drawn back to the lagoon, she now lives and works full-time in Venice as a photographer, and in 2024 she set up the first co-working space for creatives in the floating city.
What are your main tips for someone visiting Venice for the first time during the Biennale?
Try to carve out some time to be in a very quiet place in front of the water at night. Counterintuitive, I know.
Where’s your go-to for an aperitivo?
Ozio or Estro Pane e Vino in summer, Bea Vita in winter. I also recently shot at Anice Stellato and discovered they have a merenda or light afternoon snack, and I can’t wait to go and try a mid-afternoon toast with a glass of wine in the sun. Is there anything more dreamy?
Where are we going for dinner?
I live in Santi Apostoli, so you’ll usually see me ping-pong between [Osteria Giorgione da] Masa, Bepi [Antico 54 da Loris], and [Osteria ai] Promessi Sposi for a speedy polpetta as a staple comfort food.
Any other top food or drink recommendations? Where’s somewhere you’d never miss?
Not somewhere but someone! I tend to look out for Prometheus_Open Food’s guest shifts and events [run by my partner Lorenzo Barbasetti di Prun]. At home he never makes me the same fun dishes, and I finally get to eat all the crazy things he ferments and concocts in various jars.
If you had to get someone a gift from Venice, what would you get them, and where would you buy it?
I would get them two rings: one, a silver talisman by Suri Studio, and the other a glass, colorful one by Huang Xiaozhe Studio. For me they both capture different shades of the spirit of the lagoon.
Where are your favorite places to browse on a lazy weekend?
Salice near San Salvador for womenswear, Venice MART for menswear, Maranteghe near home for vintage pearls, Marco Polo and Bruno for books.
What’s Venice’s new kid on the block?
Well, my own kid, Versatile! We are opening our second location, Versatile Carminati, steps away from the first one, and this time we’ll have a big terrazzo on the canal, a lounge, and even more room for flexible work and to host fun things for all the creatives in town.
Giacomo Gandola
Photographer and art consultant
“A little bohémien, a little James Dean,” Gandola is a true creative multihyphenate. A talented photographer who broadcasts his life in Venice to almost 50,000 followers on Instagram, capturing the city’s day-to-day, he also works as an art consultant and gallery assistant at the Venice gallery space of Lorcan O’Neill.
What are your main tips for someone visiting Venice for the first time during the Biennale?
Slow down, even when everything around you is accelerating. Choose a direction, not a checklist. And most importantly: allow the city to interrupt your plans. The best moments will never be on your schedule.
Where’s your go-to for an aperitivo?
One of my favorite spots is the garden of Hotel Flora. It’s a small, almost secret corner where time slows down; the perfect place to step away from the intensity of the week, have a proper conversation, and enjoy a great Bloody Mary in one of the most unexpected gardens the city has to offer. The welcome by the Romanelli family is always impeccable. Gioele Romanelli is one of those rare hosts who truly lives the city, someone you can speak with about what’s happening in Venice, new ideas, new projects.
Where are we going for dinner?
Dinner, for me, is about atmosphere as much as food. I’d take you to Do Farai, a historic Venetian spot I fell in love with from the very beginning (my friend took me the evening I moved to Venice). It recently reopened under a new artistic direction led by an exceptional host, Guillaume Pinaut, and has found renewed energy. It’s unmistakably Venetian, yet with a contemporary pulse.
If you had to get someone a gift from Venice, what would you get them, and where would you buy it?
I would choose a book. Lately, I haven’t missed a single publication by Wetlands, a small independent publisher whose work I find consistently thoughtful and beautifully crafted.
Where are your favorite places to browse on a lazy weekend?
The lagoon, beyond the more familiar islands like Burano or Murano, towards quieter, less-travelled places like Sant’Erasmo, Torcello, Mazzorbo. A simple table set in nature, lunch with friends, the sun overhead, a good bottle of wine. Time stretches differently out there.
Mohamed Mire
Photographer and co-curator of the Somali Pavilion
Though he lives between Venice and Stockholm, Mire finds himself drawn back to Venice frequently. Though he’s now technically no longer a resident, the ties he made when he did live full-time in the city are so strong they keep bringing him back. This year, he’s co-curating the Somali Pavilion, the first time the nation will be participating in the Venice Art Biennale.
What are your main tips for someone visiting Venice for the first time during the Biennale?
Go against the current. Get lost. Allow yourself to stumble upon something unexpected, a small show, a hidden space, a conversation. Those discoveries are often the ones that stay with you the longest.
Where are we going for dinner?
A true classic during the Biennale opening: Vini da Arturo. You sit down, and soon you’ll find yourself talking with Hani and Ernesto, the historic hosts, about who has been there, who is coming next, and everything in between. A bit of Biennale gossip is inevitable, and in a city like Venice, it’s part of the experience.
Any other top food or drink recommendations? Where’s somewhere you’d never miss?
Absolutely, Bepi Antico 54. Anything with artichokes, don’t think twice. Build a meal around small antipasti, letting the table fill gradually.
If you had to get someone a gift from Venice, what would you get them, and where would you buy it?
A copy of Fondamenta degli Incurabili by Joseph Brodsky.
Where are your favorite places to browse on a lazy weekend?
A trip to Pellestrina, a quick lunch at Da Nane or Ristorante da Celeste, and then back onto the water, drifting, watching the sunset, letting the lagoon set the pace.
Give us your Venetian classic and a new kid on the block.
Classic: Don’t look for monuments, look for pozzi, or the Venetian wells. They’re scattered across the city, in courtyards, palaces, and hidden corners. Each one hints at a different layer of Venice’s history. New kid on the block: Do Farai [recently reopened under new management]. It’s quickly becoming a point of convergence, where locals gather and bring their international guests.
A wild card recommendation?
Follow the water. At some point, leave behind appointments, maps, and expectations, and just move through the lagoon. That’s often when Venice becomes most clear.
