“Venice is in my blood,” says tour guide Nadia Danesin, the founder of Friend in Venice, her small tour company which helps clients from all over the world discover Venice in all its layers of history, in all its hidden corners, and through Nadia’s own eyes, the eyes of a Venetian. 

“Now that we’re stuck at home, it’s almost as if we couldn’t see our mother, as if we couldn’t embrace her, let her lift our spirits. Because when I’m feeling down, Venice lifts me up.” Like many businesses in tourism, Nadia has been hit hard by the coronavirus emergency, with cancellations of all booked tours of the next few months, and the uncertainty of not knowing when business will pick up again.