A trip everyone should take once in a lifetime: from Mantua to Venice by bike. and barge Forget crowded places or kilometer-long queues: here you sail on the water and get off the boat for light pedaling that takes you to unusual places, such as the magical Museo della Giostra and Lio Piccolo, and usual places, such as Venice and Mantua, but from a whole new point of view.

Starting from Mantua and arriving in Venice, crossing rivers and cycling in places where time seems to stand still, is a way of traveling that stays with you for a long time. This is not the journey of grand palaces or Renaissance villas, but it is a combination of details and people, like Giuliano with his passion for playing darts or Paolo and the scents of his distillates. Here you meet flamingos, go birdwatching, get to Venice from the sea, all punctuated by the life of the river and the rules of a captain. A journey that speaks to those who know how to enjoy life down to the smallest things, which in the end are the biggest, like a barbecue (even of vegetables!) in a small town of 300 that is impossible to forget.

We tell you, step by step, how the first Bici e Barca trip to Italy came about and what makes this trip truly unique.

From Holland to Italy: a curious insight

In the Netherlands it has been done forever, or almost forever. It was the 1980s when the Dutch came up with the idea of turning some merchant barges into floating hotels capable of accommodating twenty or so passengers. While they are a bit spartan at first, over the years they become more and more comfortable and accessorized enough to become a new idea of tourism: the Bike and Boat.

In Italy, on the other hand, no one had ever done it, or at least that was the case until about fifteen years ago when a crazy intuition became a real and brilliant reality: bringing boat and bike travel to Italy. Here it is not like in Holland where people, by habit, travel by bicycle and goods travel mainly by river. In Italy, rivers are not conceived of as an alternative route. So where is the affinity? In the river and canals, both in Holland and Italy, these waterways have a centuries-old story to tell that winds its way through stories and hard-to-reach places.

At first there were many limitations to realize this project, but as luck would have it, in 2002 a breakthrough opened up with the commissioning of the Fissero Tartaro – Canal Bianco canal, and so finally Italy too had its own reliable waterway and Mantua could be joined to Venice and the Adriatic Sea. There are no more excuses for not realizing the impossible dream of traveling in Italy via rivers. Only one piece is missing to get started: a boat suitable for river travel.

Vita Pugna and Ave Maria: the ships and their stories

Vita Pugna was born in Holland, Ave Maria in Italy. Together they are one of the reasons why traveling by boat and bike in Italy can be considered epic thanks to their stories of crazy ideas, adventurous journeys and dreams realized.

To ride along low-traffic roads and navigate the Veneto countryside along rivers and canals, you cannot in fact use the usual boats. You need boats suitable for navigation, just as they do in the Netherlands. This is where the Dutch Vita Pugna comes in and the crazy idea of bringing it to Italy, where there are no such ships. Vita Pugna is designed to overcome the bottlenecks of waterways and is also perfect for Italian rivers. Everyone thinks it is impossible to bring Vita Pugna from Holland to Italy, via water: there are Dutch people who bet in the failure of the enterprise and people who still talk about it, but Vita Pugna hits the mark. With courage she sails Rhine, Danube, Black Sea and Adriatic Sea until she arrives at the Mantua Shipyard. Just enough time for a few tweaks and she immediately sets off on her first voyage from Venice to Mantua. It is 2009 and a sell-out gives the impetus for the creation of a second boat, Ave Maria.

Ave Maria was born in Italy, or rather in Veneto, inspired by Vita Pugna. To build it, the strengths and minds of companies in the Veneto region that are located along the Mantua-Venice link, where there is a deep-rooted craftsmanship due to the great tradition of shipbuilding.
Everything is thought out in detail: an innovative air conditioning system that can reuse the thermal properties of exhausted air; a ship’s lighting system is exclusively LED; a state-of-the-art dark water purification system, which when released into the channel is certified clear water; the speed of the vessel is kept within established limits to minimize bank erosion and impact on the ecosystem.
A new successful challenge: Bici e Barca in Italy now has two allies for memorable adventures via water.

Water as a common thread

Sailing on a boat-hotel between the rivers and the sea, seeing Lotus flowers blooming in the lakes of Mantua (in summer!), bathing on the wild beach of Porto Caleri, discovering Venice from the sea, seeing pink flamingos soar over the Po Delta: on a trip from Mantua and Venice it is the water that sets the pace for everything.

Water is everywhere and unites all the places you touch during the boat and bike trip. There is Mantua, a city of water, with the three lakes that surround it: Lago Superiore, Lago di Mezzo, and Lago Inferiore. This is where lotus blossoms are born in the summertime: from the roots that sink into the muddy marshes with force they push the flower stem up to bloom in the sunlight. Water is also the calm water of Pellestrina, where time seems to stand still thanks to the traditions that still survive in this small village, from boating to fishing, in a unique environment made of dunes. Water in Venice is history: you sleep in the Lagoon, in the Giudecca area, where not far away you meet the only remaining gondola builder, Franco Crea, a true institution. And again, water is the living water of the Po Delta, where you spot pink flamingos (arm yourself with binoculars!) but also other birds because there are more than 350 species here, from herons to cormorants to birds of prey.

A journey where time is suspended

This is the journey for those who claim the desire for slow time, knowledge and questions, relationships, real flavors and places off the usual tracks. All this some might call slow tourism, we prefer to call it an unusual journey from suspended time that arises from many small stories, made up of people and places that still somehow endure.

Among our favorite stories is that of Zelo, a village of 300 inhabitants with a Habsburg bridge and a church, which always welcomes us with evenings in Giuliano Contiero’s pub playing darts and evening-grilling (also of vegetables) right on the bridge where we dock. There is a great sense of warmth in this village, where the village elders in the summer still play cards outside in the street, and coexist peacefully with a business run by Chinese people as in the scenes of Andrea Segre’s film, I Am Li. Also vying with Zelo for the record of microscopic village is Lio Piccolo, very close to Jesolo: the only remaining example of a true lagoon reality as it was organized in the late 1700s, it can be reached by bike along a road in the midst of lagoon vistas just the space of a car. Pedaling we also reach a dairy where the patience is that of the thousands of wheels of Grana Padano, and we arrive at the Bergantino Museum of Amusement rides and Popular Entertainment, an incredible place, every Peter Pan’s dream among merry-go-rounds, square shows and entertainment in a route that is divided by theme: mazes, medieval games, fairs, puppets, wonder tunnels and witches. Another icon of a timeless place is Paolo Mantovani’s distillery, more than a business it is a boutique of perfumes and fragrances, where in addition to tasting, one learns to smell. One discovers memorable bottles, such as Acqua di Russia, and is enchanted to discover the world of stills. Far from over tourism, immersed in absolute peace, you also moor in Giudecca. A very quiet place that has the Lagoon as its view. Here you sleep and get to know an authentic history of Venice, that of Franco Crea, a Venetian legend and the only real gondola builder in Venice. Also patient is the birdwatching which in the Po Delta is mostly dedicated to the sighting of pink flamingos. But then do you know why they are pink? We inquired: flamingos are predators of mollusks and crustaceans, especially the Artemia salina, a small pink shrimp that contains the carotenoids that go into the feathers.

Once you get home, you will look forward to recounting each of these things.

On-board cuisine is a reason to go

There is one aspect that should not be underestimated if you are thinking of going on a boat and bike trip: there is great food on board. There is even a cookbook of our on-board cuisine! In our opinion, there are at least three factors that make our cuisine a reason to go: it is balanced and designed for every dietary choice (vegans and vegetarians, this one is for you); it pays attention to the seasons, local ingredients and traditional recipes; and finally, it avoids unnecessary waste.

Talking about territory for us means offering dishes and ingredients typical of the areas and cities we pass through. In Chioggia or Giudecca we always prepare fillet of sea bass or fish soup from the Mediterranean Sea, while in Mantua ravioli and braised beef are never missing on the plate. Another key ingredient is seasonality, from peas to artichokes (in homage to those of Sant’Erasmo and Lio Piccolo) in spring to zucchini and eggplant in summer to porcini mushrooms and pumpkin in fall. Whenever possible, we look for local suppliers, such as the butcher shop in Zelo that we walk to or the fish market in Chioggia. But we don’t stop there because our idea of local cuisine is often revisited, starting with traditional dishes and recipes, such as asparagus risotto in spring to which we add strawberries.

Focused on the local area, but also balanced: we are very careful to offer a balanced diet, with lots of fruits and vegetables, trying to alternate proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins: this way even those who do not eat meat always have an alternative among eggs, legumes or cheeses. For those who choose a vegetarian or vegan diet, we do not simply remove an ingredient from the plate, but think about how to replace it with utmost care.

Another fundamental principle of our kitchen is to waste as little as possible: an ethical and functional message, because space on the boat is tight. We try not to throw anything away, and that is why we sometimes revisit what was not eaten at dinner or breakfast for snacks or aperitifs: everyone appreciates this effort so much. With the same goal, whenever possible, we avoid plastic because we must not forget that ours is a vacation in nature, among water, shores and rivers. Even our spending is always judicious: in vegetables we use everything, even the stems to make broth or, after tasting grana padano cheese, with the crusts we make pasta and beans, just as per tradition.

Life on board tastes like home, captain’s word

Routine on a boat is not quite the same as on land; on a boat everything is possible because of the crew that directs everything that happens. The captain, the motorman, the cooks, the tour leaders – they are the ones who wake up before everyone else to prepare breakfast, and they are always the ones who, when everyone is asleep, think about organizing the next day. During the day, while the passengers ride, they do the shopping, the cleaning, meet the suppliers of vegetables and bread, and, as in a big family everyone does everything, without hierarchies, moving around the spaces of the boat with true complicity. That is why it is not unusual to see the captain cooking (his forte is grill night) or the cook in support of the guide. In this family atmosphere even the passengers feel at home, and after a few days there are those who set the table and those who sneak into the kitchen, just as if they were part of the crew. But the question everyone is asking is: on the boat, what is Captain Riccardo Tamani’s favorite moment? The answer is in the ritual of breakfast: drinking an American coffee, every day with a different and always beautiful view, maybe after a sunrise run with his friend the cook. But also sleeping in Venice or Pellestrina, where the breeze and wind are a cuddle to fall asleep.

Pedaling with the wind in your hair, there’s nothing better

The bicycle is mythical, it is an achievement that we earn pedal after pedal, it is a travel that tastes of authentic freedom. Emotions that remain steadfast even when we choose to travel with an e-bike that absolutely does not scratch the feeling of wind in our hair, the memory of riding adventures as children, and that sense of regaining time and space. Traveling with an e-bike is not about not pedaling, it’s about enjoying the experience of a bike ride to the fullest, helping you cover more miles. What’s more, while it reduces fatigue on climbs, it is also an ally on hot days: you’ll always be accompanied by a pleasant breeze. The wind gets even more windy, and it becomes pleasant to venture through the paths of the Venetian countryside or among the islets and canals of Lio Piccolo. One last piece of advice before leaving is a read, a small, light book that fits in our suitcase. The title is “The Beauty of the Bicycle” by Marc Augé and it reminds us how the bicycle opens the door to dreams and the future.

If you think this is the perfect time to start this adventure among rivers, seas and suspended times, go on the journey:

Consigli di viaggio