Week at a Glance
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Volunteer Pool
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Full Agenda
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⭐ Folium Relevance
Sessions most aligned with Folium's work — food, cities, education, living systems, children, ecological culture.
Core — highest relevance
Adjacent — good for networking
Volunteer Roster
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Volunteer Shifts
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Compact matrix
🥗 Healthy Food & Groceries
Prioritize Le Spighe near Arsenale; stock up at Despar; hit Rialto before noon.
Castello — Near Arsenale & Biennale
Organic · Vegetarian · Pay by weight
Le Spighe Venezia
Via Giuseppe Garibaldi 1341, Castello
Best healthy eating near the Arsenale and Biennale. Vegetarian/largely vegan. Take away and eat on the benches along Viale Garibaldi.
☎ +39 041 523 8173Cannaregio — Near IUAV
Bookstore Bistro · Vegetarian · Vegan wine
Sullaluna libreria & bistrot
Fondamenta de la Misericordia 2535, Cannaregio
A bookshop-bistro with a full vegetarian menu, vegan options, and vegan wine. Reserve for dinner.
☎ +39 041 722924Supermarket · Inside a restored theatre
Despar Teatro Italia
Campiello de l'Anconeta 1939, Cannaregio
Best grocery in Venice. Inside a stunning 19th-century theatre with frescoed ceilings. Huge plant-based section. Open every day.
☎ +39 041 244 0243San Polo — Rialto
Open-air market · Fresh fish, fruit & veg
Rialto Market
Calle Prima de la Donzella 306, San Polo
Venice's best market. Go early — vendors pack up after noon.
🎨 Venice Biennale 2026
61st edition, open May 9 – Nov 22. Main venues: Giardini & Arsenale. Closed Mondays. Buy tickets online.
In Minor Keys — curated by Koyo Kouoh
A radical reconnection with art's natural role: 111 artists from 99 nations operating in lower emotional frequencies to counter the noise of crisis.
Practical Tips
- Allow at least one full day for Giardini, another for Arsenale
- Arsenale is walking distance from several VCW venues
- 31 collateral events scattered across the city — many are free
Must-See — matched to Folium interests
🌿
Otobong Nkanga — Central Pavilion
Giardini · Living facade
The pavilion's columns clad in bricks with living plants — vines expected to slowly obscure the building by November.
→ Living systems as architecture, biological time, school gardens
🌳
Uriel Orlow — Dedication II
Arsenale · Video + botanical maps
Screens show tree roots with poetic text. Maps the plants of the Biennale tracing origins across continents.
→ Reading to plants, children + nature, ecology as storytelling
👶
Japan — Ei Arakawa-Nash
Giardini · Grass Babies, Moon Babies
208 baby dolls fill the pavilion. Visitors carry one — inside is a QR code with a poem to read to the baby.
→ Children's imagination, civic care, participatory experience
🎧
Holy See — Soundwalk Collective
Giardini · Plant bioelectricity antenna
Walk through a garden with headphones playing Hildegard of Bingen. An antenna tracks plant life and atmospheric shifts.
→ Ecological spirituality, slow attention, viriditas
🌊
Austria — Florentina Holzinger
Giardini · SEAWORLD VENICE
The pavilion becomes a closed-loop system powered by the audience's bodily waste. Deeply tied to Planet Aqua.
→ Water cities, climate systems, ecology and the body
🌾
Florence Lazar — 125 Hectares
Arsenale · Film installation
A farmer explains where local vegetation was replaced by colonial cash crops. Aid still often supports monocultures.
→ Food education, colonial agriculture, seasonality
✍️ Stationery, Bookbinding & Leather
Real Venetian artisans. Call ahead — most keep irregular hours.
Bookbinding & Marbled Paper
Artisan bookbinding · Since 1851
Legatoria Piazzesi
San Marco 2511, Campiello della Feltrina
Venice's oldest paper shop. Centuries-old wooden printing moulds still in use. Exquisite bookbinding and marbled paper.
☎ +39 333 895 0095Letterpress · Handmade stationery
Gianni Basso Stampatore
Fondamenta Giazzo 5306, Cannaregio
Bespoke letterpress printing — beautiful handmade cards, notebooks, custom business cards to order.
☎ +39 041 721041Bookbinding workshop · Opens 3:30pm
Paolo Olbi
Dorsoduro 3253/A
One of Venice's last bookbinding masters. Handmade leather-bound notebooks, photo albums, letterpress stationery. Rated 4.8.
⚠ Afternoon-only. Plan your Dorsoduro afternoon around this.
☎ +39 041 523 7655Block-printed prints · Custom stamps · Wax seals
Il Pavone
Dorsoduro 721, near the Guggenheim
Handmade block-printed art papers, wax seals, stationery. Custom stamps made while you wait. Rated 4.9.
☎ +39 041 523 4517Leather Goods
Handmade · Vegetable-tanned · Tuscan leather
Il Grifone
Fondamenta del Gaffaro 3516, Dorsoduro
Nearly 40 years of vegetable-tanned Tuscan leather. Bags, wallets, belts. Built to last decades. Rated 4.9.
Handmade leather bags · Full-grain
Mazzon Le Borse
Campiello San Tomà 2807, San Polo
Well-regarded local leather bag workshop near the Rialto. Custom pieces available.
The Dorsoduro Afternoon Cluster
Living in the Past (vinyl, opens noon) · Il Grifone (leather) · Paolo Olbi (bookbinding, 3:30pm+) · Segni nel Tempo (prints) · Il Pavone (block prints) · Santa Maria Novella (pharmacy). All walkable — start around noon.
🎵 Vinyl Records & Antique Prints
Plan these into downtime between event shifts. The Dorsoduro shops cluster perfectly with stationery and leather.
Vinyl Records
Vinyl · Last record shop in historic Venice
Living in the Past
Dorsoduro 3474
Prog, psych, krautrock, classic 60s–70s rock, Italian pressings, soundtracks. Opens at noon — perfect for a lunch-break browse.
⚠ Some reviews flag over-grading. Inspect rare finds carefully.
☎ +39 328 621 5414Vinyl · Mestre · All genres · New & secondhand
Spazio 432
Via Giuseppe Verdi 81, Mestre
Rated 4.9. House, techno, disco, funk, hip hop, classical. 15-min bus from Piazzale Roma.
☎ +39 351 388 6656Antique Prints & Antiquarian Books
Antiquarian · Old prints · Maps · Engravings
Segni nel Tempo
Calle Lunga San Barnaba 2856, Dorsoduro
Old prints, maps, engravings, and broadsides. Owner Federico is warm and knowledgeable. Rated 4.6.
☎ +39 379 198 1785Antiquarian · Jewish Ghetto · Prints · Judaica
Antichità Al Ghetto
Cannaregio 1133, Jewish Ghetto
Antique art, prints, Judaica, and objects going back hundreds of years. Multilingual staff. Rated 4.6.
☎ +39 041 524 4592🌿 Santa Maria Novella
One of the world's oldest pharmacies, founded by Dominican monks in Florence in 1221.
Historic apothecary · Founded 1221
Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella
San Marco, Campo San Samuele 3149
Perfumes, herbal soaps, room fragrances, skin creams, herbal liqueurs from centuries-old monastic recipes. Short walk from Casa Sanlorenzo.
☎ +39 041 522 0814What to look for
- Perfumes — ask to be guided; generous with samples
- Herbal soaps — rose, iris, lavender; great gifts, travel well
- Room fragrances & pot pourri — evocative of the Florentine monastic tradition
- Acqua di Colonia — citrus cologne, a classic since the 18th century
- 100ml perfume is a notably better deal than the 50ml
🗺️ VCW Venues Map
Official VCW 2026 venues map — created by the team.