Experience
Many, small, specialized
A week inside the business model the Veneto invented: many small companies, each good at one single thing, which together make up a chain. You look at whether that model still holds today, with two concrete tests, succession and certified sustainability.
On this page
Fact sheet
- Days
- 7
- Cities
- Venice, Stra, Valdagno, Conegliano, Treviso
- Recommended season
- March to June and September to November
- Group
- 15 to 18 participants
- Language of the visits
- Italian, English and French at the Museo della Calzatura, with booking; at the other sites it is confirmed on booking
- Schengen days used
- 7 out of 90, counting the day of entry and the day of exit
- Price
- Quotation on request
→ Request a quotation · Download the itinerary in PDF
In the quotation we write which sites are confirmed and which are being confirmed, one by one.
Itinerary day by day
Day 1 — Venice. Opening, and a textile house that never left the city
In the afternoon, Fondazione Rubelli: the textile archive of a Venetian company, with sample books from decades of production for interiors and fashion.
In the evening, a two-hour opening session.
Day 2 — Venice and Murano. Glass, and a bitter
In the morning, a Murano glass furnace with an entry ticket: you see the work and you understand why a blown piece costs what it costs.
In the afternoon, Ca' Select: the urban distillery that brought a production back to the city it had left, with a company archive open to visits.
Day 3 — Stra. The people who manufacture and do not appear
A full day at the Museo della Calzatura at Villa Foscarini Rossi: the footwear district of the Riviera del Brenta, that is to say the factories that produce for the great houses without appearing on the product.
Guided visits for groups by booking; the museum closes at weekends out of season and from 10 to 21 August.
Day 4 — Valdagno. A certified company, and what it cost
A full day at the Museo Zordan: a retail design company certified as a B Corp, with the museum open by booking only and in slots of about ninety minutes with the places published. It is the site booked before all the others on the route.
Late in the afternoon, a two-hour working session.
Day 5 — Conegliano and Treviso. Two archives and a global brand
In the morning, Museo del Caffè Dersut: a coffee roaster with a museum of its own.
In the afternoon, Archivio Benetton, in Castrette di Villorba: the archive of a group that from a Veneto province built a network of shops all over the world. It is the site that closes the circle of the week, because it is the only large company among all the ones seen.
Day 6 — The work
A guided day in two blocks of three hours. Each team builds the map of the Veneto chain seen during the week and identifies the two points where it would break if three of those companies closed.
Day 7 — Presentation and closing
In the morning, ten-minute presentations and discussion. In the afternoon, closing and handover of the certificate of participation.
What you visit
| Place | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Museo Zordan, Valdagno | Company museum of a company certified as a B Corp, booking only, slots of about 90 minutes with published places | Bookable |
| Museo della Calzatura at Villa Foscarini Rossi, Stra | Museum of the footwear district, guided visits by booking in Italian, English and French | Bookable |
| A Murano glass furnace with an entry ticket | Glass work open to visits, with a ticket | Bookable |
| Fondazione Rubelli, Venice | Company textile archive | On request |
| Ca' Select, Venice | Urban distillery with a company archive open to visits | On request |
| Museo del Caffè Dersut, Conegliano | Company museum of a coffee roaster | On request |
| Archivio Benetton, Castrette di Villorba | Historical archive of a clothing group | On request |
Seven sites, none left to build. Together with The Italy that sells abroad, it is the long experience in the catalog that depends least on doors still to be opened.
What is included and what is not
Included: admissions and guided visits to the confirmed sites, the booking and coordination with whoever receives the group, the guided working sessions totalling twelve hours, the materials, one person from the Istituto with the group for all seven days, the final report handed to the institution that brings the group and the certificate of participation in the experience.
Not included: flight, transfers to and from the airport, travel between the five towns, lodging, meals, urban and water transport, personal travel insurance.
The season, and why
You travel from March to June and from September to November.
January and February are out: in the lagoon the winter is damp and the days short, and in the provincial towns the opening hours thin out.
August is out, and here with two exact dates: the Murano furnaces close for the whole month and the Stra museum closes from 10 to 21 August.
The reason, month by month, is on the Seasons page.
Logistics and capacity
The five towns are all within the Veneto and no transfer runs over an hour and a half; the group changes hotel twice. Venice requires water transport, which is calculated by time and not by distance. The lowest capacity on the route is 18 places, that of one slot at the Valdagno museum, and it coincides with the breaking point.
The recommended group is 15 people: it is the size that reaches the group rates without going over the access limits of the visits, which at these sites run from 18 to 20. Above 18 the itinerary splits into two slots, the day gets longer and the cost per person does not go down.
Cover
The program includes an accident and public liability policy for the whole stay. The sums insured, the insurer and the policy number are published once it is taken out and are attached to the contract; until then they can be requested in writing, with an answer within two working days.
Do you want it to count as training, with a certificate? This experience can be built into an Istituto program, with classroom hours, a piece of work to deliver and a certificate of attendance. → For groups
Related experiences
A certification is not a campaign (4 days, Veneto) · Glass, and how you tell a company from a shop (2 days) · The district that never moved (4 days, Biella)
Let us talk about this route
We answer within two working days with the dates, the day by day program and the quotation.