Every year, from March to October, a romantic mini-cruise among the Venetian Villas of the Riviera del Brenta, from Padua to Venice or the other way round, a trip through art and history on the way followed by the ancient Venetian Burchiello in the 1700's. The Burchiello was a typical Venetian barge, finely wrought and decorated, used to transport passengers and equipped with a wide wooden cabin, and three or four balconies. The Burchiello was used by the richest classes of Venice to reach the city from their villas in the countryside. As it used to do in the past, nowadays the Burchiello operates as a scheduled touristic service along the Riviera del Brenta, from Padua to Venice or vice-versa; heir of old traditions, it slowly cruises the Brenta waters while tourist guides on board tell about the history, the culture and the art of the Villas that rise along the Brenta. Today the Burchiello is a modern and comfortable boat, equipped with a cabin and comfortable sofas, air-conditioning, a bar and toilets, and a panoramic deck that offers passengers a full view around. The programs offer navigation from Padua to Venice (Padua, Stra, Dolo, Mira, Oriago, Malcontenta, Fusina, Venice) or from Venice to Padua (Venice, Fusina, Malcontenta, Oriago, Mira, Dolo, Stra, Padua), plus the guided tour inside some Venetian Villas, the famous richly-frescoed summer dwellings of the Venetian noblemen of the 1700’s. The full-day mini-cruise, recommended in order to appreciate the extraordinary beauty of the Riviera del Brenta, includes navigation, a guide on board, the guided tour of Villa Foscari known as La Malcontenta, Villa Widmann in Mira and Villa Pisani in Stra, plus a stop for the optional lunch at the famous restaurant Il Burchiello in Oriago, where the barge moors. This charming mini-cruise passes through nine swivelling bridges and five locks, real “water lifts” that enable tourists to go down or up the difference in water level that is as high as 10 meters from Padua to Venice, and it concludes its trip in Venice in the fantastic marble scenario of St. Mark’s Basin.