A wild visitor has been attracting attention around Venice’s historic lagoon, and for once it’s not an international tourist who doesn’t know how to behave. The guest in question is a wild bottlenose dolphin that entered the lagoon in late June 2025 and has been reluctant to leave, delighting passersby but prompting experts to express worries that the creature could be injured in the lagoon city’s busy waterways.
Nicknamed “Mimmo,” a Tuscan endearment for a small child and the diminutive form of Domenico, the dolphin has been spotted leaping out of the water, a form of play, communication, cleansing, and hunting.
He has also bucked traditional wisdom and trend data that says dolphins rarely enter Venice’s lagoon, as they are usually repelled by the area’s frequent boat activity. Two dolphins were spotted in the lagoon during the relative lull in marine traffic caused by COVID-19. Mimmo, however, does not seem so far to have any problem avoiding the gondolas, water taxis, and water buses that frequent Venice and its islands.
Da qualche mese a Venezia c’è un delfino, appartenente alla specie protetta dei tursiopi. Dai veneziani è stato ribattezzato “Mimmo”, ed è diventato subito l’attrazione di migliaia di turisti che affollano ogni giorno la laguna pic.twitter.com/tWP9JsENqP
— L'Espresso (@espressonline) November 10, 2025
Marine biologist Luca Mizzan, head of Venice’s Natural History Museum, has pointed out that the creature seems quite determined to stay put: “This animal seems really sure of what it wants to do… It is perfectly capable of going out to sea.” The dolphin stays in the vicinity of the iconic St. Mark’s Basilica, does not show signs of hunger and appears untroubled by the boats, crowds, and noise, Mizzan told RAI public television.
Some might speculate that Mimmo has found his way to St Mark’s because of common ground with the apostle. Both dolphins and St Mark are associated with assisting sailors, and in some Ethiopian representations, St Mark is depicted with a dolphin.
🐬Dall’inizio di luglio 2025, un delfino ha fatto il suo ingresso nella laguna di Venezia, inizialmente nella zona centro-meridionale e, da ottobre, si è spostato frequantando spesso il bacino di San Marco
— MUSEI DI VENEZIA (@visitmuve_it) November 7, 2025
Una presenza affascinante e curiosa che ha conquistato cittadini e… pic.twitter.com/AQSI775x0e
On a practical level, though, there remains a risk that Mimmo could be injured by a boat propeller. Experts estimate the number of marine creatures struck by boats in the thousands every year, and some dolphin populations, such as those in Sarasota Bay in Florida, bear more scars than others, with around 1 in 20 showing signs of collision and up to five percent of deaths caused by interactions with boats, research shows.
Meanwhile, for Domenico the Dolphin, the coming of winter could be a good thing, as it would reduce the Venice fish supplies and could incentivise him to exit the lagoon of his own accord. In any case, under his own steam appears to be the only way he will leave, as Mizzan says, “even if we were to escort it, it could come back within a couple of hours.”
