With that in mind, and especially our own friends who have told us: "We saw the cicchetti, but weren't quite sure how it worked", we decided to open a series of video posts with an introduction to eating in a Venetian bacaro.

​Buon Appetito!  

This video was filmed at SALVMERIA: Bacaro Contemporaneo (Salumeria), in Via Garibadli.  We'd like to thank them for their time, space and food, but most especially for their warm Venetian-bacaro style welcome!

A Bacaro is a traditional Venetian snack bar where both local Venetians and tourists mingle over spritz, wine, snacks and cicchetti.  Visiting a bacaro, whether at lunch time or at cocktail hour can be one of the most fun, the most convenient, and also the least expensive ways to taste some of the best food available in Venice. 

Venetians from all walks of life and, as Giorgio, the owner of SALVMERIA, says it, "also tourists who appreciate the Venetian style ... those who want to know the Venetian style of how to drink, how to eat and how to live". 

"Because in a bacaro we have the best food at the best price and the atmosphere and the company are very friendly."

OG Venice Travel Guide is delighted to host this article on behalf of Foody, a local startup founded by a small team of young Italian entrepreneurs who have created a platform, www.foodyexperience.com, that allows both Italian and foreign travelers to experience local culture through eating local foods and getting to know the cooks who prepare it.   We're not sure what we love more about this... Is it the concept of the fun and authentic interaction that travelers can have with locals over a plate of local food? Is it that we're so excited to support these local entrepreneurs with their mission to connect travelers with positive experiences of Venice?  Are we just hungry and thirsty?  Either way,  OG Venice wishes all the best of Elena and Michele and looks forward to many many more Foody Experiences!

On 16th of May two Venetian cooks, Cecilia and Daniela opened the doors of their lovely house in Rialto, at the centre of the living room was a big table full of ingredients for cicchetti - Venetian tapas.  A group of 16 Americans from the State of Iowa were invited in to learn about, prepare and eat local Venetian food together with these two Venetian foodies.

Cecilia and Daniela first explained the origin of bacari, traditional Venetian wine bars, the name of which translates into “house of bacchus”, (Bacchus being, of course, the Roman God of wine).  Bacari are small, dimly lit taverns, cicchetti and other traditional drinks and snacks of Venice.   Cicchetti are often accompanied by an "obmra", which translates to English as "shade".  An Ombra is a small glass of wine and is called a "shade" by Venetians because they were originally sold by itinerant traders, who followed the shadow of Saint Mark’s bell tower in order to keep the wine cool.

Venice, a magical city full of history and heritage, has so many customs linked to food.  And one of the best ways to discover Venice is to live and eat as a local person.  

The local ingredients chosen by Cecilia and Daniela for their guests' foody experienice in Venice were top quality, delicious and very representative of traditional Venetian food: baccalà mantecato (creamed cod), dried tomatoes, robiola (cheese), eggs, herring, soppressa (salami).  And, as one of the cooks is also a sommelier, their guests also enjoyed a few ombri with their cicchetti!  

We are in the Country of Prosecco; Also known as the "Prosecco Road"


Through the Veneto, runs a 120 km road lined with beautiful vineyards. It starts from the Conegliano Castle and runs to to Valdobbiadene.


Here is an opportunity to have a great food & wine experience!


During the Prosecco Experience you will have:


A Vineyard Tour 


A taste of 5 different types DOCG Prosecco accompanied by delicious Cicchetti


All these things within a beautiful wine company in the hills of Vittorio Veneto - Treviso


Start: from 5 pm


Saturday,  July 23rd


Prize: 25,00€ per person

Book: info@foodyexperience.com

If you also have the passion for local food and would like to arrange a Foody Experience similar to the cicchetti making class, the prosecco experience, or even a delicious lunch or dinner in a local home in Venice or the Veneto, write to:  info@foodyexperience.com.  The Foody team will organize a wonderful Foody Experience for you!

I am reposting this note in honor of a very special moment.  Yesterday evening I met a friend for a drink and she was shocked to arrive and find me drinking a spritz.  "The hour for apperativo has passed!"  "I know,"  I said, "But this is the first of the day for me and I am taking a ridiculous amount of pleasure in it!"  And it was true.  Last night, for the first time ever, I drank a spirtz, enjoyed it thoroughly, and even had a this-is-exactly-what-I-wanted moment over it.  Crazy!

So it seems that after many years of ambivalent spritz drinking, I have finally arrived!  My friend Giuliomaria, the real author of the "spritz rules" was, as ever, 100% right. 


The Spritz Rules:


WHAT? What was that you said? You don't like Spritz???! Would you like to know a secret? Neither do I! Fortunately, there is a cure for the affliction of not liking spritz. Know what it is? More Spritz! Doesn't work that way with vegetables does it? Every bell pepper I taste is worse than the last…

I heard a lot of spritz wisdom at Taverna Ciardi as a I grimaced-down an oh-so-bitter artichoke spritz. That spritz was nicknamed "Giulio's Friend" and the wise man who made it was Giuliomaria.  Now, I'm going to share with you a little of the spritz wisdom that Giuliomaria shared with me:

No one is born liking spritz, but we all have a capacity to learn to love it. Man's relationship with spritz goes like this:

• 1st Spritz- Don't like it.
• 2nd Spritz- Was offered to you by a friend so you're obliged to drink it.
• 3rd Spritz- Everyone else is having one and you don't want to go against the grain.
• 4th Spritz- You're hooked.
• After 10 years of drinking Spritz- You're an honorary Venetian Citizen. Wait a second... Could I get that in writing?

Grazie mille (or Grassy Milly if that's how it comes out) Giuliomaria! We've learned to love glamor and grit, fellow tourists, snow, fog, rain, climbing stairs & fog horns. Now, thank goodness, we can also love relaxing and mulling it all over with a spritz!