Restaurants, Snacks & Shopping for Food in Venice Italy
Tip: Eating Well in Venice Italy:
The key to eating well in Venice is to eat like a Venetian. That means you should both eat where the locals eat and try to eat locally produced foods. In spite of Venice' poor reputation for food, there really is lots of great food to be had here for those who know where to find it. Here, OG Venice will introduce you to some of the best local-favorite restaurants and speciality food shops in Venice.
Meanwhile, your first steps towards an authentic Venetian culinary experience are to skip the "toast", or the stale 7 euro panino near the main square, walk away from the canal side patio and wander into a small local bar to try some cicchetti...
Meanwhile, your first steps towards an authentic Venetian culinary experience are to skip the "toast", or the stale 7 euro panino near the main square, walk away from the canal side patio and wander into a small local bar to try some cicchetti...
Venetian Cicchetti:
“Cicchetti” is
often translated as meaning “snacks”, but Venetian ciccheti is
really so much more than that! Cicchetti are small portions of
almost any kind of food ranging from small open-faced sandwiches, called “crostini”, with cured meats, cheeses and vegetables, to fried zucchini flowers, to myriad seafood and pasta
dishes. Almost anything that can be served in a meal-sized portion
can be served in a cicchetti-sized portion.
Eating cicchetti is the best way to sample the local foods of Venice and the Veneto region. Almost every bar, osteria, enoteca and restaurant offers some kind of cicchetti. And, most pieces of cicchetti cost less than two euro. That's right! It's not only the best food in town, it's also budget-friendly.
There is a Venetian tradition, known as a “Ciccheti e Ombra” tour. (“Ombra” translates to “shadow” or “shade”, but in the sense used here it means a glass of wine.) Simply put, the participants traverse the city sampling ciccheti and drinking wine along the way. Taking a ciccheti e ombra tour is a fantastic way to explore the city and taste some local flavor at the same time.
Eating cicchetti is the best way to sample the local foods of Venice and the Veneto region. Almost every bar, osteria, enoteca and restaurant offers some kind of cicchetti. And, most pieces of cicchetti cost less than two euro. That's right! It's not only the best food in town, it's also budget-friendly.
There is a Venetian tradition, known as a “Ciccheti e Ombra” tour. (“Ombra” translates to “shadow” or “shade”, but in the sense used here it means a glass of wine.) Simply put, the participants traverse the city sampling ciccheti and drinking wine along the way. Taking a ciccheti e ombra tour is a fantastic way to explore the city and taste some local flavor at the same time.
Snacks, Lunches & Take-Away Foods in Venice Italy:
It's true that take-away food has become a bone of contention between locals, restaurants and tourists in Venice. But, it is also natural that, during some busy days of sightseeing, studying or working, you may want pre-prepared foods that you can buy quickly and bring along to your next destination. When it comes to buying take-away foods in Venice, we do have a couple of suggestions:
- Make sure that you have a comfortable place in mind to take your food away too. e.g. Know where you're going to eat that food before you buy it and start walking around with it. Eating on the street or perched on a bridge isn't really all that comfortable. Nor is it all that sanitary. Or,
- Buy take-away foods that are convenient to eat while standing and walking and that won't leave you stranded in the street with a handful of packaging to dispose of.
Restaurants in Venice Italy:
Forget everything you've heard! You should absolutely sit down to a good multi-course meal during your stay in Venice. Just remember that, as with everything else in town, most of the best meals you'll find in Venice will come from the least likely looking places. To find great restaurants, it is essential to follow the classic Venetian advice and "go inside". Meaning that you not only need to explore the inner streets of Venice, but also go inside of the small osterias and restaurants you'll find there. These are some of my favorite restaurants in Venice:
Venice Rialto Market and Speciality Shops Near Rialto:
Since the year 1097,
the Rialto Market has been the main fish, fruit and vegetable market in Venice. Even if you are not in a position to cook for
yourself, the Rialto Mercato is a must-see sight of Venice. There
you will find a huge and beautiful fish market brimming with live
catches and exotic varieties as well as a green market offering a
rainbow of fresh fruits and vegetables, some from the Venetian island of Sant'Erasmo, all nestled into two squares
on the edge of the Grand Canal. The area is surrounded with specialty food stores and also dotted with excellent restaurants. Don't miss it!
Bakeries and Pastry Shops in Venice Italy:
Finding great baked
goods can be one of the biggest food challenges in Venice. There's no one area of the city chalk-full of bakeries. But there are some really wonderful secret little bakeries
and pastry shops in town. If you like fresh baked goods, maybe even the occasional cake, it is well worth making the effort to find them.
Gourmet and Specialty Food Shops in Venice Italy:
You may be able to buy a scoop of gelato on every corner, a biscotto in any cafe and a bottle of wine in every botega, but you won't have tasted the best of Venice before you've had a sorbeto to from Gelateria Alaska, a chocolate from Vizio Virtu and fresh pasta from Pastaficio Serenissima. There are some serious food artists at work in Venezia! Lets go find them!
Outdoor Markets in Venice Italy:
You can always find fresh fruit, vegetables and seafood in
Venice. There are hundreds of small open air markets around town.
Some markets are large stands in the middle of major campos, others
seem to magically grow out of the walls in the narrow streets of Castello and just as magically disappear at night.
Searching out these markets can be a great way to supplement both
your sightseeing and your food supply while living a genuinely
Venetian lifestyle!
Grocery Stores and Supermarkets in Venice Italy:
The Venetian population, and Venice' millions of visitors, are also served by several chain grocery stores and several smaller convenience shops. In fact, while 20 years ago supermarkets were few and far between in Venice, the city is now practically bursting at the seams with them. You can find lots of snacks, bottled water, wines and liquors as well as everything you might need for cooking at home in these stores. Some of the grocery chains operating in Venice are a listed below. You can find the stores in the neighborhoods I mention below, or follow the links to their store-locator pages.
Punto SMA (Pictured Above) Punto has a large supermarket near Campo Sant Angelou in the San Marco District.
InCoop. inCOOP stores operate small supermarkets throughout venice. With the exception of some larger stores, they do not carry too many meats or fresh vegetables. Nevertheless, an inCOOP store is a great place to find pastas, water, milk, eggs, cheeses and other snacks and foodstuffs that you may need.
Locations:
Locations:
- Castello District: On Salizada San Lio
- Castello District: On the Via Garibaldi
- Castello District: On Calle Carminati, Near Campo San Lio
- Cannaregio District: On the Rio Terra Maddalena, Near Ferrovia
- Santa Croce District: In Campo San Gioccomo Del Orio
- Santa Croce District: At Piazzale Roma, Across from the Vaporetto Platforms
- San Polo District: At the corner of Campo Sant Aponal
CONAD. CONAD stores are the largest and some of the most convenient grocery stores in Venice. They carry most everything you would expect including some prepared foods, breads, meats, vegetables, kitchen implements and some household and personal items. Most CONAD stores also have a fairly large selection of wines. And, they have loyalty programs which, even as a visitor, you are welcome to join. Locations:
- Lido: On the Gran Viale Santa Maria Elizabetta
- Dorsoduro District: On the Fondamenta Zatere
- San Polo District: On Calle Saoneri
- Santa Croce District: On Fondamenta Rio Marin
Tip: Sfuso Wines:
In the narrow streets of every neighborhood of Venice you will see small shops full of barrels of wine. These are Sfuso wine shops. Sfuso is the term for wine that has not yet been decanted into glass bottles. In a Sfuso store you can buy wine by the liter or the half-liter. It will be dispensed into a plastic bottle, or you can bring your own bottle. 1.5 liters of sfuso generally costs you between 3 and 5 euros. Though unglamorous in their presentation, Sfuso wines are the same local wines that you would buy by the bottle in a grocery store or drink in a bar. Many of them are quite good and the prices certainly can't be beat. As a bonus, there is almost always a tasting going on in the sfuso shops.
TRICK: Some Venetian Sfuso shops, such as Sfusi Ma Buoni (On Rio Terra De Cristo, near San Marcuola), stock other hard-to-come bye Veneto region goodies as well. These can include bottles and jars of specialty sauces, cured vegetables & patees. All of these go well with any snack platter that you might be planning to put together at home!
TRICK: Some Venetian Sfuso shops, such as Sfusi Ma Buoni (On Rio Terra De Cristo, near San Marcuola), stock other hard-to-come bye Veneto region goodies as well. These can include bottles and jars of specialty sauces, cured vegetables & patees. All of these go well with any snack platter that you might be planning to put together at home!