Eating and drinking in Venice
3 h route4 stopsBest: All yearUpdated July 2026
Cicchetti are the Venetian way to eat and the best defence against tourist-menu restaurants: small things ordered at a bacaro counter by pointing, eaten standing, costing little. Half a soused sardine on bread, a spoonful of whipped salt cod, an artichoke.
The rule for not eating badly in Venice is simple and doesn’t fail: if a place has photographs of the dishes at the door, a menu in six languages and a waiter outside inviting you in, keep walking.
The route, stop by stop
4 STOPS- 01
Cicchetti and the ombra
The word ombra means “shade” and denotes the small glass of wine that goes with cicchetti. The origin: itinerant wine sellers set up beside St Mark’s campanile and moved the stall through the day to keep it in shadow so the wine wouldn’t warm.
“Let’s go for a shade” stuck as a phrase.
The bacaro crawl is done on foot between two or three places, taking two or three things in each. The best are in Cannaregio, around the Rialto market and in Dorsoduro near the university. Standing at the counter costs less than sitting at a table, and that’s legal and normal: it’s printed on the menu.
- 02
Sarde in saor and the salt cod
Sarde in saor are fried first and then marinated in softened onion, vinegar, raisins and pine nuts. They began as ship’s preserve: the acidity and the sugar in the raisins kept the fish edible through weeks at sea, and incidentally supplied vitamin C against scurvy. It’s the Venetian dish par excellence and it’s in every bacaro.
Baccalà mantecato is a white cream of fish whipped with oil until it emulsifies, spread on bread or polenta. And there’s a vocabulary oddity here: in Venice “baccalà” actually means stoccafisso, cod air-dried without salt, which has come from the Norwegian Lofoten islands ever since a Venetian merchant was shipwrecked there in the fifteenth century and came back with the idea.
- 03
The spritz, invented around here
During the Austrian rule of the Veneto in the nineteenth century, soldiers found the local wines too strong and asked for them to be cut with a splash of soda: spritzen is German for “to splash”. In time a bitter liqueur was added and it became what it is today. In Venice you order it by the name of the amaro: spritz with Select (the local classic, more than Aperol) or with Campari, more bitter. It’s drunk in the late afternoon, before dinner, with an olive and a slice of orange. Ordering one at eleven at night marks you as a visitor.
- 04
Where not to eat, and why
Venice receives so many single-day visitors that part of the centre’s catering is built for people who will never come back. It concentrates around St Mark’s and along the direct route to the Rialto, and is recognisable by the usual signs: photographs of the dishes, laminated menus in many languages, someone touting at the door.
What works is getting three streets away from the main route, in any direction. Cannaregio, upper Castello and Dorsoduro near the university have ordinary bacari and trattorias at ordinary prices.
And in the historic cafés on St Mark’s square, be careful: sitting on the terrace with the orchestra carries a considerable surcharge, which is posted but seldom read.
Frequently asked
What are cicchetti?
Venetian bar snacks ordered at a bacaro counter by pointing: soused sardine on bread, whipped salt cod, artichoke, meatballs. Eaten standing with a small glass of wine, the ombra, changing bar every couple of rounds. It’s how you eat well and cheaply in Venice.
How do you avoid bad restaurants in Venice?
Getting three streets away from the St Mark’s-to-Rialto route in any direction, and ruling out places with photographs of the dishes at the door, menus in many languages and a waiter touting outside. Cannaregio and Dorsoduro have bacari and trattorias at ordinary prices.