How to Eat Like a Local in Venice, Italy

Ahhh, my favorite topic. Food. But before we get started, let me begin with a little story.

Right when my boyfriend and I arrived in Venice, it took us a few hours to get from the airport to where we were staying. By the time we got there, we were beyond starving and wanted nothing more than to have a nice Italian meal. Not asking for much, right?

Well, like most starving tourists in Italy, our first order of business was to find an authentic pizza place to sit down and relax.

Thinking that we were outsmarting the tourist traps (lol), we walked far away from the main tourist streets of Venice that surround the Rialto Bridge, St. Mark’s Square, and the Grand Canal until we found ourselves a quiet street lined with local restaurants.

Knowing that the number one sign of a tourist trap is a menu with pictures and 50 different languages, we decided to dodge all these types of restaurants and settled on one that appeared to be a good one.

Turns out, following these full-proof unspoken rules about touristy restaurants still wasn’t enough to fall victim here in Venice.

We ordered pizzas and beer and were quickly disappointed when we saw the people sitting next to us receive their mediocre-looking, previously frozen plates coming from the kitchen.

Since we were starving, we ignored the initial regret and waited patiently for ours to arrive.

Just as we had expected, our pizza was a major let down. The only bright side to this entire experience was that we were at least full and could finally think properly.

We thought the terrible pizza was the biggest of our worries, but once again, we had been disappointed yet again.

Once the bill arrived, we were quickly shocked not by the price of the pizza, but by the beer. A single drink was almost double what a whole pizza costed!!

Not only did we just have a terrible food experience for our first meal in Italy, but it was also the most expensive one that we had throughout our entire trip.

As you could probably assume at this point, we were worried about how to find a decent restaurant in Venice. What I learned very early on in the trip is that Venice is not a city you want to randomly choose a restaurant just by its appearance.

Sure you might get lucky, (like I did with my family the previous trip), but it’s just not worth it if you are really looking for an authentic meal.

After that initial scarring experience, we decided to be more careful where we chose to eat. That’s when my boyfriend took out a list of recommendations a friend of his had given him before he left for our trip. This guy was originally from Venice and had a long list of authentic eateries he wanted us to try throughout our stay.

And that is where everything changed.

Tapas in Italy: The Cicchetti Wine Bar

 

So the recommendations were not fancy restaurants overlooking the lagoon or any type of swanky rooftop bars in Venice. Instead, these recommendations were for the hole-in-the-wall kind of places. The ones you probably would only order a beer with and maybe a side of olives if you walked past it on the street.

However, these Bacaro bars as the Venetian locals call it is really the epitome of Venice food culture, and let me just say, they’ve got some character.

Comparable to tapas, bacaro bars serve tiny bites, local wine, and Venice’s specialty cocktail, the Aperol Spritz. Wine bars in Venice, Italy are everywhere, however, if you are looking for a normal sit down dinner, you might walk right past without ever giving one of them a try.

You can find bacaro wine bars throughout all of Venice, however, the good ones were usually a bit outside of the main tourist center. Although you may have to walk and work for your dinner, I’m telling you it’s completely worth it while visiting Venice.

 

These wine bars in Venice have every kind of tasty treat. Fried codfish, an assortment of cheeses, seafood skewers, and prosciutto sandwiches were just a few of my favorite Venetian bites. And the best part is all of these restaurants have their own version of Cicchetti. Some of them specialize in seafood while others focus on slices of Italian bread with toppings.

Come dinner time, I recommend hopping from bar to bar sampling a little bit of everything. Get a drink and a Cicchetti at one spot and then head on to the next for another round. The casual culture of bar hopping actually reminded me a lot of the pinxto bars in San Sebastian, Spain.

Although I was unable to try every single Cicchetti bar in Venice, Italy, (would be nice though right?!) I still think I got a pretty good experience of Venice’s food scene during my weekend getaway. If you are not looking for a conventional menu and want to see how the local Venetians do it, try some of these Cicchetti wine bars below!

Some of my favorite places to eat with delicious food included:

• La Merca (BEST spot for an afternoon Aperol Spritz or Bellini)
• Farini (breakfast or quick lunch)
• So DiVini
• Bacarando Corte dell’Orso
• Dani Zemei
• Dal Moros (fresh pasta to go)
• Suso (gelato)
• Osteria Al Squero
• Bacareto da Lele
• Antico Forno Venice
• Cantina Do Spade

Next time you find yourself in Venice, Italy, do your research before choosing a place for dinner. Save yourself the hassle of having a bad meal at one of the tourist traps, learn from my mistakes, and try out one of these bacaro bars above!

 

For more information about this Italian city, check out my Complete Travel Guide to Venice, Italy!

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