GOURMET
SHOPPING
What typical food items can you buy and bring home from Venice? Be led by your curiosity and go to the Rialto Market, a veritable temple of food. The fish market is in two old market halls overlooking the Grand Canal and next door you’ll find the fruit and vegetable markets, shops selling cheeses and cured meats, butchers and the best food stores and bàcari in the city. Most importantly, leave a little room in your suitcases for your shopping (at bargain prices), because you’ll want to buy everything! That way you’ll be able to continue your gastronomic voyage back home …
FROM THE GROCERY STORE
– Polenta bianca (white polenta). White polenta is typical of Venice and Treviso. It’s made from a very old variety of corn. Ask for Bianco Perla polenta, the variety considered to be the best quality, finer and tastier than yellow polenta. It is the essential accompaniment for the fish of the see lagoon .
– Bigoli. Bigoli is a thick wholemeal spaghetti that is prepared in salsa, with a sauce made from onion and anchovies or see salted sardines.
– Some good artisan pasta.
– Risotto rice from Veneto, the local variety is called Vialone Nano.
– Dried porcini, Italian saffron, condiments flavoured with white truffle, all recommended ingredients for flavouring your risotto.
– A good bottle of olive oil from Lake Garda. It goes without saying that when I recommend an olive oil, it must be extra virgin, first cold pressed and produced from Italian olives. Thanks to the lake’s microclimate, this olive oil is very delicate and refined. It is perfect for dressing fish. Ask for advice on a good balsamic vinegar that’s been aged for a few years or the traditional balsamic vinegar that is aged for at least 12 years, a real nectar to be used sparingly, in drops.
– Dried beans (fagioli secchi), preferably the lamon or see borlotti varieties. The dried beans from Lamon, a small mountain village in Veneto, are exquisite. They have the thin skins and floury quality that is essential for soup.
CHEESES
When it comes to cheese, you have an embarrassment of choice. Ask for it to be vacuum-packed for the trip home.
– Parmesan. Make the most of being in Italy by buying a parmesan cheese that’s been matured for 36 months. It will be perfect to enjoy as is or grated over risotto or pasta. We also produce grana padano in the Venice region, which can be matured for up to 24 months and is more of a table cheese.
– Fresh asiago cheese DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta or protected designation of origin) is enjoyed for its milky aroma. Sweet and delicate on the palate, mature asiago has very aromatic hay flavours. It can be a little sharp if it is very mature.
– Monte veronese DOP is a very aromatic cheese with floral and hay notes. It has an intense and slightly sharp flavour if it is very mature (12 months).
– Montasio DOP is aged between 2 and 24 months. It has a delicate and slightly herbaceous flavour. When fresh, its milky taste dominates. When it has matured, its flavour is more intense and aromatic. Montasio is a typical hard cheese that is eaten with drinks or as a snack. There are other similar cheeses from Veneto, such as piave and latteria. Carnia and carnia altobut (a mountain cheese) are cheeses from Friuli. All of these semi-hard and hard cheeses are the favourite snack of people in this region. I learned from my mother to use latteria instead of mozzarella on pizza. It has noticeably more flavour than a mass-produced mozzarella.
– Ubriaco (which means ‘drunk’) is a semi-hard cow’s milk cheese, typical of the Treviso region. It is matured with raboso wines, one of the typical varieties of this province near the Piave River. The tradition of maturing the cheese in this way dates back to World War I, when the country people had the idea of hiding their cheeses in barrels of grape must so they didn’t fall into the hands of the occupying forces! This richly aromatic cheese has a fruity, ‘dense’ flavour, with a slight sharpness. It is perfect with a good polenta.
– Casatella is a delicious creamy cheese, typical of Treviso, which should be eaten very fresh. It is ripened from 4–8 days. It has a very sweet milky flavour. Children adore it. It’s one to enjoy on the spot because of its runny consistency.
– Mostarda, candied mustard fruits in essential mustard oil (Lazzaris brand), to serve with cheeses, meat see bollito misto, or with panettone at Christmas …
–Luxardo brand ‘marasche’ preserved cherries or cherry liqueurs to flavour your desserts.
CURED MEATS
Sopressa is a good Italian pork salami. Fresh and tender, it melts in the mouth and has a full, delicious flavour. It is only cut by knife and is perfect for filling a piccolo panino (a small sandwich). Ask for it to be vacuum-packed for you.
Take the opportunity while you’re there to taste prosciuttos of different ages (over 14 months). The neighbouring region of Friuli produces the exquisite San Daniele prosciutto and the delicious prosciutto di Sauris. Emilia Romagna excels with its culatello and prosciutto di Parma …
ALCOHOL
Make certain you take home a bottle of Venetian white wine, a real rarity! Also remember some prosecco, an artisan grappa (a grape marc eau-de-vie) and aperitifs (Ramazzotti aperitivo, Select, Aperol …) essential for your home-made spritz. Drink in moderation, excessive alcohol intake is dangerous for your health!
BISCUITS AND SWEETS
– Round grissini such as bussolai biscuits, which is where the sweet version see originated . In former times they were called pan-biscotto (biscuit-bread) because they kept for a long time and fed the sailors. These round grissini are made from flour, olive oil, lard, malt, yeast and salt.
– Artisan crispbreads, like the extra-thin figuli from Visnadello (Treviso) or the irresistible grissini bibanesi made from olive oil and kamut flour, sold in supermarkets. Try the very thin artisan Sartorelli biscuits, with almonds or hazelnuts … once you start eating them, it’s hard to stop.
– Baicoli. These are delicious dry biscuits and typically Venetian. Thin and light, they’re dunked in coffee or desserts. They’re sold in boxes with designs on the outside that haven’t changed since my childhood (a cardboard box at the supermarket, a metal box in pasticcerias)!
– The mandorlato di Cologna Veneta. This is an exquisite hard nougat. Its recipe is a hundred years old. It is made exclusively from blanched almonds, honey, sugar and egg white and cooked for 9 hours. This is a true sweet indulgence sold especially at Christmas time.
– A packet of caffè to dip your biscuits into.
VEGETABLES
I always bring a few kilos of vegetables home with me in my suitcase! In springtime, I buy ones grown on Sant’Erasmo (an island of the lagoon), such as artichokes and the little castraure available in April–May, sweet little zucchini for eating raw, grated in a salad, and sweet and tender peas. In the area of wild greens, I have a weakness for carletti and bruscandoli, which are welcome additions to an omelette or risotto. I also don’t forget the delicious white asparagus from Bassano and the agretti for enjoying in a salad. In winter, I bring back the fabulous radicchio tardivo di Treviso.
WINES
With its favourable climate, carefully maintained traditions, suitable soil and vine craft, the Venice region has recently become Italy’s largest wine producer. The traditional varieties are rondinella, molinara, corvina veronese and raboso for the reds, garganega, prosecco, verduzzo and trebbiano for the whites.
Valpolicella is one of the most famous reds. Light and fruity, it should be drunk fairly young. From the refermentation of this wine on the lees of amarone wines comes the ripasso, a much more structured and complex wine that is particularly enjoyed with meat-based secondi piatti, risotto with sausage and polenta. The drier, richer and more powerful amarone, and the amazing, sweet and opulent recioto, are wines for aging. One, with its strong personality, is made for autumn dishes like poultry, mature cheeses and cured meats, the other, sweet and intense, can be saved for the end of a meal or for fruit-based pastries and biscuits. The Vaona family estate, 10 km (6 miles) from Verona, maintains its vineyards in keeping with the traditional methods.
Alongside Vicenza is Gambellara, a village where the native garganega variety yields superb white wines. The truest and most surprising expression of the terroir is found in the cellar of Angiolino Maule, whose white masieri, sassaia , and pico wines reflect all of the natural forces. These well-structured wines go perfectly with cicheti, meatless antipasti, fish and seafood risottos and vegetable risottos.
For a more classic white that is fresh and young, try the soave classico from the Pieropan family in Soave (Verona), where the local garganega and trebbiano varieties make this wine a perfect all-purpose partner for the traditional dishes of the region: artichokes, pumpkin flowers, sardines, risotto and even desserts such as fritole.
For biscuits and dry cakes such as fregolotta, zaletti, focaccia and pinza, the sweet white torcolato will evoke notes of honey, dried fruit, almond and vanilla. The production area is Breganze, north of Vicenza, where a handful of wine growers ensure the continuity of this beverage in line with the traditions.
A very special mention goes to one of the rare wines from the Venice lagoon: the orto di Venezia. Made from a blend of very old Italian varieties (vermentino, fiano and Istrian malvasia), it’s a minerally white wine that is especially expressive of its terroir and it is a perfect match with the typical dishes of the lagoon based on crustaceans, fish, artichokes and asparagus.
It is closely followed by the last-born, the venissa from the Bisol family cellars. After ten years of research, this winemaking family, already well known for its exceptional prosecco, gives us a unique white wine, the fruit of a local variety, the Venetian dorona grown in the heart of the lagoon on the Tenuta Venissa estate on Mazzorbo island (connected to Burano). Superb with bigoli and antipasti with prawns, scampi and crab, this nectar, fermented for a year-and-a-half like a red wine, is produced in a very limited quantity.
The province of Treviso, north of Venice, is the home of prosecco, a dry sparkling white wine. It’s a wine with a slightly aromatic perfume, sometimes with almond notes, it is excellent both as an aperitif and as a sparkling table wine. In addition to being one of the main ingredients of the famous Venetian aperitif, spritz, prosecco goes very well with soups, pasta-based primi piatti, fresh cheeses, duck, chicken and rabbit. The wine cellar of the Gregoletto family, between the hills of Valdobbiadene, Conegliano and Vittorio Veneto, has for centuries cultivated vines that produce a prosecco of exceptional quality.
More and more winemakers are taking the ‘risk’ of producing natural wines: no interventions on the vine. This is the origin of the organic sur lie proseccos produced by Casa Belfi at San Polo di Piave. It’s a ‘winemaker’s wine’ that partners well with gnocchi with duck ragù, pork roasted in milk and baccalà .
Veneto shares its wealth of grape varieties with the neighbouring region of Friuli–Venezia Giulia. Sometimes the same varieties are found there, but also other typical local varieties—tocai friulano, malvasia, ribolla for the whites, refosco and schioppettino for the reds.
The verduzzo friulano and ribolla whites of the I Clivi winery combine warm and complex aromas with a freshness and palatability that’s characteristic of the Galea and Brazan hills. These are wines to try with local pastries, ripened and veined cheeses, and shellfish.
The organic reds of Marina Sgubin, between Gorizia and Udine, are wines of great character, traditionally light and fruity and becoming more full bodied with age. To pair with sausages and polenta, cotechino and game.
These regions not only produce excellent wines but also a legendary eau-de-vie: grappa . Traditionally made in northern Veneto, at Bassano del Grappa, this digestif is the result of distilling the marcs of local grapes. It is enjoyed after a good meal, by itself or to flavour a good strong coffee.
ADDRESS BOOK
1- PASTICCERIA DAL MAS
Cannaregio 149/150
Rio Terà Lista di Spagna
Tel: +39 041 715101
closed Mondays and Tuesdays
2- PANIFICIO GIOVANNI VOLPE Jewish Bakery
Calle del Ghetto Vecchio
Cannaregio 1143
Tel: +39 041 715178
closed 1 pm to 5 pm and Sundays
3- AL TIMON cicheti/restaurant
Fondamenta degli Ormesini
Cannaregio 2754
Tel: +39 041 5246066
closed Wednesdays
open until 1 am
4- ALLE DUE GONDOLETTE
restaurant, Fondamenta delle Cappuccine, Cannaregio 3016
Tel: +39 041 717523
closed evenings, Saturdays and Sundays
5- ANICE STELLATO
Fondamenta della Sensa
Cannaregio 3272
Tel: +39 041 720744
closed Mondays and Tuesdays
6- TORREFAZIONE MARCHI
café/coffee roasters
Rio Terrà San Leonardo
Cannaregio 1337
Tel: +39 041 716371
7- LA CANTINA
wine bar
Campo San Felice, Cannaregio 3689
Tel: +39 041 5228258
closed Sundays
8– VINI DA GIGIO
Fondamenta San Felice
Cannaregio 3628a
Tel: +39 041 5285140
closed Mondays and Tuesdays
9- ANTICA ADELAIDE
Calle Larga Priuli Racheta
Cannaregio 3728
Tel: +39 041 5232629
10- ALLA VEDOVA/Cà D’ORO
Calle del Pistor, Cannaregio 3912
Tel: +39 041 5285324
closed Thursdays and Sunday mornings
SAN POLO PROMENADE
1- MARCO BERGAMASCO,
fishmonger
Rialto Market Pescheria
Tel: +39 335 6626115
closed Sundays and Mondays
2- PRONTO PESCE
San Polo 319
Tel: +39 041 8220298
closed Sundays and Mondays
3- BAR Fiamma
San Polo 317
4- I DO MORI
Calle dei Do Mori – San Polo 429
Tel: +39 041 5225401
open from 8.30 am to 8.30 pm.
closed Sundays
5- ALL’ARCO
Calle dell’Occhialer
San Polo 436
Tel: +39 041 5205666
closed Sundays
6- CANTINA DO SPADE
Calle Do Spade
San Polo 859-860
Tel: +39 041 15210583
Open every day between 3 pm and 6 pm
7- ANTICHE CARAMPANE
Rio Terà delle Carampane – San Polo 1911
Tel: +33 041 5240165
closed Sundays and Mondays
8- CASA DEL PARMIGIANO
Campo della Bella Vienna
San Polo 214
Tel: +39 041 5206525
www.aliani-casadelparmigiano.it
closed Sundays and afternoons Monday to Thursday
9- Al MARCÀ wine bar
Campo della Bella Vienna
San Polo 213
closed Sundays
10- MASCARI grocery store
Ruga del Spezier – San Polo 381
Tel: +39 041 5229762
closed Sundays and Wednesday afternoons
11- LAGUNA CARNI butcher
Ruga del Spezier – San Polo 315
closed afternoons and Sundays
12- CAFFÈ DEL DOGE
Calle dei cinque / San Polo 609
Tel: +39 041 5227787
open 7 am to 7 pm. Closed Sundays
13- ALIANI delicatessen, cheese, cured meats
ruga Rialto / ruga vecchia San Giovanni, San Polo 654
Tel: +39 041 5224913
closed Sundays, Monday afternoons and between 1 pm and 5 pm
14- RIZZARDINI pasticceria
Campiello dei Meloni
San Polo 1415
Tel: +39 041 5223835
closed Tuesdays
15- OSTERIA BANCOGIRO
cicheti and restaurant
Campo San Giacometto
San Polo 122
Tel: +39 041 5232061
closed Mondays
16- ALLA MADONNA
60s restaurant
Calle della Madonna – San Polo 594
Tel: +39 041 5223824
17- VECIO FRITOLIN restaurant
famous for its takeaway fried fish
Calle della Regina
Sestiere Santa Croce 2262
Tel: +39 041 5222881
CASTELLO AND SAN MARCO PROMENADE
1- ROSA SALVA
pasticceria, ice-cream
Campo dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo
Castello 6779
Tel: +39 041 5227949
www.rosasalva.it
open daily to 8.30 pm
2- AL PONTE bar, cicheti
Calle larga Giacinto Gallina
Cannaregio 6378
Tel: +39 041 5286157
open from 8.30 am to 8.30 pm
closed Sundays
3- LIBRAIRIE FRANÇAISE
Calle della Barbaria delle Tole
Castello 6358
Tel: +39 041 5229659
open from 9 am to 12.30 pm and 3.30 pm to 7.30 pm, closed Sundays and Mondays
4- LA MASCARETA wine bar
Calle Lunga Santa Maria Formosa
Castello 5183
Tel: +39 041 5230744
open from 7 pm to 2 am
closed Wednesdays and Thursdays
5- OSTERIA ALLE TESTIERE
Calle del Mondo Novo
Castello 5801
Tel: +39 041 5227220
closed Sundays and Mondays
6- AL COVO restaurant
Campiello della Pescaria
Castello 3968
Tel: +39 041 5223812
closed Wednesdays and Thursdays
7- CORTE SCONTA restaurant
Calle del Pestrin – Castello 3886
Tel: +39 041 5227024
closed Sundays and Mondays
8- AL TODARO ice-cream
Piazza San Marco 3
open 8 am to 8 pm
9- CAFFÈ FLORIAN
Piazza San Marco 56
Tel: +39 041 5205641
10- HARRY’S BAR
Calle Vallaresso
San Marco 1323
Tel: +39 041 5285777
SANTA CROCE, DORSODURO AND GIUDECCA PROMENADE
1- AL PROSECCO
wine bar, wine store
Campo San Giacomo dell’Orio
Santa Croce 1503
Tel: +39 041 5240222
9 am to 8 pm, closed Sundays
2- ALASKA ice-cream
Calle larga dei Bari
Santa Croce 1159
Tel: +39 041 715211
12 noon to 10 pm, closed Mondays in winter
3- LA ZUCCA restaurant
Ponte del Megio – Santa Croce 1762
Tel: +39 041 5241570
closed Sundays
4- TONOLO bar-pasticceria
Calle San Pantalon – Dorsoduro 3764
Tel: +39 041 5237209
closed Sunday afternoons and Mondays
5– CAMPO SANTA MARGHERITA
This is a large square where you will find a few trees, bars that are open until late and a small vegetable and fish market.
6- BARCA fruit and vegetables
Dorsoduro 2837, under the Ponte dei Pugni
Tel: +39 041 5222977
7- PANTAGRUELICA
wine cellar, cured meats, fine foods
Campo San Barnaba
Dorsoduro 2844
Tel: +39 041 5236766
8- GROM artisan ice-cream
three locations open every day from 11 am until late evening in summer:
Campo San Barnaba – Dorsoduro
San Polo, 3006 – Campo dei Frari
Cannaregio 3844 (Strada Nuova –
Cà D’Oro)
9- LA BITTA meat restaurant
Calle Lunga San Barnaba
Dorsoduro 2753a
Tel: 39 041 5230531
open in the evening, closed Sundays
10- LA FURATOLA restaurant
Calle Lunga San Barnaba
Dorsoduro 2869
Tel: +39 041 5208594
closed Sundays
11- PASTICCERIA DAL NONNO COLUSSI
Calle Lunga San Barnaba
Dorsoduro 2867a
Tel: +39 041 5231871
open from Thursday to Saturday
12- AI ARTISTI bar-restaurant
Fondamenta della Toletta
Dorsoduro 1169a
Tel: +39 041 5238944
open from 8 am to 10 pm, closed Sundays
13- GELATI NICO ice-creamy
Fondamenta Zattere ai Gesuati
Dorsoduro 922
Tel: +39 041 5225293
7 am to 10 pm, closed Thursdays
14- CANTINONE GIÀ SCHIAVI
wine cellar, cicheti and aperitifs
Ponte San Trovaso – Dorsoduro 992
Tel: +39 041 5230034
15- la RIVIERA restaurant
Fondamenta Zattere – San Basilio
Dorsoduro 1473
Tel: +39 041 5227621
closed Mondays
16- ALTANELLA restaurant
Calle delle Erbe – Giudecca 268
Tel: +39 041 5227780
17- FABIO GAVAGNIN
fishmonger
Giudecca 592
Tel: 041 5231222
18- IL PANIFICIO CLAUDIO CROSARA
bakery
Giudecca 657
Tel: +39 041 5206737
19- FORTUNY
art fabrics
showroom Sestiere Giudecca 805
Tel: +39 041 5287697
closed Sundays
PROMENADE IN THE ISLANDS OF THE LAGOON, MAZZORBO AND BURANO
1- Tenuta Venissa (Ristorante/Ostello)
Fondamenta Santa Caterina 3
30170 Isola di Mazzorbo
Tel: +39 041 5272281
2- AL GATTO NERO
Fondamenta Giudecca 88 – Burano
Tel: +39 041 730120
3- DA ROMANO
Piazza Galuppi 221 – Burano
Tel: +39 041 730030
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE CITY OF VENICE