Many travelers are familiar enough with Venetian cuisine to know that the city’s position on water means that fish and seafood feature prominently, but the fact that pasta has played a much less significant role in the city’s (and region’s) history compared to rice and polenta is often less known. And the Veneto’s countryside and indeed the immediate Venetian islands provide a diverse array of beautiful vegetables that don’t get nearly enough PR for how much they shine in their own preparations, or how important they are to local Venetians.
The best and only way to eat like a local in Venice is precisely the same way to be a conscientious traveler – don’t spend only a day or two here (nor even three). Spend a week or more to really feel the daily rhythms of the city flowing in and out like the tide of the lagoon. Slow and steady is the name of the game here, for sites as well as meals.
Take the time to stop and eat some cicchetti, the little bites that accompany an aperitivo or glass of wine (morning, noon, or night), and try it at a different time every day. Study the local vegetables – like the plentiful radicchio varieties (Chioggia and Treviso) in the winter and fall, and the special violet artichokes in the spring – and cook them yourself if your accommodations allow for it, enjoying the peace of dinner at “home” like a local.
But when you do venture into the city’s winding streets for a meal out, in a place full of tourists and thus tourist traps, it’s more important than almost anywhere else to patronize the good businesses. So here’s where you should be eating in Venice:
Cichetti: Al Squero
The cichetti routine at bars in Venice offers the surest way to eat like a local, and the closest thing to street food if you consider how locals eat cicchetti mostly outside whatever bar they’re getting them from. Venetians take a few of these light bites – which can be either crostini-like pieces of bread topped with something, or small plates that exist on their own – while they’re enjoying an ombra, i.e. a spritz or a glass of wine. This could be in the mid-to late-morning to tide you over until lunch, or in the afternoon, or as an aperitivo before dinner.
Whatever the time of day, cichetti is all about easy-breezy grazing – baccalà mantecato (whipped cod) on little squares of polenta is one of the city’s signatures, as are crostini topped with different combinations of cheese, vegetable spreads, salumi, smoked salmon…the list goes on. But keep an eye out for heartier plates like polpette di tonno (tuna croquettes) or Venice’s infamous fried polpette – crispy, breadcrumb-coated meatballs that are a piping hot comfort if you’ve played your cards right by going to Venice during the chilly, foggy (magical, romantic!) off-season.
All in all, it’s the practice of taking cichetti more than the actual food that really matters. Al Squero, a couple of streets and canals away from the Galleria Accademia, is a typical bàcaro (the Venetian term for a cichetti-forward bar) to start with – but you’ll see many bacari throughout the city, and fortunately, the whole bacaro category offers fairly universally good choices.
LISTEN: To our podcast on Venetian Cicchetti with a local.
Sarde in Saor: All’Arco
Sarde in saor is one of the most historic, traditional dishes you can find in Venice today. The recipe goes all the way back to the late Middle Ages – whole sardines are lightly fried before marinating in a mixture of vinegar, onions, raisins, and pine nuts; cinnamon sometimes still makes an appearance because it was one of the many spices that weaved itself into Venetian cuisine, centuries ago, as a direct result of the city’s role in maritime trade with countries in the East.
You can find other foods treated in saor, as well, such as tuna and other fish, meats, and even vegetables like radicchio or pumpkin. Try the sarde at All’Arco, a now legendary bacaro around the corner from the Rialto Market.
Bigoli in Salsa: Trattoria Ca’ d’Oro Alla Vedova
Perhaps Venice’s least fancy and most satisfying pasta, bigoli in salsa is savory, salty simplicity at its finest. Bigoli are long, thick noodles of pasta usually made with some whole wheat flour and are particular to the Veneto. The salsa is a combination of long-sautéed, not-quite-caramelized onions and anchovies, which melt into the onions to create a deceptively luxurious, rich-tasting sauce.
Bigoli in salsa is a definitively “pantry pasta,” something simple that Venetians cook at home since the ingredients are almost always on hand – but you can eat it at Alla Vedova, a trattoria that feels as cozy and home-like as can be. After your trip, though, it’s easy to make bigoli in salsa in your own kitchen with similarly shaped pasta like bucatini, pici, or spaghetti when you’re missing Venice (always, right?).
EXPLORE: The City of Water with our 3-Day Venice Itinerary Ideas.
Tagliolini Con Seppie Nere: Locanda Cipriani
Often in Venice, the occasion calls for the truly luxurious side of the pasta spectrum. When it does, take a boat to the island of Torcello to Locanda Cipriani (preferably on a Sunday to experience the true Venetian luxury – a boat ride and a long Sunday lunch) for tagliolini con seppie nere – fresh pasta with black cuttlefish ink.
The rich sauce that stains the pasta black is cooked with a little wine and not much else, with an only mildly fishy flavor that you won’t be able to get in very many places once you leave the lagoon. It’s one of the most famous dishes in Venice, and rightly so, and the combined luxury of both the pasta and the place will make you glad you made the boat trip.
Risotto di Gò/ Risotto alla Buranella: Trattoria al Gatto Nero
Just like cuttlefish pasta, risotto di gò is a dish strongly rooted in its immediate surroundings. Gò (or ghiozzo in Italian) is the Venetian word for a small fish that comes from the lagoon. The fish are simmered in the broth for the risotto and, delicate as they are, they essentially dissolve into the broth, allowing the risotto to be infused with intense flavor but without any pieces of fish.
Trattoria al Gatto Nero in Burano is known for their rendition, which they proudly call “Burano-style,” and it’s always on the menu as long as there’s been a fresh catch of the fish that morning.
Savor it while you can – as you can imagine, it’s almost impossible to recreate the exact thing at home because of the hyper-local gò; but the risotto’s undeniable connection to its birthplace is what makes it all the more special.
Moeche/Moleche: Vini da Gigio
One of Venice’s favorite seafood specialties is seasonal – moeche, soft-shell crabs, appear only in the spring and fall and are all the more special for it. After being soaked in egg (and sometimes also Parmesan) and dipped in flour, they are fried to a crisp and often served with slabs of polenta and lemon on the side. Try them at Vini da Gigio, which is really a trattoria/ristorante rather than a wine-only establishment, alongside a glass of Prosecco (always from nearby Veneto vineyards) or a local white wine like Soave or Malvasia.
Pastries and Sweets: Dal Nono Tolusi
Venetian pastries might get the least attention of anything in Venice. Skip your hotel’s breakfast and head straight to a classic pasticcieria like Dal Nono Tolusi in Dorsoduro, a family business that sticks to tradition by using its own natural yeast (handed down through the generations since the 1960s) rather than industrial yeast.
Classic Venetian pastries include kiefer and kranz (almond croissants and twisty pastries with apricot jam and raisins, respectively), vestiges from when the city belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire; krapfen (pastry-cream-filled doughnuts similar to what other parts of Italy would call bomboloni); zaleti (cornmeal and raisin cookies); and fugassa, a sweet bread similar to panettone that is traditionally an Easter dessert but is now sold year-round.
As in many Italian cities, one of the best seasonal sweets appears only during Carnevale season – Dal Nono’s legendary frittelle (or fritole in dialect) are made “col buco” (with the hole) like mini, flattened doughnuts that you can take either semplice (plain), con uvette (with raisins), con crema (custard-filled), or – to lean further into northern Italian territory – with zabaione.
LISTEN: To our podcast on the Venice Carnevale – Parties, costumes and more.
Bellini: Harry’s Bar
It’s almost obligatory to drink a Bellini – Prosecco mixed with peach puree – when in Venice. And it’s almost obligatory to do so at Harry’s Bar in the Piazza San Marco, where it is said to have been invented by the bar’s original owner, Giuseppe Cipriani. Reasons enough to indulge in this Venetian treat!
DISCOVER: The Best Places to Stay on your Trip to Venice.
Lydia O’Brien is cookbook editor, writer, and recipe tester based in Italy. She has lived in Rome, Florence, and Siena and spent a summer cooking at an agriturismo in Tuscany, after leaving the full-time publishing world in New York. Originally from Washington, D.C., she has a degree in English literature and spent a university semester in Rome studying food and art history.
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