Classic, Offbeat, Romantic, Fun And More

Venice | Image credit: Gary Elsasser/Flickr

As the sun rose and the city of Venice stretched her limbs and woke up, much to my immense joy, the same went for her wine bars. “Venice, she gets me,” I think to myself as I roll out of bed and float, still half asleep, through the dream-like streets of a fabled city artists through the ages have tried in vain to confine to a canvas. It’s 9:15 am, and my local bàcaro, a traditional Venetian wine tavern, has already opened its doors to a crowd of animated locals standing around the bar, chatting and drinking, thoughts of work long lost in a sumptuous sea of wine and Cicchetti. This is one of my favourite things to do in Venice, Italy, a centuries-old tradition that’s basically a religious experience if your religion is wine and snacks.

As synonymous as Venice is with the artistic magnificence of centuries past as it is with modern-day over-tourism and tourist trap trattorias, at the bacaro I found a sacred refuge from the unfortunate inevitabilities of travelling through one of the most popular tourist magnets in the world. Within the wooden walls of this cosy, charming bar was a gentler pace of life that offered much-needed respite from the frenzy of Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge, as well as some of the best food in Venice, as fresh and authentic as it was affordable. It’s here that the true beauty of this fragile, sinking city lies – not in the showstopper sights and world-famous attractions (though these are heart-stoppingly spectacular), but rather in its quieter neighbourhoods, in the local bacari, at centuries-old family-run macelleria (butcher shops), where life goes on as it always has. When in Venice, Italy, here are the best things to do to taste the true spirit of a city that is vanishing as quickly as a passing dream into the depths of her canals.

Also, check out our selection of some less-visited offbeat gems in Europe to avoid the tourist hordes.

Best time to visit Venice

Venice | Image credit: Rawpixel

While ‘Summertime in Venice’ has a poetic ring, summer in Italy brings hordes of tourists, intense heat, and loads of mosquitoes. Statistically speaking, summer is the most popular time to visit Venice, though I’d suggest the cooler spring, autumn, or winter months when it’s much less crowded, much more charming, and locals tend to be more relaxed (and therefore friendlier). February is when Carnival takes over the city, but outside of this busy window, the cold winter months are quiet and intimate, with a drop in prices and an aura of serene mystery that descends upon the Queen of the Adriatic. That being said, the magnificence of monumental Venice far outweighs the time of year – there is beauty all year round.

Essential touristy things to do in Venice, Italy

The further away you wander from Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s Square), the more you’ll get in touch with authentic Venice. However, Venice is incomplete without a necessary pilgrimage to its stunning main sights. Here are some of my favourite touristy things to do and tips on how to experience these parts of Venice, Italy, as they exist, untainted, in your imagination.

1. Super early morning mass at St Mark’s Basilica

Interior view of St Mark’s Basilica | Image credit: -Reji/Flickr

In the centre of Piazza San Marco stands one of Venice’s most iconic landmarks – St Mark’s Basilica, built in the 9th century to house the remains of Saint Mark, with opulent domes and intricate exteriors that reflect Venice’s close ties with the Byzantine, Greek and Muslim worlds. To experience the basilica as intended, wake up for the early morning mass that starts at 7 am – it’s far less crowded, with plainchant floating through the atmosphere and soft morning light gently filtering through the stained glass windows.

Also, check out this selection of the world’s most unique churches and temples.

2. Float down the Grand Canal in a vaporetto

A vaporetto sailing on the Grand Canal in Venice | Image credit: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Venice is divided into six sestieri (historic neighbourhoods), with the glittering Grand Canal spliced through the centre. A Vaporetto is a super affordable water taxi and a fantastic way to see Venice from the water. Take Vaporetto line 1 that runs from Piazzale Roma to San Marco, and you’ll float past centuries-old buildings, majestic palaces, magnificent basilicas, and grand mansions built in the Venetian Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles – including the famous Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace), Rialto Bridge, the Ca’ d’Oro (House of Gold), and Santa Maria della Salute church.

3. Spend an artsy afternoon at Galleria dell’ Accademia or Peggy Guggeinheim’s Palazzo

Galleria dell’ Accademia | Image credit: Kotomi_/Flickr

The Galleria dell’ Accademia – a treasure trove of Venetian Renaissance art – is home to an impressive collection of Old Masters and is one of the city’s most significant art museums. Browse everyone from Tintoretto and Bellini to Titian and Veronese. For something more current, Peggy Guggeinheim’s collection showcases an incredible series of surrealist and modernist artists at her elegant palazzo – from Picasso and Dalí to Magritte, Ernst, Giacometti and Jackson Pollock. The American heiress’ villa is located in a former palace turned art gallery, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal – Guggenheim renovated the abandoned palazzo and retired in it, and was eventually buried in the gardens alongside her 14 dogs.

Also, check out this selection of the most Instagrammable cities in Europe.

4. Early morning walk through Rialto Fish market

Rialto Fish Market | Image credit: Sergiy Galyonkin/Flickr

My favourite way to understand the history and culture of a new city is through its marketplaces. A short walk from Rialto Bridge, the Rialto Fish Market – the Pescheria – has been selling seafood for over 1000 years, dating back to the 11th century, when Venice emerged as a powerful maritime republic. I arrived just as the fishermen set up, yelling cheerily to each other across the stalls with energy so brisk and boisterous it woke me up more suddenly than a double shot of espresso. How in Saint Mark’s name do they have the audacity to be this energetic so early in the morning?

I walked past stalls of scorfano (scorpion fish), capesante fresche (fresh scallops), sogliola (sole), and sarde (sardines) so fresh they were almost still breathing. A sprightly fisherman named Alberto thrust a live eel before me as I walked by, trying to convince me of its freshness. His fellow fishermen started hooting and whistling across the marketplace, hinting that this was Alberto’s way of courting a young lady. Alberto laughed heartily; I smiled awkwardly before thanking the kind fisherman and his eel for their time and shooting off to find that double espresso.

5. An enchanting evening at the opera

Teatro La Fenice | Image credit: baldeaglebluff/Flickr

Teatro La Fenice – the Phoenix Theatre – is named after its immense resilience, rising from the ashes after multiple fires had tried to strike it down. Its resplendence is nothing short of miraculous, with opulent gilded balconies, plush red velvet curtains, magnificent frescoes on the ceiling and an aura steeped in its rich history, having opened its doors in 1792. Get dressed up and arrive by the gondola for an enchanting evening of Rossini or Verdi. (Tickets are unavailable at the last minute – be sure to book months in advance).

Also read | The Most Beautiful Places To Visit In Italy

Unique things to do in Venice
1. Learn how to steer a gondola

Gondola on the Grand Canal | Image credit: Peter K Burian, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Take a 90-minute gondola lesson and learn how to navigate these traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian boats through the City Of Canal’s many intricate waterways. Gondoliers have been integral to Venetian life for centuries, and their skills are passed down from generation to generation. You can also visit one of the last gondola-making workshops in Squero di San Trovaso, a historic boatyard in the Dorsoduro district that has been building and repairing gondolas since the 17th century.

2. Design your Venetian mask at Ca’ Macana, favoured by Stanley Kubrick

The bohemian Dorsoduro neighbourhood is my favourite sestiere to get lost in – it’s filled with art galleries, museums, curios and curiosities and fabulously eccentric artisanal shops, like Ca’ Macana. The mask-making workshop specialises in crafting authentic Venetian masks using original 18th-century Venetian techniques with paper-mâché and is famously where Stanley Kubrick got his masks made for Eyes Wide Shut. You can participate in a mask-making workshop, paint and decorate your Venetian masks, and learn about the role masks played in Venice’s past, from Carnival to illicit activities and secret societies.

Also, check out our guide to beating the tourist traps with better alternatives to overrated destinations.

3. Soak in Baroque music in a deconsecrated church

Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pietà | Image credit: Moonik, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pietà, often called Vivaldi’s Church, is a stunning 18th-century Baroque church also part of an orphanage for women where Vivaldi once taught. The space boasts rich acoustics, a fascinating history, and a deep connection to the composer’s legacy. The orphanage – the Ospedale della Pietà – is where the Venetian maestro composed many of his masterpieces, including “The Four Seasons”. Though the sea is slowly consuming the city, its spirit is rendered immortal by the works of great Italian Baroque composers like Vivaldi and Monteverdi – the church keeps this spirit alive by hosting classical concerts, often featuring Vivaldi’s works performed by ensembles like “I Virtuosi Italiani”.

4. Take a ‘Secret Itineraries’ tour of the Doge’s Palace

Doge’s Palace | Image credit: Matthias Süßen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Secret Itineraries tour offers a fascinating glimpse into the hidden corners of the iconic Doge’s Palace. Not only will you skip the long lineups, but you’ll also explore beyond the main public areas of the grand palace to visit its more mysterious and restricted spaces, including the dungeons, secret chambers, and the inquisitor’s rooms. You’ll cross the Bridge Of Sighs, which once led prisoners like Casanova to their cells – it’s said that as prisoners crossed the bridge, they would catch one last glimpse of magnificent Venice through the small barred windows before letting out a mournful sigh at the thought of their impending fate.

Romantic things to do in Venice, Italy

As the birthplace of the infamous libertine Casanova, the romantic allure of the fabled Floating City is undeniable. The difference is that in Venice, the city is your muse; no human being can even compare to her grandeur. With that in mind, you don’t need anyone by your side to absorb Venice’s heart-stopping romance – here are a few of the most romantic things to do.

1. Explore a forgotten palazzo

Palazzo Malipiero | Image credit: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Exploring a decrepit palazzo in a state of elegant decay is the kind of thing that makes my knees weak. The Palazzo Malipiero was the palace of Casanova’s guardian, Senator Alvise Gasparo Malipiero, and was like a second home to the young priest turned playboy. It’s also the palace that Casanova would eventually be banished from when caught canoodling with old man Malipiero’s young love interest. Originally built in the 11th century before the wealthy Malipiero family took it over in 1590, the palazzo has a beautiful but crumbling facade and a fascinating history rife with lust, desire and decadence.

2. Take a cheesy but molto romantico gondola ride

Gondola ride | Image credit: Fbrandao.1963, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This one makes me cringe, but it’s so quintessentially Venetian that it must be done at least once. Float under quaint bridges and past majestic old palazzos, through intimate hidden canals and across the sweeping Grand Canal. Keep in mind gondoliers are not required to sing; while some may serenade passengers with an old Venetian song (un canto Veneziano), it depends on the personality of each individual gondolier.

3. Get lost

Dorsoduro | Image credit: Diana Robinson/Flickr

This is an absolute must, a sort of Venetian rite of passage – lose yourself in Venice’s enchanting alleyways, hidden streets and calli (narrow lanes), and you’re bound to stumble upon secret gardens, quirky artisanal shops and some of the most interesting parts of the city. The artsy neighbourhood Dorsoduro is perfect for this, as well as the quiet stretches of Cannaregio and the residential area of Via Garibaldi. With the buzz of tourists left far behind, you’ll be able to hear the sound of canal water gently lapping against ancient stone. Wander without a specific destination in mind, and eventually, you’ll hit the water and can take a vaporetto back home.

Nightlife in Venice

Venice at night | Image credit: Matteo Angeloni/Pexels

Venice’s nightlife is rather well-behaved – less about tequila shots and big nightclubs and more about spritzes at late-night coffee shops and bottles of wine at local bacari. The Venetian Spritz is Venice in a cocktail glass, made with prosecco, soda water and Select – a traditional Venetian liqueur made with over 30 botanicals, including rhubarb root, cardamom and juniper berries. It’s the lesser known, ruby red, more sophisticated cousin of the Aperol Spritz, garnished with a green olive instead of an orange slice, and found across the lively Campo Santa Margherita square in the heart of artsy Dorsoduro. The neighbourhood is a nightlife hub for those in the know and is sprinkled liberally with authentic bacari, local live music, and super fun cocktail bars.

Food in Venice

Bigoli with sardine and onion sauce | Image credit: Lee/Flickr

With its proximity to the Adriatic, the cuisine of Venice reflects the city’s marriage to the sea with its focus on fresh lagoon seafood. Traditional Venetian dishes include sarde in saor – sweet and sour sardines with onions, raisins and pine nuts; caparossoi a scota deo – juicy clams with lemon and pepper; scampi alla veneziana – fresh scampi with olive oil and lemon; and bigoli in salsa. Every part of Italy has its signature pasta; for Venetians, it’s bigoli – fat, voluptuous spaghetti originally made with buckwheat and duck eggs, served with a ‘salsa’ of anchovies and onions. Risotto di gò is also a delectable mainstay of Venetian lagoon cuisine, invented centuries ago in Burano by the island’s local fishermen. It’s a tasty risotto prepared with a little fish from the lagoon, the grass goby, called pesce gò in the Venetian dialect.

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Dining in Venice

While Venice has a few Michelin-star restaurants and exceptional local cuisine, it’s just as easy and all too common to have a terribly overpriced meal at a tourist trap trattoria. Here’s how to avoid that.

1. Fill up on cicchetti at a local bàcaro

Venetian Cicchetti | Image credit: Context Travel/Flickr

My worst meal in Venice was at a stunning restaurant with magnificent views of the Grand Canal – and food that tasted like it came out of a can. This is common in Venice – I endured the trauma, so you don’t have to; instead, find your neighbourhood bàcaro – a term derived from the word Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and pleasure – and taste the soul of Venice with its scrumptious selection of ombre and cichéti. Cichéti (cicchetti in English) is a Venetian small plate similar to tapas, traditionally served at a bàcaro and paired with an ombra – the Venetian word for a small glass of wine.

Cantina Do Mori | Image credit: Mark Doliner/Flickr

Cantina Do Mori, founded in 1462, is a wonderfully historic bàcaro with cosy wooden interiors steeped in antiquity and a selection of tasty cicchetti that sticks to the classics. If these walls could talk, they’d tell you this bacaro is where Casanova brought his lovers on first dates.

At the lively Cantine del Vino già Schiavi – a rather popular bacaro in Dorsoduro – the owner Lino, with an Italian accent as smooth as a shot of sambuca, tells me about the Venetian tradition “giro d’ombra”, aka a Venetian pub crawl that dates back to the 13th century. Today, locals hop from bacaro to bacaro, having an ombra and a few cicchetti as an aperitivo before supper to unwind after a long day and stimulate the appetite.

Lino serves up a tiny feast of bite-sized proportions in the form of his bacaro’s finest cicchetti, from skewered sea creatures and traditional favourites to experimental creations courtesy of Lino’s wife Alessandra – there’s baccalà mantecato (creamed cod fish), salamino piccante (spicy Italian sausage), tonno affumicato e tarassaco (smoked tuna and dandelion leaves), and mozzarella e salmone (layers of smoked salmon weaved delicately into creamy cocoons of mozzarella cheese). Hours fly by, and I’ve lost track of the number of ombre I’ve downed as Lino regales me with tales of his travels, his young loves, and his vineyard – before pulling out a secret bottle from behind the counter and pouring his very own strawberry wine, a sweetly intoxicating little nip of loveliness in a glass. This is what happiness tastes like.

2. Have a bellini with the ghost of Ernest Hemmingway at Harry’s Bar

Harry’s Bar | Image credit: Felix Haslimeier, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Harry’s Bar is a culinary and cocktail pilgrimage site of sorts, the birthplace of two of my favourite Italian offerings – beef carpaccio, and the bellini. Both were invented by founder Giuseppe Cipriani, who named the cocktail – made with fresh white peach puree and prosecco – after the Venetian Renaissance painter Giovanni Bellini. During the cold winter of 1949, Ernest Hemmingway spent his days and nights here, feverishly writing his novel Across the River and Into the Trees while sipping on bellinis, a cocktail he loved very much – something Hemmingway and I have in common.

3. Get a taste of lagoon luxury at Ristorante Glam

With two Michelin stars and a fabulous location in a 16th-century palace that befits the eloquence of its cuisine, Ristorante Glam showcases lagoon ingredients in the best of lights. The Palazzo Venart is now a luxury hotel with charming courtyards and secret gardens; it feels like a land far away from the hives of tourists buzzing around San Marco. Chef Enrico Bartolini and resident Chef Donato Ascani have curated exquisite tasting menus that are as artfully presented as they are delish. Opt for the Arte, orti e laguna (art, gardens and lagoon) tasting menu, an ode to fresh lagoon ingredients that change with the seasons, featuring dishes like chargrilled cuttlefish, artichoke thistle with vin jaune, and spaghetti with shallots and Mitilla mussels – a sort of pulpy, briny, tender mussel native to the Venetian lagoon.

Beaches in Venice

Lido di Venezia | Image credit: Gianni Torre/Flickr

Though when you think of Venice, it’s instinctive to think of canals and palazzos, the city also boasts some lovely beaches, primarily on the Lido di Venezia, a long barrier island separating the Venetian Lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. Lido Beach is the most popular for its cerulean waters, golden sand and beach clubs, while Alberoni Beach at the island’s southern end is much more rustic and quiet, surrounded by the lush greenery of the Alberoni Nature Reserve.

Also, check out this selection of the most beautiful beaches in Italy.

Historical places to visit in Venice, Italy

Madonna dell’Orto | Image credit: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The unutterable beauty of Venice never fails to pierce even the most cynical of hearts – underscored by the fact that its beauty is fleeting, quite literally sinking by 1-2 mm each year. Built on millions of petrified logs made mostly from oak, alder and larch trees that were driven into the ground underwater, there are buildings in Venice today that are still standing on 1000-year-old piles of wood. The Doge’s Palace (Palazzo Ducale) is one such building – originally built in the 9th century, and once the seat of Venetian power, it housed the rulers of Venice and still stands on an intricate system of ancient wooden supports.

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Adjacent to this and built on thousands of wooden piles that have supported its weight for centuries, St Mark’s Basilica has stood as the city’s spiritual heart since 828 AD. The Madonna dell’Orto, built in the 14th century and known locally as the ‘Tintoretto church’, houses some of Tintoretto’s most remarkable works – from the dark, theatrical intensity of The Last Judgment to the striking use of light in The Worship of the Golden Calf. “His brush was a thunderbolt that terrified everyone with its lightning,” Carlo Ridolfi once said of the Venetian Renaissance master painter.

(Feature image credit: .hd./Flickr)

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The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.

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