Venice's centuries-old bridges were built for commerce, not tourism. Photo / Pablo Allendes
The trick to not feeling like a tourist in Venice? Embark on a city food tour with local resident Giolele Pellegrini, writes Tiana Templeman.
Venice is often described as a living museum, but it’s also said to be one of Italy’s most rewarding food cities for those who know where to look. Previous visits have proved that we didn’t. After eating plenty of ordinary, overpriced meals on earlier trips, my husband and I have booked a food tour for this low-season stay. The weather isn’t great but we’re happy to forgo summer’s sunny skies to enjoy one of Italy’s most famous cities without having to shuffle through hordes of other tourists.
Rain slicks the streets and there are only a handful of people around when we arrive at the tour’s meeting point. We’ve been assured that away from the tourist menus clustered around St Mark’s Square, Venetians still eat the way they always have, standing at the bar, sipping wine, and snacking on small plates known as cicchetti (the Venetian version of Spain’s famous tapas). We’re only a 30-minute walk from the tourist area but surrounded by locals rather than tourists.
We’re huddled under an awning trying to avoid the rain when our guide, Giolele Pellegrini, arrives and introduces himself. He lives in an apartment that is less than a minute’s walk away and like many Venetians, his connection to the city runs deep. Giolele is passionate about where he lives and, as we wind through a labyrinth of narrow alleyways and over tiny bridges, he shows us Venice as its residents experience the city, not as visitors like us usually see it.
Our first stop is Rizzo, a bakery famed for its pizzetta, where everything is made in-house and there is a queue of locals picking up dinner to take home. Unlike the round pizzas most visitors to Italy expect, these are long, rectangular slabs cut into slices and sold by weight. Venice banned traditional wood-fired pizza ovens years ago for environmental reasons, so the city’s bakeries now use gas. It’s a reminder that even in a city defined by tradition, adapting is part of daily life.
Next, we squeeze into a tiny restaurant called Why And Not, where plates of cicchetti arrive alongside chilled glasses of prosecco (and a soft drink for the non-drinker in our group). Venice’s cuisine is famously seafood-driven, shaped by centuries of lagoon fishing and trade. As non-seafood eaters, we miss out on iconic Venetian dishes like salt cod (baccalà mantecato) and sardines. However, there are thoughtful and delicious alternatives at each stop. Our favourite is the creamy polenta topped with seasonal vegetables that we enjoy here as rain tumbles down outside.
Our tour isn’t just about finding the best food, we’re also learning about the city’s history. Giolele leads us across one of Venice’s bridges without handrails, designed centuries ago so goods could be dragged across by cart. These simple, functional bridges pre-date modern safety standards and are a striking reminder that Venice was built for commerce long before it became popular with tourists.
Our next dining venue, Cantina, is a classic Venetian bàcaro, a small wine bar where locals stop for a quick glass of wine and a bite to eat. Giolele explains that bàcari are the backbone of everyday social life in Venice, particularly in the early evening. The owner stops for a chat and presents us with a small bowl of risotto all’onda, a traditional Venetian risotto, and a glass of local chardonnay.
The dish’s name translates to “on the wave”, referring to the flowing consistency that Venetians prize in a risotto. It reflects local taste preferences and traditions, as much a marker of authenticity as the ingredients themselves. We discover plenty of these distinctly Venetian nuances on our tour.
Giolele explains that around 6pm is when aperitivo hour typically begins in Venice. He and his friends usually meet somewhere like Cantina and then move on to six or seven bàcari, drinking at the first couple, sometimes just snacking at another, turning the ritual into a culinary crawl accompanied by a few drinks rather than a big night out.
It’s at Cantina that my husband and I and our fellow foodies realise there is a problem. We’re all beginning to feel so full that we aren’t sure if we’ll have room for dessert. Giolele says not to worry as he has a plan and, after we finish our last sip of wine, he leads us away from the table and into Venice’s historic Jewish ghetto.
Set on a small island, the ghetto was established in 1516 and is recognised as the world’s first segregated Jewish ghetto. There are no churches here, but Giolele points out ordinary-looking buildings that conceal former synagogues, identifiable by their stained-glass windows with jewel-bright colours high above the streets. Without Giolele’s local knowledge, we would have walked through this area without realising the significance of what we were seeing.
After exploring the ghetto, we’re ready for our final savoury stop of the tour at Ristorante Antica Mola. Giolele explains that the most traditional and common cicchetti involve some sort of topping on bread. My husband and I sample one toast topped with prosciutto and another with creamy stracciatella, while the seafood eaters devour sardines and smoked cod. We also have a spritz made with Select, the local equivalent of Aperol.
Turns out we did have room for dessert thanks to Giolele’s well-timed cultural exploration of the ghetto, and our tour finishes with tiramisu. I’m not usually a fan of this rich, creamy dessert, but ours is so good that my husband and I come close to walking 45 minutes from our hotel back to Pasticceria Nobile so we can have it again the next day. The only thing that stops us is a lack of time to make it there and back safely before our train to Milan.
By the end of our tour, Venice feels less like a postcard and more like a place where people still live, gather, and eat exactly as they have for generations. Excellent food tours like this one aren’t just about eating well, they’re about understanding a place through its stories, cuisine, and the local rhythms that shape it. For a few wonderful hours, Giolele has made us feel like Venetians instead of tourists.
The journalist travelled courtesy of Eating Europe.