Get up early to enjoy Venice's majestic Grand Canal before the throngs of tourists descend on the city. Photo / AP
Get up early to enjoy Venice's majestic Grand Canal before the throngs of tourists descend on the city. Photo / AP
Venice is the setting for Nicky Pellegrino's new novel. On a fact-finding visit she strayed into richly rewarding back streets.
"On this tour there are no maps," says our guide Cecilia. "Forget about them, I will be your map."
These are welcome words for me because, since I arrived in Venice, my map, plus the book of walking tours I optimistically brought with me, have done nothing but lead meastray in the maze of narrow streets, bridges and canals. I've seen a lot of beautiful places but few of them were the places I was trying to get to.
Venice is as confusing as it is astounding.
I'm here to research a novel and have come on my own as that is what my main character does. Very quickly I've discovered it's not the ideal place for the solo traveller.
Yes, it's safe and filled with interest, but it's difficult to connect with anyone. Other tourists are in couples or groups and the locals, so vastly outnumbered by the millions of visitors, are polite but not interested in getting to know you.
So I've booked this food walking tour run by Venice Urban Adventures for the company of others, as well as for the opportunity to sample local specialties.
Cecilia will be taking us away from the main tourist spots to the back streets where locals meet in bacari, small bars, drink a modest glass of wine - known as an ombra - and eat cicchetti, little bite-size snacks of delicious things.
For the 60,000 Venetians living in the city, standing at a bar, elbow-to-elbow, an ombra in one hand and a piece of cicchetti in the other, is an almost daily ritual. When they're closed, they are difficult to spot. They pull in their awnings and seem to disappear. When they're open, however, the good ones are packed, since they are where to find the most interesting - and reasonably priced - Venetian food.
We head towards the Rialto to a modern place called Pronto Pesce, where they specialise in crafting cicchetti from seafood sold at the adjacent market.
Cecilia tells us this is the place celebrity chefs visit when they are in Venice because they serve things like miniature brioche stuffed with interesting combinations such as smoked tuna, artichoke and horseradish instead of the standard crostini and meatballs.
We also taste baccala mantecato, a signature dish of Venetian cuisine, dried salt cod that has been soaked, poached then whipped into rich, creaminess. Cecilia says if someone makes this for you, it's a sign they like you very much as it takes a long time.
The next bacaro, All'Arco (at Sestiere San Polo 436), has a more traditional feel. Starched white curtains half cover the windows and there is space inside only for a couple of narrow marble counters to rest your plate or glass on. The cicchetti arranged on the bar are a freshly made array of crostini topped with smoked goose breast, grilled vegetables, melting, soft gorgonzola or with sarde in saor, the Venetian dish of lightly fried sardines marinated in vinegar then sprinkled with pine nuts and raisins and served cold.
We eat, we drink, then move on to Cantina Do Mori (Sestiere San Polo, 429), a dark, wood-panelled bacaro hung with old copper pots. It has been here since the 15th century, serving meatballs and fondi di carciofo, the grey-green bottom part of the artichoke, trimmed and steeped in olive oil and garlic.
Not only are these places off the beaten track but so are their wines. Cecilia is adamant we explore beyond the ubiquitous pinot grigio and taste other wines of the Veneto - my favourite is a sparkling red called raboso.
Brave the tangle of narrow streets without a guide and there are plenty more bacari to discover.
One of the most famous, Alla Vedova (Cannareggio, 3912), is also among the easiest to find. It lies down a narrow passage almost opposite the picturesque old palazzo Ca D'Oro on the bustling shopping street, Strada Nuova. This place is celebrated for its meatballs but, in the attached restaurant, I taste the famous Venetian bigoli in salsa, wholemeal spaghetti, slick with olive oil and littered with gently fried onions and anchovies - heavenly, if heavy.
Wander off the beaten track in Venice and you will be rewarded with a slice of real life.
You can't spend all your time down back streets, even if you are all alone in one of the world's most romantic cities. The tourist spots are popular for a reason.
The great sweep of the Grand Canal, the gracefulness of Piazza San Marco, the striking gothic style of the Doge's Palace. It pays to get up early to enjoy these places at their best. I had an early-morning cappuccino outside Caffe Florian in Piazza San Marco while a cafe orchestra played just for me. It was the worst coffee I've tasted in my life and it cost about $40 but it was a moment to treasure - the empty piazza, the music, the oldest cafe in the world and knowing that in a couple of hours the place would be a melee of tourists and street hawkers.
By mid-afternoon there are only a few pockets of San Marco where Venice lives up to its nickname: La Serenissima (the most serene). One of them is the terrace of the Gritti Palace hotel, where you have a grandstand view of the gondoliers and can linger over a cocktail - albeit a pricey one - for pretty much as long as you like. The other is La Fenice, Venice's jewel box of a theatre. You can take a tour and learn about its chequered history or attend a concert and experience its full glory.
Venice is a tourist mecca these days and there is always a moment in each day when I find myself footsore, over-heated and sick of the crowds. Then I'll glimpse the nose of a gondola, with its distinct metal teeth, edging round a corner where I hadn't realised there was water, and I'll be lost to the city call over again.
Diary note
An Hour with Nicky Pellegrino Date: Wednesday April 29 Time: 6pm-7pm Venue: The Leys Institute Library, 20 St Marys Rd, Ponsonby.
Light refreshments provided. Free event but bookings are essential. Sparkling wine provided courtesy of Glengarry Wines. Books will be available courtesy of Paper Plus.
Please RSVP: At Leys Institute Library or phone (09) 374 1315.
