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Venetian Pub Crawl Dinner

By Rick Steves

My favorite Venetian dinner is a pub crawl (giro d'ombra) — a tradition unique to Venice, where no cars means easy crawling. (Giro means stroll, and ombra — slang for a glass of wine — means shade, from the old days when a portable wine bar scooted with the shadow of the Campanile bell tower across St. Mark's Square.)

Venice's residential back streets hide plenty of characteristic bars (baccari) with countless trays of interesting toothpick munchies (cicchetti) and blackboards listing the wines that are uncorked and served by the glass. This is a great way to mingle and have fun with the Venetians. Bars don't stay open very late, and the cicchetti selection is best early, so start your evening by 18:00. Most bars are closed on Sunday.

Cicchetti bars have a social stand-up zone and a cozy gaggle of tables where you can generally sit down with your cicchetti or order from a simple menu. In some of the more popular places, the local crowds happily spill out into the street. Food generally costs the same price whether you stand or sit.

While you can order a plate, Venetians prefer going one-by-one...sipping their wine and trying this...then give me one of those…and so on. Try deep-fried mozzarella cheese, gorgonzola, calamari, artichoke hearts, and anything ugly on a toothpick. Crostini (small toasted bread with something on it) are popular, as are marinated seafood, olives, and prosciutto with melon. Meat and fish (pesce; PESH-ay) munchies can be expensive; veggies (verdure) are cheap, at about €3 for a meal-sized plate. In many places, there's a set price per food item (e.g., €1.50). To get a plate of assorted appetizers for €8 (or more, depending on how hungry you are), ask for: "Un piatto classico di cicchetti misti da €8" (oon pee-AH-toh KLAH-see-koh dee cheh-KET-tee MEE-stee da OH-toh ay-OO-roh). Bread sticks (grissini) are free for the asking.

Bar-hopping Venetians enjoy an aperitivo, a before-dinner drink. Boldly order a Bellini — a spritz con Aperol — or a Prosecco, and draw approving looks from the locals.

Drink the house wines. A small glass of house red or white wine (ombra rosso or ombra bianco) or a small beer (birrino) costs about €1. The house keg wine is cheap — €1 per glass, about €4 per liter. Vin bon, Venetian for fine wine, may run you from €1.50 to €6 per little glass. There are usually several fine wines uncorked and available by the glass. A good last drink is fragolino, the local sweet wine — bianco or rosso. It often comes with a little cookie (biscotti) for dipping.

First course

Start on Campo San Bartolomeo near the Rialto Bridge. Osteria "Alla Botte" Cicchetteria is packed with a young, local clientele in two simple, woody rooms. For a classic Venetian taste, try the €15 antipasto misto (2 short blocks off Campo San Bartolomeo in the corner behind the statue — down Calle de la Bissa).

From Campo San Bartolomeo, with your back to the statue’s back, head forward down the tiny alleyway on your right and turn right, then left under the overpass into the Corte del Tentor to find Rosticceria San Bartolomeo. This cheap — if confusing — self-service restaurant has a likeably surly staff. Take out, grab a table, or munch at the bar.

Second course

From Rosticceria San Bartolomeo, continue over a bridge to Campo San Lio. Here, turn left, passing Hotel Canada on your right and following Calle Carminati straight about 50 yards over another bridge. On the left is the pastry shop (pasticceria), and straight ahead is Osteria Al Portego (at #6015).

Pasticceria Ponte delle Paste is a feminine and pastel salon de tè, popular for its homemade pastries and pre-dinner drinks. Italians love taking 15-minute breaks to sip a spritz with friends before heading home after a long day's work. Ask sprightly Monica for a spritz al bitter (white wine, amaro, and soda water, €1.80; or choose from the menu on the wall) and munch some of the free goodies at the bar around 18:00.

Osteria al Portego is a friendly, local-style bar — one of the best in town. Sebastiano and Carlo serve great cicchetti (best around 18:00, picked over by 21:00) and good meals (€10 pastas). The cicchetti here can make a great meal, but you should also consider sitting down for an actual dinner. They have a fine menu. Prices for food and wine are posted clearly on the wall.

Third course

Inside an Italian gelateria

Venice's many gelaterias are open long hours daily. La Boutique del Gelato is considered the best in Venice (from Osteria al Portego, head back to Salizada San Lio and turn left, on the corner of Salizada San Lio and Calle Paradiso, next to Hotel Bruno, #5727 — just look for the crowd, daily 10:00-20:30, closed Dec–Jan).

For late-night gelato at Rialto, try Michielangelo, just off Campo San Bartolomeo, on the St. Mark's side of the Rialto Bridge on Salizada Pio X. At St. Mark's Square, the Gran Caffé Lavena is open late (first café to left of the Clock Tower, behind the first orchestra).

You're not a tourist, you're a living part of a soft Venetian night...an alley cat with money. Streetlamp halos, live music, floodlit history, and a ceiling of stars make St. Mark's magic at midnight. Shine with the old lanterns on the gondola piers where the sloppy Grand Canal splashes at the Doge's Palace...reminiscing. Comfort the four frightened tetrarchs (ancient Byzantine emperors) under the moon near the Doge's Palace entrance. Cuddle history.

Updated for 2009. For lots more information, check out our best-selling Rick Steves' Venice guidebook — or join us on one of our free-spirited tours in Venice.