My Venice
Asking me to name my favorite bars in Venice is a little like asking me to choose my favorite child. I simply cannot.
There are bars I love because of their history, others because of the person standing behind the bar. There are bacari I return to for a glass of wine and a cicchetto, grand hotel bars where I could happily lose an entire evening, and places where the view is almost as important as what is in the glass.
Together, they are my Venice.
Start at the beginning
You can’t talk about drinking in Venice without talking about Caffè Florian. Opened in 1720 in Piazza San Marco, it has been part of Venetian life for more than three centuries. Yes, it’s famous. Yes, it’s filled with tourists. I still think everyone should experience it at least once.
Then there is Harry’s Bar, opened by Giuseppe Cipriani in 1931 and forever associated with the Bellini, Carpaccio, and that special Venetian glamour. You don’t go simply to order a drink. You go because you’re stepping into a piece of drinking history.
Then head to the bacari
This is the Venice I never tire of. A bacaro isn’t quite a bar, isn’t quite a wine shop and certainly isn’t a restaurant. It’s wonderfully Venetian. You order an ombra, a small glass of wine, and perhaps a cicchetto or two. You talk. You eat. You drink. Then you might move on to the next one.
There are wonderful bacari all over the city, and I don’t think the point is finding “the best.” Part of the pleasure is discovering the one that becomes yours.
Venice drinks are part of history
Venice has given us some of the world’s most famous drinks, although people don’t always realize just how much the city has contributed to drinking culture. There is the Bellini, of course, but also the Spritz, Sgroppino and a centuries-old relationship with wine, coffee and spirits that stretches far beyond the cocktails we associate with the city today. A glass is rarely just a glass. There is usually a story behind it.
The new Venice
Don’t think that Venice’s drinking culture is trapped in its past. Alongside the historic cafés and bacari is a new generation of bartenders taking the city’s traditions and doing something completely contemporary with them. You’ll find innovative cocktails in some of Venice’s grandest hotels, tiny bars experimenting with local ingredients, and bartenders looking to the lagoon, its islands and its history for inspiration.
My Venice
So no, I’m not going to give you my ten best bars in Venice. I’d rather show you the places that tell you something about the city.
The bar where you should order a Bellini. The bacaro where you squeeze in at the counter. The hotel terrace worth dressing up for. The place to discover what Venetian bartenders are doing now. The café where generations before us sat doing exactly what we’re doing today.
Those are the places that make drinking in Venice so special and there are far too many of them to fit on one page.
Want the whole story?
I wrote A Guide to Drinking in Venice because I wanted to tell the story of Venice through what it drinks.
Inside you’ll find more than 50 bars, cafés and bacari, the stories behind Venice’s drinking traditions, the people keeping them alive and 20 cocktail recipes from some of the city’s most celebrated bars.
If you’re heading to Venice, bring me with you.