"Venice Bites" food tour

Adam and Maya Stonecastle - hosts of Venice Bites Food Tours

What a fantastic day! It's the fifth time each of us has been to Venice but on what is called a "food tour" we learnt much more about how to eat, drink, shop, navigate and enjoy "la dolce vita" in this magical city than ever before.

We are so grateful to Sarah Hullah in Martinborough for putting us onto this and strongly recommend it to anyone coming to Venice.  https://www.venicebitesfoodtours.com/

We started our tour at Bar Foscarini with a caffè corretto (an espresso with grappa) and a biscotti.

Then it was on to Gia Schiavi, a family owned bacaro.

From the outside it looks like an unpreprocessing bottle shop but it is actually a bacaro that serves the best cicchetti in Venice. Cicchetti are small plates similar to Spanish tapas but only served in Venice, drunk with an "ombra", a small glass of local house wine.

Next it was to Bar alla Toletta

Again, from the outside it doesn't give much away but inside they serve the best tramezzini in Venice, small triangular sandwiches made with soft, white, steamed bread and filled with mayonnaise and a variety of fillings which we enjoyed with another ombra.

On our way to the next food stop Adam showed us what to look for when buying true artisanal Venetian masks and glass and also stopped by one of Venice's 122 water fountains which are perfectly safe to drink and/or fill your bottle from.

Next was gelati and a lesson on how to recognise the good from the mediocre.

Lunch was next, on our walk there we saw Venice's only traffic light:

and then we sat down to a fabulous meal of artichoke risotto, spaghetti with pesto and beans, and gnocchi with duck ragu - and more of the excellent local wine of course.

After lunch it was time for to visit a Pasticceria....

..... before finishing the day with a Venetian Spritz Prosecco near Rialto Bridge.

On the way home after that fantastic day we visited a new, nearby department store which overlooks Rialto Bridge and has a rooftop viewing terrace.