If there is one activity Venetians really love to do after a day’s work, it is to take a trip to the bacari. As you might already know, Spritz is the most popular aperitif in Venice, a cocktail made with prosecco, water and Aperol.

To experience the excitement of a ‘tour of the bacari‘ without having to spend a fortune, simply head to one of these cosy venues. “Bacaro” is the Venetian word referring to those small bars typical of Venice, where you can enjoy the characteristic ‘cicchetti’ (appetisers) and enjoy a good glass of wine at affordable prices.

To experience a day in Venice like a true Venetian, don’t miss the Bacari Tour:

  Bacaro food tour 

During your walking tour you’ll get to taste:

• Spritz: the cornerstone of Venetian aperitivo. Its name originates from ‘spritzen’, an Austrian word referring to the war period practice of watering down wine with sparkling beverages. In the 1920s, the cocktail we know today was invented and the sweet-tasting Aperol was added to sparkling water and wine
• Crostini: toasted artisan bread topped or stuffed with fanciful products of the area, such as ‘sarde in saor’ (sardines with caramelized onions, vinegar pine nuts and risings), cured meats, cheeses, truffle sauces, veggie balls and mixed fried snacks
• Warm dishes: Venetian specialties such as risotto, ‘mozzarella in carrozza’ (a deep-fried mozzarella sandwich), codfish with cornmeal and ‘melanzane alla parmigiana’ (aubergines with tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil)
• Espresso coffee and chocolate: conclude your tour experiencing one of the best espressos in town, along with delicious artisan chocolates prepared in the most famous confectionery of Venice

Personally, I love artichokes, all kind of them, but being Venetian, I particularly love the Sant’Erasmo Violet Artichoke.
St. Erasmus is the biggest island in the Venetian Lagoon, it is also called the vegetable garden of Venice, for being the garden of Venice, in fact, the population density here is extremely low, because of the great presence of fields, including the ones dedicated to the Violet Artichoke.

If you have the chance to talk to a local, he will probably list a thousands of reasons why you should love the St. Erasmus Violet Artichoke, but I will tell you the 3 reasons why I love it and I have developed a kind of addiction for “castraura” .

1. YOU CAN EAT IT RAW

The “castraura”, is the first bud of the artichoke. It is so good and tender that you can eat it raw. If you are visiting St. Erasmus Island in May, you can experience the thrill of tasting the artichoke right after its harvest.
Eating the Violet Artichoke raw is a particular gastronomic experience you cannot miss, expecially if you cut it in stripes and add a little olive oil and a lemon juice on top.

2. HOWEVER YOU PREPARE IT, IT’S YUMMY

The second reason why I love the Sant’Erasmo Violet Artichoke is that no matter how you prepare it, it’s always fantastic. You can fry it, eat it with rice, sautéed or make an artichoke lasagna and in many other ways, but if you have the chance to go to the Violet Artichoke Festival you can taste it the way locals cook it. Locals know all the secrets of its cuisine, for sure. The artichoke beer was the great news of the year.

3. IT IS A SLOWFOOD PRESIDIA PRODUCT

Being a local and traditional culture, exclusively coltivated at St. Erasmus and on a few other areas of the Venice lagoon, the Violet Artichoke has become a Slow Food Presidium, which means that it is safeguarded product and it is defended from the environmental degradation and the threat of the agricultural industry. The Artichoke Violet is unique and you will love it. Trust me!

Conegliano as the capital of wine culture 2016: discover events and itineraries!

In the year 2016, Conegliano-Valdobbiadene is the European capital of wine culture.
RECEVIN, the European Network of Wine Cities, proclaimed the home of DOCG Prosecco the winner of the fifth edition of the Contest European Wine City. The purpose of this contest is to highlight social and cultural aspects of winemaking – and to give an European dimension to a territory and its products.
Conegliano-Valdobbiadene area covers 15 communes: Conegliano, Susegana, San Vendemiano, Colle Umberto, Vittorio Veneto, Tarzo, Cison di Valmarino, Follina, Miane, San Pietro di Feletto, Refrontolo, Pieve di Soligo, Farra di Soligo, Vidor, Valdobbiadene. They are all located on the amazing Wine Road, the first of its kind in Italy – and they will host several wine and food events.
Upcoming events available soon!

ABOUT PROSECCO DOCG
Conegliano-Valdobbiadene is a marvelous hilly area in North-East Italy, 50 km from Venice. Here, for over three centuries, people have grown the grapes that produce Prosecco Superiore. In 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture classified it as a DOCG, the highest level of quality for Italian wines. Prosecco Superiore is recognizable by a golden border around the bottle and by the label.

Follow this complete Guide.

In order to discover the world of Prosecco we suggest an amazing itinerary across the hills, the renowned Prosecco Road (or Wine Road): the Wine Road, surrounded by vineyards and woods, goes from Conegliano to Valdobbiadene – towards small villages as Collalbrigo, Refrontolo, Solighetto and Colbertaldo. While having a look to the enchanting landscape, you can stop at a winery and have a glass of Prosecco – or any local wine. A feast for the eye and for the taste.

More info available here.

Street Food in Venice: where to eat the best meatball,the best fried food in a paper cone, the best sandwich and the best fritter.

Today we’ll start a new section that will be enriched by your suggestions. The attention is focused on all those dishes, cicchietti, sweets, and food in general, you should try at least once in a lifetime if you come to Venice. We are talking about both street food, cheap but delicious and tasty, and simple delicacies to eat while sitting in the local pubs and restaurants, in every case with a more than reasonable price.

Let’s start with the aperitif, small and big appetizers and sweets.

All the venues below are located in areas very close to Piazzale Roma and Santa Lucia train station so are easily reachable on foot.

WHERE TO DRINK THE SPRITZ

Choose a place to drink a spritz or aperitif in Venice is not easy but among all we suggest the Osteria al Timon in Fondamenta degli Ormesini. In addition to a wide selection of wines by glass and a really good spritz , a variety of unique appetizers suitable for everyone, what is most striking is certainly the possibility drink and eating sitted in one of the three boats stationed in front of the Osteria.

WHERE TO EAT THE BEST MEATBALLS OF THE UNIVERSE

At least once in life you must try one of the meatballs at Osteria alla Vedova, in Strada Nuova, just a few steps from Ca ‘d’Oro. The venue is the classic bacaro that exudes definitely an atmosphere of old times, a few and very narrow seats, but most of the people prefears to stay in the street just outside the door quietly waiting for a meatball and a good glass of wine. What’s so special about these meatballs? They’re very crunchy, the consistency is absolutely perfect and the flavour definitely impassable.

WHERE TO EAT THE BEST FRIED FOOD IN A PAPER CONE

The Frito Inn is perfect for those who want to eat in a very small amount of time a big portion of fried fish or battered vegetables or chips, or an amazing mozzarella in carrozza. This venue where the food is eaten just standing is located in a small and characteristic square that’s just a short walk from the train station, near the market of Cannaregio, in Campo San Leonardo. The fried food is always done at the moment and is very digestible. The prices are very competitive: a paper cone full of fried fish costs just € 4.

WHERE TO EAT A FAST BUT TASTY SANDWICH

The Bacareto di Lele has been since ages a must place for all those who live in Venice as both students and tourists. Is just at 300m from Piazzale Roma in a typical Campiello, before the Church of San Nicolò dei Tolentini. The small sandwiches with cold cuts of all kinds are absolutely irresistible, always fresh, fragrant and appetizing, and at an unbeatable price: € 1 each. To taste with the classical shadow(glass) of wine.

WHERE TO EAT THE PERFECT FRITTER

The fritter is the classic Venetian sweet that all the bakeries produce during Carnival. The fritters are not all of the same kind. Those absolutely perfect, classic Venetian without stuffing with raisins and pine nuts, soft, fragrant, that melt in your mouth, can be eaten at the pastry shop Tonolo in Calle Crosera. Not to be outdone the cream or zabaglione ones. Tonolo is a very popular pastry, with all kind of desserts strictly of their own production, and is just a short walk from Piazzale Roma.

Below you will find a map with all the locals that we talked about marked as to reach them more easily.

The typical cookies of the Venetian tradition, can be bought in Burano Island or can be cooked at home.

The Bussolai, historical cookies of the Venetian tradition, can be found quite easily all around Venice, but if you have the desire to make them at home they are extremely easy to prepare, and if stored in a dry place can have a long life, as long as you resist the temptation to finish them all at once.

According to tradition, grandmothers and aunts of Burano are used to make tons of cookies, and after having made them, they put all the bisquits into little bags in order to gift them to their relatives.

The consistence of the Bussolai is really particular, and derives from the receipt, which provides a large amount of butter. It is not recommended to use a smaller quantity of butter, if you don’t want to lose the original taste and consistence of this traditional cookies.

Here is the recipe to cook them: after having set the oven to 170 degrees, melt 200gr of butter and let it cool down. Meanwhile, beat six egg yolks and add a pinch of salt, grated grind of one lemon, the seeds of a vanilla bean and 500gr of flour. You’ll obtain a smooth mixture that you will leave in the fridge wrapped in plastic for at least half an hour, in order to let it agglutinate.

Passed half an hour, stretch the paste until you obtain some rings of the diameter you prefer. Someone makes them small as pastries, some others like bracelets. Choose the size you like the most.

Leave them in the oven for a time ranging from 15 to 20 minutes, until they reach a nice gilt. It is better to eat them once they have cooled down.

Good to be eaten with a good coffee or with a fruit juice or a good dessert wine.

Receipt by David Marchiori, owner of the Palaplip Tavern and creator of the blog Incoscienzaatavola.

The restaurant La Colombina in Venice is characterized by a kitchen between tradition and innovation.

If, during your vacation in Venice, you want to have the opportunity to sample a modern and contemporary kitchen but with an eye on tradition and at a very reasonable price, we recommend the restaurant La Colombina in Strada Nuova, in a lively area of the city, which still retains the popular atmosphere, just a few steps from the Station and from Rialto.

The dishes are all devoted to the respect of the Venetian tradition but with a focus on innovation and contamination from other regions: as the scallops roasted with the scents of Sicily or the shrimp scampi and mushrooms (porcini) risotto or Cuttlefish in black on biological polenta. Try the sea bass fillet wrapped in zucchini and creamed shellfish or the tuna and swordfish tartare on Parmantier of potatoes and brumoise of vegetables, both a real pleasure for the palate. The wine selection is even better. For those who prefer to remain on the classics we suggest to choose between the traditional Venetian Cicchetti, like sardines in sauce or salt cod, which can be admired in all their colourful variety, on the counter. Alessandro Bet, who runs the place and is responsible of the preparation of the delicious dishes, has documented himself about the Venetian food and found in the book by Carla Coco “Venice in the kitchen”, the kitchen cupboard, in use since ancient times: small appetizers and delicacies always ready for any eventuality. At the restaurant la Colombina, also in the choice of ingredients a lot of attention is paid to products at km 0 and for those who suffer from food allergies.

Chef Alessandro is a son of art, and carries on a long family tradition characterized by attention to the good food and the culinary arts. After a degree in Communication Sciences in Trieste with a thesis in collaboration with Cipriani and Gualtiero Marchesi entitled “Aesthetics of the luxury market in wine and food”, chooses Venice and takes the reins, along with mom Adriana, the Restaurant la Colombina, where in the past have worked chef of a certain caliber, as Alberto Modolo, the legendary chef Jacques Custeau on Calipso and on Love boat.

Alessandro and Adriana look after everything in detail, starting from the atmosphere of the room, refined but warm and informal. The restaurant is located in an easily accessible area from both the Rialto Bridge and from Piazzale Roma, but at the same time is in a secluded location, away from the crowds of tourists.

One of the characteristics that immediately jumps to the eye, inside the restaurant La Colombina, is the rich library of cookbooks, you can refer to while you taste the many culinary delights that will offer you Alessandro.

Bigoli in salsa: a traditional venetian dish to try

Traditional cuisine often combines sacred and profane. Perfect example are the “bigoli in salsa”( very thick and coarse spaghetti), an authentic dish of the Venetian cuisine.

According to tradition, in the past they were consumed during the lean days as a penitence dish, such as Christmas Eve, Holy Friday and Wednesday of the Ashes. Actually, it has become one of the most famous and delicious Venetian dishes especially for those who love heavy-bodied taste. Protagonists are few ingredients: anchovies and onions.

THE ORIGINAL RECIPE
The original recipe of bigoli in salsa is simple: first, take 70g of anchovy fillets (not the anchovy paste!) and let them melt and brown in olive oil. Once you get a thick sauce, add two onions sliced very thin and let them lightly fry covered (if necessary, add a bit of water). Attention to salt! Taste the sauce because it may get too salted or in the other hand a bit flavorless. It depends by the anchovies you use. Do not forget pepper.

Meanwhile, cook the bigoli in salted water and drain them when al dente. Then, add the sauce to the drained pasta and cook them together for about 2 minutes (add also a few tablespoons of cooking water if necessary).

I suggest to use the tropea onion, it’s sweeter and make the plate more beautiful thanks to the purple colour.

RECIPE 2.0
A tasty variation to the dish: prepare the sauce without using onions but more anchovies and pan fry with homemade tagliatelle. Garnish then with delicious burrata.

Recipe and text by David Marchiori, manager of the Osteria Palaplip in Mestre and creator of the “Incoscienzaatavola” Blog

“Sarde in saor” (sweet and sour sardines), a named enshrined in the local dialect, are a feature of Venetian cuisine that simply has to be tried

“Saor” began as a means of preservation: onions browned in vinegar were used in previous centuries to preserve fish from the inevitable deterioration after cooking. This eventually led to the creation of sarde in saor. If your fridge breaks down, however, I would advise against preserving all your food under a huge pile of onions cooked in vinegar!

The recipe for sarde in saor is fairly simple, although perhaps a little time-consuming and laborious. However, I would recommend preparing an industrial-size quantity just once, so it is always available whenever you feel like enjoying an instant home-made snack.

THE SAOR
Start by preparing the “saor”:  finely chop 800 g of yellow onions and place them in a saucepan on a low heat with a little extra-virgin olive oil, letting them fry lightly in 400 cc of white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. When half-cooked, add a few bay leaves, 80 g of toasted pine nuts and a similar quantity of raisins. Once the saor is ready, place it to one side.

THE SARDINES
Then take 1.5kg of sardines. Place a large pan of peanut oil on the stove to heat and then remove the innards and dip the sardines in flour. Fry all the sardines and place a layer of them at the bottom of a bowl or dish. Cover them with a layer of saor, followed by more sardines, alternating the layers until no more are left.

Then comes the most difficult part: to enjoy the sarde in saor at their best, they should be left in the refrigerator for at least a week, to allow the sardines to marinate properly, which is practically impossible, given the extraordinary seductive power of that bowl of sardines.

VEGETABLES IN SAOR
”Everything tastes good when fried”, as they say, so imagine if it is also prepared in saor! The local restaurateurs have served practically everything “in saor” over the years: pumpkin, chicory, courgettes, aubergines, etc., and who can blame them, as fried food and saor are an irresistible combination.

Recipe and text by David Marchiori, manager of the Osteria Palaplip in Mestre and creator of the “Incoscienzaatavola” Blog