Looking to pass for a local when you come to Venice? The best way to do that is to try typical Venetian cuisine! We asked our local tour guides which foods to try and where to eat them. Here are the best typical foods and dishes to try in Venice. Buon Appetito!
Pro Tip: Planning what to eat on your trip to Venice? Bookmark this post in your browser so you can easily find it when you’re in the city. See our comprehensive guide to Venice for more planning resources, our top Venice tours for a memorable trip, and how to see Venice in a day.
16 Typical Food and Drinks To Try in Venice
Venice is literally built on the water, so not only is seafood widely available, but it’s also of the highest quality. Due to the city’s history of commercial trade, many Venetian seafood dishes are influenced by Middle Eastern cuisine.
Being seafarers, Venetians often ate foods that were easily preserved, like baccalà (dried and salted cod), corn, potatoes, and rice. Listed below are typical foods that every Venetian grew up with—some are a bit adventurous, but that’s why you travel! For more great articles about Venice, explore the menu below:
Cicchetti are typical Venetian starters or small plates of finger foods accompanied by a glass of wine or Spritz. When in the Floating City, you must try cicchetti. Especially, on a Venice food tour, which is like a typical pub crawl for foodies.
It might surprise you, but eating and drinking in Venice on a budget is actually quite easy. That’s why we want to let you in on a secret: cicchetti. These bites of Venetian tradition are both cheap and filling, ranging from about €1 to €3 per plate. As always, ask the staff what you should eat and drink—trust them, menus are for tourists.
If you go into a bacaro (local bar in Venice) and ask for an ombra, you’ll have firmly established yourself as a local. In popular culture, the bell tower’s shadow, or ombra in Italian, is the term they use to describe a glass of wine in Venice.
This comes from a local fishermen’s tradition. They would come back from fishing at midday and have a glass of wine in St. Mark’s Square. To hide from the sun, they’d stand in the ever-moving shadow the bell tower cast across the piazza. When you ask for an ombra, you have to say either bianca (white) or rossa (red). At this point, the bartender will bring you a glass of house wine.
Where to get it: Literally, any bar in the city
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Venice Evening Food Tour in Cannaregio District
People who say Venice is too touristy have not done enough research. Cannaregio is an amazing break from the crowds, and our food tour is the most authentic way to experience it. Taste cicchetti and other Venetian specialties including wine. You’ll leave with a full stomach and a love for Venetian food!
Today in Italy, you can order a Spritz anywhere in the country. Many are not aware, however, that this light aperitivo actually originates in this region.
In the 1800s, during the Hapsburg reign over the Veneto region, the Austrian soldiers were not used to such a selection of wine as there was in Italy nor were they used to the wines being so strong. So, they would ask the bartenders to spray (spritzen in German) some water into the wine to weaken it a bit. They added some sparkling water to a glass of sparkling white wine or a glass of red wine.
In the 1950s, it became quite popular to add either Aperol (a sweet orange mixture) or Campari (dark red and bitter) into the mix instead of the classic wine mixed with soda. Today, when you go to a bar in Venice and ask for a spritz, they’ll ask if you want Campari or Aperol.
Where to get it: Literally, any bar in the city.
4. Baccalà Mantecato
Baccalà Mantecato, a dish made of stockfish, is considered one of the most important traditional foods in Venice. It dates back to 1431 when a Venetian ship full of spices was disrupted by a violent storm and dragged North for days.
The surviving sailors ended up on the island of Roest, where they discovered dried stockfish. Eventually, they brought it back to Venice and the rest is history.
According to the local recipe, you only need to pair stockfish with a few ingredients–add olive oil, black pepper, salt, garlic, and lemon juice. Cook the fish until it’s creamy.
The last antipasto on our list is Sarde in Saor, a dish that consists of sardines, onions, and balsamic vinegar. This one tastes quite strong, but they sweeten it with raisins, pine nuts, and red wine.
If you’ve been to Venice, you know how popular and crowded it gets. Avoid the tourist trap restaurants and taste some Sarde in Saor at Il Paradiso Perduto, a canal-side osteria in Venice.
Bigoli is a type of fat spaghetti. This is definitely a staple pasta dish that can be found in most restaurants. It’s similar to the pasta with red sauce in the South of Italy.
The pasta sauce is based on onions and anchovies. While you might want a mint to freshen your breath after, this local favorite will have you coming back for seconds. You’ll notice in many dishes in Venice, onion seems to be everywhere.
Risi e Bisi is a simple meal made of rice and peas. While it isn’t one of the most celebrated in traditional Venetian cuisine, it has a funny and peculiar origin story.
The production of rice in Venice started in the 15th century and was largely promoted because of its low cost and wide availability. The Doge himself used to stand out in front of Doge’s Palace and salute his subjects by holding a plate of Risi e Bisi.
From then on, it has become a symbolic dish for locals to eat on St. Mark’s Day, celebrated on the 25th of April. These days, you can find this dish in any restaurant in Venice.
In English, this dish would be “little lasagna with black squid ink.” Many people who order this dish are surprised to discover that it isn’t lasagna at all, but actually a kind of long, flat pasta like tagliatelle cooked with squid ink.
It’s also possible to order this dish as a more hearty meal by replacing the pasta with polenta. Remember, though, not to smile when you’re eating this!
This dish is simply delicious. Busera was a kind of pot they used to use to cook food on fishing boats. The actual dish consists of spaghetti with scampi and red sauce.
The trick for cooking this is to first boil the scampi a bit. After, put them in a pan with some olive oil and a bit of tomato sauce. Let this simmer for a while, which allows the scampi flavors to intermingle with the tomato sauce, creating a creamy consistency and an aroma that will have you salivating. If you like it, add some spicy red pepper as well!
Pasta e Fagioli translates to “pasta with beans.” Many Americans of Italian descent from the South of Italy will know this dish as Pasta Fazull. While not from Venice proper, Venetians say this dish originated in the Veneto region, which means the area surrounding Venice. Originally a dish with peasant and lower-class roots, it is now appreciated by everyone.
It’s more like a hearty soup, so you tend to find this on the menu more often in the wintertime. If you happen to be in Venice in winter, it can be very humid, cold, and foggy. What better dish to warm you up than a bean and pasta soup!
This is a calf liver dish. It is cut into very thin slices and cooked with onion, parsley, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a glass of wine.
For the food nerds out there the word fegato in Italian comes from two words in Latin: Iecur and ficatum (liver and figs). In ancient Roman times, they would cook the liver with figs to soften the iron taste. Figs, however, were not a big thing in Venice—onions were. The rest is history.
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Not ready to book a tour? Check out our Venice Guide for more resources.
12. Granseola alla Veneziana
This dish is based on spider crab. The name granseola comes from the Venetian words granso (crab) and seola (onion). Spider crabs are quite big and many believe the taste to be on par with lobster.
The actual preparation of this dish is extremely simple. The crab meat is boiled with lemon, salt, and pepper. Once ready, the meat is plated witha bit of olive oil and that’s it!
Moleche are green crabs. They are fried while still alive. I know, this sounds extremely cruel, but have you ever prepared a lobster? For the second option (Moleche col pien) they are stuffed with egg. To do this, they give the crabs egg to eat before they cook them. Do yourself a favor and don’t think about the preparation—just enjoy the taste. They are delicious.
Schie are a kind of shrimp you can only find in the Venetian lagoon. They are typically paired with polenta. Polenta e Schie used to be the most popular food for poor Venetians.
Nowadays, this dish isn’t as cheap as it once was because the main ingredient is difficult to source due to scarcity. Schie is cooked and seasoned in lemon, garlic, pepper, and salt, then served over steaming polenta.
To end on a sweet note, try some Buranelli—a type of Venetian biscuit that’s sure to please your tastebuds. Buranelli (plural Buranei), is named after the Venetian island of Burano, where they come from.
Popular among seafaring men, these treats were often packed to take along on long sea expeditions. The original shape was round, but nowadays you can also find them shaped like the letter “S,” which makes them easier to dunk in coffee or mulled wine. Enjoy exploring Venetian cuisine, buon appetito!
If you’ve walked by a restaurant and noticed people snacking away on a plate piled high with fried seafood, and thought, that’s exactly what my diet needs—I’m here to tell you about fritto misto. This Venetian staple is a glorious heap of crispy, golden-brown seafood, typically including shrimp, calamari, whitebait, and soft-shell crab. Pair it with a Prosecco and you’ve got yourself the perfect midday snack.
Interested in going on a journey through typical Venetian cuisine? Food tours are a unique way to experience the local culture and food of a new city. In just over two hours, discover some of the best food and drink in our Venice evening food tour.
You’ll follow your local foodie guide on a short walking tour of Venice’s Cannaregio and Jewish Ghetto neighborhood, visiting some of the city’s best local spots to enjoy traditional cicchetti, Venetian pasta, delicious gelato, local wines, and a Campari spritz to wash it all down.
Join this tour for a great evening exploring Venice’s local food scene in Cannaregio, where you’ll eat delicious cicchetti, enjoy local wine in bacari, and have an indulgent sit-down dinner followed by gelato. It’s the best way to eat like a local in Venice!
Despite the size of this little island, there are endless hotel options to choose from. We’ve picked the best neighborhoods and hotels to stay in whether you prefer Italian luxury or quiet serenity—or both!
Brandon is a co-founder and owner of The Tour Guy and its subsidiary The Roman Guy. He left the States to travel the world at 18 and never looked back! As an official Tour Guide of Rome and Certified Sommelier, he loves to travel the world and share these experiences with his readers.
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