When You're In Venice...
Venice, for us Americans, conjures up thoughts of a place of make-believe, a destination which is on a lot of our bucket lists. And, once you get there it, it still seems like a dream. It is like a walking into a time machine and when exiting you’re in the middle ages, very surreal. Or you can think of it as arriving on a movie set, since Venice Italy looks exactly like what you’ve seen in commercials and in the movies. It is a truly fascinating place to visit, with period buildings all around, architecture ranging from Byzantine, to Roman to Gothic, from the grandoise Grand Canal to the narrowest of walkways, the absence of cars, the silence at night time, just hearing the pitter patter of a passerby and water lapping in a nearby canal and the passing gondola.
So, what do the local Venetians think of this UNESCO ‘paradise’ where they are from? What is life really like for them? What are their traditions?
We spoke with a couple Venetians, and also paid a visit to this cultural mecca, to find out for ourselves.
A fruit and vegetable vendor in Venice whose stand is on a boat.
Life in Venice
Venetians are used to the historic grandeur around them, and develop close, lasting relationships with the people in their neighborhood and classmates. They tend to stick around the neighborhood where they are from and their life circulates around that neighborhood.
They are people who are used to adapting. They use boats for everything imaginable, from construction, to deliveries, to having a full standing shop on a boat! You see all sorts of boats passing by when walking around Venice. Putting aside the gondolas which are clearly for tourists, the Venetians have boats both with and without motors. They are masterful at rowing and steering a long narrow wooden boat amidst sometimes heavy traffic in the narrowest of canals, between gondolas, taxis, and the many residents and businesses using boats as a necessity to getting by.
While the absence of cars makes it a fascinating place to visit, it makes it very cumbersome for everyday life. Think of the simple, but necessary, chore of bringing back groceries from the supermarket which entails facing an obstacle course between narrow alleys, bridges every 100 feet, and dogging tourists, then getting to your building and climbing 4 flights of stairs, as buildings typically do not have elevators there.
These inconveniences, plus higher cost of living in Venice, have driven many to move to the Venice Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place, as it has more conveniences, like streets where cars can drive, yet it is a short car or boat ride away to Venice, while other natives have left the area completely.
You Can’t Take the Venice Out of the Venetians
What is a bacaro in Venice? What is cicchetti? This picture tells it all.
But while you can take a Venetian out of Venice, you cannot take the Venice out of the Venetian.
Despite Venetians having left Venice in droves, what brings Venetians who moved out of town back to Venice?
Certainly, the fascination that they hold for their native city is exponentially much stronger than a passing tourist. Take for example Luca Manderino, a native Venetian who moved to the USA many years ago to establish a life and a business. When asked, what is THE best thing about life in Venice. He answered with 2 things: walking and talking.
Loving walking around in Venice we get. As tourists, walking around Venice is like a real life Disneyland. But on his latter response, it shows how big community is in Venice. The Venetians have tight bonds with friends and family they grew up with, and they enjoy meeting up, passing the hours socializing and chit-chatting.
Where is their go-to place to meet up? For the true Veneziani, they skip the restaurants and instead go to the bars. Are they lushes? Well, let’s say that the culture of having an ‘apertivo’ is full embedded in North Eastern Italy, from Veneto, the region where Venice is, up to Friuli.
The area near the Venice Fish Market is known by the locals for its lively bàcaro scene in the evenings.
But they don’t go to any old bar. They go to a bàcaro, which is a venetian expression meaning pub, or you can think of it as wine bar venice style. Its name derives from ‘Bacco’, or Bacchus in Latin, the Roman god of wine. In fact, when you go to a bàcaro, there is usually a casual, yet upbeat, sometimes festive, atmosphere. And wine is overflowing. No, make that spritz too!
And, in Italy, where there is wine there is food. To pair with wine and spritzes for an apertivo, the Venice bars break out the cicchetti (CHICK-ETTY), the equivalent of tapas in Venice. A lot of the cichetti Venice appetizers are basically street food Venice style, with many being fried appetizers, from fried fish balls, to fried bread with pieces of speck, a Northern Italian cured pork with origins in Germany, and olive ascolane, borrowed from the marchegiana cuisine in the central-eastern Italian region of Le Marche, which are meat stuffed olives then fried. The winters in Venice are cold and damp so a little fat in the Venetians’ diet is welcomed. But also, more healthy fish appetizers are a standard part of the bàcaro appetizer selection, from the Veneto staple bacalà, or cod fish, made into different types of appetizers, to sarde in saor, whole sardines marinated along with onions in sweetened vinegar.
The Real Venice Food Tour Is a Bar Crawl With Tapas
What, however, you may not know is that, according to many Italians, Venice is not known for having good restaurants. The Italians consider a Venice Italy restaurant to be either touristy, over expensive or just not worth the visit. Keep in mind, that, in Italy, it is easy to find off-the-beaten path places to eat which serve exceptional food for the price, compared to what we have in the US. But, in Venice, with it being such a top tourist destination, the search for this type of restaurant is like finding a diamond in the rough.
Why go to an Italian restaurant in Venice when you can go to Venice bars, or bàcari (plural for bàcaro), and have the true Venice Italy foods and experience of cicchetti? It is like combining a bar crawl with the Spanish tradition of having tapas as an elevated cultural experience!
In fact, what is a fun experience as a tourist is to do a bàcaro crawl. There are so many bàcari that you don’t even need to plan an itinerary. You would be better off in a non touristy part of Venice, or at least not San Marco area. One area popular among the Veneziani bàcaro socializing is the near the Venice fish market, for example. Another area to try bàcaro hopping off the beaten path for tourists is in our around the Jewish ghetto, in an area known as Canaregio. We could recommend some specific bàcaro for you to try, but to enjoy the experience more, just improvise: go to google maps, type in bàcaro and you will see loads pop up. Just be sure to start early as some close as early at 8pm.
Wines at Bàcari
What Italian wine is typically served at bàcari in Venice?
Not surprisingly, it is dry wines from Veneto, the region where Venice is part of, with a tendency towards white wine. The wines are mostly monovarietals, so made from 1 grape, of course native Veneto.
It goes without saying that the most widely consumed Italian sparkling wine, Prosecco, whose birthplace is just an hour away from Venice, is omnipresent there. We’re big fans of a crisp, balanced and expressive Prosecco. If you recall, we feature artisanal Proseccos made by the Sanzovo brothers with their Col Del Balt estate, having had a one of our virtual wine tastings with Carlo and Fabio live from their winery and home in Valdobbiadene, Veneto, right after we imported their small production wines for the first time to the US just over a year ago about . Sip on one of their Proseccos, close your eyes and it will transport you to bàcaro alongside a canal in Venice.
Another white wine you’ll find often at a bacaro in Venice is Lugana white wine, made from the ‘noble’ white grape, turbiana, as we covered in our VeroTalk wine tasting with family winery Zamichele followed by this article describing their wines and the Lugana wine region.
Some bacari are positioning themselves more as natural wine bar destinations where they showcase natural italian wine from Veneto, like Eros Zanon’s glera (prosecco) pet nat along with more obscure native varieties like Boschera natural sparkling wine.
Then some bàcari have more highly curated wine selections were you can find Durello wines from Veneto, which we just explored at a winetasting with Sandro de Bruno last month, as well as wines from Friuli, like Friulano white wine and Refosco red wine. After all, Friuli, which is where Vigna Petrussa is based, is just a couple hours north of Venice.
As a reminder, Vero specializes in small wine & olive oil farmer-artisans new to the US market making authentic and sustainable wines and foods. We sell to businesses and consumers across the US.
If you work in the wine business, contact us to learn about our portfolio. If you are a wine loving consumer, or are a business seeking gifts for your clients, check out our online store here.
Try Wines That You’ll Find at a Bàcaro in Venice
Before this 'modern era' of Proseccos made with the Charmat method, Prosecco was made with the ancestral method, like this wine, Codolà, where fermentation takes place in the bottle, and it is not disgorged. This means that the wine is unfiltered since it is on its lees. In Italy it is also called a Col Fondo sparkling wine and in the US, we use the French term ‘Pet Nat’ to describe this wine. This results in a white sparkling wine whose aromas and flavors continue to evolve while they are in the bottle. This Col del Balt white sparkling wine made by the Sanzovo brothers has a straw yellow color with lots of fine bubbles and green herb and pear aromas with a hint of lemon zest. It has 0 residual sugar and it tastes dry and clean, with a slightly bitter, lemon rind tasting, finish.
“This is a wonderful DOCG Prosecco. It has very balanced fruit that intertwines with jasmine, green apple, and subtle herbal notes. The palate is elegant with soft, lazy bubbles winding to the top of the glass. It is a joy on the palate, and the balance is undeniable. Such a good wine.” This is how VinePair describes this small production Prosecco in their curated list of the 20 Best Proseccos where this wine beat out all 20 with the highest rating of 93!
In fact, when we had first imported this wine, it was the first time it was in the US market. It took us a while to find a 'good' Prosecco, meaning one that had enough acidity to balance out the fruit along with one that had some personality, and all of Col del Balt Proseccos have great balance.
Made from glera grapes in one of the best areas for Prosecco, Valdobbiadene, this high quality Prosecco has fruity aromas that remind you of fruit cocktail. Its taste is fresh, balanced, nice fruit and minerality with a round mouthfeel and pleasant finish. This extra dry white sparkling wine has approximately 14 grams of natural residual sugar which you don’t taste at all since the acidity balances out the natural sugars.
As well, the new arrival is to be a special Millesimato Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, meaning not only does it come from the select Valdobbiadene “heart” of Prosecco, but it is also from a singular vintage, not a blend of multiple vintages like many Proseccos.
A 100% glera grape white sparkling wine made with native yeast fermentation, this natural wine vintage “prosecco” is from vineyards in the old part of Valdobbiadene, made also in the historic tradition of the ancestral style, or Pet Nat, as it is bottle fermented on the lees. A light color, giving an early hint to its bright acidity, the bouquet of citrus and lemon flowers bursts forth in the glass once it opens. When tasting this ancestral method natural wine, apricots and persistent bubbles create a sparkling wine that is enjoyable with brunch, aperitivos , get-togethers, you name it.
The circle and dot logo represents both the human existence and evolution, as well as winemaker Eros Zanon’s personal view of his vineyards, a dot of small-production boutique quality in the larger circle of large-production Proseccos.
This is an unfiltered sparkling wine made similar to the champagne style from a rare grape called Boschera, native to Veneto, Italy where there is less than 20 acres in the world! We were the first to import this grape into the US!
Compared to the Prosecco grape (Glera), Boschera is more complex, and in fact this wine has been aged for over 3 years in the bottle on the lees.
With 2 days of skin contact giving it a deep yellow color, this native yeast fermented natural wine is then refermented with its native lees and then undisgorged, so it is unfiltered and continues to age on the lees too, allowing it to become more complex over time.
You can say it is a vintage & aged ancestral method, or Pet Nat style, also called Col Fondo in Italian since it is on its lees. It has herbal, nutty and yeasty aromas and savory taste with a long saline finish. Pairs with many foods & throughout the meal, from appetizers to main course.
Made from 100% Turbiana (considered similar to Verdicchio), this unoaked white wine from the sought after Lugana wine region has a bright yellow color, a natural balance of acidity and fruit with a textured mouthfeel and a long finish. It has inviting aromas of honeysuckle, tropical fruits, caramel and a hint of basil. Think of it as an alternative to an unoaked Chardonnay, since turbiana is also a noble white grape. Plus Zamichele’s terrroir with the influence from nearby Lake Garda and mineral rich glacial alluvial soil provides the conditions for creating a complex and balanced white wine.
With a persistent perlage, a bright gold color lights up the glass as complex exotic fruits and citrus aromas burst forth. Tasting, it is a dry wine with a delicate balance of acidity and sapidity keep you sipping and enjoying until the last drop.
The volcanic soil of the Sandro de Bruno vineyards lend well to this ancient, yet up and coming grape known as Durella. With a thick skin rich in polyphenols, they expertly craft this grape in a sparkling wine using a classic Champagne method. A zero dosage, for 36 months the wine rests on the lees before dégorgement and it then rests again.
It is markedly less intense than its 60 month aged and 100 month aged counterparts, creating a great entry point to the durello grape. You can try all three of these wines for yourself in the Durello Flight Set!
Tastes Like: Limes and Green Apples
Farming & Winemaking Highlights: Sustainable Winery | Volcanic Soil | Bottle Fermented | Champagne Style
Fun Facts: - “Linear and polished” is how Kerin O’Keefe in this Wine Enthusiast review describes this 95 point wine.
With floral and citrus aromas and a pleasantly structured fruity and mineral salt taste, a chaulky mouthfeel and long finish, this age-worthy white from the indigenous variety Friulano, is made with indigenous yeast, then on the lees for 6 months while aged in used oak. It has a delicate bouquet of wildflowers and hints of almond on the palate. Delightful with hors d’oeuvres, various kinds of cured meats and fish-based dishes.
Vigna Petrussa is a certified sustainable and biodiverse women-owned winery.
Like a cook in the kitchen, Hilde Petrussa gives a special touch to each wine. With her Refosco, after gathering the grapes, she lets the tannins mellow out by air drying some the grapes, a process called appassimento used for wines like Amarone, for about 20 days before starting the fermenting process.
A deep purplish red hue, the bouquet recalls dry summer hay and red berries jam. On the palate it is round with soft tannins and underbrush hints.
Vigna Petrussa is a certified sustainable and biodiverse women-owned winery.