schiller-wine: Schiller's Favorite Wine Bars in Venice, Italy

Picture: Christian Schiller at Caffe Florian on Piazza San Marco in Venice

Venice is among the world's most urban cities: a crowded aggregate of houses, palazzi, churches, squares, and other manmade structures, with few public green spaces to relieve a landscape dominated by stone, brick, and stuccoed walls. What most visitors don't realize is that Venice is surrounded by one of the most ecologically rich bodies of water in the Mediterranean: the Laguna Veneta, or Venetian Lagoon.

Pictures: Venetian Lagoon

The other thing that most visitors do not associate with Venice is that Venice has a strong wine bar culture.

Saveur: Venetian wine bar culture is centuries-old, its existence predicated in part on three famous, neighboring regions—Soave, Prosecco, and Valpolicella—channeling their goods through the floating city. To deliver that wine to thirsty residents, the city enjoys a robust web of diminutive bars called bacari (bacaro is the singular), spread across Venice’s labyrinth of alleyways. Often standing-room-only, they serve a daily selection of small bites called cicchetti, akin to the tapas of Madrid or the pintxos of Basque country, along with glasses of regional wine referred to as ombre. Traditionally, bacari catered to a working-class audience looking to graze affordably while hopping from bar to bar. The wines were simple and rustic, the ambience (and hospitality), varying shades of charming.

Pictures: In Venice

Schiller's Favorite Wine Bars in Venice

Osteria AE forcoe
Castello 5377, Calle Bande Castello

A typical neighborhood wine bar in Venice.

Enoteca Mascareta
Calle Lunga Santa Maria Formosa, 5183

Leslie Rosa: On the border of the sestieri San Marco and Castello, tucked away down a narrow calle off Campo Santa Maria Formosa, is perhaps the most famous wine bar in all of Venice, not only for the excellent wines, but for its owner and personality-at-large Mauro Lorenzon. With a colorful, hand-painted bowtie and leather apron, Lorenzon or one of his staff at Enoteca Mascareta will help you choose one of their exceptional organic wines by the glass—the only kind they serve. Stay for a plate of sliced meats and cheeses, or make a reservation for a dinner you won’t soon forget. (Bonus tip: With over 70 types of gin and 25 different types of tonic—not to mention the endless embellishments like marinated, chopped basil—their gin and tonics are true works of art.)

Al Merca
Campo Bella Vienna, 213

ApproachGuides: Al Marca (Campo Cesare Battisti, near the fish market, just off the Rialto bridge in San Polo). Perhaps our favorite in the city. Good for wine, aperitifs (try the local favorite: spritz con Aperol or Campari), and mini sandwiches with wine in the evening and coffee in the morning. Stand outside in the campo with the rest of the crowd — this bar is just a hole in the wall place.

Al Timon
Fondamenta dei Ormesini, 2754

Leslie Rosa: In Cannaregio, a mostly residential sestiere (neighborhood) at the northwest of Venice, there exists a magical stretch of bars and restaurants along the Fondamenta Misericordia/ Ormesini. Two wines bars in particular hold court here: Al Timon and Vino Vero. Al Timon—one of the best restaurants in Venice if you want to take a break from feasting on fish and sink your teeth into a perfectly cooked piece of Italian beef—has a lively wine bar with around 20 different wines by the glass (mostly wines from the Veneto, but other Italian regions are represented too) and a nice selection of cicchetti (Venetian tapas). Grab a glass of Valpolicella and a plate of cicchetti and enjoy them on one of the outside tables or on their flatbed boat docked alongside the restaurant.

Vino Vero
Fondamenta Misericordia, 2497

Leslie Rosa: Vino Vero, a small, upscale wine bar, has a wine list that concentrates on small, mostly organic producers from various regions in Italy. Try a glass of Zeno, a unique Sangiovese-Pinot Noir blend from the owners’ Tuscan winery Voltumna, or perhaps a glass of bubbles in the form of Franciacorta from Veneto’s neighbor, Lombardy. Vino Vero’s display of gourmet cicchetti will have your mouth watering in no time, but don’t spoil your appetite -- this area has the highest concentration of exceptional restaurants in Venice such as Anice Stellato, Da Rioba, and Osteria d’Orto dei Mori to name a few.

Enoteca Al Volto
Al Volto, Calle Cavalli 4081

CiaoItaly: Al Volto is the oldest wine bar in Venice and is definitely one for wine lovers. Located just a few steps from the Rialto Bridge, this bar also has a sense of history, having been in business since 1936. The bar’s atmosphere is very relaxing and welcoming. The drinks menu shows that it has access to around 1,000 wines from Italy and overseas – but obviously they are not all available at the same time. The owners offer a selection each day, which means if you visit more than once, you will be sure to find something different.

Harry’s Bar
Calle Vallaresso, 1323, 30124 San Marco, Venice Italy

CiaoItaly: No list of Venice wine bar tips would be complete without mention of Harrys Bar. It is a Venetian institution. Situated on the waterfront at St. Mark’s, it offers the visitor a sense of history as well as a warm welcome. It can be pricey – but I love it for the story it carries. The founder, Giuseppe Cipriani, had once known a young American socialite called Harry Pickering who frequented the bar he tended at Hotel Europa. When Pickering stopped drinking at the bar, Giuseppe noticed his absence and asked him why. Apparently Pickering’s family didn’t like his drinking habits so cut him off financially. Realising Harry Pickering was broke; Giuseppe offered him a loan of 10,000 lire. Two years later, Harry returned to pay him back and gave him 40,000 extra lire as a thank you - enough to open a bar. And of course, he asked him to call it Harry’s Bar. As you might expect, it’s had many famous patrons over the years including Charlie Chaplin, Earnest Hemingway, Orson Welles, and Aristotle Onassis.

Bar Canale on the Grand Canal
The Bauers Venezia, San Marco 1459

CiaoItaly: This sophisticated bar is situated in the 5 star Bauers L’Hotel. Overlooking the Grand Canal, the Bar Canale has a lovely outdoor terrace from where you can enjoy the peace and wonderful views of Venice, her canal and the gondoliers sailing by. It is wonderfully atmospheric – particularly at sunset in the summer. It’s a sophisticated bar, full of charm and although it’s a wonderful place to relax, being there is an experience in itself.

Caffe Florian
Piazza San Marco

CiaoItaly: Now – at the other end of the scale is Caffe Florian. It has been a café on Piazza San Marco since the early 18th century. But away from the coffee and cakes, there is a bar area at the back of the building, where you will pay less for service and where you can watch the highly skilled bar tenders prepare sumptuous cocktails.

Cantina do Mori
Sestiere San Polo, 429

Lauren Mowery: You come for the atmospheric, rather than gastronomic, experience. This Venetian institution has been in business continually since 1462, and looks like it with its dark walls and begrimed ceiling adorned in copper pots. Postage-stamp-sized bites called francobolli sell out by afternoon, but inexpensive, young wine flows from demijohns until early evening.

Alla Vedova

Lauren Mowery: “No wine bar tour,” explains Bisol, “is complete without a stop at a classic Venetian bacari like Alla Vedova.” Tourists and residents patiently pile into the front bar of this old-fashioned osteria, to sample the city’s most renowned polpette—a crispy, fried pork meatball – and wash it down with multiple glasses of prosecco. Eat, drink, and repeat.

Osteria al Squero
Dorsoduro, 943-944

CiaoItaly: Situated in Dorsoduro, Osteria al Squero is a lovely wine bar that is incredibly reasonable and serves some lovely cicheti – which are small snacks. Interestingly, this bar is opposite a working gondola yard called the Squero di san Trovaso – the oldest one in Venice. And as you can sit outside by the Canal, it’s wonderful to watch the master craftsmen at work. It’s one of the few remaining windows into the old, traditional Venice.

Bacareto da Lele
Campo dei Tolentini, Santa Croce 1832

CiaoItaly: This is another institution and it’s very popular with those who live and work in Venice. You will find many locals here after work. It lives up to its name and is quite a small bar, but it has space outside, which has a lovely atmosphere too. So it’s great if you want to get away from the bars which visitors are more likely to frequent. And, what is more – the prices are incredibly reasonable for wine and also for cicheti.

Enoteca da Severino (in Padova)
Via del Santo, 44, 35123 Padova PD