Our Venice hotel sits at the very end of the Grand Canal, with views across to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore and the majestic dome of Santa Maria della Salute. Sunrise and sunset over the bustling mouth of the canal look like a watercolour painting.
An aperitvo before dinner is essential throughout Italy. In Venice it’s taken at bacari serving a delicious array of cicchetti (bar snacks). The accompanying small glass of white wine is un’ombra. We’ll visit some of Venice’s most out-of-the-way bacari for our cicchetti e ombre.
At the thousand-year-old Mercato Rialto we’ll mingle with locals shopping for fresh seafood and an amazing array of fruit & vegetables grown on the lagoon's outer islands. Breakfast of mini panini and local red wine on crates outside Bar al Merca is a Venetian right of passage.
About half an hour across the lagoon, is the colourful island of Burano and lunch at Trattoria al Gatto Nero. Seafood antipasti of razor clams, tiny scallops and mantis prawns is fresh out of the lagoon, and the tiramisu to finish may be Venice’s best.
In Valpolicella, famous for wines like Amarone and Ripasso, we'll stay on a family-owned wine estate where we'll have a private tasting in the atmospheric cellar. We'll take day trips into the surrounding countryside to learn more about the distinctive wine and food of this beautiful area.
We'll dine in subterranean Trattoria La Torre beneath the bell tower of a 13th century church, where traditional local dishes like bigoli with duck ragu, risotto with Valpolicella and wood-fired steaks are a perfect accompaniment to more delicious Valpolicella wine.
Much of the Soave exported around the world is pleasantly quaffable white wine made from grapes grown on the plains around Verona. However we'll be climbing high into the steep volcanic hillsides of Soave Classico to meet with three sisters who are returning this delicious wine to its traditional glory.
Wealthy Venetians have always had farms just beyond the lagoon in the Padua. We'll stay in an historic farmhouse here where we'll learn to make traditional dishes at a hands-on cooking class. We'll dine on superb local fare at nearby restaurants and visit Italy's oldest grappa producer.
Venice is a beautiful old girl, but in her senior years she can be a touch contrary. In winter, when she’s relatively free of tourists, she’s also often grey, windy and flooded. In summer, when the sunshine sparkles off the Istrian marble of her churches and palaces, she’s often packed to the gills with camera-toting day trippers. But once you learn a few of her secrets – such as which tiny calli to wander down to find the best bacari – and settle in for some cicchetti and un’ombra, then you’re living like a Venetian and truly fall under her spell.
Andiamo, I’ll show you the real Venice and the surrounding countryside that the tourists never see.
Immerse yourself in the food culture of Venice. Stay in a hotel overlooking the Grand Canal, eat regional specialties in osterie frequented by locals and enjoy cicchetti and local wine in out-of-the-way baccari on this food & wine tour of Venice. Then join me in the Veneto countryside where the wealthy Venetians had their holiday homes and farms and where iconic wines like Valpolicella and Soave are produced.
The below itinerary covers the tour highlights, the order of activities and locations may vary.
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