Food and Wine Specialties from Venice

Harry’s Bar jewels: Bellini cocktail and Carpaccio.

Harry’s Bar is a fascinating place, rightly part of the collective imagination. Over the years, thanks to its customers and their stories, this bar has developed a soul of its own. Two delicious specialties have been invented within its walls: the ‘Bellini’ and the ‘Carpaccio’. (continue)

Italy – Section: Food places

Giving just a quick glance at the map of Venice, its very particular shape appears immediately clear. It’s a city unique in its kind, resting its foundations on 118 small islands, connected by a dense network of 176 channels. These channels are, in fact, the streets of the Serenissima: suggestive places, full of inimitable charm, especially when they are crossed by a beautiful gondola.

Food and wine specialties from Venice: the creamed baccalà.

The origins of creamed baccalà, one of the most exquisite Venetian specialties, are linked to a very fascinating story. It seems, in fact, that dried cod, its main ingredient, was discovered almost by chance at the beginning of the Fifteenth Century, when a merchant, forced by a storm, landed in Norway.
(coming soon)

Italy – Section: Street food / Appetizers

Looking at the paintings by Giovanni Antonio Canal, also known as ‘Canaletto’, is the best way to understand the splendor and the magnificence reached by the city of Venice during the period of its maximum power.

Some historians trace the origin of the Venice Carnival to a period close to the year 1000. Since its beginning, much of the success of this event was due to the opportunity given to people to use different types of masks to conceal their identity: for this reason, quite soon an artisan industry specialized in their production flourished in the city.
The main celebrations were held in Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s Square) and all the ‘campi’ (little squares) of the Serenissima: during the Eighteenth Century, these celebrations reached such a level of magnificence to become very famous all across Europe.

State: Italy
Region: Veneto

Located in the Northeast of the Italian peninsula, the city of Venice has hundreds of years of history: the very first settlement, dating back to the Fifth Century, hosted the populations fleeing from the barbarian invasions. In the Thirteenth Century, thanks to its strategic geographic position, located between the East and the West, the ‘Serenissima’ became the main commercial power in the Mediterranean. A centrality that began to falter after the discovery of the Americas and the resulting change of the international trading routes.

Strolling through the ‘calli’, the narrow alleys of Venice, it’s quite easy to come across a ‘bacaro’: a small tavern, very noisy and lively, where it’s possible to spend some time enjoying the company of the nice and colorful local people. In a traditional bacaro are usually served wine and very tasteful appetizers: the ‘cicchetti’. (coming soon)

Venice & Vivaldi.

Listening to Vivaldi’s music is probably one of the best ways to really start understanding and appreciating Venice:

Note: join Spotify and listen to the full song.

One of the most interesting places in Venice is the ancient market near the bridge of Rialto. The ‘pescheria’ is the part of this market devoted to fish trading. It’s hosted in a beautiful structure built in the early 1900s.

1549, the recipe book known as ‘Banchetti composizione di vivande e apparecchio generale’ (‘banquets, food and general organization’) is published (*1). It’s a good reference point for all those who want to learn something about the Italian gastronomy in the Renaissance. Continue.