Tasty Traditions: A Venice Food Tour with Context

Embark on a tantalizing expedition through Venice‘s rich culinary history, where each bite or sip is a portal to the city‘s past. On this walking tour with Context Travel expert and professional sommelier, Cecilia Sitran, you‘ll get the inside scoop on Venetian food culture, see magnificent architecture, and even sample some tasty wines and a few historical dishes. This is your exclusive pass to the secrets of Venetian gastronomy.

Starting in Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo (or the Pantheon of Venice), you‘ll have an opportunity to begin your culinary journey with a coffee at Rosa Salva, where you‘ll find out how the bean was first brought to Venice over 400 years ago. As you make your way across several prominent squares, including Campo Santa Margherita and Campo San Pantalon, and across Rialto Bridge, you‘ll hear how Venice was once known as the market for the world, thanks to naval trading between the Middle East and Europe. You‘ll learn about seafood, which is at the heart of Venetian cuisine, some of the most popular local dishes, and what snacks and drinks are traditionally served as aperitivos (small bites served with drinks before a meal). At Osteria Ai Pugni, where our tour ends, you‘ll also have an opportunity to enjoy cicchetti, or traditional snacks served in a bacaro (tiny wine bar). But this tour isn‘t all about food. Along with gaining a deeper insight into red and white wines (and what to pair them with), you‘ll also have an opportunity to choose from four variations of Spritz, a wine-based cocktail first developed in Venice.

On this 90-minute long tour, some of the places you‘ll visit include:

• El Sbarlefo, a small wine bar where you‘ll hear about the history of prosecco
• Gelato di Natura, a gelato shop where you‘ll discover the difference between gelato and ice cream
• Rosticceria Gislon, the best place to taste a mozzarella in carrozza (a fried sandwich stuffed with mozzarella and ham or anchovies)
• WEnice, where you can sample some fritto misto, fried seafood of the day
• Pasticceria Targa, a family-owned artisanal pastry shop where they make amazing sweets using sourdough yeast
• Il Mercante, a historical Venetian cafe from the 1870s that serves delicious, refreshing cocktails
• Bacarotto, a tiny wine bar favored by locals that serves delicious aperitivos
• Pasticceria Tonolo, one of the most historic bakeries in Venice

Along the way, you‘ll have a chance to:

• Dive into a sea of flavors with abundant seafood dishes on every menu, reflecting the city‘s maritime heritage
• Discover the secret behind a good risotto, a Venetian specialty born from Middle Eastern rice
• Explore the nuances of Prosecco, crafted from the exclusive glera grape from the Veneto region
• Immerse yourself in local life by learning about the Venetian dialect, boat deliveries, and fishing regulations
• Unravel the captivating history of Carnevale and Venetian traditions, exploring the rise and fall of this iconic celebration in the heart of Venice
• Trace the origins of polenta and its diverse pairings, unlocking the secrets of this staple dish
• Hear the legend behind Ponte dei Pugni and how it got its name, Bridge of Punches

By the end of this Venice tour, you‘ll have a better understanding of the city‘s rich culinary history, and local food and traditions.