Venice Cafes

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Photo: Riccardo CuppiniBars and cafes can serve substantial meals

Weak black coffee is known as caffe lungo; a doppio has a stronger kick
Gelaterie usually serve coffee and drinks as well as many varieties of ice cream
If you sit outside a Venice cafe you will be charged more
The Veneto produces many ot Italy's best known wines including Soave, Valpolicella, Prosecco and Bardolino.

Cafe bars

Venice has a wide range of bars, cafes and restaurants to meet the demands of millions of visitors a year. But the difference between bars, restaurants and cafes is probably more blurred in Venice that most other Italian cities.

Many places that are listed in Venice guides as restaurants will almost certainly have a street-side bar area to tempt in the customers, while others that are listed as bars or cafes will in practice serve substantial meals.

Most cafes will also serve alcohol as well as coffee and soft drinks. Tourists quickly find out that charges will vary according to where you sit. Prices are lowest if you stand. You pay more to sit at a table and still more if you choose to sit outside.

The best cafe areas can be found in the student quarter, around Campo San Margherita, and to the south of San Rocco at Crosera San Pantalon. There are also some excellent cafes around Campo San Bartholomew and along the Strada Nova.

Cafes tend to close before 11pm, later in more popular areas and sometimes until 1am, Cafes and bars in the Piazza stay open later, but charge exorbitant prices.

Coffee and snacks are also served in ice cream parlours, gelaterie, which have scores of different flavoured ices on offer. As everywhere in Italy, takeaway pizza is ubiquitous and reasonably priced, but don't expect it to taste particularly good.

Venice pastry shops

Check the waistline before diving into a pasticerrie. Their delicacies are often handmade and are virtually irresistible. Most pasticerrie serve coffee and alcohol and a few may have seating. They fill up fast in the morning as workers drop in for a coffee and snack on their way to work.

Venice wine bars

Most distinctive in Venice is the bacaro, the Venetian wine bar equivalent of the pub. It's a wine bar that also serves snacks called cicheti. Cicheti usually include cheese, meatballs, boiled eggs, artichokes, anchovies and fried vegetables.

Traditional bacaro have no seating and customers take a glass of wine and small dish of food as they stand and chat, often outside. Newer bacaro tend to have seating and offer a wide variety of sandwiches.

Wine has been produced in the Veneto for 3,000 years and the area has many ot Italy's superior wine labels. Wines include Soave, Valpolicella and Bardolino. Here are some of the more noted Venice bars:

Harry's Bar, San Marco
The most glamorous bar in Venice. Once noted for its celebrity clientèle, it's now more famous for celebrity prices.

Cantina del Vino gia Schiavi, Dorosduro
One of Venice's great wine bar shops is opposite the San Trevaso boatyard on the Zattere. Most customers stand outside.

Do Mori, San Polo
It may be hard to find, off the Ruga Vecchia san Giovanni, but this is regarded as the most authentic old style bar in Venice, with delicious snacks and huge range of wines. Great atmosphere and no seating.

Paradiso Perduto, Cannaregio
Simple, well priced food can be found at Venice's leading boho bar on the Fondamenta degli Misericordia, with live music at weekends.