Over the last ten years I’ve returned to Venice multiple times.  I’ve mastered wandering the maze of calle (streets), crossed the Rialto Bridge hundreds of times, drank countless cups of 1 espresso and even eaten gelato on the coldest of days from gelato institution, Nico Gelateria.  Venice and I are very well acquainted to say the least.  In fact, I’d say things are getting pretty damn serious.

Despite me being able to walk the canals of Cannaregio with my eyes closed or wax lyrical about the history of Piazza San Marco, it may be hard to believe that up until this summer I’d never been on an actual guided tour of Venice.  Instead, armed with a curiosity for the magnificent city built into the marshlands of a lagoon, a dedication to visiting multiple wine bars (on multiple occasions) and a number of guide books/websites, I’d kind of become my own Walking Tour of Venice.  And actually did so over on my Instagram stories.  I’ve even played tour guide on a number of occasions for friends who, after hearing me declare my love for the city for the millionth time, wanted to head for the first time to the place that I would call the most beautiful city in the world.  And what kinda friend would I be if I didn’t accompany them?

On my 11th visit to the city (with a first timer), I thought, why not book onto a guided tour of the city and see whether I’d learnt my “trade” during all those visits to Venice? Would I be able to keep up with a professional tour guide & was there anything they could teach me? (Spoiler: there was).  As someone who dreams of being canal side with a plate of Venetian cuisine and a glass of locally produced Raboso, the new Dine Around Venice Tour with Take Walks sounded like a dream.

Eating and drinking my way around Venice is my favourite way to spend a long weekend in one of the most unique cities in the world. The abundance of wine, a mid afternoon ombra, the glowing orange of a spritz enjoyed in a campo, crostini topped with slivers of meats and cheese eaten shoulder to shoulder with a local in a bacaro.  Yes please, book me onto a flight immediately. 

People who head to Venice with the intention of spending a weekend enjoying slices of pizza should.. well they shouldn’t be visiting Venice, they should instead head to Napoli.  No shade. Despite my love now of ducking and diving into various osterie, checking out the newest places that pop up in and returning to old favourites (the polpette at Alla Vedova is one not to be missed), on my first visit to the city I was absolutely clueless when it came to eating local.  The result?  Rubbish pizza, bland tourist menus, spaghetti bolognese, inflated prices and staff who saw me coming a mile away.  When it comes to food, just like every city in Italy, Venice has its own authentic dishes and flavours and you’re not likely to find them in those lack lustre restaurants.  No matter what city you’re reading about, travel & foodie guides will give one piece of advice to tourists looking for a place to eat: Follow the locals.  Take Walk’s Dine Around Venice Tour allows you to do just that; be shown around the city by a local Venetian whilst eating and drinking authentically and learning a little more about Venetian food and history.

Our Walks of Italy tour began at 4:45pm.  Just as the sun was going down and the majority of tourists left the city for the day, feet tired from walking and ready for a pre dinner shower and nap, we headed to a small campo in the sestiere (neighbourhood) of San Polo to meet our Walks of Italy rep and local guide, Francesca and the rest of our group, an American family of 5.  In Venice for only a couple of days, city hopping around Italy, this walking tour (priced at £98.75pp) was a way for them to not only immerse themselves in the food and wine of the city but also to soak up the history of Venice over 3 hours and what better way to do that than with someone who has lived in Venice all their life?

What to Expect from Your Tour

If you’ve never been on a walking tour of a city before, like most excursions they can be hit and miss.  Yep, they’re a great way to see the sights without having to spend your nose inside of a guide book and the tour guides are often local to the area, but with popular free walking tours put on by hotels or hostels which are great but can often get quite busy due to the keyword: free.  It’s usually a case of turning up on the day at a set meeting point and hoping you don’t get left at the back of a crowd and unable to hear a word of whats being said.  Not ideal.  To offer an intimate, relaxed experience where you can easily chat to your guide, ask questions, comfortably chat with the rest of your group and manoeuvre the small bacaro and streets of the city, the Dine Around Venice Tour has no more than 12 people per group.  You also get the luxury of booking in advance and have all of the necessary info including a detailed map of meeting and drop off points (if you’re not au fait with the area) prior to meeting so that you can plan the rest of your day.

The Walks of Italy Dine Around Venice Tour is a three stop food and wine tour around the San Polo neighbourhood.  Each guide has their favourite spots so I imagine each experience is a little different dependent on who you’re allocated but what you are guaranteed is good food, and plenty of it.  Although cichetti are small, they’re also deceptively filling so be sure to arrive hungry and open to tasting all of the best flavours the city has to offer.  At each stop you’ll have a bite to eat, a drink and learn a little bit of history about the dishes you’re eating and the area that you’re in which, if you’re a food and history fan like me, will mean you’ll be in your element.

San Polo

Our tour began in San Polo, one of the busier sestieres due to its proximity to the Rialto Bridge and the the Rialto Market, two of the busiest tourist spots in Venice.  For the most part, San Polo consists of quieter calle and pleasant campi, Venetian squares. Campo San Polo and Campo Santa Margherita are two of my favourite campi and both have a lovely buzz about them.  Lined with bars and places to eat, the campo themselves are somewhat of a neighbourhood and come the early evening you’ll see locals walking their dogs, children playing football as their parents eat, enjoy a bite to eat and they’re just such lovely spots to spend an hour or so just soaking up the atmosphere.

What Is Cichetti?

Cichetti (chick-eh-tea) are small snacks or side dishes usually served in bacaro (wine bars) or osteria and typically consist of:

 “Crostini” (sliced crusty bread topped with meats, cheeses and/or vegetables) “frito” (fried meat balls, croquettes, vegetables etc), plates of vegetables, marinated artichoke hearts or polent and local cuisines such as “sarde in saor” (sardines cooked with onion and raisins) and “baccalà mantecato” (creamed salt cod).  You’ll see cichetti in glass fronted cabinets in bacaros all over Venice, cost a couple of euro a piece and can quite easily satisfy the rumblings of a hungry stomach after a few hours walking.  They’re also the perfect excuse to put down your travel guide, grab a glass of wine and watch local Venetian life go by.

What We Ate (& Drank!)

First up, a modern bacaro specialising in crostini.  Slices of meats with artichoke, horseradish or pesto, blue cheese and deliciously creamy baccala mantecato.  We picked two crostini each and if you’re in a couple (or particularly like the person you’re with), crostini like this is a great way to experiment with flavour because you can easily take a bite and pass it on.  Some of my favourite cichetti bars in Venice are where they really play with ingredients as I love discovering new combinations, although for complete transparency, when faced with crostini I will ALWAYS pick the baccala as part of my one woman quest to find the best in Venice – the verdict is still out.  To wash it down?  A spritz.  Much like anywhere in Italy, Aperol spritz is massive in Venice. Find Aperol too sweet?  You can also have a spritz served with Campari, which is much redder in colour and bitter than Aperol and Select – a mix of the sweet and bitter flavours.

Our next stop, I was pleased to discover, was a bar that I’d visited numerous times and is well known for its fritto (fried street food) gooey arancini, meatballs (polpette), fried fish etc which unlike the crostini, are served warm and are much more filling.  Francesca ordered the 8 of us a number of pieces including stuffed olives, potato/mozzarella croquettes and deep fried baccala accompanied by a glass of crisp white wine.

With bellies full of cichetti, we made our way to a sit down restaurant in Dorsodoro.  The walk is a great way to let your food settle, as well as see some of the back streets of San Polo and was a great chance to chat to Francesca a little further.

First up: a tasting plate of three authentic Venetian dishes.  Sarde in sour, sardines pickled with onions, raisins and nuts.  A very distinct flavour but absolutely delicious and one of my favourite dishes to order in Venice.  There’s something about the sweetness of the raisins, the tang of the onions and saltiness of the sardines that I just cannot get enough of.  Marinated octopus salad served with olives and tomatoes and lastly (I’ve raved about it before) baccala mantecato, this time served with polenta.  Polenta is such a versatile and staple food item in Venice and can be served soft (like mash) or grilled/deep fried.  Charl, what is this BM and why do you keep raving about it?  It’s dried salt cod, rehydrated, cooked and whipped with oil and garlic until it forms a creamy consistency.  Serve with bread or polenta and be ready for a taste.sen.sation.

Next, seafood risotto.  A good risotto should form rippled waves on your plate and it should make you exclaim I AM SO FULL whilst rubbing your belly yet leave you incapable of leaving a scrap of rice in your bowl and mopping up the excess sauce with bread.  Was my bowl empty?  You decide.

A Gondola Ride in Venice?  Yes Please.

Full of delicious sea food, feeling a little heady from the wine and after a thoroughly lovely evening chatting all things with Venice (my favourite subject) we took a short walk past the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery to a gondola stop not too far from the Santa Maria Salute church.

Gondola rides, as synonymous with Venice as the Rialto Bridge or the domed roof of the Santa Maria della Salute on the Grand Canal, are expensive.  With a set tariff of 80 euros for 40 minutes, they’re not exactly kind to your wallets but they are the perfect way to see the city.  “I was surprised you’d recommend a gondola ride!” a follower of mine replied on Instagram, “I thought you’d say they were expensive and a cliche!” but like most tourism cliches, they’re usually worth it (sorry!).  Included in the price of your  Dine Around Venice tour is a shared 30 minute gondola ride with the rest of your group and embarking just as the sun begins to set over the lagoon is a such an amazing way to the tour.

Views aside (and what freaking incredible views we had of the Grand Canal and Santa Maria Salute church) the skill of a gondolier is a sight to behold.  Not only do they know the maze of canals like the back of their hand, watching them manoeuvre the often tight turns and bob under bridges whilst pointed out points of interest is amazing.

PRO TIP: Visit St Mark’s Square following your gondola ride for beautiful, crowd free (almost) views of the piazza 

Our gondola dropped us off in San Marco next to the Gritti Palace in Campo Santa Maria del Giglio on the opposite side of the Grand Canal from where we had boarded.  Although not a part of the tour, with the drop off point being only a 5 minutes stroll from St Mark’s Square, it’s the perfect time of the evening to take in the Piazza, Campanile, Basilica and Doges Palace away from the bustling crowds of the daytime.  It’s a completely different vibe and absolutely beautiful, especially if you happen to be there on the hour to hear the bells chime and see the piazza bathed in moonlight.

Would I Recommend Take Walks?

My favourite part?  The food (of course) sharing some of my self learned knowledge with the rest of the group (including various other cichetti bars to visit) and of course, Francesca.  Having access to a Venetian to chat about the history of the city, tourism and what it’s like living in the city was so interesting, and even over food, Francesca gave us specific techniques of cooking the dishes were enjoying from scratch.  The kind of rice to pick for the risotto, how long to cook it for, that you should avoid pre packaged polenta at all cost, how much time goes into making the baccala.  They were stories of Venetian cuisine passed down from generation to generation and I felt honoured that I could now (potentially) take those tips to my own kitchen.

Dine around Venice isn’t the only tour that Take Walks offer, as well as this evening foodies dream, there’s the chance to spend some alone time in St Marks Basilica after hours, a luxury boat tour of Venice AND if you want more food (who doesn’t) how about a guided tour of Rialto Market followed by food in Cannaregio. 

 

Our tour was gifted as part of a collaboration with Talks Walks but all opinions are my own.