Raise a glass of Veneto wine on a backstreet bar crawl

“Venetians have always drunk more wine than most other Italians,” notes Sally Spector in Venice & Food. The reason, ironically, is a scarcity of fresh water. Although Venetians drink throughout the day, starting early in the morning with the odd glass of prosecco or two, the happiest hour in Venice begins around 6pm, when locals mob tiny bacari (hole-in-the-wall bars) for un’ombra (a ‘shade’; a small glass of wine) and piled-up plates of delectable cicheti (Venetian tapas).  

“Venetian wine bar culture is centuries old,” explains Lauren Mowery in Saveur, “its existence predicated in part on three famous, neighbouring regions – Soave, Prosecco and Valpolicella – channeling their good through the floating city.” Typically you’ll find a range of local wines, but more recently bars are “going deluxe, bolstering local wines with more obscure regions and upping the selection of on-trend ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ bottles.”  

If you want to try your hand at the famous recipe for the Venetian Spriz (which the locals call “Spriss”), check out Difford’s Guide to Drink in Venice, and for a guide to a wide selection of bars, many with their “own defining characteristic as well as universal appeal," look at this listing at The Culture Trip.