72 Hours
in Venice
Two days is enough to get past the postcard version — quiet campi, bacari with no sign out front, a rowing lesson standing up in a boat built for it. Skip San Marco: start in Cannaregio, coffee first.
Events Worth Planning For
Ten days of masks, music and packed calli before Lent — book accommodation months ahead.
Down at the southern tip of the lagoon, Chioggia throws a proper fish sagra — fritto misto and grilled sardines eaten at long tables by the canal.
A pontoon bridge across the Giudecca Canal and the whole lagoon out in boats for Saturday night’s fireworks.
A costumed procession of historic boats down the Grand Canal, followed by the real racing.
Venice’s own artisan wine fair, right on the Passenger Port — small, independent producers pouring outside the usual tourist track.
The Ghetto, A Row
& the Misericordia
Coffee and something sweet at Pasticceria Dal Mas, then into the Ghetto — the oldest in the world, and still one of the quietest corners of the city. Walk past the synagogue, Campo dei Mori and Chiesa della Madonna dell’Orto, Tintoretto’s own parish church. Book ahead for a rowing lesson with the women of Row Venice — voga alla veneta, standing up, the way Venetians have always rowed these canals.
Head back to Fondamenta della Misericordia and stay put — this stretch of canal is where the rest of the day happens. Gelato at Bacaro Gelato first, to freshen up after the row, then wine and cicchetti at Vino Vero to properly quench the thirst. Then onto La Sete — fittingly named, since it means “the thirst” in Italian.
Dinner is Da Rioba or Anice Stellato, both a few steps away and both properly Venetian. Finish at Paradiso Perduto for a last glass — live music some nights, always loud, never touristy.
Venice on foot today — with one gondola crossing that actually makes sense.
The Grand Canal, A Traghetto
& a Long Lunch on Giudecca
Before the boat, a tramezzino and a spritz at Bar Filovia — the kind of unhurried, unfussy stop that sets the tone before a morning on the water.
Ride the vaporetto the length of the Grand Canal at least once — every palazzo facade in order, no walking required, the cheapest sightseeing in the city. Get off wherever looks right, then cross back over on a traghetto — the stripped-down gondola ferry that costs a couple of euros and is how Venetians without a gondola of their own actually get across the water. Stand up if you dare; everyone else will be.
In Dorsoduro, stop at Cantina Schiavi, an old-school wine shop and standing bar by the San Trovaso boatyard, its counter stacked with one of the best small-producer lists in the city. Order a glass, eat a cicchetto off the counter, and don’t bother looking for a seat — that’s not what this place is for.
Cross to Giudecca and walk its length — the quiet, unglamorous island across the water from everywhere else, more washing lines than tourists. On the way, the Campanile di San Giorgio Maggiore is worth the detour: shorter queues than its more famous cousin across the water, and arguably the better view of the city. Settle in for a long lunch at Trattoria Altanella, canal-side and family-run since the 1920s, or Figli delle Stelle, a little further along with tables looking straight across to San Marco: order whatever the day’s catch is and let the afternoon run long.
The lagoon’s outer islands today — glass, lace, and the kind of quiet you won’t find back in the centro storico.
Murano & Burano
Glass, Colour, Quiet
Vaporetto out to the islands. Murano first — centuries of glassmaking, furnaces you can watch work, and the Museo del Vetro if you want the real history behind the showrooms. Then Burano: houses painted in colours loud enough to argue with each other, and the Museo del Merletto tracing the lace-making history behind most doorways.
Eat lunch on Burano at Da Forner, a canal-side seafood trattoria a little off the main lace-shop drag, or walk the footbridge over to Mazzorbo for Trattoria alla Maddalena, a family-run lagoon kitchen known for growing its own castraura artichokes — either way, it’s built for a long, slow one. If there’s an hour spare, Torcello is the further detour: a cathedral, a handful of restaurants, near-silence twenty minutes from the crowds.
At A Glance
- Eat
- Cicchetti, moeche, seppie in nero, verze sofegae
- Drink
- Prosecco Col Fondo, Spritz al Select
- Read
- Joseph Brodsky, Watermark
- Say
- “Andemo a bever un’ombra” — let’s go drink a shadow
- Do
- Vino Vero, Cantina Schiavi, Campanile San Giorgio, Murano & Burano
Drink Local
