Leisure in Venice
Bacari and cicchetti, lagoon cuisine (sarde in saor, baccalà mantecato, bigoli in salsa, risi e bisi, moeche), the Rialto market. Evenings at Santa Margherita, Misericordia, Rialto and in Mestre. Parks at San Giuliano and Bissuola on the mainland, beaches on the Lido, Venetian rowing. Much is free: walking, churches, the campi, the Biennale's outdoor venues.
Sections: Cuisine · Eating out · Sport · Nightlife · Free activities
Food and going out
Venetian cuisine is lagoon and merchant history: sarde in saor, baccalà mantecato, bigoli in salsa, risi e bisi in spring, Venetian-style liver, cuttlefish in ink, moeche (moulting crabs) in season, frittelle and galani at Carnival. The local way of eating is the bacaro crawl: cicchetti at the counter with an ombra of wine or a spritz (born in Veneto), standing or in a campo. Restaurants in tourist areas should be chosen with care; those in Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro and Mestre are more reliable for price and quality.
In the evening residents meet in Campo Santa Margherita (students), on the Misericordia and Ormesini quaysides in Cannaregio, at the Erbaria at Rialto, on the Zattere, in Via Garibaldi and, on the mainland, in central Mestre (Piazza Ferretto and around) and the venues of Marghera; the Lido comes alive in summer. The N night vaporetti get you home. Concerts and theatre: La Fenice, the Malibran, the Goldoni, the Teatro Toniolo in Mestre, Conservatory concerts.
- Markets: Rialto (produce market every day except Sunday, fish market Tuesday to Saturday mornings), the Via Garibaldi market with fruit and vegetable boats, the weekly Lido market, the Mestre street markets (Piazza Ferretto and Via Fapanni).
- Parks and beaches: the Giardini and the Sant'Elena pinewood on the islands, the Royal Gardens behind San Marco, San Giuliano park in Mestre (among the largest in Europe, on the lagoon, with a view of Venice), Albanese park at Bissuola, the beaches of the Lido and Pellestrina, the Alberoni dunes.
- Sport: Venetian rowing and sculling at the rowing clubs, sailing in the lagoon, cycling on the Lido and the path to Pellestrina, swimming at the Lido, Venezia FC at the Penzo stadium on Sant'Elena, Reyer Venezia at the Taliercio in Mestre, the Venicemarathon in October.
- Free: walking the sestieri and the islands, many churches outside the Chorus circuit, the campi and fondamenta, the Biennale Giardini outside exhibition time, the Biennale's free collateral events, the Redentore and the Regata Storica from the banks, state museums on the first Sunday of the month.
- Out of town: Chioggia and Sottomarina, the Brenta Riviera, Padua, Treviso, Asolo, the Prosecco hills, the Dolomites and Cadore in two hours.
Sources
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Reviewed: 10/23/2026 · by piero.avolio · rev. 1 · Period: → 2027-10-31
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