Cicchetti and bacari in Venice: how a bacaro works, the bars the lists name most, the dishes to order and what the sources say they cost

💡 The Short Version: A bacaro is a Venetian bar with a counter and a glass case of cicchetti, small plates eaten standing with an ombra, a small glass of wine. The sources agree on about €1.50 to €4 a cicchetto. The bars named by the most publishers are Cantina Do Mori (29 sources), All’Arco (26), Cantinone Già Schiavi (26), Osteria Al Squero (19) and Cantina Do Spade (19). The dish named by most is baccalà mantecato, creamed salt cod (59 sources), then sardines in saòr (56) and meatballs (52). Go early: the best bars close early and run out. Or book a tour: the Cicchetti Walking Tour with 10 Tastings and Winead is from €58.09 for 2 hours.

📊 The evidence behind this guide. This pass reads 108 list pages about bacari and cicchetti, and counts the ones from 33 English and 34 Italian publishers: the newspapers, magazines and travel writers named in where to eat in Venice. Venice-only, tour-operator and listing sites are not counted. The dish counts come from all 316 food list pages read for that guide. Counts are publishers, not pages, and the English and Italian counts are shown apart. How the guides are made

How a bacaro works

Three cicchetti: anchovy on radicchio, beans and tuna, and creamed salt cod. Photo: Benreis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

A bacaro (plural bacari) is a bar with a counter and a glass case of cold and fried small plates, the cicchetti. A small glass of house wine is an ombra, which means shade, and the walk from bar to bar is a giro d’ombra. Gambero Rosso adds that the bacari stay open from morning to evening, and that the white-wine drinkers start at nine.

Most bacari are eaten standing, at the counter or on the street outside. Several sources say the counter is cheaper and that a table adds a cover charge, the coperto, printed on the menu: ask about it before you sit. Cantina Do Spade asks anyone who wants a table to book by phone.

The first two rows are what six English-language travel sites agree on, and the last two come from one of them, LorenziGo. None is a bar’s own menu, and the prices move from bar to bar. Two Italian pieces of July 2026 add that the best bacari close early and run out of the day’s specialities by the evening, so go for the middle of the day or the early evening.

The classics

The counts are the publishers that name the dish, with the split by language. The Comune’s tourism pages name baccalà mantecato, sarde in saòr, schìe and risotto di gò among the local dishes.

Gambero Rosso lists the soft-shell crabs at Cantina Do Spade in March and April and again in October and November. At Cantina Do Mori it names the francobolli, mini tramezzini. For the tramezzini, two Italian lists agree on five bars: Bar Alla Toletta, Ai Nomboli, Dall’Acqua Bar Filovia on Fondamenta Santa Chiara, Birreria Forst on Calle de le Rasse and Bar Rialto da Lollo.

The bars named most

Cantina Do Mori, All’Arco, Cantinone Già Schiavi, Osteria Al Squero, Cantina Do Spade and Alla Vedova are in where to eat in Venice with their hours. Gambero Rosso’s own bacari guide also names Bakarò on Campo Santa Margherita, Cicchetteria Venexiana Da Luca e Fred on Rio Terà San Leonardo, Al Portego and Vino Vero.

Around the Rialto

All’Arco, Cantina Do Mori and Cantina Do Spade are within a few streets of each other beside the Rialto market, and Al Mercà and Al Volto are close. The market itself is the most-named food address in the lists, 30 publishers on the bacari lists (20 English, 10 Italian), and the fish market is closed on Sunday and Monday: see the Rialto Bridge and market.

Al Mercà

Campo Cesare Battisti, San Polo 213 · Cited by 11 sources (7 English, 4 Italian)

A counter on a small campo by the Rialto, with no seats. The lists name its panini with salt cod and its spritz. It is not the Osteria al Mercà, a fish restaurant on the Lido at Via Dandolo 17.

Bar Al Volto

Calle Cavalli, San Marco 4081 · Cited by 7 sources (3 English, 4 Italian)

A bacaro that became an enoteca in the early 1950s, 300 m from the Rialto Bridge, with bottles on the walls and ceiling. Gambero Rosso lists sardines and prawns in saòr, salt cod on crostini, cuttlefish with polenta, bigoli in salsa and liver, and says it also pours craft beer with the cicheti.

Dorsoduro

Cantinone Già Schiavi and Osteria Al Squero face the same canal, on Fondamenta Nani, and the San Trovaso boatyard is opposite. Both are in where to eat in Venice. The hotels on the same fondamenta are in where to stay in Venice.

Cannaregio and Santa Croce

The Fondamenta degli Ormesini in Cannaregio at dusk, with bar tables along the canal. Photo: Armin Kleiner, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Al Timon

Fondamenta degli Ormesini, Cannaregio 2754 · Cited by 15 sources (9 English, 6 Italian) · altimon.it

Its site calls it an eno-ostaria, a wine bar and osteria, on the Fondamenta degli Ormesini. Condé Nast Traveler describes a wooden boat permanently moored outside, with drinkers aboard in warm weather, and meat-centric cicchetti.

Il Paradiso Perduto

Fondamenta della Misericordia, Cannaregio 2540 · closed Tuesday and Wednesday · Cited by 8 sources (4 English, 4 Italian) · ilparadisoperduto.com

An osteria that bills itself with music, fried fish and wine. It takes bookings by phone only, on +39 041 720581.

Cantina Aziende Agricole

Rio Terà Farsetti, Cannaregio 1847/A · Cited by 7 sources (1 English, 6 Italian)

Gambero Rosso calls it the image of an authentic bacaro, with an old-fashioned room and a counter of filled toasts, baked meatballs of meat or fish, and aubergine with cheese.

Bacareto da Lele

Fondamenta dei Tolentini, Santa Croce 183 · Cited by 17 sources (6 English, 11 Italian)

A small bacaro a few steps from Piazzale Roma, with no seats and the day’s wine written on a blackboard. Condé Nast Traveler says students come early for cheap ombre and cicchetti. It is the bacaro on this list nearest Piazzale Roma.

Cicchetti tours

A walking tour strings several bars together. Il Fatto Quotidiano reported on 2 April 2025 that bar owners and the vice-president of Confesercenti metropolitana said many venues do not want organised bacaro-tour groups, often stag and hen parties, but cannot stop them. The listings do not promise entry to a named bar, so read each for group size and stops. The tours are compared in Venice food tours.

Plan the rest

For the restaurants, the pastry shops and the Michelin tables, see where to eat in Venice. To fit a bacaro crawl into a day, see Venice in one or two days and 3 days in Venice. Where to stay in Venice compares the areas, and the best time to visit Venice gives the weather by month.