Booking choice: The cicchetti and wine tour, from $102 per person. Check dates Tour details
Cicchetti are Venice's bar snacks: a slice of bread with salt cod whipped to a cream, a fried meatball, a sardine in sweet-sour onions. You eat them standing at the counter of a bacaro, a small wine bar, with an ombra, a small glass of house wine. A few rounds make lunch.
The tight streets between the Rialto Market and Campo San Polo have more bacari per square metre than anywhere in town, because the market workers and shoppers have eaten here for centuries. Below: how to order, what it costs in 2026, the classic addresses, and when a guided bacaro tour beats doing it alone.
The quick answer
Cicchetti cost about EUR 1.50 to 4 each in a bacaro near Rialto, an ombra of house wine EUR 1.50 to 3 and a spritz EUR 3 to 6. Point at what you want, order a drink, pay at the end. The classic bars are Cantina Do Mori and All'Arco by the market, both closed on Sunday. Go from 11:30 to 14:00 or 18:00 to 19:30.
What are cicchetti?
Small Venetian snacks, mostly on bread or fried, eaten standing at the bar with a glass of wine. Think tapas, smaller and cheaper.
The classics you will see on almost every counter near Rialto:
- Baccalà mantecato: dried salt cod beaten with oil into a white cream, on bread or grilled polenta.
- Sarde in saor: fried sardines marinated with onion, vinegar, pine nuts and raisins.
- Polpette: fried meatballs, of meat, tuna or fish.
- Folpetti: small boiled octopus, dressed with oil and parsley.
- Tramezzini and francobolli: soft white-bread sandwiches, the second a tiny square size.
- Crostini: anything on toasted bread, from lardo to radicchio to prawns.
The word ombra, shade, comes from the old wine sellers in St Mark's Square, who moved their stalls with the shadow of the bell tower to keep the wine cool. Ask for un'ombra and you get a small glass of house white or red.
How do you order cicchetti in a bacaro?
Walk to the counter, point at what you want, ask for a drink, and pay when you finish. Most people eat standing.
- Find the counter. Squeeze in; nobody minds. The display is the menu.
- Point and count. "Uno di questo, due di quello." The barman puts them on a plate or a napkin.
- Order a drink. Un'ombra de bianco (white), de rosso (red), a prosecco or a spritz.
- Eat standing, or outside. Many bacari have a shelf along the wall and people spill into the lane. Glasses go back to the bar.
- Pay at the end. Tell them what you had; they trust you. Some places ask you to pay per round when it is busy.
A table, where there is one, can come with higher prices or a cover charge. For a quick lunch, stand. A guest on the cicchetti tour summed up why people book a guide for the first time: "a great introduction to how to order at the baccaros."
Learn the ropes with a local: seven cicchetti, four wines and a spritz in family-run bacari, ten guests at most.
Check dates for the cicchetti and wine tourHow much do cicchetti cost in 2026?
About EUR 1.50 to 4 per piece, EUR 1.50 to 3 for an ombra and EUR 3 to 6 for a spritz in a bacaro. Lunch for one runs about EUR 12 to 25.
Prices near the market are still some of the fairest in central Venice, if you stay away from the canal-front terraces:
| Item | In a bacaro near the market | On a Riva del Vin terrace |
|---|---|---|
| One cicchetto | EUR 1.50 to 4 | Often sold as a plate, priced by the restaurant |
| Ombra (small glass of house wine) | EUR 1.50 to 3 | Several times more |
| Spritz | EUR 3 to 6 | Several times more |
| Lunch: 5 cicchetti and 2 ombre | About EUR 12 to 25 | Expect a full restaurant bill |
Fried and seafood bites cost more than bread with salami. A food-tour guest returned to one of the stops the next day and wrote of "lunch with house red wine for 11 Euros!" That is the kind of price the side streets still offer.
Which are the classic bacari around the Rialto Market?
Cantina Do Mori and All'Arco, both a minute from the fish stalls, are the two names every Venetian knows. Al Mercà in Campo Bella Vienna is the standing-room classic.
- Cantina Do Mori (San Polo 429, in the lanes behind the Erbaria): by tradition open since 1462 and billed as the oldest bacaro in Venice. It is standing room only, and the francobolli, tiny square sandwiches, are the thing to order (Gambero Rosso). Open Monday to Saturday, 8:00 to 19:30; closed Sunday (Venezia Autentica).
- All'Arco (San Polo 436, Calle dell'Occhialer): a tiny bar run by the Pinto family, known for its crostini and cicchetti with creative touches, made with market produce. Monday to Saturday, 8:00 to 14:30, so lunch only; closed Sunday (Dissapore).
- Al Mercà (Campo Bella Vienna 213): a counter in a wall, with no room inside at all. Order a spritz and a small sandwich and stand on the campo with everyone else.
- Osteria Bancogiro (under the arcades of Campo San Giacometo, on the Grand Canal): more osteria than bacaro, with tables and a canal view; open Tuesday to Sunday, closed Monday, which makes it a Sunday option.
Hours shift with the season and the owners' holidays, so read the sign on the door. Many bacari close for a week or two in winter or August.
When is the best time for cicchetti near Rialto?
Late morning to early afternoon, 11:30 to 14:00, and the early-evening aperitivo, about 18:00 to 19:30. Sunday is the worst day.
Lunchtime is when the counters are fullest and the market crowd eats. All'Arco only opens for this window. Evenings are for the giro de ombre, the bar crawl from one bacaro to the next, a cicchetto and a glass in each. Cantina Do Mori closes at 19:30, so start early.
Avoid mid-afternoon. Between about 15:00 and 17:30 the counters are picked over and some bars shut. On Sunday the bacari around the market mostly stay closed, along with the market itself.
The cheapest guided way in: about five tasting stops around the Rialto Market, two and a half hours, from $50. Drinks are extra.
Explore the street food tour Tour detailsWhat should you drink with cicchetti?
An ombra of house wine is the default. A spritz is the aperitivo, prosecco the treat.
The house white is usually a Veneto wine, light and cheap; the red a merlot or cabernet from the mainland. Prosecco comes from the hills north of Treviso, an hour away. The spritz is white wine and soda with a bitter: Aperol, Campari, or Select, the Venetian one, invented in the city in 1920. A green olive on a stick means it was made properly.
Water and coffee are fine too; nobody judges. On the cicchetti tour the drinks are included (four glasses of wine and a spritz). On the street food tour they are not, and one guest noted "Lots of walking - most food stops had no seating." Bring water on a hot day.
Bacaro tour or DIY: which is better?
DIY is cheaper and easy once you know how to order. A tour is worth it on your first day, for the stories and the places you would never walk into alone.
The three food tours on this site, against doing it yourself:
| Option | Food | Drinks | Group | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Street food tour | About five tasting stops | Not included | Max 14 | $50 |
| Cicchetti and wine tour | Seven cicchetti and a dessert | Four wines and a spritz; a traghetto crossing | Max 10 | $102 |
| Market lunch tour | Lunch over several stops | Wine at each stop | Max 14 | $108 |
| On your own | Whatever you point at | EUR 1.50 to 6 a glass | You | About EUR 12 to 25 |
What the tours add, in the guests' own words: "get questions answered on what to do and what not to do", and on the street food tour, "It was super cool to see the oldest bar." Guides also handle dietary needs better than a crowded counter can, though the two tours from the market operator exclude vegans and gluten- or dairy-free diets. The cicchetti tour crosses the Grand Canal on a traghetto, a three-minute ferry, not a sightseeing ride.
Five bacari, seven cicchetti, a homemade dessert and five drinks, with a traghetto across the Grand Canal. Small groups of ten.
Explore the cicchetti and wine tour Tour detailsAre the bars on the Riva del Vin worth it?
For a drink with the bridge in view, yes. For cicchetti, no: walk two minutes inland and pay a fraction.
The Riva del Vin is the waterfront on the San Polo side, just south of the bridge, lined with restaurant terraces and waiters holding menus. The view of the Rialto Bridge is the best seat in town, and you pay for it. Treat it as a sunset spritz with a view, then turn into the lanes behind for food.
A simple test: if the menu has photos and comes in six languages, you are not in a bacaro. More on the area in our Rialto Market guide.
Two and a half hours of Venetian street food around the market, with a guide who explains each stop.
Check dates for the street food tourFrequently asked questions
Do you tip in a bacaro?
No. Tipping isn't expected at the counter. Rounding up for good service is a kind gesture, not an obligation.
Are the bacari near Rialto open on Sunday?
Mostly not. Cantina Do Mori and All'Arco close on Sunday, like the market. Osteria Bancogiro, on Campo San Giacometo, opens on Sunday and closes on Monday.
Can vegetarians eat cicchetti?
Yes: grilled vegetables, egg, cheese, mushrooms and radicchio crostini are common. On the food tours, tell the operator in advance.
How many cicchetti make a meal?
Four to six with a couple of drinks fill most people. Fried and fish bites are more filling than bread with salami.
Ready to book
Choose your tour
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before on every option. Prices are from-prices in USD and move with the season.
Cicchetti, Wine and Spritz Tour with Traghetto Ride
Seven cicchetti, five drinks and a 3-minute traghetto crossing, max 10 guests.
Venice Street Food Tour with Market Visit
- Food tastings at about five stops
- Rialto Market visit (fish stalls shut on Mondays)
- Local guide
Rialto Market Food and Wine Lunchtime Tour
- A lunch of cicchetti and small plates
- Wine or spritz at each stop
- Rialto Market walk with a local guide
