Rialto Market hours

What are the Rialto Market opening hours in 2026?

The fish market runs Tuesday to Saturday, about 7:00 to 12:00 or 13:00. The produce market runs Monday to Saturday mornings. Nothing opens on Sunday.

The two halves keep different calendars, which catches out a lot of Monday visitors:

Stalls don't all open and close on the dot. Fishmongers start packing up from about 11:30, and by 13:00 you mostly see wet stone and a few seagulls. The Erbaria lasts a little longer, though the best crates are gone by noon.

Is the Rialto fish market open on Monday or Sunday?

No. On Monday only the fruit and vegetable stalls trade; on Sunday the whole market is shut.

Fishing boats don't go out on Sunday, so there is no fresh catch to sell on Monday. The Erbaria opens as normal. Public holidays close everything: in Venice that means 1 and 6 January, Easter Monday, 25 April (Liberation Day and the feast of San Marco), 1 May, 2 June, 15 August, 1 November, 8 December and 25 and 26 December.

The tour operators say the same thing. The street food listing warns that "on Mondays, festive days and in the afternoon the Fish Market is closed", and one 3-star reviewer who booked an afternoon slot wrote: "The market they bring you to is also closed during the tour." If the fish stalls matter to you, book a Tuesday to Saturday morning.

What is the difference between the Pescheria and the Erbaria?

The Pescheria is the covered fish hall on the Grand Canal; the Erbaria is the open-air fruit and vegetable market between it and the bridge.

There has been a market on this spot since 1097. The Pescheria you see today is newer than it looks: a neo-Gothic loggia from 1907, designed by Domenico Rupolo with the painter Cesare Laurenti, with stone fish and sea creatures carved into its capitals. Gondolas and delivery boats tie up right at its arches.

The Erbaria spreads along the water towards the bridge, with stalls of local produce from the lagoon islands and the Veneto mainland. In 2026 the city is replacing the old awnings over the Erbaria, and some stalls have moved a few metres while the work goes on. You will still find them; they just may not be where an older guidebook puts them.

Five tasting stops around the market with a Venetian guide: fried fish, pizzette and cicchetti, then gelato. Book a morning to see the fish stalls open.

★ 4.8 · 2.5 hours · from $50

Explore the street food tour → Tour details

What is in season at the Rialto Market?

Spring brings castraure artichokes and moeche soft-shell crabs; autumn brings moeche again and the first radicchio; winter is radicchio tardivo and schie with polenta.

The lagoon and its islands still supply a real share of what sells here, so the stalls change with the calendar. A rough guide, based on Venetian seasonal food calendars:

Read the labels. EU rules make fish stalls show the species, where it was caught and whether it is wild (pescato) or farmed (allevato). Nostrano or laguna means local, and decongelato means it was frozen. Prices are per kilo, which is why a handful of moeche can look alarming on the sign.

How do you visit the Rialto Market without annoying the stallholders?

Don't touch the produce, keep the aisles clear, ask before close-up photos, and buy something small if you linger.

• Hands off: point at what you want and the seller picks it. Squeezing peaches is the fastest way to get told off in Venetian.
• Keep moving: the aisles are narrow and the regulars shop fast. Step aside to take pictures, and leave wheeled suitcases at the hotel.
• Ask first: a wide shot of the hall is fine; a close-up of someone's face or stall deserves a nod or a question.
• Buy something: a bag of cherries, a few figs, a slice of watermelon on a hot day. Most stalls take cards now, but coins make small sales easier.
• Watch your feet: the Pescheria floor is hosed down all morning. Sandals get wet.

You can't eat raw fish at the counters. For that, the bacari behind the market serve it ready on bread; see our guide to cicchetti near Rialto.

What time should you go to the Rialto Market?

Between 8 and 10 on a Tuesday to Saturday. Earlier is for watching the trade; after 11:30 the stalls start closing.

At 7 the cooks are buying and the market belongs to Venetians. From 8 to 10 every stall is up and the light comes low over the Grand Canal. Late morning brings the tour groups, and Saturday is the busiest day of the week. Afternoons are empty: pleasant for a quiet look at the Pescheria's arches, useless for shopping.

Pair the market with the bridge. Cross the Rialto Bridge before 9, when the shops on it are still shuttered, walk through the Erbaria to the fish hall, then stop for a coffee or an early ombra. Day-trippers note: the access fee ended for 2026 on 26 July, and the city plans 72 fee days in 2027 from Good Friday, 26 March, between 8:30 and 16:30. Details in our 2027 access fee post.

Four hours from the market stalls to the bacari, with a lunch of small plates and wine at each stop. Meets at San Giacomo di Rialto at 10:45.

★ 4.9 · 4 hours · from $108

Explore the Rialto Market lunch tour → Tour details

Is a Rialto Market food tour worth it?

Yes, if you want to eat as well as look. A guide explains the stalls, orders for you in the bacari and steers you to places you wouldn't pick alone.

Three tours on this site spend time at the market. They differ in how much you eat and drink:

Guests on the lunch tour put it well: "Wandering the Rialto Market with a knowledgeable guide, sampling fantastic local food and wine along the way, was the perfect introduction to authentic Venetian cuisine." Another valued the help at the counter: "He helped us with the menu at every place we visited, made recommendations and even ordered for us!" On the street food tour, one guest called the market "an added bonus".

Two catches. Both market tours run by the same operator can't cater for vegans or gluten- and dairy-free diets, and vegetarians must say so in advance. And on Mondays, holidays and afternoons the fish stalls are closed, so check your slot.

What else is next to the Rialto Market?

San Giacomo di Rialto, by tradition the oldest church in Venice, the Gobbo di Rialto statue, the EUR 2 traghetto and the Rialto Mercato vaporetto stop.

The little church of San Giacomo di Rialto, San Giacometo to locals, stands on the campo between the bridge and the stalls, with a big 15th-century clock on its front. Opposite crouches the Gobbo di Rialto, a stone hunchback holding up the steps to the platform where the Republic's laws were read out. Campo Bella Vienna, behind the Erbaria, has a couple of standing-room bars.

From the Pescheria, the traghetto crosses the Grand Canal to Santa Sofia by the Ca' d'Oro for EUR 2: a standing gondola crossing of a few minutes. The Rialto Mercato stop on vaporetto line 1 is at the end of the fish hall. For the bridge itself, read our visitor guide to the Rialto Bridge; for transport, how to get to Rialto.

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