Living Venice
Shopping
In the city shops are open from Monday to Sunday, generally from 9 to 12.30 and 15.30 to 19.30. Many business, such as supermarkets, are open all day even on Sundays, especially shortly before Christmas. Sales begin after Christmas and continue throughout the month of January. August is usually the month for summer sales.
Restaurants
In the city there are many and the prices vary a lot: nearly all offer the tourist menu, that is always the most affordable. The taverns of the past are now family-run restaurants, like trattorie. A very good solution, and certainly convenient, is the “bacaro”, a rustic tavern named after a wine from Puglia that was popular in the city in the late eighteenth century, where you can eat cicheti, tasty appetizers usually taken before dinner with a good glass of red or white wine, or to accompany the spritz, the typical Venetian aperitif. Restaurants in Venice often have the day off on Sunday, and many are closed for holidays or maintenance work between the Epiphany and Carnival.
*Spritz
Venice Spritz is certainly the aperitif par excellence. It consists of 1/3 white wine, 1/3 sparkling mineral water – or soda – and 1/3 moderately alcoholic liqueur, sweet or bitter. Then it is decorated with a lemon skin or a green olive. The word Spritz dates back to the Austrian domination of Venice: The verb spritzen in German means “to spray”, the act of diluting wine with water. The meeting places for fans of this drink are definitely the Campo Santa Margherita and the Erberia (fruit market) area at Rialto, where there are bars frequented mainly by young people and university students.
