You are here
Osterie and Bàcari Venice’s back alley taverns and wine bars
OSTERIE AND BACARI, VENICE'S BACK ALLEY TAVERNS AND WINE BARS
ph. Michel.Portrayinglifecom CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr
Bàcaro-hopping is a quintessential part of Venice's lifestyle. Throughout the city, around midday and again in late afternoon, it is customary for Venetians (and even non-Venetians) to duck into the nearest bàcaro (tiny neighbourhood bar) for a drink and a bite.
Typically, here you can sip down small glasses of wine (ombre) while savouring different Venetian classic bar snacks (cichéti), such as polpettine (meatballs), sarde in saòr (fried sardines marinated in vinegar and onions) or baccalà mantecato (codfish beaten into a creamy paste with olive oil, often served on a square of grilled polenta). But you can also try some tasty Venetian specialities such as risi e bisi, or peoci soup, Venetian-style liver, or castraùre (the first fruits of the violet artichoke of Sant'Erasmo).
So if you are up for a little adventure, leave the crowds behind and lose yourself in unexpected delights!
OSTERIE AT THE DAYS OF THE SERENISSIMA
In the past, until the end of the eighteenth century, what were called 'osterie' in Venice were actually hotels and at the same time restaurants, places where one could dine and stay.
The ancestors of today's osterie in fact had quite different names for the Venetians: there were, in order of importance, the malvasie, refined shops where wines imported from Greece were drunk; then the magazeni and the bastioni, low-ranking taverns, and lastly the samarchi or samarchéti, so called because they were marked by the winged lion of St. Mark, the coat of arms of the Serenissima.
These establishments were all public places for the serving and sale of wine, where one gave to drink without giving to eat.
Instead, one could eat - without drinking wine - in other shops, namely the luganegheri (which served sausages, soups, gravies and offal), the furàtole (where fried fish and offal were sold) and the fritolini, small establishments that sold exclusively fried fish to take away, in a paper wrapper.
Today, these places no longer exist, but traces of their presence can be found in the names of the city's calli and bridges: Calle de la Malvasia, Ponte de la Furatola, Calle del Magazen.
ph. Stefano Ruvoletto via Facebook
THE FIRST BACARO IN VENICE
These wine outlets that existed from the earliest days of the Venetian Republic were later joined by the bàcari, which have now become the best known and most widespread throughout the city! But let us go in order.
The bàcari originated in Venice as popular taverns only around the middle of the 19th century, during the Austrian domination. Originally they were more like wine shops, where only bulk wine was consumed.
The first bàcaro was opened in Venice under the name Bàcaro Grande in Calle de la Dogana da Tera, near the Rialto Bridge, by a certain Pantaleo Fabiano from Trani, the first importer of Apulian wines into the city.
Cheap Apulian wines were poured there, which seemed to be particularly appreciated by the Venetians.
ph. Talia Bidussa via Facebook
UN VIN...DE BACARO!
On the etymology of the word bàcaro there is a curious explanation by Elio Zorzi, who in his famous book Osterie Veneziane gives the word a popular origin.
It should in fact be attributed to an old gondolier who, having tasted Apulian wine in the recently opened tavern of Fabiano, proclaimed one evening: 'Bon! Bon! Questo xe proprio un vin... un vin de bàcaro!'.
An expression invented at the time, probably inspired by the Venetian word bàcara, meaning a merry group of people enjoying themselves by eating and making noise.
From that moment on, many other Apulian wine shops were opened in the city, and took the name bàcari.
ph. @ppea_ via Instagram
VENETIAN FRIED FISH: THE SCARTOSSO
In Venice, as in many other Italian cities, you can walk around enjoying various typical street food specialities.
One of these is certainly the 'scartosso de pesse fritto' (fried fish), a sort of Venetian style 'cuoppo' that has nothing to envy to London's fish and chips.
Prawns, squid, a few pieces of vegetables and polenta are served in a paper cone ready to accompany you on your stroll. always keep in mind that monuments, church steps, bridges, wells and banks are not picnic areas and you are not allowed to sit and eat on the ground.
ph. @Ioeslucie via Instagram
