Venice: How Sweet it is
A quick detour to the rapeseed fields of the French countryside, and now back to Venice we go… for a few sweet addresses to put away in your travel files. And a sweet announcement to go with: this is MyKugelhopf’s 101st post! I hope along the way, your sweet tooth has been satisfied, travel plans have been made, and perhaps out have come the baking pans too! Here’s to the next 100! A big thank you for joining in the adventures here and for your comments, which I love! (So please do keep them coming!)
To mark the occasion, I thought of sharing my 101 favorite Venetian sweets with you – but I don’t want you all to go in to sugar shock. Just a few highlights instead. My travels serendipitously led me to these places below…
My mother had brought me back bags of delicious meringue-like cookies and treats from her trip to Venice years ago, and I could still picture the label. It had a round, brown or red flower on it, as I recalled. While I didn’t know the name of the pasticceria, I knew I wanted to find it! And there it was, in one of Venice’s most renowned pastry shops, no surprise to find the label there. Marchini, I said to myself, but of course!
Rows of bags of crunchy biscotti; traditional cookies that look like they’ll just melt in your mouth; solid chocolates in the shape of Carnival masks in all different colors (top left); hard candies and cream filled pastries too. For a such a small shop, the selection is quite impressive. And even more so at the Antica Drogheria Mascari. That was a name I knew before arriving in Venice, but my mapless travels didn’t help me to find it. Until I literally just fell upon it. The beautiful piles of spices in the window caught my eye. Bold colors, pyramids with delicate designs – reminiscent of the markets in Morocco. Inside, you can get lost in the wine shelves in the back, over 600 bottles, mostly Italian winemakers and young wines. Gabriele (below left) told me about his family running the shop and how they have wine to drink – not to age! When he saw my interest lied more in the dried fruits, beautiful tins of biscotti and the colorful drawers of candies, he told me I should come back during Christmas time. They have over 30 different types of nougat! He laughed when he saw my eyes grow large at that!
Christmas in Venice, I’ve got that on my list now! And perhaps another visit to VizioVirtù for the chocolate made with white truffles. A praline with truffle pieces ground up in it – you can definitely taste the truffle, but it’s not overpowering. Most of the chocolates made use of different spices, herbs and even edible flowers. I went the traditional road and tasted a few caramels, nut pralines, the chocolate named after France’s N7 highway (below right), and that truffle chocolate, less traditional perhaps.
Fancy chocolates aside, the colorful fruit licorice was quite a hit with readers here, as was the nougat. My favorites too! Rizzo Dolci was a really fun spot, a colorful candy shop to get lost in – and one to which I would have returned had I been able to find it again! I got my fill of nougat in all flavors, those chewy fruit licorice and a few other treats not only there, but at cafés and no name pastry shops as well. Enjoy the list of addresses below, but be sure to make your own sweet discoveries too.
Sweet Addresses in Venice, Italy
Pasticceria Marchini
San Marco – Spadaria 676
+39.41.522.91.09
www.golosessi.com
Antica Drogheria Mascari
San Polo 381
+39.41.522.97.62
www.imascari.com
VizioVirtù Cioccolateria
Sestiere San Polo 2898/A
+39.41.275.01.49
www.viziovirtu.com
Nobile Pasticcerie
Cannaregio 1818 & 1979
+39.204.527.02.75
Pasticceria Pitteri Giovanni
Cannaregio 3843
+39.41.522.26.87
Panificio Majer
Santa Croce 1630
+39.41.524.03.17
Rosa Salva Antico Caffè
Castello 6779
+39.41.522.79.49
May 9th, 2009 at 23:41
How sweet it is , indeed. I’m telling ya, nobody knows how to work a town better than you Kerrin. Now THAT’S the way to walk around Venice. Probably called the “Dentist’s Dream” tour
. Great pictures as usual. I especially love the one of the chocolates in what could be a gondola box, that looks like they’re ready to take a ride on the waters of Venice. Very cool.
May 10th, 2009 at 04:33
Oh my, what a list of goodies. I can’t wait to go back to my favorite city and instead of just wandering and looking at art I would be eating all that sugar!!!!
Your photography is so real I can actually taste some of the sugar….my teeth and waistline are already hurting….love it….
May 10th, 2009 at 18:36
Wow Kerrin how do you find these places…I can’t even find my way back to the train station in Venice half the time. You know, for all the truffles I tried on my last trip none were in chocolate…the thought doesn’t exactly make my mouth water but being in Venice at Christmas time, surrounded by all the sweet shops you listed does make my travel bug itch.
May 11th, 2009 at 08:54
Nice pics… it was nice to see in the beginning and envy was the word. Now it is pure jealousy. Sorry :::)))
May 11th, 2009 at 10:11
If Venice is your thing, you might enjoy the Venice Chronicles:
http://www.amazon.com/Venice-Chronicles-Enrico-Casarosa/dp/0981845509/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242029305&sr=8-1
http://enricocasarosa.com/wordpress.1/a-new-unabashed-comic/
May 11th, 2009 at 10:41
very nice pictures & a sweet blog! definitely a place to watch for Venice.
May 11th, 2009 at 15:15
What a wonderful travel account! My grandparents went to Venice on their 70th anniversary before my grandmother passed away and I feel reading your words that I was there with them. Thank you!
May 11th, 2009 at 19:45
Great shots, as usual! Did any of the shopkeepers give you a hard time about shooting their wares?
May 11th, 2009 at 20:54
Steve, I love your two images — my chocolates in a gondola box, love it ! And dentists smiling all over Venice, their patients with nougat stuck in their teeth, ha ha!
Chris, I never said I could find the train station either ! I probably ended up in all of these places in my attempt to find my hotel!
Sid, thanks so much for those links. I just took a peek, and can’t wait to read that blog entry – I love comics!
Helen, thank you for your heartfelt note. How wonderful that your grandparents celebrated 70 years of marriage, that’s quite impressive. And what a way to celebrate, in Venice!! Bellissimo! I hope you have enjoyed the past few posts on Venice then.
jkiel, thanks! I have to say – I ALWAYS ask shopkeepers before I turn the camera on. It does happen on occasion that they say no in fact! I still don’t really understand that. Or if I take more than 1 or 2 shots, they start to get annoyed (hence only 2 shots of the choco shop above!!). Best advice – ask first, then be discreet and fast, and be sure to say thank you when you’re done!
May 11th, 2009 at 22:00
Just a word : Mama miaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
May 12th, 2009 at 23:26
My tooth is aching just thinking about all the delicious treats. Fabulous reviews, as always. Now, if only I could manage to figure out how to quit my job so I can travel full time?????? Hmmm……
May 15th, 2009 at 13:17
you are killing me with this post. I just sent it to a friend who is going there in a week. Hope she brings me back a sweet.
May 15th, 2009 at 19:54
Kerrin, How will I ever find these stores when I’m in Venice? Maybe I should take you with me and you can lead me by the hand…Wonderful photos by the way. Hope you didn’t get “shoo’d” out for taking pictures. I got “no, no, no photos” in Paris a lot.
May 20th, 2009 at 16:56
Wonderful content and truly amazing photography. Your pics are actually making my mouth water!!
May 31st, 2009 at 22:51
101st post!? Way to go girl!
LOVE your teethmarks in the chocolate. Keepin’ it real!
June 3rd, 2009 at 23:09
I went to venice a few years ago!! it’s a very beautiful city!! i love it!! some good places are:
san marco’s square < piazza san marco
murano < it’s a little island near venice and it’s really nice!!
theathre “la fenice” < teatro la fenice
the bridge called “il ponte dei sospiri”
good holidays!! bye
June 7th, 2009 at 00:05
Katy – soooo ? Did your friend bring you back any good Venetian sweets ?! I sure hope so !
Jen, I’m ready when you are — I think the two of us could do some pretty good damage in Venice together — sweets and photos galore !
Speaking of photos, I answered someone else’s question above about taking photos in shops. I always ask first, but I still got shoo’d away once when I took more than 2 pictures. Oops!
Solo Road Trip, thanks for the 101th post shout out ! And yes, definitely keeping it real. Teeth marks in chocolate tend to follow me wherever I go!! haha!
US Trip, thank you for sharing your list of favorite places. I visited Burano and absolutely loved it (will try to post that one day!), but next time I’ll have to visit Murano too.
July 25th, 2009 at 20:51
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September 25th, 2011 at 17:01
Pasticceria Pitteri Giovanni were so terrible. I paid for a box of biscuits, they wrapped them up for me and demanded 9EUR, saying I haven’t paid in a first place. Not only that, they ended up shouting at me (both the husband and a wife), so I paid again and felt awful not so much about the money, but about how low can people go. Will never visit that place again. Scammers!