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

I knew I’d see gelato all over the place.  Trattorias and pizzerias left and right.  I was told about the carnival masks I’d be confronted with too, in every size and color.  And forget about “I love Venice” souvenirs – there’s no shortage of those either.  But I can’t believe no one ever told me about the omnipresence of… torrone !  That soft, chewy, white as snow confection, also known as nougat.  Yes, roughly 80% sugar and dotted with almonds, hazelnuts and/or pistachios.  It’s everywhere in Venice, and I could not have been more happy about that.  Not only nougat, but sugar in all different forms.  A true sweet tooth heaven.  Who knew?!

Meringues of all sizes, some as large as footballs.  Or little ones sandwiched together with chocolate, like the photo, top right.  And licorice.  But I don’t mean little licorice Nibs, thin Twizzlers, nor Haribo swirls.  We’re talking 93 centimeters (3 feet!) of black licorice rope.  Or foot long fruit licorice with a sugary fondant filling, “mega stuffed” as its Italian name says.   Better yet, neverending strands of fluffy marshmallow, for just one Euro.  Believe it or not, I saw this all over town.

But back to that torrone… You’ll see it in neat, rectangular bars.  In slices as if cut from a big round of cheese.  In mounds, chunks and balls.  Rolled up with chocolate.  Sprinkled with candied fruits.  Mixed with coffee beans.  Available in every flavor you can imagine. And in just about every window you pass in your winding travels around Venice.  You’ll see it, front and center in the windows of pastry shops and candy stores, but also in those of bars and cafés.  The signs all showed the price to be around 3 or 4 Euros.  But beware – that’s for 100 grams.  And those slices of nougat can be heavy!  My first purchase (of many) brought me to the counter with 3 small slices, individually wrapped in plastic – plain, coffee and chocolate.  When it came to over 30 Euros, my eyes bolted out of their sockets.  Sticker shock when you expect to pay less than 10 for what amounts to… sugar.  Consider yourselves warned.

I am sorry I don’t have more photos of the nougat itself to share.  It’s a sticky business to eat, and would have wreaked havoc on my camera.  Furthermore, the last of my torrone (that brought my suitcase to a risky weight) is sadly all gone.  So you know what that means: time to grab the candy thermometer and start working on a recipe to make some torrone of my own!  I’ll let you know when I’ve got it just right!

Many of you readers agreed it was great advice in my last post about visiting Venice: Forget the map and get lost in those winding, labyrinthine streets, go up and down the foot bridges and endless stairs, and find yourself navigating passageways that will inevitably lead to… a gelateria!

I can’t even guess the number of gelaterias there are in Venice. You’re not likely to see a street without one. And boy do I love those streets with half a dozen!  

But… how to choose?

I arrived in Venice ready to do a throw down of the best gelato shops in the city. I had my list of addresses starred on my map (yes the same map that would end up staying in my pocket all day long). I headed straight for La Boutique del Gelato near Campo Santa Maria Formosa (the tiramisu was subtle, not too strong and the stracciatella was like chocolate chips floating in clouds). I then made my way to Il Doge by the Campo Santa Margherita (where the mint was bright green and refreshing). I made sure I had the address for Alaska in Sante Croce, to try the less traditional flavors like avocado, artichoke and fig. And I had the addresses for Clausin, Nico and Paolin too. But you really don’t need to. And I quickly realized I was going to simply go where my feet took me, and try the gelato there!  I even stumbled upon Grom doing that, which has shops all over Italy and is now quite popular in New York City and Paris too.

Glance in any shop with its piles of creamy gelato shaped like mountains in their metal bins, with that artistic swirl the Italians behind the counter give it.  The colors and flavors practically jump out at you.  There’s usually a bit of the main ingredient on top of each flavor, so you know just what it is.  At this point, you can practically taste it.  So ask for a cono or a coppa (the former being the more popular), and know that you can’t go wrong. Especially if you spot the Italian word, artigianale (artisanal).  That way you know it’s being made on premises with fresh ingredients, rather than from a frozen mix. And hey, it’s only one Euro (give or take) for a scoop, so you can always try again… and again !

Anyone have a personal favorite in Venice? I suppose I could make an exception and mark it on my map for next time…

Welcome to Venice.  Now, get lost!  Literally, that is…

If I can share one piece of advice about visiting Venice, it would be to forget the map and simply get lost in Venice’s labyrinth of winding streets, foot bridges, stairs going up and down and around, leading you to dead ends or hidden churches, or yet more mysterious passageways to peak through and follow as well.

To me, that is the best way to discover Venice.  I spent a day or two simply roaming around the city, taking it all in.  I will admit, I first tried to follow along on a map, but quickly realized that was not happening.  Streets with no names, at least half the name missing, or the street just entirely missing from map.  The same street name in 5 different neighborhoods, plus miniscule streets that seem like they gave birth to more and more tiny streets.  Of course there is no room on the map!  It wasn’t as much fun as simply walking with my head up and eyes wide open, camera in hand, following this bit of canal or that bit of sidewalk (which tends to end all of a sudden), winding around this corner or going through that arch, taking a narrow street this way, that way, and always wondering where it might lead. But always knowing that it’s leading in the right direction: to a new discovery.  A new street or a beautiful and colorful facade of a building, or better yet – a pasticceria, gelateria or funky little shop specializing in harmonicas, gelato equipment, hand-sculpted wooden toys, wax stamps or carnival masks.  All of which I saw.

Every now and then, I would ask a friendly waiter at a bar or one hanging out in front of his restaurant (ready to extend a personal invitation to all who pass) to show me on a map where I was.  Then I could pretend to get a lay of the land, or start to familiarize myself with the area – whether it be the bustling streets around the Rialto marketplace, the old Jewish ghetto of Cannaregio, the quiet canals of Dorsoduro, or the more lively areas of San Polo and Santa Croce.  Or at least once when I needed no guidance, San Marco Square!

For now, feel free to get lost in my photos of the streets and steps, and soon you’ll find yourself reading here about some of the discoveries I made, most of all in those pasticcerias and gelaterias, but of course!

I have a question.  What if you actually have to be somewhere specific?  If you have been to Venice, please tell us how you find your way around!  Any advice?