When I say that I enjoy Venice most during the winter months, most people think me quite mad. - Princess Grace of Monaco

No one will deny that winter in Venice brings with it prolonged bouts of cold, wet, harsh weather. Despite that, like Princess Grace, I have a special passion for Venice during the rainy months. Venice in the summer is crowded with tourists and extraordinarily expensive. In the winter, there are no crowds, the city belongs to the Venetians and the prices on everything, from restaurants to souvenirs, to fine jewelry and to bottles of wine are quite reasonable.

The hotels and pensions that are open year round are well heated. Best of all, because they are half-empty during the cold months, hotels welcome visitors with far greater eagerness than in summertime. In fact, many of the smaller hotels and pensions are so anxious for trade that they often give discounts to thosestaying for 5 days or longer.

Because the days are short, the best time for sightseeing is between ten in the morning and three in the afternoon. There is also plenty to do in the evening. The opera season at the Teatro de Fenice lasts from late December until mid-March; the cafes in Piazza San Marco have bands and dancing in the evenings; and the hotel lounges, restaurants and wine bars are centers for socializing. Snobbism has no place during the winter months and senators and members of royal families mix freely with the working people of the city and those tourists brave enough to visit their city during the winter.

Best of all, perhaps is that during the winter one can pass marvelous hours at the open air market near the Rialto bridge and there is no open air market in the world nearly as glorious as that of Venice.

Starting on the Grand Canal

In 1586, when the rulers of Venice realized that the only bridge that crossed the Grand Canal was in danger of collapsing, they asked several well known architects and artists to design a new bridge for them. Michelangelo, Palladio and Sansovino, three of Italy's best known artists submitted drawings, but these were all rejected, not because they were bad but because they would have cost too much. By accepting the design of the far less distinguished architect, Antonio da Ponte, the city fathers saved quite a bit of money. Unfortunately, the most famous thing about Venice's Rialto Bridge is its absolute ugliness.

The bridge looks its best as you walk over it, especially if one is heading for the Rialto market, probably the most exquisite food market in the Western World. The dream of every lover of fine food, this is a market that offers culinary scenes as exquisite as may be found anywhere in Europe, scenes so colorful that they make the most glowing 15th century paintings seem drab in comparison. The fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats and seafood for sale are neither rare nor exotic. What astonishes is the abundance and absolute perfection of every item displayed.

In a land where most people still avoid the horrors of frozen, tinned and packaged foods, the market stalls record the procession of the seasons. Early in the year they are bright with great piles of Sicilian oranges and tangerines, apples of remarkable brightess, giant piles of bananas, long yellow pears, plump white cauliflowers and striped red and yellow Treviso lettuces. During the winter months one finds sumptuous piles of green-purple artichokes and blanched fennel roots, and during the spring one finds enormous piles of succulent white Bassano asparagus and piles of the small golden apples known as "nespoli". Towards the beginning of summer one finds the first jewel-like cherries. Then come the strawberries, big and small, scenting the air with their delicious fragrance, golden plums called "gocche d'oro" (drops of gold), the first white peaches, green figs and rough-skinned melons.

By mid summer one finds magnificent over-large yellow peaches, great green melons, deep purple eggplants, finger sized zucchini with their yellow flowers, flame-red tomatoes, dozens of different types of mushrooms and piles of green and black grapes. The first pears announce the approach of autumn which comes in with piles of walnuts, chestnuts and great orange-red persimmons. In December, the stalls are filled with hazel-nuts and dried figs and the first mandarin tangerines arrive from Sicily with green leaves still clinging to them and the procession of the Venetian seasons begins again.

At any season, it is a pleasure to walk through the market which flanks the long street Ruga degli Orefici which starts at the foot of the Rialto bridge. In addition to the fruit and vegetable stands one will also find vendors of cheeses offering piquant Parmesan, veined Gorgonzola, packets of creamy white Certosina from Asiago and snowy white mountains of delicious Mascarpone cheese. Some shops are devoted to the numerous types of pasta (on my past visit I counted more than 300 different shapes, including spaghetti, tagliatelli, taglierini, mellelune, conchiglie, farfalle, linguini, lumache, orecchiette, fussili, caserecci, tagliolini, fagottini, agnolotti, stelline, gnocchetti among others).

If one turns to the right, one discovers the butchers , with their stands stacked high with pieces of meat, some of which weigh as much as 150 kilos. Of veal, mutton, beef and pork one can find every cut that exists, and of smoked and cured meats there is a selection so great that it boggles the mind of even the most devoted carnivore. Following the butchers are the poultry shops where, in addition to plump chickens one can find nearly any bird in season. In addition to pheasants, partridges, ducks and quails there are also many of the small song birds that the Venetians enjoy so much when they are baked in pies.

Not even all of this culinary beauty can have prepared one for the surprise to come on entering the huge area taken up by the fish market. Stall upon stall are covered with marvelous creatures. In addition to Mediterranean and Adriatic fish of exquisite colors there are countless boxes of tiny crabs, huge troughs of gray shrimps, magnificent squid and octopus and neatly arranged rows of surly faced langostinos, the marvelous spiny lobsters that the Italians love so dearly.

When they are in season, there are more than twenty kinds of oysters. Whether they came from local waters or from as far away as France, Spain, Greece and Norway, it almost seems as if this is the agreed meeting place of the oysters of Europe. What beckoned to me most of all on my last visit was an old woman standing behind a mountain of Belon oysters. With a flick of her wrist, and without loosing a drop of the liquor inside the shells, she opened oysters for me as fast as I could eat them. With just a bit of lemon juice, I managed to down two dozen of these delights.

Many years ago, I learned that in addition to its superb visual feast, the Rialto market is the best place to enter into and understand the everyday life of Venice. Most Venetians still like to buy provisions for no more than a single day at a time - a bundle of sticks of spaghetti, a small piece or two of meat, a few hundred grams of calamari, a small lettuce, a bit of fruit, a morsel of cheese and twenty or thirty grams of coffee. From the highest to the lowest class, Venetians firmly believe that buying more than a single day's supply would be tempting the fates. As one friend put it, "after all, who knows what may happen between breakfast today and breakfast tomrrow?"

Dining in Venice

Nearly all of the usual Italian dishes can be found in Venice. The truth is, however, that Venetians dine somewhat differently than most of their countrymen. Rice and not pasta is the principal starch of Venice and is typically served combined with vegetables, seafood and other ingredients. The most delightful use of rice is probably in the dish known as "risi e bisi", literally rice and peas.

Also popular is "polenta", a golden yellow cake made from cornflour, often cut into slices and fried, and served as a companion to quails and other small roast birds. Among cheeses, the rather dry Asiago is good and the creamy mascarpone is one of the most delicious cheeses you will find in Italy. It can be eaten on its own, like cream cheese or it can be mixed with ground coffee and sugar, or beaten up with eggs and candied fruits to make a pudding.

The most popular source of protein comes from the seafood caught in the cool waters of the northern Adriatic. The shrimp, octopus, calamari, eels, sole and mullet served in most restaurants are an absolute delight and the various versions of "zuppa di pesce", the equivalent of bouillabaisse, are also good, especially when eaten as a main course. Although meat dishes are in a minority in most Venice restaurants, two are world famous: "fegato alla veneziana", paper-thin slices of calves' liver sauteed with onions, and "involtini alla mostarda di cremona", stuffed veal rolls with fruit mustard.

My Favorite Restaurants in Venice

DO FORNI: San Marco 457. Telephone 523-7729. The seafood and fish dishes here are probably the best you will find in all of Venice. Expensive but not outrageous, and well worth the money. Reservations required for dinner.

OSTERIA IL MILION: corte Prima al Milion 5841. Telephone 522-9302. A family style restaurant, popular with young and old Venetians from all social classes. This is one of the few places in the city that knows how to prepare meat dishes well. Also well known for its pasta and rice dishes. Inexpensive. Perhaps the best buy in town.

VINO VINO: calle delle Veste 16 (about 100 meters south of La Fenice theatre). This modern but charming establishment started off as a wine bar but now offers a large variety of snacks and, if one goes to the second floor, a restaurant with a full menu. Those in the know sit at the bar and build a meal out of the many antipasti that are offered. There are nearly 300 different wines to be tasted, and these can be ordered by the glass, the carafe or the bottle. Prices reasonable.

QUADRI and FLORIAN'S: These cafes, which sit directly opposite each other in Piazza San Marco, are among the most delightful and most famous cafes in the world. The luxuriously furnished Quadri is as widely known for its exquisite food as for its outrageous prices, but do not hesitate to take a table just for coffee, an aperitif and either a snack or a delicious cake. Florian's, with its fin de siecle decor, is famed primarily for its coffees, cakes and sandwiches. Either is an ideal place to sit on a cold day.

Also Worth Trying

TRATTORIA ALLA MADONNA: calle della Madonna 954. Telephone 522-3824. Attractive, informal and comfortable, the specialties in this relatively simple place are regional dishes made with whatever fresh fish have come to the market that morning. Inexpensive.

PIZZERIA ALLE OCHE: calle de Tentor 1552-B (adjoining campo San Giocomo dell'Orio). Telephone 524-1161. In my opinion, the best pizza place in the city. Closed Mondays. Inexpensive.

DA IVO: calle dei Fuseri 1809 (near Teatro Fenice). Telephone 528-6974. This tiny restaurant, with only 8 tables, specializes in meat dishes, but customers can dine on just a pasta and salad if they chose. Try the house wines, which are always good and rarely expensive. Moderate - expensive, depending on what dishes are ordered. Closed Sundays.

For a traditional Venetian dish - Stuffed Veal Rolls with Fruit Mustard, Click Here.

© Daniel Rogov