Venezia is Venice. Here’s the Venice behind the name

Is Venezia the same as Venice?

Yes. Venezia is the Italian name for Venice: the same city on the same lagoon in northeast Italy.¹ English says Venice, German says Venedig,² French says Venise,³ and the people who live there say Venezia, which, as names go, has the strongest claim.

So if a train board, a wine label or a waiter says Venezia, nobody has sent you anywhere else. Relax. Order something.

What does Venezia mean?

The name goes back to the Veneti, the people who lived in this corner of Italy before the Romans, and to Venetia, the region named after them.⁵ Over the centuries the region’s name narrowed to the islands of the city.⁶ The Veneto, the region around the city today, carries the same name. So does the Prosecco on your table: the province of Venezia is one of the nine provinces of Prosecco DOC.⁷

How to drink like a Venetian

Venice runs on small glasses. Not a bottle with dinner, but a glass at eleven, another at six, standing up, with something to eat on a toothpick.

• The ombraA small glass of wine at the bar. Ombra means shade: the story goes that wine sellers worked in the shadow of the bell tower in St Mark’s Square, to keep their barrels cool.⁸
• The spritzThe classic recipe: three parts Prosecco, two parts Aperol, a splash of soda, over ice with an orange slice.⁹
• The BelliniProsecco and white peach purée.¹⁰ Giuseppe Cipriani named it at Harry’s Bar, the Venice bar he founded.¹¹
• The cicchettiThe small bites that come with the glass: a slice of bread with salt cod, a meatball, a sardine.⁸ The reason nobody gets drunk.

The bars that serve them are bacari, small wine bars with a few stools at most.⁸ You stand, you point, you pay, you move along. It’s the most civilised way to have a drink before lunch.

Venice runs on small glasses. A glass at eleven, another at six, standing up.

At the bacaro: a field guide

• The regulars. Local, unhurried, on first-name terms with the barman. Their ombra appears before they ask.
• The spritz hour. From about six, the counter turns orange. Everyone has an opinion on Aperol versus Select. Agree with whoever is buying.
• The day-trippers. Map in one hand, phone in the other, no hand left for the glass. Put something down.
• The lucky ones. Found the bar with the good meatballs on the first try and are not telling anyone where it is.

Where does Venice’s Prosecco come from?

Mostly from the plains and hills of the Veneto and Friuli, and the most famous of it from the Conegliano Valdobbiadene hills, about an hour north of Venice by train.¹² Everyone in Venice drinks Prosecco. Almost nobody goes to see where it grows. You could.

Before you go: four things

1. On some days the city charges day visitors an access fee. Check the city’s official site before you travel.¹³
2. Walk early. Venice before nine is a different city, and it is yours.
3. Eat where people stand. A counter full of locals beats a menu in five languages.
4. Leave a day for the hills. The train to Conegliano takes about an hour.¹²

Can’t get to Venice this year?

Bring the ombra home. Pour a small glass, stand up, put something salty on a toothpick, and be in no hurry at all.