In Minor Keys, the 61st International Art Exhibition, is the final vision of the late Cameroonian-Swiss curator, Koyo Kouoh. It runs from May 9 to November 22 at the Giardini and Arsenale. But the real question during the Venice Biennale, in between exhibits and galleries, is always the same. Where to eat and drink?

My own Venice initiation came embarrassingly late, like Monet, and now it’s become a city I frequent often for the food and bar scene alone—and right now, the bar and dining scene has never been better. 2011 is arguably when it turned, when Massimiliano Alajmo (whose three-Michelin-starred Le Calandre near Padua remains one of Italy's great restaurants) and his brother Raffaele took over Grancaffè Quadri on Piazza San Marco, and Ristorante Quadri earned a Michelin star within the year. GLAM at Palazzo Venart holds Venice’s only two Michelin stars, the Venice table of Enrico Bartolini, Italy’s most Michelin-starred chef. On Mazzorbo island, Chiara Pavan is known worldwide for her philosophy around environmental cuisine at Venissa. Also at the property is a winery where the near-extinct Dorona grape, resurrected by Gianluca Bisol of the Bisol prosecco family.

For 2026, the arrivals are significant: Heinz Beck now oversees dining at the newly opened Orient Express Venezia in Cannaregio, inside a 15th-century palazzo restored by architect Aline Asmar d'Amman; Airelles Palladio on Giudecca has opened with Nobu Matsuhisa, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Cédric Grolet, and Norbert Niederkofler (coming in June) under one 16th-century roof; and Zeffirino, the Genoese institution founded in 1939 and once the preferred table of Frank Sinatra and multiple popes, its trofie al pesto finished tableside from a marble mortar, has arrived at Nolinski Venezia.

Outside of the luxurious palazzo hotels, there’s everything in between. “Venice has a great concentration of excellent traditional osterie serving Venetian classics done exceptionally well, alongside great wine bars with a more contemporary look and feel,” says Valeria Necchio, food and culture writer and co-founder of Versatile (a creative work club with two Venice locations). “The flavors are also incredibly distinctive, from the fish marinades to the richly flavorful vegetables grown on Sant’Erasmo.”

On Sant’Erasmo, Osti in Orto, conceived in 2020 by Cesare Benelli of Al Covo, has brought together several Venetian restaurateurs farming four hectares of historic land growing artichokes, radicchio, heritage asparagus, white peaches, and rare varieties almost nobody cultivates anymore. Necchio's current must-try: the carciofo violetto (purple artichokes), in peak season now and best raw, cooked, in risotto, or with fish carpaccio.

In between Biennale exhibits, here is where to eat, drink, and pull up a stool, by sestiere, the six historic districts that divide the city.

San Marco

Grancaffè Quadri has anchored Piazza San Marco since 1638 (the space was once the rooms of the Procurators of the Serenissima). Max and Raf Alajmo transformed it into one of Italy’s most elegant dining rooms, and Philippe Starck’s 2018 redesign, with mirrors from the Barbini brothers, Murano glassmakers since 1570, and the same family behind the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, made it even more so. At Ristorante Quadri, find two tasting menus, including The Quattro Atti, a nod to banquet-style dining at the Doge’s Palace during the Venetian Renaissance. Max's cappuccino di laguna, frothy, savory, and layered with seasonal lagoon ingredients, is the only cappuccino worth ordering after 11 a.m., and the spaghettoni with smoked butter and caviar is arousal in the form of food. You can also mix and match from the tasting menu à la carte. Below, Raf curates the bar; the Spritz Alajmo, made with Barbaresco Chinato, is the order. Quadrino, the casual outpost on the square, does cicchetti worth stopping for.

Pietro Rusconi is the son of the late, legendary Natale Rusconi, who ran the Gritti Palace and Hotel Cipriani before helping shape what is now the Belmond collection. He grew up surrounded by, as he puts it, “great hotels, remarkable tables, and people for whom service was considered a true art form.” Now managing partner at Barnes International Realty, he knows this city’s tables as well as anyone. For coffee, he gravitates to Moro Café inside the Neo-Gothic Palazzo Franchetti, with a garden shaded by green parasols, a canal-facing restaurant, and, for the Biennale, Gold Tower, one of Dale Chihuly’s three glass sculptures along the Grand Canal.

The Gritti Palace, a former Venetian refuge of Hemingway, Peggy Guggenheim, and Frank Lloyd Wright, houses Club del Doge, where chef Alberto Fol’s kitchen runs on a zero-mile philosophy extending to a private vegetable plot on the lagoon island of Mazzorbetto. The castraure on your table, first buds of the violet artichoke of Sant’Erasmo, have been growing there since 2017.

Hotel Flora has been in the Romanelli family for generations and remains the sestiere’s insider stay. Overnight here, aperitivo in the garden, a tranquil breakfast, and quality time with Gioele Romanelli, and it becomes nearly impossible to justify a larger, flashier address. Inside Venice, a Romanelli family project, is also the city’s best resource for food-loving visitors (grab one of their cool maps). Rosa Rossa, they note, has been a San Marco institution since 1985, now in the hands of the third generation, sourcing daily from the Rialto market. Note: If you need a break from seafood, Vini da Arturo is where you’ll find Chef Ernesto Ballarin's pork braciola, breaded and finished in wine vinegar, and it’s perfect.

“Castello is difficult to leave, but when I do, the first place I usually go is Ai Do Leoni in Piazza San Marco, smack in the middle of the crush with excellent cicchetti and drinks,” says Gillian Longworth McGuire—often referred to as the ‘source,’ as she documents everything but the ordinary in Venice. The pink-lit bar spills out onto the street, where you’ll find locals snacking on cicchetti stacked with shrimp with pickled onions or fish with lavender, but the real order is the Egiziano, a Campari-based riff on the Americano named for the owner’s Egyptian roots, with a devoted following.

From there, you can hotel bar hop. Marino Lucchetti, two decades behind the bar at LPV Bar inside the Londra Palace Venezia, makes a standout Bellini and his Achille Spritz (a Tabasco-spiked twist on the classic). At Gritti Palace, visit bar manager Cristiano Luciani at Bar Longhi and delve into the world of perfect martinis, including my favorite, the wild fennel martini. Arts Bar at the St. Regis has an entire menu dedicated to artist icons like Warhol, Dalí, Banksy, and Carlo Scarpa. Each cocktail served in Berengo Studio Murano glassware is designed with the artist's work in mind.

Castello

Cross the final ponte east, and it’s the most local of the six sestieri, almost unbothered by tourists except when the Biennale surges through. “Via Garibaldi is the heart of the neighborhood,” says McGuire. “Bruno at Salvmeria and the gang at Nevodi always find a place for us—this is where I go for a quick spritz bianco when I inevitably run into a pal, or for a casual weeknight dinner.” The pistachio paccheri and lasagna at Nevodi are a reliable choice. “Diane and Cesare Benelli and their son Lorenzo were my first friends in Venice, long before I ever thought of moving here,” McGuire adds. “Their restaurant, Al Covo, is my Venetian north star.” Go with friends and order everything they suggest.

Trattoria del Local, Benedetta Fullin and chef Matteo Tagliapietra’s casual outpost of their Michelin-starred Local, is a top reservation in Venice. The baccalà mantecato, slow-cooked meats, and ravioli stuffed with guinea fowl are all reason enough, plus the wall of Capovilla grappas and fruit distillates seals it. At Ristorante Wildner, Luca Fullin, Benedetta’s brother and the hotel’s second-generation leader, follows the seasons. Castraure, soft-shell moeche, the monkfish and scampi alla Carlina that never leaves the menu, and one of Venice’s coolest natural wine lists.

Ozio, in Campo Santa Maria Formosa, is a fun stop. “The wine selection is spot-on, as are the cicchetti and toasties,” says Necchio. Rusconi calls Alle Testiere “one of the very best restaurants in Venice for true Venetian seafood cuisine.” Bruno Gavagnin and Luca di Vita have run this 22-seat room since 1993, the daily menu built entirely around the Rialto market. End with Luca's Amaro Nostrano, a digestif of purple artichoke, samphire, and wild wormwood from the lagoon that tastes exactly like Venice… in a glass.

Beside the Giardini, in Sant’Elena, Martha Mostert and Umberto Casaccia’s Giardin Art + Food Oasis, set a restored bocciofila with a gorgeous garden, offers serious seafood and perfect hospitality. On a warm day, order the spaghettino freddo with gambero rosso crudo, pistachios, and capers—and whatever they've dreamed up for the moment. Just beyond, on Sant’Elena, Venezia FC’s Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo, Italy’s second-oldest stadium, counts Cynar Spritz as its official sponsor. The pre-match procession down Via Garibaldi is one of the most purely Venetian rituals the city still has.

Cannaregio

The Venice Venice Hotel, inside Ca’ da Mosto, the 13th-century Venetian-Byzantine palace considered the oldest on the Grand Canal, is where the Biennale crowds find themselves happily derailed. For this Biennale, French artist JR has brought Il Gesto to the palazzo’s interior—a contemporary reinterpretation of Veronese’s The Wedding at Cana featuring 176 real faces from the Refettorio Paris community (free by reservation through November 22). Inside, gelato arrives in steel coupe cups with salty crostini, moka pots appear tableside, and the canalside terrace is one of the best spots in the sestiere for a bite or a drink.

Vini da Gigio is the sestiere’s essential reservation with a serious wine list, generous Venetian cooking, and the sense that dinner, or lunch, should last as long as it needs to. Da Bepi Già “54” is Rusconi’s consistent return in the neighborhood; an anything-but-boring, wine-obsessed trattoria filled with regulars. “I love Osteria Giorgione da Masa for its blend of Japanese-Venetian dishes and great wines,” says Necchio. The fried blue crab gyoza, handrolls with marinated swordfish, ramen with a rich broth, and a chef’s selection of Japanese-style cicchetti make it unlike anything else in Venice. Natural wine enthusiasts will find themselves going back to Estro and La Sete for the wine and great energy.

Algiubagio, one of Venice’s great drinking bars, is now a beautiful, on-the-water dining spot with a terrace that sits directly over the water and views stretching to Murano and the cemetery island of San Michele. The tramezzini (try the carbonara if on the menu) and spritzes, thankfully, remain intact. Owners Giulio Antonello, Alberto Zanin, and Paolo Modolo also make each visit as fun as the last. Danielle Zennaro’s cooking is precise and lagoon-driven; the baccalà mantecato wafer is one of the most satisfying bites in Venice, eating like a creamy tiramisu, only it’s rehydrated, creamed cod. Zennaro is obsessed with lagoon herbs, and you’ll find purslane and sea asparagus effortlessly intertwined into dishes.

Dorsoduro

The sunsets on the Zattere are end-of-worldish, fiery light over the Giudecca Canal so grand it stops foot traffic at the fondamenta’s edge. “I live in Dorsoduro, which I still consider one of the most authentic and elegant sestieri in Venice,” says Rusconi. “My favorite places there are Ai Gondolieri, Osteria Enoteca Ai Artisti, and Linea d’Ombra. For ice cream, Gelateria da Nico is an institution, especially in the warmer months along the Zattere.” Gelateria da Nico has been open since the 1930s and beloved by Peggy Guggenheim and Angelina Jolie alike, where the gianduiotto, a thick slab of chocolate-hazelnut gelato submerged in fresh whipped cream, is the only order. I’ve also clocked my fair share of Select spritz-drinking, gelato-eating hours here.

“For cocktails, I like Experimental Cocktail Club in Dorsoduro for its more contemporary atmosphere,” says Rusconi. Behind a hidden door at Il Palazzo Experimental, find Pietro Lorefice behind the bar, with cocktails built on Italian spirits and local ingredients. Soak up the sun on the canal terrace and follow the crowd inside when the light drops. If hunger strikes, don’t overlook the hotel’s Ristorante Adriatica, where chef Denis Begiqi offers a creative, lagoon-rooted menu that moves well beyond typical Venetian cooking (even in the form of cicchetti). I’ll never tire of Begiqi’s pasta vongole with salicornia.

Do Farai, one of Dorsoduro’s oldest osterie, has a new chapter under Laguna~B’s Marcantonio Brandolini and Guillaume Pinaut, who have transformed this trattoria into the vibe of friend’s house with simple and delicious eats. Their version has drawn figures like Margherita Missoni in, while recipes come straight from Marie Brandolini’s personal recipe book—like the Burro di Acciughe, the gratinated gnocchi, and the Milanese cutlets. “Perfect for shared plates and friendly vibes,” says Necchio.

McGuire recently took me inside Pasticceria Tonolo, open since 1886, to admire the espresso served in porcelain en route to Fondazione Dries Van Noten and afterwards, to Caffè Rosso for a spritz. They’ve been pouring spritzes in Campo Santa Margherita since the late 1800s. And Bar alla Toletta, near the Accademia, is famous for tramezzini. Find yourself lucky to score a table and order everything.

Giudecca, part of Dorsoduro and five minutes by boat, is worth the crossing for lunch at Palanca alone, with cozy consistency and good seasonal specials. The island is also home to Hotel Cipriani, the new Airelles Palladio, Harry’s Dolci (where you can enjoy the same bellini and mini toast, but waterside), and the stunning Garden of the Redentore with a not-so-well-known Illycaffè where you can have lunch and a coffee during the visit.

Santa Croce

Palazzo Venart sits discreetly on the Grand Canal, draped in Bevilacqua fabrics throughout. Genuine hospitality, no fanfare. Inside it, GLAM remains Venice’s only two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Enrico Bartolini’s vision executed daily by resident chef Donato Ascani through two tasting menus, including Arte, orti e laguna: vegetables from the neighboring lagoon islands, bite-sized melon-y oysters, and small lagoon fish prepared with precision, each dish a considered expression of where you are. Breakfast beneath the old magnolia in the private garden is the best hotel breakfast in Venice. Most guests eat late, then happily fast until dinner at GLAM. If I recommend a sestiere and a hotel to a food-loving friend, it’s Santa Croce and Palazzo Venart, every time.

Bacán, run by Bilbao-born Silvia Rozas and her Venetian partner Marco Zambon, brings Latin American spirit and a mezcalería to the sestiere. Zambon’s family also owns Birraria La Corte in San Polo. Bacan straddles casual and fine dining—al pastor, tostadas, ceviche, even a Michelada—and takes you somewhere so far from the lagoon you need a minute to find your bearings when you step back outside. On a recent visit to Bevilacqua’s velvet factory, Gioele Romanelli told me not to miss Osteria La Zucca, in which Giole notes is a shoutout to vegetables without being only a vegetarian restaurant. There’s a new menu daily, but I hope to find the tagliatelle with pear, pistachio, and gorgonzola again.

San Polo

The Rialto Bridge is the most photographed angle on the Grand Canal. Just behind it, Pasticceria Rizzardini anchors the neighborhood from its tiny storefront, as it has since 1742, with traditional Venetian cookies, moro, dolce di mandorle, dogi, golosesso, and a counter perfumed with butter and sugar that has not changed in living memory. “I love Rizzardini for a quick coffee and a sweet treat on the go, as it's always buzzing with locals and regulars at all times of day,” says Necchio.

The Rialto Market is the lifeline of Venice’s food scene. The fish counters determine what every chef and kitchen serves that day: canoce (mantis shrimp), moeche (soft-shell crab), schie (the tiny grey lagoon shrimps), granchio blu (blue crab, invasive and now on every menu), seppie (cuttlefish), rombo, branzino. And still always a pleasure to stroll through. Gillian McGuire also leaves Castello for her Rialto ritual. “I also like to meet visitors at Naranzaria near the bridge.” Naranzaria is one of Venice’s rare meat-forward bacari: mortadella, guanciale on toast, meatballs when they’re making them, and Grand Canal views.

Birraria La Corte is the neighborhood’s go-to for standout pizza, which is a rare find in Venice, and if you’re passing through, a stop in Il Mercante is a must. The bar is inside the historic Caffè dei Frari, and is Venice’s first truly elevated bar outside a hotel. Owner Alessandro Zampieri built the menu around the spice routes of Marco Polo, divided by mixology techniques like distillation, fermentation, and fat-washing. The cocktails are some of the best in the city.