Few Americans have mastered the art of Italian living as comprehensively as Katie Parla. In her new book, Food of the Italian Islands, Katie provides a grand tour of the rich, varied cultures and foods that ring the Great Boot’s coastlines. In this adapted excerpt, Katie shares her insider view of Venice’s oft-forgotten island nature and offers a few pointers on bringing one of the city’s small, but delightful pastimes into your life, wherever you are. 

120 different islands—more than a quarter of all Italian islands—comprise the Venetian lagoon. The part most visitors encounter is Venice, whose rich dining tradition comes in part from the city’s maritime exploits, which for centuries made it one of the great culinary and cultural crossroads of the world.  

For much of Venice’s history, its citizens and visitors have delighted in the fish and produce that come from Venice’s neighboring, less-trafficked islands, each of which has its own character, and some of which are downright rural.

The island of Sant’Erasmo, for example, still does its part to feed the city, producing a year-round bounty of fruits and vegetables. Sant’Erasmo is a 30-minute ferry ride from Venice—20 if I'm driving my agile little fishing boat Laura—but it feels like another universe. The island hums with Ape, the little three-wheeled carts made by Piaggio, creator of the Vespa, that ferry around Sant’Erasmo’s highly prized artichokes and incredible winter radicchio. Sure, the island, like Venice, is also surrounded by turquoise lagoon water, but it's packed with farms that grow the seasonal produce that has earned it the nickname l’orto di Venezia, “Venice’s garden.” 

The flavors of Sant’Erasmo’s produce are great, and often intensely savory, owing to the salty, mineral-rich soil. You can taste them for yourself at one of Venice’s restaurants that share plots on the island as part of the Osti in Orto (“Hosts in the Garden”) initiative. The members include some of my favorite places in town: Antiche Carampane, CoVino, Da Ignazio, Osteria alle Testiere, Da Rioba, and Vini da Gigio.

But the farms and fisheries of the Venetian lagoon’s other islands don’t just supply Venice’s fine dining establishments, they feed the city’s strong grazing culture, too. Visitors and locals alike crowd into the city’s bacari (local taverns) that serve cicchetti (small bites) like whipped salt cod on polenta or sweet-and-sour sardines. Venetians themselves are frequently found perched at the counters of bacari at all hours of the day, gossiping in the impenetrable local dialect and sipping cold beer, quaffable still and sparkling white wines, and, perhaps most famously, spritzes.

The Aperol spritz may have captured the hearts and minds of Italophiles across the globe thanks to an aggressive and ongoing marketing campaign by its parent company, Campari. But Select Aperitivo, Venice’s own red bitter liqueur founded in 1920, holds its own in the city on the lagoon. The fire engine red, low-alcohol by volume aperitif is served in the bars and bacari of the Serenissima alongside an array of savory and satisfying cicchetti.

A Spritz of One’s Own

If you can’t get to Venice right this very instant, you can at least host your own Venetian aperitivo and think dreamily of the City of Canals.  

Start with a Select spritz: mix three parts prosecco, two parts Select, and one part sparkling water in a wine glass. Top up with ice and garnish with a big green olive.  

To be honest, you could simply serve the drink with a bowl of potato chips and olives skewered with toothpicks, and you’ve got a Venetian party on your hands. Or you can go a more elaborate (though by no means massively time-consuming) route with more substantial snacks. Here are some of my favorite bites to make when I’m hosting an aperitivo at home:

Low-Effort Bites

Jammy Eggs with Salted Anchovies: Lower a few eggs into a pot of gently boiling water. Cook at a bare simmer for 6 1⁄2 minutes, cool in an ice bath, peel, then slice to reveal the jammy yolk. Garnish with a salted anchovy and season with a tiny bit of Maldon salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

Tuna Salad Tramezzini: Prepare your favorite tuna salad recipe, adding more mayo than you normally would and a spoonful of capers, then make a sandwich on pancarrè (white bread) or Wonder Bread (really!). Press the sandwich closed at the edges, cut the crusts off, then slice the sandwich diagonally into halves or quarters. If tuna isn’t your thing, layer sliced hard-boiled eggs with prosciutto cotto (cooked ham) for another classically Venetian treat.

Mortadella Cubes: I live in Rome, and I love a thin sheet of mortadella as much as the next Roman (it’s our #1 sandwich filling), but it doesn’t exactly offer the satisfying snap of this amazingly simple snack. Cut a thick slab of mortadella into 3⁄4-inch cubes, then top each with a single pickled pearl onion or a small pickled pepper (I like peperoni veneti, sold locally). Fasten in place with a toothpick.

Cicchetti: Toast slices of baguette and top with an assortment of flavors. I take my inspiration from Bar All’Arco, a legendary spot near the Rialto Market, and make two per guest. Smear the first toasted slice with Gorgonzola and top with either roughly chopped walnuts or a single salted anchovy. Top the second baguette slice with roast beef, mozzarella, marinated eggplant, a thin slice of lemon, and hot honey. You can also layer capocollo, roasted cherry tomatoes, and mozzarella on a piece of toast. Or, for a gluten-free alternative inspired by old-school bacari, top a 2-by-1-inch square of grilled polenta with a griddled baby cuttlefish, skewer with a toothpick, and serve topped with a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice.

This story is adapted from Katie Parla's Food of the Italian Islands: Recipes from the Sunbaked Beaches, Coastal Villages, and Rolling Hillsides of Sicily, Sardinia, and Beyond and is published with the author's permission.