🇮🇹Venice, Italy
The Squid-Ink Risotto Pilgrimage
Risotto stained jet-black with cuttlefish ink - briny, glossy and tasting purely of the lagoon. It'll stain your teeth. Worth it.
Why this dish?
Risotto al nero di seppia is Venice distilled: rice cooked slowly with cuttlefish (seppia), its meat and its ink, until the whole thing turns a dramatic, glossy black and tastes intensely of the sea - salty, mineral, faintly sweet. The ink is what does it, lending colour and a deep marine flavour you can't fake. It's served soft and loose, the Venetian way (all'onda - "wavy").
Venice is overrun, overpriced in the wrong spots, and absolutely worth it in the right ones. Step away from the tourist menus into a proper bacaro or trattoria, order the nero, and you're eating something tied entirely to this strange floating city and its lagoon. Pair it with a glass of cold Veneto white, accept that your teeth will go briefly grey, and enjoy one of Italy's most atmospheric lunches.
Our Picks
Trattoria alla Madonna
- Address
- Calle de la Madona 594, Venice
- What to order
- Risotto al nero di seppia (or the seppie in nero with polenta), and a glass of Soave or Pinot Grigio.
- Book ahead
- Worth booking; it's large but popular.
- Pro tip
- Don't fear the black teeth - it's temporary and a badge of honour. Loose, "all'onda" risotto is correct, not undercooked.
Antiche Carampane
San Polo 1911, Venice
A sit-down seafood meal off the tourist track, tucked down quiet calli - locals reliably send visitors here for the real Venetian fish kitchen.
- What to order
- Cicchetti and an ombra (small glass of wine) at the bar; baccalà mantecato on crostini is the must-try snack.
Good to know
Avoid restaurants with photo menus and touts near San Marco; the good places are tucked down quiet calli. "All'onda" (loose, wavy) is the proper Venetian risotto texture. Cicchetti-crawling between bacari is the local way to graze. Vaporetto water buses are pricey; much of Venice is faster on foot.
Your day plan
Wheels up to wheels down.
Flight goals - what you're aiming for
- 07:00Depart London
- 10:05Land Venice (Marco Polo)
- 10:45Bus/boat into the city (30–45 min)
- 11:30Get gloriously lost between the Rialto and San Marco
- 12:45Squid-ink risotto lunch at Trattoria alla Madonna
- 14:30A quiet sestiere (Dorsoduro or Cannaregio); a bacaro stop for cicchetti
- 16:00Coffee, or a spritz by a canal
- 17:00Boat/bus back to the airport
- 18:30Depart Venice
- —Leave well-fed and ready for the journey
