The Dorsoduro wine bar that Venetians guard like a local secret — shelves of natural wine, extraordinary crostini, and a canal-side setting that the guidebooks have not ruined yet.
Cantine del Vino gia Schiavi occupies a corner position on the Fondamenta Nani in Dorsoduro, steps from the Accademia bridge and the Zattere waterfront, in the part of Venice that still belongs primarily to students and long-term residents rather than to tourists in search of the Rialto. The cantina has been here in some form since the nineteenth century; the Schiavi family ran it for generations. The shelves of wine — over 500 labels, stacked floor to ceiling in the narrow interior — are one of the more serious wine collections in a city that has always taken wine seriously.
The cicchetti here are different in character from those at the Rialto bacari: more elaborate, more inventive, made with the same morning-fresh quality but applied to combinations — smoked salmon with horseradish cream, gorgonzola with pear and walnut, baccala with capers on polenta crostini — that suggest a kitchen that has thought carefully about what it is doing. The quality is exceptional for the price, which remains honest and Venetian. The outdoor standing space along the canal, on a good Venetian afternoon, is as pleasant as the city gets.
Schiavi is where Venetians come when they want a glass of something good without ceremony, and it is where discerning visitors to Venice should come for the same reason. For solo dining, it offers the particular pleasure of standing at a canal with a glass of good wine and a plate of excellent small things, with no one expecting anything of you and the city going about its business in the background. It is one of the more genuinely restorative experiences that Venice provides.
Address
Fondamenta Nani 992, Dorsoduro, Venice 30123
Sestiere
Dorsoduro, near Accademia
Price Per Person
EUR 10–20 for cicchetti and wine
Cuisine
Wine Bar, Venetian Cicchetti
Dress Code
Casual — standing bar and canal
Reservations
Walk-in only
Hours
Mon–Sat 8:30am–8:30pm, closed Sun
Getting There
10 min walk from Accademia vaporetto
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