In the whimsical adriatic city of Venice, the citizens practice a wonderful little custom known as the"giro di ombre" (the wheel of color ). It is not a habit of all Venetians, but largely men and generally older guys. However, this being said, you don't need to be a guy to participate. You not need to be old. Everyone can do it, and in fact many younger Venetians (like girls ) are now caught up in this thing called the giro. Mostly though, you may see groups of men, three, five, or six, perhaps more, one can also do it alone. I often go solo . Do not worry about being alone. You'll make many friends along the way, for that's part of this"giro," making new friends, eating, imbibing, in general, having a excellent time.

What's this giro di ombre you ask?

The giro di ombre is a splendid small ritual which started around venice's rialto market some 600 decades ago. The merchants of the rialto marketplace, wanting to take a tiny break from hawking their products, would run to the nearest wine bar to escape sunlight and have a little sip of wine accompanied by small tidbits of meals (cichetti) to go with the wine. Whenever these retailers went to the wine bars, known as bacari, translating to"house of bachus," they would say they needed a"ombra," that the latin word for shade. They wanted to get out of the sun and into the shade. With time, a glass of wine in venice became know as a"ombra." If one day you have the good chance to make it into one of venice's many enchanting small wine-bars (bacaro), you belly up to the bar, order"un ombra rosso" if you need a glass of the house red, or"un ombra bianco" if you'd prefer a glass of wine. It's as straightforward as that, and you are speaking in the superb venetian dialect. Just like a true venetian!

When you go into the wine-bars of Venice, you will see a tantalizing display of food attractively displayed in platters on the pub. These items of food are"cichetti," tidbits of prepared food which come in tiny parts so you may try four, four, five, maybe even six or even more. The cichetti generally cost about $1.00-$2.50. They're designed to be very affordable and are in tiny portions so people are able to purchase a couple of distinct items for variety.

Which are the cichetti, you inquire? Just exactly what the venetian dialect implies, cichetti are small tidbits of food. There exist quite a fantastic variety of things as much as cichetti are involved. The most ordinary and favorite cichetti are; grilled shrimp or squid, braised or fried meatballs, cotechino, musetto (pigs snout sausage,"yum!") , nerveti, octopus salad, bacala mantecato (whipped salt-cod), and sarde en saour(sardines marinated with vinegar and onions). You may also find a nice array of small sandwiches (panini & tramezzini) that are full of all kinds of yummy fillings like crab salad, speck (smoked prosciutto), shrimp, ham with mushrooms and tomato, and much, much more. These sandwiches are also a portion of the cichetti and are priced around $1.00 or two as well.

You might be thinking that cihetti are similar to Spanish tapas. "Yes," exactly. I might add that the venetians started this ritual a few hundred years prior to the spanish did, just the"cichetti" of venice never caught on all over the Italian peninsular the way that tapas did during Spain in which tapas and tapas bars are a means of life.

So you go in the bacaro and purchase your ombra rosso or even bianco. Survey the fabulous variety of cichetti and purchase a few items of your own choice. A typical sample plate of those marvelous little tidbits may go like that; a couple pieces of grilled squid, one sarde en saor, a crostino of baccala montecato (whipped salt ), and maybe a few fried meatballs. "Bon apetito!" All this shouldn't cost you over seven or eight bucks. In the happy days prior to the euro that an ombra plus a state four bits of cichetti would cost you about $4.50, nowadays it'll be almost double that. Unfortunately, that's life. Things change, never-the-less, it's still a fairly great thing.

So you have just had your first wonderful experience in a venetian wine-bar. What to do next? Go check out yet another one of course! Ask one of the natives for a cross or suggestions one off your own personal list. If you have one.

Ahh, you're at you second bacaro. Why not try one of Venice's most well-known aperitifs? A "spritz." A spritz is simply white wine with a dash of compari or aperol with pop and a twist of lemonjuice. Quite refreshing. Very venetian. For all those of you who adore prosecco, you will be delighted to know that Venice is your"prosecco capital of the world" and you can order one in almost any bacaro. Conserve the bellini's to get harry's bar, and if you do, save your cash as well, for at this point in time, a bellini at the chic harry's bar will cost you around $15 u.S. Dollars. They are absolutely delicious, but they go down like water.

Order a prosecco. Some nice treats to go with your venetian bubbly, are a few little crab tramezzini or one shrimp and one crab, both go flawlessly with a crisp, refreshing glass of neighborhood prosecco.

Besides the tasty food and fabulous Italian wine, you'll discover wonderful atmosphere in venetian wine-bars. You will meet and chat with locals as well as individuals that come to Venice from all around the globe. The venetian bacaro, which incidentally translates to home of bacchus, bacchus, the roman god of wine.

Proceed into venice, engross yourself into its various bacari (bacaro is singular, bacari plural) and you're guaranteed to be entranced in a true bacchanalia type of way.

Suggested bacari (wine bars of Venice):

Al volto: located on the calli cavalli, San Marco

A great old fashion bacaro, serving great cheap local wine, conventional cihetti, wonderful pasta, risotto, and fresh seafood from the rialto marketplace.

Alla vedova: cannaregio 3912, ramo ca'd'oro

Tucked in a small alleyway off the strada nuova, alla vedova is the authors pick for as one of Venice's best bacaro. Alla vedova has the quintessential bacaro décor and ambiance, they serve superb cichetti at the bar, which is always filled with fun loving regulars of the giro de ombre. This bar gets very crowded at times and you will have to vie for a spot at the bar for tasty baccala and the best fried meatballs in town. As you enjoy yourself at the bar while watching diners sitting at table in the lovely little dining-room, you may get the urge to sit down for a wonderful meal with some pasta, risotto, or calves liver venenziana. Do it!

All'arco, san palo 436, calle dell'occhialer

this tiny little (14'x 8') wine-bar is one of Venice's most traditional. You will usually only find locals here, but they love to see the occasional foreigner drop in. They will welcome you with open arms, as they did to me when I stumbled upon this little establishment on my first ever"giro de ombar." You will find very traditional old style cichetti that not many place make any more, such as nerveti (nerve), tetina (cows udder), rumegal, and other funky items like musetto (pigs snout sausage). These guys delight in turning novices on to the real deal. The close quarters are great, as they precipitate interaction between you and the locals who are very nice in this wonderful little"gem."

Do mori, san palo 429, calle dei do mori

You might want to check out do mori as it is one of Venice's most historical wine-bars. However, you might be a little disappointed. I was, as the owners are cold and not very cordial. Their coldness pervades through the place, which is a shame as this place could be wonderful if only the proprietors did not posses the personalities of some "dead fish" lying around the rialto market. "Sorry fish, did not mean to insult you." "Get my drift?"

Al paradiso perduto, on the fondamenta miscordia in Cannaregio

You know when you stubble across a place you have never been to before and go in to have one of the best times imaginable? That's what happened to me when I was on one of my typical exploratory walks around venice one fine sunday afternoon in april of 2001. I was walking by and saw that al paradiso was my kind of place; cool, old, with lots of character. The place was jumping with a very hip looking crowd. I sat down for a nice little lunch of antipasto misto and some adriatic sole. Halfway through my meal, I was more than pleasantly surprised when a jazz quartet set up on the fondumenta right outside the restaurant. There was a bass player, guitar, trumpet, and even a piano player who rolled his"baby grande" right up into the place. The ring was exceptional.