After 2/3 the long walking street from Venice’s train station almost up to Piazza San Marco is named STRADA NUOVA. And after you exhaustedly passed by so many tricky eateries and rubbish shops coming from the train station – you may need a break.

Okay. So let me invite you to my lovely daily place during my Venice years: LA CANTINA. Frequented inside by Venetians, but on the street terrasse by tourists of course – but rather smart or just lucky tourists. I would characterize La Cantina as a gem of culinary simplicity in food & wine.

The quality of the ingredients here is the hero. In wintertime I was having my sundowner inside at the window front, while in summer I could sit for hours and hours on the street watching thousands of more or less funny tourists passing by.

Let me tell you one my the secrets of Venice which I found out after a while: bars & restaurants which are still open in the dead January live even from local guests – and that’s a trustworthy signal for quality and fair prices. La Cantina is actually open.