Venice Food Tour: Commissario Brunetti’s Book Locations & Cicchetti

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/16

Duration2h 30m

GroupUp to 10

LanguagesEN · DE +2

PickupAt your hotel

Venice’s flavors and Donna Leon’s stories come alive on foot

You’ll taste your way through Venice alongside a local guide, sampling cicchetti and fresh seafood at real-life Commissario Brunetti book locations. Expect laughter over Venetian words, bustling markets, and sweet pastries in Dorsoduro—all while hearing stories that bring Donna Leon’s novels to life around you.

2h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Venice culinary and mystery tour

Start at Sant'Angelo vaporetto stop
View Brunetti family terrace
Visit historic Venetian rosticceria
Taste fried Mozzarella and wine
Cross Rialto Bridge
Explore Rialto Market seafood stalls
Try fried fish with Prosecco
Stop at traditional bacaro for cicchetti
Enjoy small plates and wine
Visit historic pasticceria in Dorsoduro
Have coffee and Venetian pastries
Conclude with amaro in Dorsoduro trattoria
View terrace of the Questura

The Experience

Someone hands me a tiny glass of red wine—can’t remember if it was Valpolicella or something else, but it was cold and earthy—and our guide Giulia grins, nudging us toward the rosticceria counter. There’s fried mozzarella in carrozza stacked behind the glass. She says Brunetti would stop here for a quick bite, just like the workers from San Marco have done since forever. I try to say “tramezzino” with a proper Venetian lilt; Giulia laughs and corrects me gently. The place smells like frying oil and old wood, and there’s this low hum of locals chatting over their lunch breaks.

We cross the Rialto Bridge—always busier than I expect—and suddenly we’re in the middle of the Rialto Fish Market. It’s noisy, fishmongers calling out prices, buckets of tiny silver sardines glinting in the sun. Giulia points out how Sergeant Vianello might’ve grabbed fried fish here between cases (I can almost see him). We each get a paper cone of fritto misto and a splash of Prosecco that tastes sharper than I thought it would. There’s something about eating seafood right there, standing up with everyone else, that makes you feel less like a tourist for five minutes.

The cicchetti bar in San Polo is cramped—elbows everywhere—but the plates are bright: polenta topped with baccalà mantecato, little anchovies curled on bread. “Brunetti would duck in here when Paola wasn’t cooking,” Giulia says. I watch an old man at the counter dip his cicchetto into his wine (apparently that’s not weird here). It’s loud but not unfriendly; someone bumps my shoulder and apologizes in dialect I barely catch.

Dorsoduro feels quieter somehow—maybe it’s just later in the day or maybe I’m full of pastries from the pasticceria (the scent of orange zest still clings to my fingers). We finish with an amaro at a trattoria where Giulia says Brunetti sometimes reflects on his cases. She raises her glass: “To mysteries solved.” The herbal bitterness lingers longer than I expect. Walking back along the Grand Canal, I keep thinking about those little moments—the laughter over mispronounced words, the way Venice seems both familiar and unknowable when you follow someone else’s story through its streets.

What’s included

Your day includes tastings of classic Venetian cicchetti like tramezzino or fried mozzarella from historic eateries, fresh seafood at Rialto Market with Prosecco or wine, sweet pastries paired with coffee specialties in Dorsoduro, three drinks including amaro to finish—and all led by a licensed local guide who brings both literature and flavors to life as you wander Venice together.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearbyNot for pregnant travelers

Operated by deTourist Venice Valerio Coppo