Sestière di San Polo

15/5 Food tour
When we were in Barcelona we did a food tour with the company Devour, it was excellent and we thought we’d try them in Venice, so pleased we did, it’s one of the best tours of any sort I’ve done. The tour leader, Jennifer, was an Aussie but had lived in Venice for 40 years. There were only four others on the tour, two from Florida and two from Bristol probably aged in their fifties, and we all got on like a house on fire: travel, sport (err, not me), food, history, all sorts. In the end the tour went for 4 ½ hours rather than the advertised 3 ½, Jennifer was hard pushed to break it up even then.

We’d got a vaporetto to St Toma station and met the others in a piazza a couple of minutes away. There was a bit of time waiting for one couple, nice to have time to look in a couple of mask and costume shop windows. We got some history and general Venice information as well as food and Venetian specialities. Looking at the masks we were told about the Plague Doctor (stolen photo) who would fill the hollow beak with herbs to mask the smell of death, and would go into houses, prod the victims to see if they were alive or dead, then carry on. On the other hand, the dresses in the windows were beautiful!

Right where we stood we learned there was a centuries-old cistern with a well on top – every big and small piazza in Venice has them, every time you cross a bridge you’re going onto another island and they all needed water. This was collected through special drains, fed through a sand-type filter system and stored, doled out in very small quantities to the population. It was rationed, two quarts each, and the system worked until the 1800’s, now water comes through a series of aqueducts from the mountains and it’s estimated that each resident and visitor uses 300 litres per day now!

The penalty for tainting the water was execution, it was so precious.

We had our first cicchetti in that piazza, small snacks on bread (one a creamy mashed fish each and then we could choose our second from ham, salami, cheese, all tasty) plus an Aperol spritz which is popular in Venice. Then off we went, and this was a part of Venice we hadn’t been around so we saw new places. Just around the corner she talked about the huge Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari church so we earmarked that to visit on Tuesday, these churches are huge, and as Jennifer had said earlier, along with a piazza and cistern/well, each little island had a church and they must have cost so much to build. Very rich and very poor people in those days, the rich buying their way to heaven.

A hundred meters away was the Scuola Grande di Sainte Rocco, another place that went on our list. I can’t recall everything we were told, but the second stop wasn’t far away and out came the prosecco with a platter of meats, cheese and bread. It was around here that we had a look at a fruit and vegetable boat tied up, no need for a shop, just bring the boat around the canals and people will line up. Very nice-looking asparagus there and peaches I noticed. The third stop was for wine and a small square cheese-stuffed ‘puff’ of dough – and just as well we continued walking. She pointed out a 15th century building that looked on its last legs but………isn’t that a Banksy? Yes, Banksy was in Venice and the theme had been a shipwrecked/migrant child in the San Pantalon area. Photos attached.

On these food tours you know not to over-eat during the day and our fourth stop was for a plate of pasta flavoured with anchovies, a bit too fishy for the Americans who didn’t eat it but I managed half – Pete was happy to help me out. And last of all we ended up on the waterfront just along from the big private yacht we’d seen from the vaporetto, sat outdoors and had delicious chocolate gelato and cream with a surprise. A friend of Jennifer’s had always wanted to make his own gin and during lockdown he did this, it’s being manufactured and beautifully presented as you can see – and it’s sold at this lovely restaurant. We were all given a shot, the trick apparently being to use some of it to wash out the last of your gelato. Pete did this, being an affogato fan, so tried it with gin and chocolate instead of the usual affogato icecream, coffee and liqueur. The American woman bought a bottle, beautifully presented in a box. Have a look at the website, it’s a great story https://gindeigin.com/

So as I’ve said, 4 ½ hours on it was after 8.30pm and the tide was rising quickly so Jennifer needed to get home to the mainland, it was predicted that St Mark’s square would be a couple of inches under water (not sure if that did happen) so we all headed away, or rolled home full of good food and wine. It was a great night; we were all extremely happy at the end.Read more