Luca Cerizza, curator of the Italian pavilion at Venice Biennale 2024, on his favourite La Serenissima hang-outs

Best place to get a pizza

Birraria La Corte in Campo San Polo: the best pizza in town, loved by Venetians. And if you don’t feel like eating pizza, I suggest the frittura di Sant’Erasmo: fried vegetables from Sant’Erasmo, the small island that has always been Venice’s vegetable garden.

Favourite shop

Bruno in San Barnaba: not an ordinary bookshop, but a kind of creative factory combining a graphic design studio, a publishing house, an exhibition space and a specialist bookstore focusing on visual communication and international independent publishers.

Best place for a spritz

At Bottegon da Schiavi (also known as Cantine del Vino già Schiavi) in Rio di San Trovaso, a five-minute walk from Gallerie dell’Accademia and Zattere. Just in front of squero di San Trovaso, a typical Venetian factory where gondolas are built and repaired, and one of the very few still in operation.

Best place to get away from it all

Burano island, just 30 minutes from San Marco by vaporetto. There are picturesque and colourful fishermen’s houses
in a very Mediterranean style.

The mosaics inside Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello: one of the facades is entirely covered in a stunning Venetian-Byzantine mosaic depicting the Last Judgment. A must-see.

Best place for a gelato

At Gelatoteca Suso, at Sotoportego de la Bissa and Salizada san Giovanni Grisostomo, where artisanal ice cream offers a true experience. There are also vegan options.

Best place for nonna-style cooking

Trattoria da’a Marisa, in Cannaregio, where you can find a wide range of traditional Venetian dishes such as saor (sardines), baccalà and moscardini. And seasonally, you can find the best moeche (soft shell crabs) in town.

Is there anything left on your Venice bucket list?

Mercato di Rialto, the traditional fish market in the very centre of town, which offers an intriguing insight into another side of life in the city, showing that Venice is still a place where people can live, go about their daily lives, and is not just a destination for tourists.