Caffè Florian has run under the Procuratie Nuove of Piazza San Marco since 1720, the oldest continuously operating cafe in Italy, with the resident Caffè Florian Concerto Orchestra playing every evening on the square from spring through autumn.
Tip: The orchestra surcharge is six euros per drink when the band plays; sit at an outside table for the music, the inside salon is cheaper but mute. Closed days in low winter for the orchestra.
Address: Piazza San Marco 57, 30124 Venezia, Venice
Gran Caffè Quadri has anchored the Procuratie Vecchie side of Piazza San Marco since 1775, founded by the Corfiote merchant Giorgio Quadri, with the resident 121 St Mark's Band playing on the square from April through late October.
Tip: The terrace tables sit directly across from the basilica; the orchestra plays through aperitivo and dinner. A spritz with the music surcharge runs around twenty euros total.
Gran Caffè Quadri has anchored the Procuratie Vecchie side of Piazza San Marco since 1775, founded by the Corfiote merchant Giorgio Quadri, with the resident 121 St Mark's Band playing on the square from April through late October.
Tip: The terrace tables sit directly across from the basilica; the orchestra plays through aperitivo and dinner. A spritz with the music surcharge runs around twenty euros total.
Al Timon anchors the Cannaregio aperitivo strip on Fondamenta degli Ormesini, with a tight inside counter, sidewalk tables on the fondamenta and two wooden boats tied to the canal that the bar invites guests to sit on through the warm months.
Tip: The boats are the seat to get on a summer night; they fill by 19:30. Natural wine list by the glass, cicchetti at the counter, no reservation.
Vino Vero opened on Fondamenta della Misericordia in Cannaregio in 2014 with one of the deepest natural wine lists in Italy, a tight cicchetti bar and a canal side crowd that holds the fondamenta past midnight through the warm months.
Tip: Ask for a Friulano or Soave off the natural list; the by the glass rotation is the deal. The fondamenta outside is the room past 22:00 in summer.
Cantinone già Schiavi, the Bottegon to locals, has been a Schiavi family enoteca on Fondamenta Nani opposite the Squero di San Trovaso since the nineteenth century, with five hundred labels behind the bar and a cicchetti counter that the gallery district fills at lunch.
Tip: Stand at the bar or take the canal edge; there are no tables. Closes at 20:30 sharp so this is an early late night rather than a true after dark stop.
Pier Dickens has run an English style pub on Campo Santa Margherita since 2001, with the Ca' Foscari student square at the door, a long beer list, artisanal pizzas and a sidewalk crowd that holds the campo through the late hours.
Tip: Campo Santa Margherita is the student bar square; Pier Dickens runs latest of the campo lineup. Pizza by the slice keeps the crowd until close. Cash speeds the bar.
Caffè Rosso has run on Campo Santa Margherita since the late 1800s, the bright red awning a landmark of the student square, with an old percolator still in service, a sidewalk terrace and a spritz crowd that holds the campo from aperitivo through close.
Tip: Stand at the inside bar for a three euro spritz; outside seating carries a markup for the square view. Cash and small bills speed the cycle.