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.
Address: Piazza San Marco 121, 30124 Venezia, Venice
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.
Imagina Caffè runs out of a former Ponte dei Pugni art gallery a step off Campo Santa Margherita, with rotating exhibitions on the walls, a long aperitivo list and a Friday and Saturday close at 01:00 that pulls the student campo crowd next door.
Tip: The Friday and Saturday late close is the catch; midweek the cafe shuts at 21:00 with the rest of the square. Spritz and tramezzini run cheap.