The Rialto Market

Venice has traded on this bank since the eleventh century, and the market is still here: the erberia for fruit and vegetables, and behind it the pescheria, a neo-Gothic fish hall of 1907 open on all sides to the canal.

It is the one place in the middle of Venice where the customers are mostly local, and it is three minutes from the bridge.

What it costs

Free to walk through. The produce is priced for people who cook, not for visitors, which is why the bars around it are the best value in the sestiere.

⚠️ Buying fruit here has one rule that catches visitors out: at most stalls you do not touch the produce. Point, or say how much you want, and let the stallholder pick it.

When to go

Mornings. The fish market runs roughly seven to noon and is closed on Sunday and Monday — Monday because the boats do not go out on Sunday. The fruit and vegetable stalls run a little later and are closed Sunday.

Arrive at eight and it is a working market. Arrive at one and it is an empty shed.

Getting there

Vaporetto to Rialto Mercato, which exists for this. Or over the bridge from San Marco and turn right along the water.

If you only have an hour

Walk the fish hall first, then the vegetable stalls, then stop at one of the bars behind for a cicchetto and an ombra — a small glass of wine, standing up, before eleven if you want to do it the way the market does.

Look for the seasonal things that only exist here: castraure, the first small artichokes from Sant’Erasmo in spring, and moeche, soft-shell crabs, caught for a few weeks twice a year.

What people get wrong

Coming in the afternoon. There is nothing here in the afternoon.