Venice has no shortage of elegant and expensive dining establishments, but it’s always fun to visit an informal bacaro or cicchetteria. Found all over the city, these wine bars usually have no table service (and sometimes no tables at all). You order food and drink at the counter. There might be a handwritten wine list, but sometimes you’ll just have to ask for “un bicchiere di vino bianco secco, per favore” (“a glass of dry white wine, please”).

Along with wine, there’s usually a case of premade bites, called cicchetti. Most of the time, you’ll find bruschetta with delicious and creative toppings: tomatoes with crumbly pecorino; whitefish salad; tuna salad with a hard-boiled egg; or mortadella with stracciatella and pistachio (my personal favorite). I also have a difficult time resisting polpette fritte (fried meatballs).

Once you pay a few euro for your astonishingly affordable wine and snacks, you can find a spot to enjoy your bounty. Most of these establishments are tiny, but they usually have a few places indoors to stand up at the bar. In the summer, you’ll often find a handful of tables and chairs set up outside, or if the bar is along a canal, you might see people sitting on the balustrade.