Venice - What is a Bacaro?

Having written something of a treatise on what exactly a pub is (not, as it turned out, an entirely straightforward thing to pin down), I've been intrigued to discover that the exact definition of a bacaro in Venice is also somewhat fluid. In Cantina do Mori I got chatting to some people from the Veneto, who had previously lived in Venice to study. Nobody would question that Cantina do Mori is a bacaro. Despite, slightly confusingly, having the word "Cantina" in its name (many of them do). Here again we see a pub parallel - as noted in the article linked above, a genuine pub would never have the word "pub" in its name - it might include words like inn, tavern, sometimes even hotel (the two functions often being traditionally merged in rural areas), but never pub. Similarly no genuine bacaro in Venice would include the term in its name - you might encounter names including the words cantina, cantinone or osteria (all of which essentially just mean a place to buy wine), but never bacaro.



My new friends - Matteo and co. - invited me to join them as they headed on to the next stop on their giro di ombra, an establishment called TerraLupo. It served cicchetti, after a fashion, and the familiar selection of Venetian drinks. However we all unanimously agreed without having to give it too much thought that it wasn't a bacaro.

This led me to thinking, that, Cantina do Mori and All Arco aside, I actually struggled to think of many other perfect examples in Venice. Market forces had driven many others to gradually transform into being more like a restaurant - Ca D'Oro alla Vedova and Cantina Do Spade are both examples of this phenomenon, whilst in both places you can still stand at the bar and order un ombra and some cicchetti, the majority of the space is given over to tables for sit-down diners. A similar transformation seems to be happening to pubs back home - a move to continental style table service, which some seem to welcome, but I personally think is rather a shame.

So, on this trip I decided to go a little further afield, away from the Rialto which seems to be the main hub for bacari, and try another place much written about - Cantinone del Vino Già Schiavi, in the Dorsoduro district. It's in a lovely spot, next to a bridge over the San Trovaso canal - and if the dark, narrow alleyways of the Rialto aren't really your cup of tea, you may well prefer to stand outside here, by the canal instead. A little further down the canal is the very picturesque San Trovaso boatyard, next to the church of the same name.

Inside Già Schiavi the walls are lined with bottles - this is a wine shop as well as a bar - and it's standing room only, the way I like it. The landlady is an imposing presence - one imagines she runs a tight ship - but the staff are pleasant and friendly, and the atmosphere here is lively and upbeat. There's a good selection of cicchetti, and a very large selection of drinks too. I was in the grip of Select fever on my visit, so couldn't really think of anything else but a Spritz con Select, but like elsewhere the locals will probably stick to the wine.

So, to return to the original question - what is a bacaro? Despite the fact Già Schiavi also doubles as a wine shop, it is unmistakably a bacaro. There's no table service (there's no tables!), visits tend to be short, there's wine, cicchetti and, to add some more intangible qualities - a sense of history, local identity and a clear presence of the character of the owner.

Cantinone del Vino Già Schiavi
Address: Dorsoduro, 992, 30123 Venezia
Phone: 041 523 0034