In the rest of the country is al bar per l’aperitivo, but in Venezia, you go to the bàcaro for cicchetti. If you’re not familiar with them, you’re forgiven: neither was I until an old friend from Veneto, back in the days when I was young and living abroad, waxed lyrical about how great Venice’s cicchetti were.
Anyways, yes: cicchetti, what are they? Well, in short, they’re little morsels of traditional Venetian food, often compared to Spanish tapas in articles about them: they comprise a variety of cold cuts or fish, served on bread or squares of polenta and – a key and essential characteristic – they change depending on the season. Their name comes from the Latin ciccus, which means “small quantity.” I
