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Editore Filippi
For more than a century, the Filippi family has printed all manner of books on Venice and stocked plenty more. They remain the point of reference for academics and aficionados alike. Another branch of the family runs a smaller store a stone's throw away (Calle Casselleria 5784).
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El Fero Novo
At his workshop and highly original enterprise, Primo Bollani churns out all sorts of fanciful sculptures in iron, from dreamlike monuments such as bridges and towers to odd-looking gondolas.
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Fabio Gatto
One side of this delectable double store offers smart skirts and shirts and crisp jackets, while the other side leans towards elegant evening wear, all long, slimline dresses with few frills (no sequins here).
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Fanny
Decided on an off-season trip to Venice in the quiet depths of winter and finding that your hands are freezing off? Drop by here for an extensive range of his and hers gloves in fine leather and a rainbow variety of colours.
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Fiorella Gallery
All sorts of odd, billowing and fantastical clothing items adorn the transvestite doge mannequins scattered about the inside and in the windows of this unique store. High fashion it ain't, but it's definitely a spur to curiosity. Swastika-decorated underpants may not do it for you, but shock tactics are part of the gallery's stock in trade. Partly aimed at a very out gay scene, it attracts above all an uninhibited clientele of all persuasions.
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Galleria Ferruzzi
Roberto Ferruzzi's images of Venice are an engaging, almost naive version of what we see. With fat brushstrokes and primary colours, the artist creates a kind of children's gingerbread Venice. On sale are screen prints, paintings and postcards.
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Galleria Traghetto
A stalwart on the Venetian art scene since the 1970s, this is one of the most respected of the few Venetian galleries dealing in contemporary art, most of it Italian but open to international flavours. Exhibitions are in continual flux.
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Gianni Basso
Time has stood still at Mr Basso's printing shop, where requests arrive from around the world to print up business cards, menus and the like using good old printing craftsmanship, something that has been lost in the age of laser printers. You can feel the quality of the printing in the cards. Mr Basso is very relaxed and you may not always find him open.
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Gilberto Penzo
Here you can buy exquisite, hand-built wooden models of various Venetian vessels. Mr Penzo also takes in old ones for restoration. For the kids, you can fork out around €25 for gondola model kits or buy them ready-made and painted. Round the corner you can have a peek at Penzo's workshop.
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Giovanna Zanella
Freaky shoes are the business in this singular little boutique. It's not just the sometimes-surprising colours or the beyond-fashion approach. Some of the footwear is just plain wacky. Try the gold-coloured feet-shaped shoes for size, or the ones that look like gondolas.
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Giunti Al Punto
A limited range of paperbacks in several languages and some material on Venice, ranging from maps to cuisine guides, are sold in this handy store, a kind of book supermarket that keeps uncommonly long hours. They have a couple of other branches around town.
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Godi Fiorenza
In this beautiful vaulted brick cave, jammed into a street corner, rest breezy women's fashion items cooked up by a two-sister team that learned much of the trade in London. Simple summer dresses or richly embroidered camisoles wait to be snapped up.
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Gualti
The searing white interior of this fashion oddity houses two quite unrelated collections: a set of daring ladies' satin shoes and strangely luminous brooches, pins and similar accessories.
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Hibiscus
Anything but a classic women's fashion store, Hibiscus presents an imaginative array of stylish threads. Everything is handmade by young designers: flowing dresses with unabashedly bright colours or a more washed-out, hippy touch lead the way. Classic high-end Italian fashion this is not. There's a selection of chunky jewellery too.
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Il Baule Blu
Cuddly teddy bears, old dolls, ancient toys - this is the place to come for a nostalgic look around. The owners actively seek out old items, so what's on display and for sale continually changes.
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Il Grifone
A virtually décor-free shopfront disguises this one-man leather workshop where you can get to grips with quality handmade bags, belts, wallets and other leather objects for quite reasonable prices.
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Il Papiro
A bright, spacious stationer's, the Florentine chain store Il Papiro (with three branches in Venice) doesn't pretend to compete with the handful of traditional marbled-paper shops around town. But it does offer everything from elegant envelopes to letter openers and quills.
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Il Pavone
The dominant colours (blues, reds and yellows) and motifs (floral shapes, cherubs) at Il Pavone change from one day to another. The templates are applied to hand-printed paper as well as ties and T-shirts.
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Jesurum Outlet
Jesurum is one of the traditional names in Venetian lace, in business since the late 19th century. Set back from the fondamenta (canalside street) is a huge warehouse and workshop where you can buy ready-made pieces (from pillow cases to doilies) or you can ask for made-to-measure items.
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Kirikù
It is easy to feel badly dressed in Venice (or just about anywhere else in Italy). If your kids are in the same boat, this is the place to stock up on some stylish threads for small people, from fresh-born babies to pimply adolescents.
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L'angolo
Handbags drip off the walls in this pleasingly cluttered shop. Voluminous handbags come in printed velvet, practical bags abound, plus there's a range of odd little wrist bags.
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L'arlecchino
The folks at L'Arlecchino claim the masks are made only with papier-mâché to their own designs. To prove it you can inspect the workshop. The quality of masks, which hang at all levels in this cramped shop and together form what could be the outlandish spectators in a tightly packed dream-world theatre, is unquestionable.
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L'isola
L'Isola stocks glass objects designed by Carlo Moretti, one of the leading names in high-end glassware. His style switches radically from sober black and transparent bowls and vases to primal colour glassware, from twirling but understated champagne flutes to monochrome dishes.
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La Galleria Van Der Koelen
Long established in Germany, this branch of the van der Koelen gallery brings a note of contemporary vigour to the somewhat staid Venetian art scene. The gallery frequently stages fine exhibitions of internationally known artists, well worth seeing whether you're a buyer or not.
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Laberinto
Necklaces made of little slabs of glass melted in such a way as to create all sorts of appealing mottled effects, above all in a range of blues and sea greens, are one star item here. Rings and earrings abound, inlaid with turquoise and opals.
