Shopping in Venice
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Camuffo
Kids, entomologists and glass collectors seek out Signor Camuffo, who wields a miniature blowtorch to fuse metallic foils to molten glass to make shimmering wings for the city’s finest selection of lampworked glass beetles and dragonflies. Between bugs, he’ll chat about his work and sell you strands of Murano glass beads at excellent prices.
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Gloria Astolfo
Take your fashion cues from Venetian painting masterpieces at this Venetian bead artisan’s showcase. Garlands of beaded tiger lilies make open-necked T-shirts instantly glamorous, and those baroque pearl earrings would gently tickle your shoulders if you started to nod off at La Fenice. Prices starting at €35 are surprisingly down-to-earth for jewellery this original, especially so close to Piazza San Marco.
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Millevini
For the price of a souvenir T-shirt, a top-notch Veneto vintage recommended by well-versed staff could become a highlight of your visit – beyond DOC prosecco, there are Veneto Merlots with gumption, and surprisingly velvety Valpollicellas. This brick wine-cellar is right at the foot of the Rialto bridge, a convenient stop if you want to toast the sunset on your hotel terrace.
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Orovetro Murano
Not all Murano glass chandeliers require baroque ballrooms. These dramatic modern designs in black, red, and acid-green glass could turn studio bedrooms into boutique hotel suites and dens into swanky lounge-bars. Prices begin under €1000 for limited-edition lighting; architect-designed chandeliers with more waving arms than Kali hit five digits.
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Schegge
Go incognito in style, with highly original masquerade masks revealing influences as diverse as Gothic architecture and Modigliani. Well into the night, you’ll find this dedicated mother-daughter team wielding tiny paintbrushes, coaxing minute baroque tendrils into bloom along the side of a Klimt mask.
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Antichità Claudia Zaggia
Nadia Viani runs this little Aladdin's Cave of, well, just about anything. Depending on the day, you might discover an Art Nouveau necklace, preloved pearls, old glassware, or rosy-faced ceramic dolls from another era.
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Banco Lotto 10
Prison orange is out and plum silk velvet is in at this nonprofit boutique, whose hand-sewn fashions are the fruit of a retraining program at the women’s prison on Giudecca. Designed and made by women inmates, the smartly tailored jackets, dresses and handbags often incorporate opulent silks, velvets and tapestry donated by Fortuny and Bevilacqua. Even La Fenice has dressed its divas in Banco Lotto ensembles. Volunteers run the boutique and purchases fund the women prisoners’ continuing career training and reintegration into society after their release.
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Gianni Basso
All the advertising Signor Basso needs for his letterpressing services are the calling cards crowding his small front window with familiar names and fitting symbols. Restaurant critic Gale Greene’s title is framed by a knife and fork; conductor Michael Tilson Thomas’ title rises from a grand piano; and Hugh Grant’s moniker appears next to a surprisingly tame lion. Bring cash if you want to commission your own business cards, menus or invitations, and trust Gianno Basso to deliver via post if need be – posted hours are approximate.
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Veneziastampa
Mornings are the best time to stop by to see the ancient blackened gears of the 1930s Heidelberg machine in action – but any time you stop by, you’ll smell printer’s ink drying and find fresh racks of etchings hot off the proverbial press. The stock here is a thrilling throwback to another time, when postcards were gorgeously lithographed, custom bookplates gently reminded book borrowers of their rightful owners and Casanovas invited dates upstairs to ‘look at my etchings’. Pick up original hand-stamped stationery with your choice of symbols – a meteor shower, a leaking faucet, a dandy – or invitation cards, menus and posters by local artists.
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Le Forcole di Saverio Pastor
Mick Jagger had his forcola made to measure here – and no, that’s not as naughty as it sounds. A forcola is a forked tongue of wood where the gondola oar rests, hand-carved from acacia and hard oak; each one must be made to match a gondolier’s exact height and weight so as not to upset the gondola’s delicate balance. Sounds like a job for Saverio Pastor, who makes forcole that twist and lean in perfect balance – ideal for budding gondoliers, or as a customised sculpture.
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Marina e Susanna Sent
Warned that women couldn’t handle working in molten glass, two sisters from Murano, trained as an architect and a jeweller, rose to the challenge – and created Murano’s bestselling line of hand-blown glass statement jewellery. Museum shops around Venice feature their work, including ice-blue waterfall necklaces, traffic-stopping red-dot collars, and signature ‘soap’ necklaces: woven clear glass bubbles that make the wearer look both stylish and freshly scrubbed. There’s also a branch at Ponte San Moisè in San Marco.
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Antiquariato Claudia Canestrelli
Hand-coloured lithographs of ‘prehistoric’ lagoon fish and 19th-century miniatures of cats dressed as generals are charming souvenirs of Venice’s past, but collector-artisan Claudia Canestrelli is bring- ing back bygone elegance with her repurposed antique earrings, including free-form baroque pearls dangling from tiny silver pigs.
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Sigfrido Cipolato
Booty worthy of pirate royalty is displayed in this fishbowl-sized window display: a constellation of diamonds in star settings on a ring, a tiny enamelled green snake sinking its fangs into a pearl, and diamond drop earrings that end in enamelled gold skulls. Though they look like heirlooms, these small wonders were worked on the premises by master jeweller Sigfridio – and you’ll pay as little as half what you would at the high-end jewellery showrooms near San Marco that carry Cipolato’s work.
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Mosaico!
Marta Bertaggia plies Venice’s ancient artisan trade with similar tools used for San Marco’s mosaics a millennium ago: a tiny hammer and rods of raw glass. The glass is gently tapped into square tesserae (small tiles) and painstakingly set into shimmering mosaic vases, mirror frames, a stunning masquerade mask, the lion of San Marco heraldic emblem and careful recreations of Egon Schiele paintings. Custom pieces can be commissioned here too, so you can capture your own mosaic memory of Venice.
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Nave De Oro
Wine is as important to life for Venetians as water and a fine take-home tradition persists in Venice for tipplers unable or unwilling to spend on big labels. These wine-stores are crammed with huge glass damigiane (demijohns). From these monsters, each containing a sea of modest Veneto table wine, you make a choice and have it poured into whatever you bring - used wine or mineral-water bottles, it's up to you. You will be charged per litre. There are many branches of this chain around.
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Cartè
Lagoon ripples mysteriously appear on marbled-paper necklaces and hand-bound portfolios thanks to the steady hands and restless imagination of carta marmorizzata (marbled paper) maestra Rosanna Corrò. After years restoring ancient Venetian manuscripts and books, Rosanna began creating original, bookish beauties: aquatic marbled-paper cocktail rings, hypnotically swirled statement necklaces, op-art jewellery boxes and surreal book-bound handbags featuring woodgrain patterns.
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Il Pavone di Fabio Pelosin
Baccalà mantecato (Venice’s signature fish pâté) is bound to come out better when captured in a handmade recipe book stamped with Venetian Gothic architectural patterns. Il Pavone’s recipe books, travel logs and day planners are printed with traces of metallic pigments, but don’t just judge them by their shimmering covers. Inside they’re well organised with tabs and headings for meal planning, trip highlights and upcoming birthdays.
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Al Canton del Vin
Wine is as important to life for Venetians as water and a fine take-home tradition persists in Venice for tipplers unable or unwilling to spend on big labels. These wine-stores are crammed with huge glass damigiane (demijohns). From these monsters, each containing a sea of modest Veneto table wine, you make a choice and have it poured into whatever you bring - used wine or mineral-water bottles, it's up to you. You will be charged, on average, around €2 per litre.
reviewed
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Cantina del Canton
Wine is as important to life for Venetians as water and a fine take-home tradition persists in Venice for tipplers unable or unwilling to spend on big labels. These wine-stores are crammed with huge glass damigiane (demijohns). From these monsters, each containing a sea of modest Veneto table wine, you make a choice and have it poured into whatever you bring - used wine or mineral-water bottles, it's up to you. You will be charged, on average, around €2 per litre.
reviewed
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Drogheria Mascari
Ziggurats of cayenne, leaning towers of star anise and chorus lines of spotlit olive oils attract crowds of awestruck foodies to Drogheria Mascara’s windows. Indoors, customers clutch tiny jars of white truffles like holy relics, and staff help dazed first-timers navigate the selection of Sicilian capers and 50 kinds of aromatic honeys. For memorable small-production Italian wines at €10 to €30 – including Veneto cult winemakers like Quintarelli – don’t miss the backroom enoteca (wine bar).
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Ottica Vascellari
Second-generation opticians and first-class eyewear stylists, the Vascellari family intuit eyewear needs with a glance at your prescription and a long look to assess your face shape and personal style. Angular features demand Vascellari’s signature bold architectural eyewear line with two-tone laminates, delicate features are set off with sleek satin-finish specs, and fabulous gold-rimmed sunglasses will have the crowds parting for you at the Venice film festival.
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Davinia Design
Less is more at this working studio of simple, dramatic Murano brick-red glass pendants and cufflinks that look like tiny sea urchins clinging to your wrists. You’ll usually find transplanted Belgian artisan Davinia at work here fashioning clever, understated daisy stud earrings that look more elegant but cost less than flowery fantasias you’ll find around Piazza San Marco – there’s a good range from €19 to €37.
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Daniela Ghezzo
A gold chain is pulled across the doorway, but not because Daniela is out: she’s chatting with a customer about shoe preferences while taking foot measurements. In this historic atelier, maestra Ghezzo continues the tradition of custom-making every pair to measure, so you’ll never see your oxblood ankle boots on another art collector, or your charcoal-grey wingtips on a rival titan of industry.
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Madera
Double-takes are a given at this modern design showcase, where porcelain birdhouses are covered with fish scales, wooden cutting boards are shaped like Venetian islands, and teapots in foam-rubber tea cosies seem ready to scuba-dive. These original design objects are by owner-designer Francesca Meratti and other Italian designers (with Scandinavian and Japanese influences) in a well-curated collection starting at €15.
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Gmeiner
London, Paris, Tokyo: Gabriele Gmeiner honed her shoemaking craft in sartorial centres around the globe, and jet-setters now seek out her hidden Venice workshop for ultrasleek Oxfords with hidden ‘bent’ seams and brogues minutely detailed with hand-stitching, all made to measure for men and women. If Gabriele’s not stitching on-site, she’s probably at the women’s prison on Giudecca, where she leads a job-training program in shoe design.
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