Rialto Market is Venice’s historic food market, tucked beside the Grand Canal in San Polo, a short walk from the Rialto Bridge. Its two main sections are the Erberia, with stalls of fruit and vegetables, and the Pescheria, where fishmongers display the day’s catch beneath a covered loggia. It remains a working market as well as a window into everyday Venetian life.
Trading has taken place around Rialto for roughly a thousand years. The district was the commercial heart of the Venetian Republic, where merchants and bankers dealt in goods arriving from across Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. The fish market’s Gothic-style loggia is much newer, dating from 1907, though fish has been sold in the area for centuries.
Come to see what is in season: cuttlefish, sea bass and lagoon crabs at the Pescheria, and produce such as violet artichokes in spring and radicchio in winter. Even if you are not shopping for dinner, the market makes a lively morning walk. Afterwards, stop at a nearby bacaro for cicchetti and a small glass of wine.
Arrive early, ideally between 8 and 10 a.m.; the fish stalls generally close around midday. The Pescheria is typically closed on Sundays and Mondays, and produce-stall hours can vary. Walk over from the Rialto Bridge or take a vaporetto to Rialto Mercato, and wear shoes with good grip on the market’s wet stone.