A lot of us have found The Gluten-Free Guide To Italy very helpful. One of our readers recently went to Venice and wanted to share with us a few new gluten-free places she discovered.
Hello,
I found your great website on the web last week while I was preparing to head to Venice, Italy for the weekend. I was looking for information as to where I could eat gluten-free pasta and/or pizza. Unfortunately, the three restaurants you mentioned were closed during my visit and were going to reopen the next week. I wanted to share my discoveries in order to help anyone else traveling gluten-free to Venice. (I've been a celiac since 2000 and consider myself a foodie – I was the restaurant critique and guide for many years for the Celiac Disease Foundation quarterly bulletin based in Los Angeles, until I moved to Switzerland last year.)
Osteria Antico Dolo
Rupa Rialto, 778, Venice
Tel: 041 5226546
By chance, the first Osteria we stopped at had gluten-free pasta! The owner says he gets gluten-free requests all the time and keeps gluten-free pasta in stock. The artichoke and shrimp pasta was out of this world and the ambience is typical Venetian.
Mea Libera Tutti
Cannaregio 3805, Venice
+39 347-8488284
email: azzurra.viola@alice.it
Another amazing find: In Venice and its provence, there is one and only one store that only sells gluten-free products. They just opened a few months ago and the owner Azurra is celiac and so is her son. I wished I could have packed everything in my suitcase! The place is listed on www.glutenfreeroads.com.
Lafondamenta
Cannaregio 2578, 30121 Venice
Tel: 04 15289020
Azzurra recommended a pizzeria that had just started preparing gluten-free pizzas. The ambience is not the best, but it's still worth a visit. The owner is very nice. They work with DS (Dietary Special) and were expecting gluten-free pastries in the next day.
Let me know if you have any questions. I hope these three finds can make a future visit to Venice even more pleasant for my fellow gluten-free diners.
Take care,
Armelle Sarda
Great article, I wish I had seen this last fall before I went to Venice. Out of the three cities I visited, I actually found Venice the most difficult to eat in. I had much better luck in Rome and Florence.
I KNOW!!!! I was in Venice about 5 years ago and it wasn’t easy. Lots of risotto and survived on Pamela’s PB cookies for breaky!
Thank you, that is great information to have.
Where can I get the gluten free italy guide?
We will be spending a few days in Venice and have been concerned about what my husband could eat.
thanks for any info,
Carol
Thanks to your information about Venice & Armella’s update, I was able to eat in the restaurants recommended. I also would like to recommend a small, casual restaurant named Ai 4 Feri. It’s very casual and the server was very concerned that I get a gluten free meal. When she brought bread to the table she offered me a rice cake from her personal stock. I ate a delicious grilled calamari (no breading or sauce) with salad and an assortment of vegetables. It’s cash only. We got a carafe of the local wine. The lunch was from 12:30-2:00 & dinner from 7:30-10:30. If it wasn’t our last day in Venice, we definitely would have gone back. The address is Calle Lunga San Barnaba, Dorsoduro 2754/a Phone:041/5206978-it’s closed Sunday & we found it in Fodor’s Italy, 2008. Susan Brown
I just returned from Venice. I am both gluten-free and a vegetarian. It was very difficult to find good-quality meals, on the plane rides and while in Venice. I did visit the wonderful gluten-free store mentioned above and packed my suitcase with excellent quality pasta products to cook now that I am home. It is a challenge finding the store, but once you do, it is a resource you will cherish. My recommendation is to try to stay in a place that has kitchen access and do some of your own cooking. The produce markets are fantastic and this way you can control most of what you are eating.
Thanks so much for the really informative articles on GF eating in Venice. I’ve avoided Otaly so cey coeliac diagnosis ten years ago but have so wanted to visit Venice. This birtthday/ valentines weekend my husband and I are visiting for three nights. The articles have put my mind at rest and given me eating places to find. Thanks so much to all the contributors for taking the time to write.
Love and thanks Joanne in Scotland
La Fondamenta is now gone. I was so disappointed to a see a new place in that location. The new restaurant does offer a few GF items but we didn’t try it. Just because there were no one patrons and you couldn’t even smell food scents coming from the kitchen.
Tried Antico Dolo yesterday evening, stunning food. All pasta can be made wheat free and they even adapted a fish course for me, nothing was too much trouble, which is a rare thing. Will be going back tomorrow night!
I just came back from Venice and was able to build on your post and find great gluten free options. Here is the summary of what I found : http://gfftravel.blogspot.com/2011/06/venice.html
I have just come back from travelling through Europe and I was very surprised at how easy it was to eat in Venice and we found Mea Libera Tutti the all gluten free shop, I wish I had more room to take more of her products home. We found Wiki Travel was very good to find gluten free restaurants.
a venezia al ristorante mediterraneo FRARY’s a san polo 2558 fronte chiesa dei frari ci sono tantissimi piatti senza glutine e vegani-vegetariani. chiuso il martedi. tel 041 720050