We arrived in Venice and the first thing we needed after an overnight plane ride (that luckily had a vegan option of lentils, quinoa, and salad to start then some kind of beet and kale mixture over brown rice) we were ready for our first Italian meal. We left the hotel and wandered to a popular area that was crowded with tourists and had many restaurants. We finally chose one because it didn’t have pictures of the food on the menu and the pizza was not impressive.

That night we were hoping for a better meal and went to recommended Osteria da Alberto and the food was fantastic. It was our best meal in Venice and the only place for dinner I’d really recommend going in Venice. I had a grilled vegetable starter and pasta pomodoro. They were both really flavorful and the pomodoro had a depth of flavor that so far might be the best I’ve had.

While we were there we asked our waiter his favorite pizza places and he mentioned Rossopomodoro which is a chain in Venice, but had great food and was near St. Mark’s Square were we had a tour the next day. We made our way and found it and the difference in pizza from the day before was night and day. The crust was thin but chewy and light, the sauce was flavorful and I added mushrooms to my pizza marinara. Luckily for vegans, Italy already had pizza marinara that doesn’t have cheese on it so I had a lot of that with grilled veggies added. This was one of the best pizzas I’ve had.

For breakfasts, we ate at our hotel buffet where I generally got toast with fresh fruit and one day I got the fruit, granola, and they had soy and rice milk. We also went to Carpaccio for dinner where I had grilled veggies and pasta pomodoro, it wasn’t as great as Alberto. Also we went to Il Barbacani and I ordered the veggie burger which was more like a potato patty with poppy seeds ( my worst meal.)

The food in Venice was pretty touristy and hard to come across amazing ingredients and meals like in other places in Italy. I’m sure there are great local places that are good but we didn’t find many there. I’m still eating a lot of veggie pizza and pasta pomodoro now that I’m in Positano, so there’s vegan options you can find anywhere in Italy without much effort. That post will be coming soon!