Mercato di Rialto

West of the Rialto Bridge and all around the church of San Giacometto stretch the stalls of the Rialto market – the best place in Venice to buy seasonal fruit, veg and seafood. It’s the heartbeat of this quintessentially mercantile city, where locals have been mingling and trading goods for almost a thousand years. The market specializes in food from the lagoon – slimy, slithering creatures of the deep, many of which you’ll be hard-pressed to identify. With its Grand Canal frontage, this must surely count as one of the world’s most atmospheric shopping venues.