Ai Assassini

Tucked away near the bustling Piazza San Marco and the elegant Fenice opera house, Ai Assassini offers a welcome reprieve from the tourist-trap restaurants that dominate this corner of Venice. While many eateries in the area serve forgettable fare at inflated prices, this intimate osteria delivers authentic Venetian cooking with genuine care and attention.

The real stars here are the housemade pastas, which change with the seasons. Winter brings ribbons of fresh pasta luxuriously coated in butter and crowned with fragrant white truffles, while spring sees delicate noodles swirled with briny sea bass roe and topped with paper-thin slices of crispy Sant’Erasmo artichokes. Every dish showcases the kitchen’s respect for seasonal ingredients and traditional technique.

Seafood sourced directly from the lagoon and the Adriatic takes center stage throughout the menu. The mazzancolle—sweet, tiny shrimp prepared with elegant simplicity—highlight just how good pristine ingredients can be when treated with restraint. A crispy wedge of grey mullet demonstrates the same philosophy: beautiful fish, perfectly cooked, allowed to shine on its own merits.

Whether you’re gathering with a group for a leisurely lunch or settling in for a romantic dinner for two, the atmosphere strikes the perfect balance. Jazz often plays softly in the background, but never in a way that feels pretentious or overbearing. For a genuine taste of Venice in one of the city’s most touristy neighborhoods, Ai Assassini delivers where so many others fall short.