The claim
A bacaro in the lanes behind the Rialto market, reached through the sottoportego that carries its name. Wine is poured by the glass at a high counter with cicchetti laid along it, there are a few tables in front of it, and a dining room behind serves Venetian cooking. The sign of the two swords was a Venetian innkeeper's address in the fifteenth century, and the bridge outside is still named for it.
What the records show
The 1448 is the house's own, lettered across its site as "dal 1448", and its history page attributes the year to Giuseppe Tassini's Curiosità veneziane of 1872, which cites Carle de Zuane, hosto all'insegna delle Spade. The citation is reported independently by Italian writers on Venetian food and topography, who add that the same man was gastaldo of the confraternity of innkeepers that met at San Matteo di Rialto in 1488, and that the Venetian cadastre of 1566 lists an osteria delle do spade a S. Matteo, with two ground-floor shops, belonging to the Foscari family and leased to an innkeeper called Battista. Casanova's memoirs put a Carnival supper at l'osteria delle Spade in 1745. What all of that dates is the sign rather than a street number: the reason for reading it as this house is that the calle, the sottoportego and the bridge outside all still carry the name Do Spade, and that the cadastral entry places the osteria at San Matteo, a hundred metres away. Nothing has been traced about the age of the standing fabric. Drink without a meal is not in question here: the house serves wine by the glass at a high counter with cicchetti along it, and the room in front of the counter is where people stand.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1448 | Claimed founding | The pub |
| 1448 | First record of a drinking house here | cantinadospade.com |
What to look for inside
- Tassini's Curiosità veneziane cites an innkeeper at this sign in 1448
- Named in the Venetian cadastre of 1566 as the osteria delle do spade
- Casanova's memoirs put a Carnival supper here in 1745
Visiting
Cantina Do Spade is in Venice, Italy, at Calle do Spade, San Polo 859/860, 30125 Venezia. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- cantinadospade.com/en/our-history/
- www.dissapore.com/ristoranti/cantina-do-spade-a-venezia-recensione-di-un-bacaro-storico/
- www.appuntidizelda.it/cantina-do-spade-venezia-recensione/
- www.conoscerevenezia.it/?p=63051
- www.openstreetmap.org/node/4431132539
- www.storienogastronomiche.it/cantina-do-spade/
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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