Venice and self catering...really!
 

We've booked a B+B (San Stefano at San Marko) for early May and it has a small kitchen.
As we are near the markets , love to cook ,and get annoyed with pretentious expensive restaurants ...and are a bit cheap too....we were thinking it could be good to have dinner at home sometimes. Is this a good idea? We have four nights and get a bit weary after nightfall. Any shopping tips welcome....are there supermarkets?
I read there are wine shops where the locals fill their own bottles with pretty good wine too....

If I understand your location, you will be close to the fish and fresh produce open market. Shop in the morning and cook at night.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7622914405643/ and the next few pictures.

Hope the fish are fresher than the photo LOL
2004.
Nice photos. We have a fridge too!

There are supermarkets in Venice, Billa, Coop and Punto. They can be well disguised, so ask your landlord for the nearest or google them. Apart from the Rialto market area, not too far from your apartment, Venice is rather low on traditional food shops, but when we've got tired of looking at a menu once again, it is easy to "assemble" dinner.

A great (a bit new) thing about Billa ( the one on Strada Nova ) is they are open MON - SAT untill 23h00 now. Wow. Sunday till 22h00. I have not checked the one on Zattere at San Basilio stop. Lido one ( the only one I know on the main street toward the beach) opens till 23h00 as well.

Tommo - IMO half of the fun of renting an apartment in venice is going out in the morning and doing the shopping for your meal.

we did this and found a supermarket on the Strada Nuova which had a terrific delicatessen section with loads of different cheeses, meats, breads. also there is a very nice deli nearby, with a bakery at the front - you had to go inside to see that it had the meats and cheeses at the back. [I had gone in looking for hot chocolate mix to bring home]. further along the street is a market, and a shop selling wine from the barrel. There is another one of those at the northern end of the Campo san Bartolomeo - walk between the Coin supermarket and the public toilets and follow the little street round til you get to the wine shop. We really liked the proscecco! Keep on going round and you'll come to an excellent bar that does lovely cicchetti in the form of filled rolls, and further on still you'll find a load of little streets and interesting shops and businesses - a great area for exploring.

There is also a lovely cheese vendor [not really a shop] between the Rialto bridge and market, on the left, as well as what our apartment landlord described at the best baker in Venice.

I'm sure that you'll be able to find some nice things to eat, if only cold cuts or made-up dishes you buy in from a rosticceria. if you want to do some real cooking, i suggest that you check what cooking vessels and utensils you have before you go out and buy some expensive ingredients!

have a great trip!

We did something similar to what you're talking about, even renting an apt. in the same area.

We found a good market a few blocks west of the Accademia. That means you would have to go across the Accademia bridge and then walk a few blocks more -- a pleasant walk, but less pleasant if you're carrying groceries. Our trick: take small wheeled luggage with you and use it as a cart for the return trip.

Now you want to know the name of the market. Sorry, I'm drawing a blank, but it could be Punto. It would be near the Fondamenta Sangiofoletti. BTW, they have some prepared meals that are pretty good, too.

Good tips. Thanks!

Tommmo, we watched an old but really good movie last night that is filmed in Venice in 1955 and has a lot, and I mean a lot of Venice sights in it. Since you are visiting, I think you would enjoy the scenery:
'Summertime with Katharine Hepburn'

Find campo santa margherita for a nice fish market and a lovely getaway from the St. Mark area. I don't know if that's the one to which Michael refers above but I'm guessing his is Rialto???

Probably.

Many thanks annhig and others, we're greatly encouraged. We rented an apartment in Fethiye Turkey in Sept. and really enjoyed shopping at the markets and even getting to be known by some shops, given advice and discounts etc.
Love the idea of filling 'er up bottles at the wine shops too!