131 Best Places to Shop in Venice, Italy

The "Blue Trunk" specializes in antique toys of all sorts, but their orsi artistici, mohair teddy bears, are their trademark treasures. Painstakingly handmade in many sizes and colors, with articulated paws and glass eyes, they can either grumble or play a carillon tune when squeezed. Some are unclothed; others are dressed in old baby garments trimmed with lace and ribbons.

Swing by the carpentry workshop of Piero Dri to see how he crafts the remi (oars) and fórcole (rowlocks) that adorn the city's gondola and Voga alla Veneta flat-bottomed boats. With his walnut-wood off-cuts, Piero creates gorgeous sculptural pieces to purchase.

Of Venice's few remaining artisan leather shops, Il Grifone is the standout with respect to quality, tradition, and the guarantee of an exquisite product. For more than 30 years, Antonio Peressin has been making bags, purses, belts, and smaller leather items that have a wide following because of his precision and attention to detail. His goods remain reasonably and accessibly priced.

The name aptly translates as "The Peacock," and the shop offers a great selection of coda di pavone, a kind of paper with colors and patterns resembling the feathers of the peacock's tail. Artisans here are particularly proud of their hand-painted paper.

Carrying on the traditions of his adopted city, this craftsman makes traditional wrought-iron chandeliers, wall lamps, and Venetian lanterns, either plain black or gilded (like in the old days), in his tiny workshop near Campo Santa Maria Formosa.

This shop should not be missed if you are looking for soft leather bags that are a perfect match for almost any outfit, handmade leather shoes, or quality belts.

This is a good address for antique books and prints, majolica pottery, and other ceramics.

This tiny shop contains an abundance of masks made of papier-mâché, but Marilisa Dal Cason's skill and imagination shine best in her original creations made of cut-up resin masks (the plain white ones on sale everywhere for €1), which she ingeniously reshapes into fantastic forms. From an octopus to flames covered with gold leaf, every shape is unique. Considering that each is one of a kind, her masks, though somewhat expensive, are possibly the most economical purchase of Venetian art you'll make.

Here are not only costumes for rent, but masks in every Venetian style. Pick your century, from 17th to 19th, for historically accurate styling. Shoes, hats, and capes complete the ensemble. There are period costumes for boys and girls, too.

Margherita Rossetto has been creating unique, deliciously appealing faience-style majolica since 1989. Pieces include figures of animals, flowers, and fruit as well as abstract designs on a white background. She also fashions handmade greeting cards that are one-of-a-kind works of art in themselves. If you love cats you will enjoy her whimsical designs starring her own distinctive if highly stylized cat.

This tiny shop is overflowing with masks of all types, all handmade by the owner-artisan (you can often watch him making them). There's an excellent selection of styles at competitive prices.

A Venetian institution shows off its shoes in five large windows in two neighboring shops. You'll find the house collection plus a dozen lesser-known designers, as well as luxury sportswear.

A broad assortment of writing materials, bound journals and albums, book covers, medieval sketchbooks, and handmade marble paper are made in a nearby laboratory. New products are introduced often so that no two visits to the store are ever the same.

One of Venice's oldest, and certainly most renowned, bookbinders is in the expert hands of Anselmo Polliero, the third generation of his family to create beautiful leather-bound blank books, desk accessories, picture frames, and more. He also prints serigraphs of Venetian views, and prints designs on paper using antique woodcut blocks.

Founded in 1933, Libreria Toletta is the city's oldest bookshop and a linchpin in the city's literary history. The shop offers a varied selection of English books and numerous volumes about the city of Venice in addition to their vast literary, art, and architecture offerings in Italian. Their staff is friendly and knowledgeable. (Note: "Libreria" means bookstore; "biblioteca" means library.)

Since 1995, several flourishing craft projects aimed at teaching professional skills to the inmates of Venice's prisons have borne exceptional fruit. High-quality purses, messenger bags, backpacks, pouches, cosmetic bags, etc., are made of PVC by the men, and a luscious line of natural cosmetics is created by the women using their own herbs and flowers. Solid cakes of shampoo and other hair-care products, bath gel, and creams are chemical-free. Several luxury hotels have substituted the cooperative's line of bath products for brand-name items. The collective's trademark name is "Malefatte," in one sense "badly made," but really a play on the word "malafatta," meaning "wrongdoing." 

Craftswoman and architect Francesca Meratti and a team of local and international artisans combine traditional and contemporary design to create a mix of most-appealing objects, including dishware, carved wooden bowls, jewelry, and ceramic pieces.

Since 1997 the "Sea of Paper" has been Venice's best book and gift shop devoted to nautical themes. Books, calendars, navigation charts, and instruments, plus postcards, prints, toys, children's books and games, and even bags made of old sails are among the treasures you'll find here. There is also a wide variety of books on the Venetian lagoon and traditional Venetian boats.

The beautiful and elegant glass jewelry of Marina and Susanna Sent has been featured in Vogue. Look also for vases and other exceptional design pieces. Other locations are on the Fondamenta Serenella on Murano and in San Polo under the Sotoportego dei Oresi at Rialto.

Hailing from Turin, Massimiliano shows his love of his adopted city and Murano glassmaking in his eclectic lamp-work creations. Pop in to see him at work, commission a piece, or browse the glassware, which varies from elegant wine glasses and sculptures to nautical-theme pieces and saucily themed jewelry.

These weekday markets stretch along the busy canal and nearby Strada Nova, where locals come to pick up fruit, vegetables, and fish.

This new salon near the Rialto market offers all the usual services—haircut and styling, color, hair repair treatments, and more, for men as well as women. What is exceptional, though, is that unlike almost all hair salons, they are open on Mondays. If your schedule doesn't leave you time to wait till Tuesday, they're ready to do whatever you need.

You could almost miss this extraordinary little shop tucked under the Sotoportego del Casin dei Nobili on the edge of Campo San Barnaba. Shoes, hats, handbags, and tote bags fill the tiny space literally up to the ceiling. You will be entranced by the imagination and skill of the artisans whose work Nadia (and before her, her mother) has been selling here for 40 years. Vibrant colors and first-class materials combine in items that are true originals. Most remarkable are the shoes and handbags made of narrow strips of leather that have been woven into designs copied from the facades of palaces.

The largest costume-rental showroom in town has outfitted many a period film (including Casanova). They have nearly 7,000 choices ranging from the historical to the fantastic, including thematic costumes ideal for group masquerades.

The exclusive dealer since 1967 of some of the most famous living artists on the Italian scene shows work by Venetian surrealist Ludovico De Luigi, metaphysical painter Andrea Vizzini, and glass sculptor Primo Formenti.

The Rialto fish, fruit, and vegetable markets have been operational in this same location for more than a thousand years. It's a food potpourri; scan the stalls to see what you might be dining on during your stay (or better yet, rent an apartment and experiment yourself). Look for the word "nostrano" ("ours," meaning local) when shopping to identify the most local fish and produce. For enthusiasts of seppie (cuttlefish), be aware that the older the fish is, the more black ink will be covering it. Only a few butchers survive, but this could be your chance to try horsemeat, tripe, pigs' feet, chicken livers, and other things that used to be everyday food here.

The enticing selection of tasteful Murano glass accessories, figures, and chalices at Rose Douce includes jewelry made with antique Murano beads and braided gold.

The Japanese aesthetic is quite apparent in the ceramic and porcelain bowls, plates, vases, and teapots, with inviting clean, natural lines and muted colors, of artist-owner Maria Teresa Laghi and her collaborators. Her silk scarves are just as appealing.

Established in 1857, Salvadori features sparkling diamonds and other precious stones set in the shop's own designs. They have two other shops in Piazza San Marco that specialize in watches: Boutique Rolex (Piazza San Marco 44) and Panerai Venezia (Piazza San Marco 47).