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It’s no secret that Venice offers some excellent shopping opportunities, but the best of them are often not the most conspicuous. Look beyond the ubiquitous street vendors and the hundreds of virtually indistinguishable purse, glass, and lace shops that line the calli, and you’ll discover a bounty of unique and delightful treasures—some might be kitschy, but much will show off the high level of craftsmanship for which Venice has long been known.
Alluring shops abound. You'll find countless vendors of trademark Venetian wares such as Murano glass and Burano lace; the authenticity of some goods can be suspect, but they're often pleasing to the eye regardless of their heritage. For more sophisticated tastes (and deeper pockets), there are jewelers, antiques dealers, and high-fashion boutiques on a par with those in Italy's larger cities but often maintaining a uniquely Venetian flair. Don’t ignore the contemporary, either: Venice's artisan heritage lives on in the hand and eye of the today’s designers—no matter where they hail from.
While the labyrinthine city center can seem filled with imposing high-fashion emporiums and fancy glass shops, individual craftspeople often working off the main thoroughfares produce much of what is worth taking home from Venice. In their workshops artful stationery is printed with antique plates; individual pairs of shoes are adroitly constructed; jewelry is handcrafted; fine fabrics are skillfully woven; bronze is poured to make gondola décor, and iron is worked into fanali lanterns; paper is glued, pressed, and shaped into masks; and oars and forcola oarlocks are hewn and sculpted in the workshops of remér wood craftsmen.
A long-established treasure trove of unusual books, historic prints, and quirky postcards spills out of this crammed bookshop onto the pretty campo by the Miracoli church. Chat with friendly owner Claudio Vascon about your interests and he may dig out a fascinating antiquarian volume from his nearby storeroom.
Venetian perfumier The Merchant of Venice took over this historic bookshop, so it's not only a good stop for books in English, especially guidebooks and books on Venetian culture and food, but there's also an olfactory room where you can "browse" herbs used for perfumes as well as sign up for perfume creation courses. Studium is also particularly strong on English-language fiction with Italian, mostly Venetian, settings and themes.
The bookstore of Università di Venezia Ca' Foscari has a reasonable selection of titles in English. Shelves teem with literature and history, but there's also a handful of travel books, as well as the latest best sellers.
This publisher's national chain always has an exceptional variety of books. For Venice's typically small space, the shop is delightfully spacious, and has an excellent selection of books.
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 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.
