Contemporary bacaro · Rialto district · Venice

Bacaro The Devil and the Aqua Santa

Bacaro The Devil and the Aqua Santa is a Venetian wine bar and cicchetteria situated in the Rialto district of San Polo, occupying a position in the dense cluster of bacari that radiate from the ancient market colonnades. Its name — invoking the theatrical contrast between the infernal and the sacred, a trope with roots in Venetian carnival and commedia dell’arte traditions — signals a venue that combines the structure of the traditional bacaro with a contemporary sensibility, drawing on the city’s heritage of wit, spectacle, and conviviality.

At a glance

Type: Venetian bacaro and cicchetteria with contemporary character
Period: Contemporary establishment operating within a historically dense bacaro district
Style: Bacaro interior with theatrical naming referencing Venetian carnival and commedia traditions
Location: Rialto district, San Polo sestiere, Venice
Coordinates: 45.4385° N, 12.3342° E

Overview

The bacaro circuit around the Rialto is one of Venice’s most practised local rituals — a tour of small wine bars undertaken on foot through the calli and campielli of San Polo and Santa Croce, pausing at each counter for a glass of wine (ombra) and a cicchetto. Bacaro The Devil and the Aqua Santa participates in this circuit while distinguishing itself through an identity that plays on Venetian theatrical tradition. The name recalls the morality plays and carnival satire through which the Republic’s popular culture processed the tensions between the sacred and the profane — a tradition with deep roots in a city that was simultaneously a centre of Catholic devotion and one of Europe’s most libertine societies.

History

Venice’s carnival tradition — formalised by the Republic in the 13th century and reaching its apotheosis in the 17th and 18th centuries — produced a rich vocabulary of masked characters, theatrical archetypes, and moral inversions that permeated popular culture and informed the naming conventions of inns, osterie, and public houses. The devil (Diavolo) and holy water (Acqua Santa) represent poles of a perennial Venetian joke about the proximity of sin and grace in a city of priests and courtesans, merchants and pilgrims. The bacaro’s name situates it within this tradition of playful sacrilege, establishing a tone of knowing irony appropriate to the Rialto’s historical character as a place where commerce, pleasure, and piety occupied the same few streets.

What you see

The bacaro presents the essential features of its type — counter, bottles, cicchetti, and the easy sociability of customers standing close together in a narrow space — combined with visual elements that nod to its theatrical name. The surrounding streetscape of the Rialto district provides a historical backdrop: Gothic loggia facades, sotoporteghi, the noise and smell of the nearby fish and vegetable markets in the morning, and the particular quality of Venetian evening light that falls into the calle as the market closes and aperitivo hour begins.

Cultural significance

A bacaro like this one contributes to the living cultural ecology of the Rialto by maintaining the social function — the daily gathering of neighbours and workers over a glass of wine — that has defined the district for centuries. Its name, rooted in the theatrical and carnival heritage of the Venetian Republic, reflects an awareness of the city’s history that goes beyond décor into an actual engagement with Venice’s cultural memory.

Practical information

Address: Rialto district, San Polo sestiere, Venice — verify current address via official listings
Hours: Typically late morning through evening aperitivo; check current hours locally
Admission: No admission charge; pay per glass and cicchetti consumed

Getting there

Vaporetto lines 1 and 2 stop at Rialto on the Grand Canal; the bacaro is within the market district a short walk from the landing. On foot from Piazza San Marco, cross the Rialto Bridge and follow the calli into the San Polo market area. From Ferrovia or Piazzale Roma, follow the Strada Nova to the Rialto Bridge.

Sources & resources

Find it on the map

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