Drogheria Mascari — the spice merchant near Rialto

The oldest grocery in central Venice — open since 1948 on the calle that has housed Venetian spice merchants for six hundred years. The Mascari family (now run by Luciano's sons Gabriele and Gino) still trades the trade: 50 kinds of honey, sun-dried tomatoes from southern Italy, truffles, candied fruits, balsamic vinegars aged twenty years, and a separate wine room with 600+ Italian labels. The smell when you walk in is the entire memory of Venetian trade routes condensed into a doorway. Edible souvenirs that don't read as souvenirs — the saffron, the dried porcini, the chestnut honey. Closed Sundays.

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