Venice, Italy

Venice was the first stop we had on our Italian tour. We were worried about getting to our hotel in a timely fashion as we arrived in the late afternoon and only had one night in Venice. Luckily there was a straight water bus boat to Saint Marcus' Piazza from which we were just a short walk away.

Being quite hungry it was a nervous thought to be in a foreign land where their staple foods are normally comprised of gluten. 

Having done my research ahead of time I knew that Venice was going to be one of the tougher parts of Italy to eat and so I had restaurants circled on the map from before. So after settling in at the hotel we embarked on the short walk to Ostaria All'Ombra. 

Once we arrived, much to my surprise we were greeted with English menus and on request a separate Gluten Free menu!  The menu had 2-3 pastas and pizzas to choose from, GF tiramisu and profiteroles for dessert and even a GF beer.

Tiramisu at Ostaria All'Ombra

I ordered a Margarita Pizza and a tiramisu for dessert. The pizza was very tasty however the crust was quite dry and dense.  The tiramisu was a frozen cake slice with whipped cream, it tasted very frozen and bland and I would not recommend it aside for those wanting to have the novelty of having a GF tiramisu in Italy (and not going to Rome where there were several better options). Nonetheless it was nice to have a safe decent meal on my first night.

Breakfast at Pasticceria Ponte Delle Paste

For breakfast we headed over to Pasticceria (patisserie in English) Ponte Delle Paste.  The women working inside spoke English very well and knee the ingredients in every item, my assumption is that she was the baker.  She didn't have anything that was specifically made gluten free but knee which items were naturally gluten free and pointed me towards the meringues, macaroons and chocolate torte. I ordered the torte and macaroons which were both amazing.

Special thanks goes out to Jennifer Brick at The Gluten Bigot as her blog article on Venice is where I started my research for Venice.  One note however, we were unable to find the place called Ristobar mentioned in her blog so if you are to find it please do let me know!

About me

Hi my name is Aly, I am in mid 20's and I was diagnosed with Celiac disease almost 3 years ago.  Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease where my body reacts by attacking itself when it detects the presence of gluten. Additionally, I have also been lactose intolerant all of my life. Luckily I love to cook and bake and therefore when I'm having a craving for something that isn't normally gluten free I attempt to make it and take lactase enzyme pills 

I'm Canadian (eh); however I moved across the pond to London two years ago to find work and travel Europe. I feel like I've been able to find success in both of these tasks, I'm currently working in the financial sector, and when I finish the trip I'm currently on in Italy will have travelled to 17 cities outside of London.

In this blog I hope to share with you the ups and downs of travelling and living gluten free (GF) in London and in the destinations I find myself in. Insights on the best - and safest - places to eat GF and amazing recipes that I stumble upon and hopefully the GF success stories that result from them.