For readers who missed it before, here are Venice-resident Robin Saikia’s top bars in Venice, from his elegiac handbook Drink & Think Venice:

Each chapter of Drink & Think Venice begins with an introduction to one of my favourite bars and a recommendation as to what one might drink there: the "Drink". This is followed by an extended piece on a Venetian theme, the "Think". Some topics are well-known, others less so.

1. Trattoria San Basilio (Zattere)
A refreshing glass of Tai, followed by an account of Operation Bowler, RAF Air-Marshal Robert "Pussy" Foster's masterly surgical bombing of the German naval base at the Marittima dock nearby, in March 1945. [Editor’s note: sadly “Pussy’s” is currently closed]

2. Harry’s Bar (Calle Vallaresso)
A stiff vodka martini, followed by a hymn to Harry's and a firm swipe at the many visitors who complain that Venice is "too expensive" - the age-old debate of price versus value.

3. Schiavi (Fondamenta Nani)
A beaker of Chiaretto at one of Venice's most charming wine bars, followed by meditations on the history of Baccalà (creamed stockfish), and on Tintoretto's The Last Supper in the nearby church of San Trovaso

4. Quadri (Piazza San Marco)
Exotic and delicious coffee, and a celebration of Venice's celebrated C19 bandmaster, Jacopo Calascione, and his association with Richard Wagner.

5. Hotel Villa Laguna (The Venice Lido)
Watching the sunset with the help of a Spritz Select, and an assessment of the various Spritz hybrids currently available, and an overview of how the drink was developed and marketed over the last century.

6. Il Mercante (opposite the Frari)
An exotic cocktail such as the Seven Witches, or St Nicholas of the Lettuce (sounds better in Italian!), followed by a celebration of Antonio Canova, and a comparison of two very different sculptures of John the Baptist, one by Donatello and a less well-know depiction by Sansovino.

7. Bar Blu (Dorsoduro)
Caffè corretto (espresso with grappa) at my favourite Chinese bar, followed by an appreciation of Veronese's wonderful interior at the church of San Sebastiano opposite, and a curious tale about the lovelock craze (sweetheart padlocks affixed to bridges and monuments) and a mysterious Chinese entrepreneur.

8. Da Filo (Campo San Giacomo dall'Orio)
A glass of prosecco, and a history of the ever-popular wine, followed by a very personal account of my lifelong love for the church of San Giacomo dall'Orio - and some unsettling meditations on the Fourth Crusade.

9. Al Squero (Fondamenta Nani)
A glass of the best Soave made with organically-grown Garganega grapes, and a celebration of the gondola (the old squero, boatyard, is opposite the bar) and what it has meant not only to Venetians but also to prominent venetophiles such as Henry James, Marcel Proust and J. W. M. Turner.

10. Al Todaro (the Piazzetta)
A beaker of refreshing but non-alcoholic Gingerino, the better to contemplate in sobriety the dramatic havoc wrought on Venice by Napoleon, including his destruction of the Bucintoro, state barge of the Doges, and his demolition of the old church of San Geminiano.

11. Hotel Palazzetto Pisani (off Campo Santo Stefano)
My new cocktail, The Red Priest, in the bar of this superb boutique hotel hidden away behind the Conservatorio - and a celebration of Antonio Vivaldi with an account of Ezra Pound's part in the rediscovery of many of his lost concerti. Further celebrations, of Winnaretta Singer de Polignac and Peggy Guggenheim, two prominent American heiresses whose palaces can be seen from the bar balcony overlooking the Grand Canal.

12. Chioschetto (Zattere)
A refreshing glass of Veneto beer at the friendly shack on Zattere, and a look at the life and achievements of one of the great expatriate Venetian adoptees, Mariano Fortuny.

13. Ba’Ghetto (the Ghetto)
A sparkling and kosher glass of Bartenura Moscato d'Asti, and a celebration of the life and work of Michelaneglo Guggenheim, the great C19 Jewish-Venetian art dealer and decorator whose family migrated to Venice in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars.

14. Hotel Excelsior (Venice Lido)
A cocktail, the Excelsior Ruby, followed by a celebration of this elegant, cheerful and uplifting grand hotel on the Lido - and a gentle push for my own site- and book-specific cocktail, Death in Venice.

15. TiME Social Bar
A heady cocktail based on Gin dei Sospiri (made with Sant'Erasmo glasswort) in this trendy late-night bar, followed by a celebration of the Despar Teatro Italia nearby, Venice's grandest supermarket, housed in Giovanni Sardi's 1913 neo-Gothic theatre - and further remarks on excellent and atrocious examples of pastiche architecture throughout the city.

16. Bar Longhi (Gritti Palace Hotel)
A very grand cocktail - the Doge Gritti - followed by a celebration of what the church of the Salute meant to generations of Venetians during the plague, and what it came to mean again during the Covid pandemic. Further toasts to the life and achievements of Doge Andrea Gritti whose home this was.

17. Hotel La Calcina
Gin & Tonic accompanied by half a dozen oysters - and an assessment of the life and work, the passions and prejudices, of John Ruskin, who lived here during his final stay in Venice in 1877.

18. Al Remer (near Rialto, overlooking the Grand Canal)
A bottle of Malvasia at this enchanting courtyard restaurant-bar overlooking the Grand Canal, and a look back at the Lion family, who built this unusual palace after the disastrous Siege of Acre in 1291, when they were forced to flee the Levant and return home to Venice.

19. Caffè Florian (Piazza San Marco)
Orange Pekoe and Negroni - followed by a tour of inspection of this exquisite bar, and a reminder that it was here that the Venice Biennale as we know it was conceived and inaugurated - further mediations on our communion with Venice past, with the help of A. E. Housman and Joseph Brodsky.

20. Rosa Salva (Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo)
A warming glass of orange punch, a selection of Venetian biscuits, and a celebration of Dr. Giuseppe Jona, hero of the Jewish Resistance in Venice during WW2.

21. Al Volto (near Campo Manin)
A velvety, garnet-coloured glass of Valpolicella Amarone to toast Elena Piscopia Cornaro, whose palace is nearby, and who was among the first women ever to graduate from a university, and the first ever woman to graduate with a doctorate in Philosophy, from the University of Padua in 1678.

22. Sottovento (Murano)
A translucent Spritz Hugo, made with prosecco, elderflower cordial and fresh mint, followed by a celebration of some of my favourite Venetian glass, from Barovier to Venini (and a some unsettling observations on the role played by Venetian glass beads as "currency" in the Slave Trade).

23. Caffè Rosso (Campo Santa Margherita)
A Mojito (as favoured by the throngs of Venetian undergraduates who congregate here) followed by an unusual tale about an enterprising local hotelier who declared this area the "Republicca di Margherita", shortly before WW1. Later, what had been little more than a "Republican" dining-club became a symbol of local resistance to Fascism in the Twenties, when pitched brawls took place in the campo between factions of the Left and Right.

24. Il Redentore (San Marco)
A pallina (a mini-Spritz without the frills), before an inspection of the facade of nearby Santa Maria del Giglio, arguable one of the least Christian church facades in Christendom.

25. Kiosk le Coccinelle
A warming hot chocolate after a trip by tram or bus to the mainland shopping centre at Marghera - a reminder that all is not Ruskin and roses in Venice. A celebration of the work of Eugenio Miozzi, master bridge-builder, who built the Accademia Bridge, the bridge to the mainland, and the multi-storey carpark in Piazzale Roma.

26. Torcello
Finally, not a bar, but a hip flask, charged as always with a honey-scented grappa from the Poli Distillerie. A long walk in the meadows and enchanted marshland beyond Torcello - and a visit to the basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, to inspect an exquisite C11 relief plaque depicting wing-sandalled Kairos, the personification of the Opportune Moment, so easily found in Venice, and yet so easily missed or lost.

“an entertaining read and a fun to-do list, a great introduction to Venice for the first time visitor, adding wonderful depth and colour for those who already know and love the city”

“The depth of information and quality of research make this book the best guide for the independent cultural traveller“