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In my first post I summarized my own recent  experiences in Venice.  In
this post I will summarize the info that others sent to me:
 
 
 
Enjoy Italy!  It's great for Celiacs.  To marry, everyone has to have a 
blood test for Celiac and everywhere I went in Italy the waiters and
chefs 
immediately knew what I meant and prepared wonderful rissotos for me
which 
were the envy of my traveling companions.
 
Also, you can get soup for lunch anywhere as they don't use flour to
thicken 
them as they do in the US.  Thank God!  I wanted to move there the food
was 
so good.  A dining card is helpful, but really, no sweat!
 
 
You wont' have any problem at restaurants, they are perfectly willing
and very understanding - fresh fish is fabulous every day there!  In
Florence, if you can get in, is a restaurant called Cibreo - very
expensive, but worth every bite and every minute.  If that is too dear,
across the street is their bistro - a little less expensive.  We were
three weeks in Italy and I never ever had a problem! 
 
one other web address: www.dspizzapoint.com for a list of gf 
restuarants that do GF pizza and pasta. I think there is a link to this
on 
the italian celiac webpage as well,.
 
First you should check out the 
italian celiac association's webpage. www.celiachia.it  They have
listings 
of  gf products that you can get anywhere (kind of like the delphi
forums 
list) as well as lists of GF friendly restaurants and gelato places in
many 
areas of the country. Unfortunately the place in venezia has closed and 
there was only one listed in actual venezia althought there were others
in 
that province but in outlying towns (e.g. choggia). So, we ate two meals
in 
Venezia at the same place, Trattoria Storica in the Cannaregio
neighborhood 
at 4858 Ponte Dei Gesuiti tel # 041-528-5266 . It was the waiter who was

great. There seemed to be only 2 or 3 there, he was the oldest one but
not 
any older than 35-40 I would say. I had risotto one day, salad with 
proscuitto and the second day I had a wonderful vegetable plate for an 
appetizer, also another appetizer that had polenta on it and some other 
things (can;t remember everything now) and then we had broiled fish for
the 
main course. I will say that I was not very impressed with Venezia, it
is 
incredibly touristy, so if you can hop on a train to Firenze or anywhere

else, I would do it. ALso, hop the vaporetto (boat-bus) to the islands 
(Murano, Burano, and Torchello) and walk around off the beaten path.
These 
are much more pleasstn and less-tourist mobbed than venezia itself. We 
thoroughly enjoyed FLorence, although still alot of toursist it wasn't 
quite so overrun. Plus there was a GF friendly restuarant called
Ristorante 
Ciro and Son's on via del giglio (#26/28)  tel 055-289694 (that is the 
nunber listed but not sure if that is complete). I had a fabulous dinner

there, they do both GF pasta and pizza, although they were out of flour
the 
day I was there. But I had wonderful pasta with Boglnese (sp?) sauce.
It 
was fabulous. And you must try the rucula salad topped with bifsteke and

shaved cheese. This is to die for and you don;t even need salad dressing

for it. I was not able to find a gf frindely gelato place in Florence. 
There were some on my list but they were not very close to where we were

staying or sightseeing. If you are into leather goods, check out the 
italian leather school which is in the backof Santa croche church (you
walk 
around the left side of the church when facing front donw the street
till 
you see a large archway on your right side. follow the walkway behind
the 
chuurch and hten go upstiars to the leather school. You can then enter
the 
church to see the inside from the leather school.
 
We also did most of our lunches picnic style. I packed GF crackers, and 
breakfast food. I couldn't eat much from the hotel breakfasts as that is

most likely rolls/croisants, etc. Althoug in florence they did have 
yougurt. I also packed our cloth picnic cooler with an icepack. The
hotels 
kept the icepack in their freezers for us and we grabbed it in the
morning 
and then bought some cheese or proschiutto and bread (for my non-gf 
partner) and fruit and we would make a picnic lunch for ourselves. The 
italian dinners can be very filling so you don't need to eat more than 
that. And there is always gelato to keep you going. I found with my
italian 
restaurant cards that I had little problem getting food. ALso, I did not

buy any food from the farmacia while there. The exchange rate is sooo
bad 
it really makes more sense to pack GF carbs and fill in with local
fruits 
and cheeses. Buon Viaggio!
 
I can tell you that there is a Wendy's just beside St. Mark's and I was
able to get a large fresh salad each day for lunch.
 
All McDonald's are supposed to have GF buns, but I found that not to be
true 
either.
 
I just returned from Venice and was pleasantly surprised at how many
people were aware of Celiac -- especially if you used the card. I had
wonderful meals of risotto (although sometimes 2 people need to order
this) and caprese salad.   They seem to err on the conservative side to
ensure no cross-contamination so I was happy the whole time I was there.
I ordered GF beer in a pharmacy in the morning and went back later on in
the day to pick it up.  Although, with the great wine over there, you
really don't need the GF beer. 
 
I just spent 3 weeks in Venice, ate like a queen, and never worried  
and never got sick. Of course I just ate real fresh foods, not  
subsitute products.
 
One restaurant  is Ai Artista, it is in the Dorsoro area and it is  
just south of Campo San Barnaba on the lane that leads out of San  
Barnaba towards the Accademia bridge.
 
The owners are Enzo and Francesca. Tell them Cathleen says hello.
 
 
 
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