As much as Venice is one of the world's most visited cities it's hard to find a high-quality souvenir made locally, despite souvenir stores making up a huge portion of the stores in Venice. These stores or stalls look practically identical; the shop/stall owner may or may not be Italian and they'll be selling the same types of t-shirts, magnets, keychains, Carnevale masks and jewelry made of Murano glass. These souvenirs can be of dubious quality and most likely not be made in Italy. When I souvenir shop for people I avoid those stores like the plague. I try as much as possible to shop locally wherever I go and in most places when I do find a good shop I find it by accident.
Feelin' Venice is an example of a local shop. A group of Venetians artists and architects got together and created a shop to share their passion of Venice through their art (https://prontopia.com/venice/feelin-venice-local-venice-shopping-with-a-sustainable-city-vision/). You'll notice immediately as you step in the shop the difference in the layout and content from other souvenir stores. The shop feels more clean, the layouts is more simple and the designs in their merchandise is more contemporary. More importantly you see the people running the shop passionate about both their business and their home city.
The shop has the staple T-shirts, bags, mugs and stationery but the designs are obviously more thought out and represent the city well. However this particular business has won me over because this was the store that I bought my most favorite souvenir of my 2 week trip: a rope bracelet with an attached iron prow that adorns all Venetian gondolas. I immediately fell in love with the bracelet at first sight and purchased it immediately. My only regret was that they sold it in only one size. I ended up losing it 2 weeks later and had to order a replacement online in a smaller size.
The shop is located somewhere along San Marco. Use Google Maps if you don't want to get lost finding the store. read more
