Disappointed because we missed the fish market on the day that we arrived in Venice, Cory and I returned to Fishmonger Central early the next morning. First I was struck by the sheer amount of superfresh seafood and produce available, but as we began to wander deeper into the market I realized that these guys were really in competition with each other -- the presentation of their wares was amazing, and they got even more competitive (and the displays even more impressive) the further we went.
These little guys caught my eye because it's so rare to see shrimp sold whole in the States. Then again, when you order a frutti de mare pizza in the States (ha!) the shrimp will at least be de-headed and de-exoskeletoned. I never did figure out the right way to eat that, short of peeling the shrimp off the pizza, rendering them edible, and popping them in my mouth. I think I would have preferred if the pizza chef had skipped the shrimp and replaced them with an equal part of those delicious silver dollar-sized octopi that were scattered about its surface. Even so, the sad thing is that the weird-shrimp-pizza was miles better than any pizza I have ever had in the States -- and yes, that includes Moose's Tooth.
But I digress. Here are the promised shrimp!
This photo is from our honeymoon. If you'd like large resolution, enlargement-quality copies of any of the files you see from our adventures in Italy, please leave a comment and let me know.