Gillian Longworth McGuire

Italy, Rome, Venice

I live in Venice. My superpower: Finding terrific places to eat,stay & shop in Italy’s best-known destinations.Sometimes I write about them 📸 gillianknowsbest

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Articles

Gillian Knows Best guide to what to buy at the Italian pharmacy

1 week ago | gillianlongworthmcguire.substack.com | Gillian Longworth McGuire

There are endless articles and Instagram Reels and TikTok’s about what to buy at a French pharmacy, but there are surprisingly few about what to buy at the Italian pharmacy. We may not have a City Pharm, or Officine Universelle Buly1 in Rome or Venice but what we do have all over Italy are something called Parafamacia. This is kind ofthe Italian version of a CVS or Walgreens.
Gillian Knows Best guide to Wine in Venice

2 weeks ago | gillianlongworthmcguire.substack.com | Gillian Longworth McGuire

I don’t get lost in the calle and I even know a few words in Venetian but there are so many things to learn about my still new-ish home.1 Wine is one of them. Literally millions of cases of wine are produced in the Veneto. Where to even begin? I know about crisp Soave’s and can usually pronounce Valdobbiadene (one of the places where Prosecco is grown) and that finding Franciacorta is next to impossible. My drink of choice in Venice is almost always a spritz bianco.
Gillian Knows Best guide to Gelato in Rome

3 weeks ago | gillianlongworthmcguire.substack.com | Gillian Longworth McGuire

My big not-so-secret is that I donāt really love gelato. I like it fine. I have it a few times a year when the temperature is not too hot or not too cold. Because I eat gelato so infrequently it really needs to be excellent. The words gelato and ice cream are often used interchangeably but they are not quite the same thing. Italian gelato is denser with less air incorporated into it. It has a lower fat and a higher sugar content. Gelato is also served at a higher temperature than ice cream.
Fammi una Domanda May 2025

1 month ago | gillianlongworthmcguire.substack.com | Gillian Longworth McGuire

Signs that winter is over; I have washed and packed away my heaviest sweaters. I organized to have my duvet, that I purchased in Harare in 1998, picked up to be cleaned and refurbished (yes, I was influenced by an Instagram ad 🤞) I have booked my trip to Ponza next month for San Silverio. I made my summer reading list (Here is the bookshop.org one.) We have even had an early in the season beach day complete with a spaghetti alle vongole and post-lunch nap under an umbrella.
One day in Florence

1 month ago | gillianlongworthmcguire.substack.com | Gillian Longworth McGuire

Mark and I spent the last week of March in Rome. While we were there the Hotel Brunelleschi invited1 me for dinner and to spend the night so on our way home to Venice I hopped off the train for a brief visit to Florence. I only had time for a super short trip. I know I am always telling you to slow down and spend time in one place. I also know that sometimes that is not always possible.
Gillian Knows Best guide to cichetti in Venice

1 month ago | gillianlongworthmcguire.substack.com | Gillian Longworth McGuire

The answer to that question is as varied as the rows of snacks displayed in glass cases all over Venice. In Venetian the word is cichéti and might come from the Latin ciccus, a word that means a small quantity or a bite. Chichetti is usually slices of bread (sometimes polenta) topped with something savory. The something can be Baccalà Mantecato (whipped stockfish and olive oil,) sarde e saor (onions and sardines and vinegar) or it might be a fried meatball or a dish of stewed tiny octopus.
How to Visit Venice Without Driving the Locals Crazy (And Have a Better Time Yourself)

1 month ago | gillianlongworthmcguire.substack.com | Gillian Longworth McGuire

A Love Letter (and a Friendly PSA)I have had this my drafts folder for months. Adding things to the list when I think of them, noting what makes me or others grumble. Venice is a preposterous, audacious, bewitching city. Those ornate palaces on the grand canal with hand blown chandeliers that are bigger than my kitchen hanging from their ceilings were built on top of wooden posts pounded into the mud hundreds of years ago.
Fammi una Domanda - April 2025

2 months ago | gillianlongworthmcguire.substack.com | Gillian Longworth McGuire

One of the many reasons we moved to Venice is because I hate to drive. Mark loves to drive but he has no interest in ever owning a car again. That’s what rental cars are for. For most of the years we lived in Rome we had diplomatic privileges that meant we could use our Tennessee driver’s licenses and did not have to get Italian ones. Those privileges disappeared with his retirement and now we must go through all of the slow complicated steps that being an immigrant requires.
Gillian Knows Best guide: How to get to and from the airport in Venice

2 months ago | gillianlongworthmcguire.substack.com | Gillian Longworth McGuire

Everyday tasks in Venice are different than pretty much any other place in the world. I buy my vegetables from a boat and my walk home almost always requires a trip through Piazza San Marco.1 My life in Venice is also dramatically slower than my life in Rome. While you are here my advice for every part of your trip to Venice is slow down and take your time. Applying this advice is important to the beginning and end of your trip too.
Gillian Knows Best guide to coffee in Venice

2 months ago | gillianlongworthmcguire.substack.com | Gillian Longworth McGuire

I complain a lot about the coffee in Venice. My years in Rome shaped my tastes. I like the small glass of water that comes before. I like the speed and noise and chaos of most Roman bars. I like the dark, rich roast and the scant use of dairy (aside from the generous swirl of whipped cream in my monachella at Sant’Eustachio.) Here in Venice even a caffe macchiato has too much milk for me.