The delicious snack you can only find in Venice

Venice bars are famous for cicchetti -- snacks designed to be eaten with a glass of wine. But there's a fascinating history behind what looks to be simple street food.

(CNN) — "Cicchetti is the glue that holds Venice together," says mask maker Sergio Boldrin of Bottega dei Mascareri. "It is impossible to think of finishing work without stopping for a drink and a snack on the way home, meeting friends, catching up on the news of the day."

Ask a Venetian to define cicchetti and you will get as many answers as there are varieties of the tasty finger food. In a town that moves by foot or by boat, munching on cicchetti while having a glass of wine called an ombra and chatting with friends in a bar called a bacaro is a fundamental part of life in Venice.

Cicchetti can include everything from squiggly sea creatures impaled on toothpicks, and fried meatballs called polpette, to colorful toppings spread on slices of baguette called crostini -- and that's just for starters. Traditionally, you eat them standing at a bar, or just outside the door. The ritual of having a drink and a snack in a welcoming setting is what's key -- this is not street food to be eaten while strolling around town.