Oh! Italy!

As far as weekends go, that one pretty much just took the cake.

I woke up on Friday at 4:30am and headed for the airport. We arrived in Venice in the morning and headed into the city for the day. It was beautiful and amazing and everything Venice should be, so much charm and easy mediterranean elegance. I became fascinated with the ornate Venitian doorknobs and door knockers as we wandered the narrow passageways of the city, so here are those photos for your viewing pl-he-he-heasure. 

From Venitian Doorknobs

We had pizza, we had gelatto, we shopped and wandered around basilicas and had espresso on the Giudecca, and in the late afternoon we took the train out of Venice heading for Bassano del Grappa. This is where Stephen's friend Enrico lives, about 1hr west of Venice in what they call The Veneto, the region that encompasses Venice and it's surrounding valleys beneath the Italian Alps. Bassano del Grappa is the site of, as Enrico's friend Giuvanni explained, "the theatre of many major battles of the world wars." It's also home to growers/producers of wine, olive oil, mushrooms, cheese, cherries, pomagranite, lemon and more. In other words, it's a bit of heaven to look at, let alone live in.

Enrico's family lives in the neighboring town of Marostica, famous for its castle high on a nearby hill and walls that encompass the town. It is also famous for an ancient tradition of playing chess using human pawns on the giant checkerboarded town square. 

Friday night we had dinner in a local tratoria (family restaurant...I learned loads this weekend about Italian dining holla!) with Giuvanni and Enrico's mother. Their way of ordering food is artistic and involved. They discuss with the waitress, talk with each other, once Enrico's mom went in to talk with the chef. It's a collaborative endeavour, as if they are all working together to create something beautiful.

And beautiful it was.

I ate fantastically in Italy, no surprises there. The fruit and veg is fresh, the meat is cooked tender, there is wine with every course. I enjoyed my meals very much...but look, I'll leave the rest for Eat, Pray, Love. Let's just leave it at this: the meals were really great.

So Saturday we went with Enrico and Giuvanni to Verona (Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean." oh I said it.) Apparently Giuliette was a real noblewoman and her house is now the site of a museum, where love letters from around the world are taped and painted to the walls. It's lovely. Verona is also home to an ancient Roman ampitheatre, still used today for concerts. During the concerts everyone sits on the stone steps of the open air theatre and holds candles. It's said to be beautiful.

SO then we went a'driving around the countryside a bit to see the valleys and mountains. Giuvanni used to be part of an Italian Toto cover band (I know!), so we listened to a lot of Toto as we drove around and, oh, you know how much I love 80's and 90's music, so it was fantastic. I think it's made an indelible mark on my trip--"Africa" will forever remind me of the Italian countryside, lol! We passed through Marostica where the farmers were bringing in the cows, which all have bells--watch the video, it's great. We had lunch in Suave, a vineyard village. 4 courses, 2 bottles and 3 hours later we went drove to another town to a gig that Enrico and Giuvanni had with their band, The Onions. Italian rock....well, go watch the video on my Picasa. It explains better than I ever could.

The highlights of Saturday night were as follows:

1. The place only had squatty potties. You'll see what I'm talking about in my pictures.

2. We tried parampolo, a strong grappa-style drink set on fire for a bit. It tastes like....hmm, Sunday morning regret.

Sunday then we went up the mountains on some SERIOUS switchbacks up to the village of Asiago (puh-lease tell me you pronounce it ah-see-ah-go, and not asia-go, like I heard in Einstein Bros. when I was last home!). The village is a kind of ski/mountain getaway. The views are fantastic, it feels very cisalpine, quite Germanic, actually. The shops sold cheese, porcini mushrooms, polenta and wines. There were creameries dotting the valleys on the way up where asiago cheeses are produced. 

So then we had lunch in Marostica castle, another 4-course, 3-hour affair, and the saddled off to the airport. I have to tell you, coming back from Italy I've had some serious post-trip lag this morning. How can you not miss a country so beautiful, so fanstastic, so amazing? I want to be there riiiiight now. Right this very second even.

...but, as Giuvanni's cover band sings, "love isn't always on time...no, no, no..."

Videos posted here. Pics to follow tomorrow.