Lynne and Bert in Italy: Verona and Venice

I promised an update to our travels, so here we go! After our friends Joan & Charles arrived last Friday, we had a pretty quiet weekend. Yes, we went to the mercato again on Saturday; no, I didn’t buy any more scarves.  (I’m waiting until we go to Venice for that!) We did take Charles and Joan to Il Foro, and we had another wonderful meal there. Thank goodness I called ahead, though…they were packed! We had Spaghetti alla Vongole (again, I know…but it’s so good!) On Sunday, we cooked lunch for Bert’s cousin, Roberto, visiting from Rome. Bert made Risotto alle Gamberoni (shrimp) for our first course. After that we had roasted potatoes (have I told you yet, how good the potatoes are in Italy? ...we can’t figure out why…they just are), grilled sausages, and artichokes prepared by Charles with his special sauce. For dessert, we bought a delicious Torta della Nonna from the bakery in Porto Santa Stefano.  It was a wonderful lunch and visit, and afterwards we took our passagiata into town and back—we needed to walk off that lunch!

That was it for us. No-one wanted to eat anything else for the rest of the evening. We had to rest up and get ready for our trip to Verona the next day, anyway! (By the way, Charles & Joan brought beautiful weather with them, so hopefully no more rain until we leave!)

Verona

My friend Jim reminded me of a quote from Shakespeare, “There is no life beyond Verona’s walls…where Juliet lives.” And he asked me, since I was going Verona, if I could verify that statement, made so eloquently by Romeo. I can only say that life was better for the time I was there, even though that time was too short.

What a charming, enigmatic city Verona is…completely capable of making one reluctant to leave, if nothing else. I have to say that Verona is one of the most delightful cities that I have been to in Italy. Once you navigate in from the autostrada, (using the excellent directions that you printed out from your hotel), you can park the car and continue on foot from then until you leave. In the city center, everything is very close and easy to find.

  

We followed an excellent walking tour from Rick Steves and, as usual, he didn’t let us down. From the main Piazza Bra, to Juliet’s house and balcony, we never got lost, and we enjoyed our tour very much. Verona was once known as the “painted city,” for the paintings decorating the houses, and while much of that has faded, some remains. 

After we finished our tour, we got to rest for about an hour before dinner. We couldn’t decide where to go for dinner, so we consulted with Riccardo, the delightful and knowledgeable young man at the front desk at our hotel (great hotel, by the way…Hotel Torcolo).

  

He suggested we flip a coin to decide between the two restaurants in the running, so we did.  We went with the winner of the coin toss, Trattoria al Pompiere, and it was quite simply amazing. It may have been the best meal of our trip so far. It was a very friendly restaurant, with mostly Italians, which is always a good sign. At the back of the room 

where we were, there was a chef who did nothing but slice meats, organize them beautifully on a platter, and bring them personally to various  diners. There must have been at least 25 different salume to choose from, so we asked for a mixed platter for the table, making sure that one of the meats would be Proscuitto di Parma. I wish I would have taken a picture of that platter…it was beautiful. Charles picked a delicious Soave to have with the meats, and it complemented them perfectly. After that, Joan & I had Tagliatelle with Ragu (delicious), Bert had Fegato con cipolle (liver with onions…again, delicious), and Charles had a steak with roasted potatoes. We had a wonderful Valpolicella with our second course. And the best part was, we didn’t have to drive home! We did have a nice passagiata after dinner, though, and returned to our hotel, happy and full. As far as life beyond Verona’s walls…alas, there has to be, because tomorrow we must leave. Time to head to Venice!

Venice

After an early morning walk around Piazza Bra, we left Verona and headed for Venice. We decided to make two stops along the way: Vincenza, to see some structures built by Palladio and Padova, where we had decided to have lunch. Unfortunately, we had some difficulty parking in Vincenza, after having already had trouble finding the center of the city and, in frustration, we decided to skip Vincenza and just go straight to Padova for lunch. We will definitely try to get back to Vincenza, but maybe we’ll try to arrive by train next time…that might be a little easier.

We had a very nice lunch in Padova, then left for Venice. 

We arrived in Venice and, after much discussion, decided to park in Tronchetto, which is the slightly cheaper parking lot, and also one which allowed us to pick up the water taxi. In Venice, everything is done by boat, whether it’s delivering people or picking up trash (not that I’m comparing the two!). It’s really fascinating, seeing all of the services and goods delivered by all types of boats. The water taxi that we took was like a tour in itself, covering a large part of the Grand Canal before dropping us at St. Mark’s Square, which was the stop nearest to our hotel, the Hotel Diana. What a beautiful city Venice is…a true “feast for the eyes”!

  

No matter how many times I visit, Venice never fails to make me smile. We arrived about 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, checked in, then went in search of a favorite glassmaker of Charles & Joan’s.  After successfully locating Vittorio and admiring his exquisite pieces, we decided to locate one of the many wine & cichetti bars of Venice to sample the local wines and a few appetizers. I chose a glass of Prosecco (no surprise there…I always choose Prosecco, if I have a chance). We also sampled a few interesting appetizers (potato cake, mushroom flan, artichokes, deep fried olives, deep fried meatballs, etc.). We were intending to make the chichetti our meal for the evening, but Bert wanted to sit down for his meal. 

We stumbled on a little ristorante and were reading the menu when the owner appeared and strongly suggested we come in. So we did. And we were very glad that we did! We weren’t really starving, and only wanted a little pasta, so three of us got the Spaghetti alla fruitta di mare. It was really delicious, served with lots of mussels, clams, and langoustines. Yummmm! Charles got the Fritto Misto, and that was delicious also. (Well, I think it was…he didn’t offer us any!) So that’s how it goes. Usually, you can eat well, even in a major tourist city like Venice, if you go off the beaten path a little and trust your instincts.

  

The next day we got up early and went to see some churches, especially La Salute, which is reached either by boat from St. Mark’s Square or by walking over the Accademia Bridge, which is what we did. That way, we got to wander while we were en-route to the church, never a bad thing to do in Venice. After reaching the church and admiring the inside (and taking fabulous pictures of St. Mark’s Square across the water), we found a café on the canal, where we could rest a bit and have something to drink. We decided on a bottle of Prosecco and, of course, it was delicious…or maybe the surroundings had something to with it.

  

Well, by this time, it was almost time for lunch, so we found a nice little trattoria, and enjoyed a simple, but delicious meal. I’ve heard that it’s difficult to eat well in Venice, and expensive, but I don’t agree. We were very happy with all of our meals in Venice, including the last one, which I’ll tell you about later.

After lunch, we split up, and Charles & Joan went off to do some shopping while Bert and I got lost trying to find St. Mark’s Square. We were a little frustrated and felt we were going around in circles, but eventually we found it! We took the taxi over to the see the church of San Giorgio Maggiore, designed by Palladio. There are also great views of Venice from there, and it's far from the maddening crowds around St. Mark’s Square. After taking the taxi back to St. Mark’s Square, we did a little shopping and rested up before dinner. 

So the question was, as always, “where to eat?” We thought we had a restaurant picked out, but the desk clerk at our hotel didn’t think it was O.K., plus it would have been about a 40 minute walk, which may have been difficult. So, she recommended Osteria alle Botta, near the Rialto Bridge.

  

It was really wonderful, not fancy, and just what we wanted. Bert & I both got a pasta dish (made in-house), and they were fantastic. Then Charles, Joan and Bert got a grilled fish (superb, fresh and perfectly cooked). We had a Soave to go with our meal, and that was perfect, too. I think we have new favorite restaurant in Venice!  As we strolled home from the restaurant, stopping by St. Mark’s Square once more to admire the moon over the city, we could almost imagine what it like here hundreds of years ago. One thing hasn’t changed: the magic that surrounds this city. That will be here, hopefully, for another hundred years, at least. Ciao!!

--Lynne