Verona and Padua

Monday we had our longest drive yet, which took us to Verona. Finding parking was terrifying and confusing, but we managed. We stopped for pizza and we met our hostess to get into our apartment. Unfortunately, Jay's vacation was over, so he had to get back to work. I went to the grocery store and cobbled together another semblance of my mom's pasta sauce for dinner. That evening we took a trip for gelato (I make no apologies, I can only do this in Italy), and on the way back saw a little restaurant that looked completely charming. We decided that we needed to try to go their the next day. 

Tuesday morning I was woken up by a hungry Jay and, bleary-eyed, voyaged out into the world to find breakfast. Fortunately there was an espresso bar on the way, or I might never have made it back. I returned home and fed the Jay and spent the rest of the morning resting/blogging/working on science stuff on my computer. After Jay was done working for the day, we went to walk around the Giardino Giusti, a large Rennaisance garden near our apartment.

Giardino Giusti Gardens

After that we stopped to look at the menu at the place that had caught Jay's eye the night before. We saw that they were serving lunch, and decided to stay. It was wonderful. The three people there were the chef, the sous chef, and a woman. I have a feeling they were all related. It was a little place with a big long bar and the entire kitchen was behind the bar so we could watch them cook. They have a huge passion for Amarone, so looking at their wine list was an exercise in restraint, all on its own. They had multiple Amarone's from all the big producers, going as far back as the 90s. The bottles were all far too expensive for us, but they had a couple of good looking wines by the glass, so we were quite content. We'd gone in here just hoping that they'd be able to handle gluten free. But this is Italy, so of course they did! There were only a few things on the menu I couldn't have. We had a sampling of local meat and cheese for our antipasti, and it was a work of art. 

The Antipasto

We especially enjoyed watching the Sous assemble it. It was too lovely not to take a picture. They I had some Burgundy style escargot, which was almost as good as in Burgundy, and Jay had crawfish wrapped in shredded filo. After that we split an Amarone rissotto. All to die for. Obviously, I've already decided that we need to come back to Italy, since I can eat safely here, but after this place, we decided we needed to come back to Verona, just to eat here again. Jay wasn't a huge fan of Verona, but between that restaurant and the Valpolicella wine region, I don't think he'll put up any fights.

We went back to the apartment for a nap (me) or work (Jay). That evening we walked into the Verona city center to explore a bit and visit an enoteca for another glass of wine. On the way in I got ridiculously thirsty, and I saw a place selling fresh squeezed lemonade and orange juice. I pointed to it and she confirmed that it was "fresh juice" and asked if I wanted orange or lemon. I said lemon.

Big mistake.

They didn't put sugar in it.

Jay thinks I did something wrong and that I was supposed to add my own sugar, or something like that. I saw no such indication. It's an indicator of how thirsty I was that I actually drank the whole thing, but I sure as heck didn't enjoy it. About 15 minutes later we found a public water fountain and I drank what must have been half the water reserve. After that we went to the enoteca, enjoyed our wine, and then retreated to our apartment for some leftover pasta.

Several years ago, when Jay and I were first starting to get in to wine, we went to a big Ann Arbor Wine Club tasting put on by Village Corner, where you can taste and then order something like 80 wines at reduced prices. They have them every couple of months and it's a great way to learn about wine. Often we would just pay the cover and wouldn't end up ordering any wines. Most of the wines are self serve, but there are usually a couple of bottles which are on the more expensive end. Sally, half of the couple behind Village Corner, guards these bottles and pours them herself in order to make sure that everyone can get a taste. At this tasting they had an Amarone, the first I'd ever tried. I fell completely in love. I took one smell of it and got very quite. It was intense and fruity and absolutely beautiful. The taste did not disappoint. I looked at it and said "Jay, I want this to be my dissertation wine." Dissertation wine is a concept I'd come up with, mostly in order to justify buying an expensive wine. What I meant, was that I wanted this to be the wine that we would drink when I finished my dissertation. Jay listened, and got me the bottle for Christmas that year. It was my baby, and we held on to it until a few days after my defense, when we shared it with Oliver and Nina. It was everything I remembered.

The reason I tell you this is because, a week before we headed to Verona, I emailed the winery where my Amarone had come from: Tedeschi. Oliver had told me that I should tell them that story, because winemakers love to hear stories about their wine. So I did. Lo and behold, I got a response from a Sabrina Tedeschi, who thanked me for my lovely story (admittedly, I'd really hammed it up about the wine), said they'd love to have me and Jay for a tasting, and that, as a gift for the completion of my doctoral studies, we could have the tasting for free. Shortly after I was contacted by one of their PR people to schedule the tasting.

Tuesday the 21st we checked out of the apartment in Verona with enough time to find our way to the Tedeschi winery. We drove along the edge of the Valpolicella wine region, which was beautiful and (I think) could give Tuscany a run for its money. We found Tedeschi and a lovely woman named Paola showed us around the winery before settling in for a tasting. We tasted two Valpolicella Superiors, a Valpolicella Ripasso, two Amarones, and, because I asked, a Valpolicella Recioto.

I'll explain the differences.

Valpolicella is the name of the region, so any Valpolicella has grapes from that area north and east of Verona. In Valpollicella there is a particular wine making technique. In normal wine making, the grapes are pressed into juice fairly immediately after harvest. But in Valpolicella, they take some of their grapes, often the best, and let them dry for 4-5 months on large tables. The grapes lose about 30-40% of their water content in that time. They then take those grapes and press them. The juice that comes from these grapes is ultra concentrated and high in sugar. It is used to make Amarone. The high sugar content means that the wines tend to have very high alcohol content, since the wines aren't meant to be sweet. The resulting wine is this bizarre combination of fruit and strength that fills your whole mouth. They tend to cost more, which makes sense, since they have approximate twice as much fruit in each bottle than a regular wine, but they can also age for a really long time. Valpolicella Ripasso wine is wine made in the "regular" way, which is then "passed over" the squished raisins that are left behind after they make Amarone, which gives the wine some of the raisiny character of the Amarone. The rest of the wines are Valpolicella wines, with varying degrees of superiority. The last kind, the Recioto, is a dessert wine. Recioto refers to the top part of the ear, and this wine is only made from the grapes at the top of the bunch: those which get the most sun and develop the most sugar. All the wines we tried were delicious and at least half the price they would be in the U.S. We came away with six more wines for our collection in a box that Jay kept referring to as "my babies." Eventually I did too (especially after we ditched the rental car: "want me to carry the babies for a little bit?" etc. etc.).

The wine we tried

After the tasting we stopped for pizza at an AIC place nearby and then made the short drive to Padua.

Back during my first year post Tulane, when Jay and I were living in a two bedroom apartment, we found ourselves in need of a roommate after Kyle abandoned us for a job in D.C. (Not that I blame him). Then we found out that a student from Italy was visiting Jay's philosophy program and needed a room to rent. We happily obliged, and that's how we met Ilaria. She stayed with us for about 5 months and we've been in touch ever since. So when we realized we were going to be in Italy, we decided to stop and see her in Padua. She warned us that she would be eight months pregnant at that point, we congratulated her and looked forward to the reunion.

We got comfortable in our apartment in Padua and Jay got in a couple more hours of work. Then we went to meet Ilaria and her boyfriend for apertivos. We found our way to one of Padua's Piazza's, which is home to the astrological clock. We camped out on some steps and people watched. 

The astrological clock in Padua

Ilaria found us right on time and brought us to meet Pierfrancesco (I apologize, I know I'm misspelling that). Ilaria is still the same lovely exuberant person with the added glow (and exhaustion) of late pregnancy. Her boyfriend is equally delightful and we spent a few lovely hour or so chatting. We agreed to meet up again for dinner the next day and sent them off to find some food for poor Ilaria, who was exhausted and hadn't had much to eat that day. Neither had we. I had a massive cone of gelato from Grom (the gluten free gelato chain, and the lady complemented me on my Italian pronunciation *grin*) and Jay had a kebab for dinner. We were both satisfied with our choices.

Ilaria was the reason we visited Padua, and some of the snottier Italians we talked to during our trip wondered what the hell we were doing going to Padua, but I'm really glad that we did. It's a really neat old city with some gorgeous basilicas, a few meandering canals, and the world's oldest active botanical garden (more on that in a bit). The next day, after Jay had put in a respectable amount of work, Jay and I headed out in to Padua. We started out by going to a couple of churches with some lovely frescoes. The first was a lovely old chapel with lots of frescoes from (I think) the Renaissance. The second was a part of the Duomo (The main part of which was closed) that had a number of mosaics comparable to Ravenna (though newer).

After that we walked over to the botanical garden, which, as I said, is the oldest surviving botanical garden in the world. Potatoes, tomatoes, and sesame (among a few other things) were all introduced to Europe via this botanical garden. It has multiple trees that are several hundred years old. The old part of the garden is divided up into a central garden, which is broken up into smaller gardens, organized by themes suchs as medicinal plants, toxic plants, cacti, succulents, plants from Asia, and (my favorite) water plants. Surrounding the central garden is an arboretum with trees from all over the world, some of them almost 500 years old. After exploring the arboretum we walked over to the hot houses, which are new and modern. As you walk through the hot house you move from tropical to increasing arid climates. This botanical garden was more museum like than some I've been to, in that they had a number of displays interspersed that discussed the coevolution of humans and plants. Mostly, I just enjoyed looking at the plants. I've decided I need to get better at gardening, cause I enjoy green things far too much to go without them in my life.

Giant lilypads in the garden

One of the older trees in the arboretum, this one hollow, likely due to a lightning strike.

After the botanical garden we went to St. Anthony's basilica, which is a huge building with (count 'em) eight domes. No pictures allowed inside, but it was cool to see. The basilica is the home of the tomb of St. Anthony. In the treasury, you can see the reliquaries holding to jawbone, tongue, and vocal chords of St. Anthony. The rest of him is, presumably in the tomb that occupies a space along one side of the church (I'm sorry I can't be more technical, I know nothing of apses or naves or church anatomy). Anthony was a miraculous healer when he was alive, and Catholics still make pilgrimages to his tomb to pray for healing for themselves or loved ones. We looked briefly at his tomb, but there were quite a few people praying there and we didn't wish to intrude on them.

St. Anthony's Basilica

Abbazia San Giustina from the Prato della Valle

Walking around Padua.

We met Ilaria in the square in front of St. Anthony's and walked us back to her place. We walked through the Prato della Valle, which is notable for being very large and oval shaped and having a good view of both St. Anthony's and it's sister cathedral Abbazia di San Giustina. Then we headed to Ilaria's place. She told us that their street is the same that Galileo is believed to have lived when he resided in Padua, so, who knows, maybe we ate dinner where Galileo once slept! Perefracesco is a vegetarian and a gardener and he rose to the challenge of my celiac disease wonderfully. He made a delicios chickpea soup, followed by a caponata made with eggplants from his own balcony garden. Meanwhile, Ilaria roasted up a little pork for us meat eaters. It was all wonderful. We spent a couple of very happy hours conversing, eating, and drinking wine before we finally said goodbye and made our way home.

Up next: Venice!