Verona, Valpolicella and when words fail
Monday, August 14
We arrived at Verona on Saturday afternoon after a lovely last night in Siena, little sleep, an early rise and an intermodal journey from Siena to Florence to Verona. Amazingly, no transfer at Bologna.
After we reserved places on the train for Naples on Wednesday the 16th, we went outside and found our Verona hostess, Marta Giuliani waiting for us. Within 20 minutes we were out of the modern bustle of Verona and in the hilltop village of Castelrotto, where Marta and her husband Ennio run Alla Colombara (at the dovecote), a restored farmhouse from the 1700s (with a dove tower dating from about 1500) attached. They have two rooms available for people interested in staying near Verona at a modest cost, in genuine Italian surroundings.
Alla Colombara's front door
The room they showed us to is large and furnished in what I would guess is a tasteful re-imagining of a north Italian country style. The bedroom and the all-new bathroom both have stunning views of Valpolicella, that wine region that we in America tend to disparage, what with our youthful memories of cheap, weak Bolla. Thanks to the good offices of Aristide (his friends know him as Giampiero) and Lizzy (Elisabetta Tosi) we have been able to sample another side of the Valpolicella. But more of that later.
What I really want to write about now is the extraordinary welcome that we have received since we arrived here. Not only are the Giulianis amazingly warm and gracious--going way above and beyond their duty as B&B hosts--but the friends of Aristide and, by the way, of mondosapore, have been generous with their time and attention. Giampiero and his Laura have been tirelessly schlepping us around, devoting days of their lives to us, arranging great dinners and winery tours; so far a total of five whole days, I have to tell you, including the two they spent to/at/from Alanno.
Meeting Alex and Stefano, my fans
Through them we have also met Alex, a frequent commenter on Aristide and, I found out to my eternal gratitude, a reader of my other work (Catch of the Day, a novel I completed two years ago and have only partially posted on a blog). Alex is a beautiful person, not to mention highly discerning reader, and he was a wonderful dinner partner at the Osteria delle Esperidi in Bardolino (tel. 045.6210.477) on Saturday night. Alex gave me the greatest gift I have ever have received with his good comments about the novel. I was pretty moved by this, since the comments came from a man of obvious culture and learning. Speechless for a few seconds before I (no doubt) gushed a bit.
By the way, the restaurant was extremely good.
Yesterday I finally got to meet Stefano Frega, another frequent commenter on Aristide, and a frequent reader of mondosapore too. Stefano is a scholarly banker, a man interested in language, literature, music, wine and more. If that makes him sound stuffy and pretentious, banish the thought; he's warm and friendly, nothing pretentious about him. We all had lunch at a lovely little place near Giampiero's place in the old city of Verona. Stefano brought well-selected gifts for both Ken and me, and he offered to spend the big Ferragosto holiday on Tuesday showing us the special sights of Verona. (More about this rich and well-cared-for city later.)
By the way, thanks to Lizzy (Elisabetta Tosi) and Giampiero we visited the Nicolis winery yesterday. 
Mrs. Nicolis, widow of the founder, greeted us warmly, showed us around the facility and gave us a tasting not only of the wines but also the wonderful olive oil that the azienda makes. We bought some oil and, with some input from Lizzy, la signora gave us two bottles of the wines Ken and I liked best. (For the record, these were a recioto and their top amarone, the Ambrosan.) She gave all of us a gift of the two bottles we liked best -- another moment when words failed me.
The kindness of strangers
More about that after it happens. I think the encapsulation of the kind-heartedness of the people we have met here is this:
We asked our host, Ennio Giuliani, how if he could take us into Verona on Tuesday morning to meet Stefano, and he said of course. Then we asked how to reserve a taxi for after the opera, since it will be after midnight and the place will be swarming with people, taxis and so on. Without skipping a beat Ennio said, "Call my cell phone and in 15 minutes I'll be right where I dropped you off in the morning." We were almost horrified to hear this.
It took us a moment to recover our power of speech. "We couldn't do that--it will be too late." We had already been stunned by the Giulianis' friendliness and their efforts to make our stay as pleasant as possible.
Ennio wouldn't hear of it. So off we go to Verona and the opera tomorrow. (Actually, I'm not going to the opera. I can't stand opera and wouldn't waste all that money on a ticket. I'll be sitting in cafes drinking caffe' corretto -- espresso with a shot -- reading, people watching, and wandering around the town.)
Today we are going to two wineries (always with Giampiero) and then the climax of our stay in this area: the dinner at Adriano Liloni's Trattoria Pegaso with Giampiero and Laura, Stefano, Franco Ziliani and I'm not sure who else will be there--a big event in any event.
Il mondo รจ proprio piccolo...Il giardino delle Esperidi in Bardolino is one of my favourite places to have a glass of wine! Sembra una bomboniera...
Sono contenta sia piaciuto anche a te!
Posted by: Val | February 13, 2007 at 09:25 AM