Ponte Vecchio, beautiful Bassano del Grappa

Happy Halloween and Happy Nevada Day! It’s been a great couple of weeks, just existing in Bassano del Grappa, the homeland of my ancestors. It’s stunning here, and I’m so glad I’ve had the opportunity to connect with this side of my family. I met up with a couple of relatives, and I’ve been enjoying living here, just hanging down by the river, visiting cafes and bars, and riding around town. Unfortunately, due to medical issues with one of my relatives, they’ve all been quite busy and I haven’t been able to see much of them. Which, really, is just an excuse to come back, so I can see the old family home, the nearby town of Costa, and really get to know my relatives.

We only have a few more days here, before taking a long train ride down south to Otranto. Tomorrow we’re visiting Venice, and with National Novel Writing Month starting, I expect to be very busy the next few weeks. A couple days ago I visited Verona. It was a great day trip, though a long one. I whiled away some time in the afternoon at a little courtyard bar and recorded the experience:

Via Giuseppe Mazzini, a high-end shopping street in old-town Verona

Verona is beautiful, but crowded. It’s a two hour train ride from our home base in Bassano, so I only spent a short day there, arriving by train at 10:30 and heading out the same way at 4 pm. It’s October 29th, so we’re already gearing up for our last couple days here, and although Bassano has been relaxing, almost idyllic, I feel like life has been a little too slow, a little too indulgent, a little too lazy. I meant to go to Milan (I didn’t). I meant to hike the Dolomites (I didn’t). I meant to take a couple trips into Venice, just because (yeah, you know what I’m going to say next: I didn’t).

Still, I’m sitting in a little courtyard in Verona, sipping a Bellini under balconies dripping with greenery and enjoying a view of 16th century frescos, so the rest is gravy.

As I said, I only have a few hours in Verona. So I figured I’d make a beeline for the major sites and then relax, slowly shopping and sipping my way back to the train station or popping into a museum, if I felt like it. No verdict yet on the museum. I’m having a Bellini instead. Possibly not the best choice given all I’ve had today is a croissant (I was looking for coffee, but this spot was too good to pass up—the frescos, people. They’re gorgeous. The green shutters. Sculpted stone balconies. *chef’s kiss* Che bellissima!). Still, my Bellini seems to have actual fruit in it. And I was given a handful of chips and two tablespoons of a yellow salsa that tastes faintly of mango. Well-rounded meal right there.

Juliet’s balcony at the Capulet’s house (supposedly)

Anyway, I went straight for the big sights. The Verona Arena basically looks like the coliseum, but less… I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it. I think it’s smaller, or at least shorter. I think the damage is less dramatic, too. You always think of the coliseum with that big chunk crumbled away on one side. The asymmetry makes the image dynamic. It sticks with you. The Verona Arena is massive and impressive, but less so if you’ve already seen the coliseum (at least for me). I snapped a couple photos and pressed on.

Next stop: Casa di Giulietta. I walked along Via Giuseppe Mazzini, which was like Saks 5th Avenue if it had been built in the 16th century and was pedestrian-only. Every luxury brand you can imagine had an itty-bitty storefront here, but the crowds really started to get bad in the narrow street. It lets out near Juliet’s house, where the already chaotic throng became utterly impossible. The crowds here were insane. I figured it wouldn’t be like in Letters to Juliet (where the courtyard is empty save a couple of crying women), or even like Love in the Villa (at least they admit it can get busy) but it was even more crowded than I expected. It reminded me of trying to see the Mono Lisa. There was a huge line to go up to the balcony, which luckily wasn’t on my to do list in the first place. Seeing it and rubbing the breast (a good luck tradition) was enough for me, so I got in and got out… not quickly, exactly, but much quicker than it may have been.

If you’re planning a visit, I’d recommend trying it first thing in the morning. It might be just as busy then (I wouldn’t know), but I imagine that would be your best shot.

Piazza deli Signori with the statue of Dante

From there I walked through historic Piazza della Erbe, full of market stalls, and Piazza deli Signori, which features a statue of Dante Alighieri, down to the river, passing Basilica di Santa Anastasia as I walked along the west bank to Ponte Pietro, a 2000 year old bridge. From there, I quickly saw Il Complesso Della Cattedrale before setting my sights on coffee and stumbling into a delicious Bellini, which I am coming to the end of. Time to decide how the last two hours of my day in Verona should be spent.

One thing’s for sure: I do, actually, need to find coffee. I’m running on less than 4 hours of sleep. Ironically, I actually went to bed at a decent hour, but just couldn’t get to sleep. I thought about skipping it today, but we’re running out of time and I put it off two days already. So I’m here, but I’m barely keeping my eyes open. I just hope I don’t fall asleep on the train home and end up in Poland (that’s sort of an inside joke. When I was on exchange, another exchange student, a close friend of mine who was showing me the ropes, told me a story about how it was coming home from Berlin one night and fell asleep. He woke up when the train reached it’s final destination: in Poland. And that’s how I learned not to sleep on public transportation (thanks, Lewis!)).

The bar from which I wrote the above post

After that, I ended up wandering slowly back to the train station, window shopping and, when I stumbled across this gorgeous patisserie, did some real shopping for macarons. The macaron’s were stunning, utterly delicious, and came in like 15 flavors. I absolutely recommend it, if you happen to visit Verona.

I managed to hunt down some coffee, thank goodness. And then I wandered through Parco della Mura, a park built into some of the ancient walls. Honestly, it’s nice, but I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to visit it.

I got more coffee at the train station, and did not, in fact, fall asleep on the train and end up in Poland. So wins all around!

Once again, happy Halloween, happy Nevada Day! November is going to be a weird month for me. National Novel Writing Month is one of my favorite parts of the year, and I’m hoping to finish a complete draft of a novel. It’s a new idea, and I’m really excited about it. More information on that sometime in the future, right now I’m keeping it close to the vest. Mostly just because it’s undeveloped and I don’t think I could do an adequate job describing my vision for it. The point is, my focus is going to shift in November, and I can’t promise anything in regards to blog posts.

Thanks for reading. It means a lot to me that you’re here. And I’m looking forward to getting back here, whenever that may be (but no later than the first week of December, I swear).

October 31, 2022: Back to my Roots in Bassano