18th Gennaio 2015

On Sunday, I woke up, put on a load of washing and went to the 8 o’clock mass. Afterwards, I hung out the washing and then we went to Verona.

On the way, we picked up Giuliana’s friends Patricia, the chef of the almost-viral Bambi Bolognese, and Elisabetta, who was also a guest that evening.

We arrived in Verona and the weather was glorious. That is the best word. First we had a walk around l’arena, which means “the arena”, which is similar in design to the Colosseum of Rome, but is smaller. It is, however, the third largest surviving Roman arena in Italy, and is the best preserved.

We wandered around and I learnt more about the history of Verona. While it was originally a small town, less important than Padova, it found fame in the late 18^th century and has more recent architecture. We stopped for coffee at about 11 o’clock and then we visited La Casa di Giulietta, “the house of Juliet”. It was not really how I imagined it, and I don’t know how Romeo got into the courtyard – there is a big gate and buildings on the other three sides. It was very nice though.

We walked more and saw some churches. I don’t remember all of the names, but one was the Duomo of Verona, which is the cathedral, and the other was Santa Anastasia. We arrived on the side of the Piove Adige, or River Adige, and decided to have lunch. It was a good little pic-a-nic, with crackers, mandarin, banana, almonds and dried fruit, as well as peach juice. It was really nice sitting in the sun, watching the river.

We continued walking and decided to go to the Castelvecchio. It was a real castle, complete with a moat and drawbridge. The most spectacular part, I thought, was the bridge that was attached to the castle, and in the same style. It is a very striking bridge from a distance – the three arches are of different sizes, so they look like the path of a stone being skimmed across the river.

Next we visited the Basilica of San ­­­­­Zeno, the patron saint of Verona. He is given credit for converting the whole town during the 4th Century. The basilica is also famous for being the site of the marriage of Romeo and Juliet.

By this stage it was getting towards 5 o’clock, so we decided we should go for cioccolata calda. I am only going to translate calda. It means hot. You can do the rest.

Anyway, we went to a very fancy pasticceria and I had cioccolata calda con panna, or with cream. It was very nice, a beautiful contrast. We also had some Pasta Riso, a little pastry cup filled with rice and custard.

From there we returned to the car and went home. I had a great day, but I was so tired. I fell asleep in the car, which was quite embarrassing. I had an early night.