Italy, the land of my forefathers... and wine, lots and lots of wine

Ciao, bella!

I took an overnight train from Vienna to Milan as one of my last journeys during my Eurotrip.  The total journey took 16 hours but I was bunking with a couple from Austria that were going to Italy to ride motorcycles back to Austria hitting some cities in between and this awesome Turkish guy who is studying in California.  It made for a short train ride and I got a decent amount of sleep as well.

Once we arrived at the station, I hit up my good buddy, Giuliano and he came to meet me and take me to his apartment.  Once we got to his apartment, I snagged a shower and since it was Friday and he had the rest of the day off, we went out and had a good lunch in a nice little part of Milan.  I was amazed at the process of dining in Italy because it is awesome and I really, really enjoyed the length of the meal as well as the different courses.

First, you start off with a bottle of wine - naturally.  Then, we would get a starter which might consist of some deli cuts with fresh cheese and bread along with pickled vegetables and then, your main course follows.  That day I went with some delicious pasta recommended by il mio amico and Giuliano, being the healthy eater he is, got a salad.  After the pasta, we went in for a little dessert and then a coffee.  Actually, it's "Café" and it really means espresso (because that's where it originated)!  Then, we had an after-dinner liquor called, Amaro which is used as a digestivo like the alcohol, calvados I mentioned in my Paris post.  It is quite delicious and really helps make you feel like you didn't really just eat everything you did.

After the delicious meal, Giuliano and I took a stroll and he showed me lots of the city which was really nice.  We went to il duomo of Milan which is what the main cathedral is called in any Italian town.  We went inside and it was huge! It had some brilliant stain glass and some tombs which were neat to see.  We then went to a park and saw the castle where the Duke of Milan lived hundreds of years ago.  The architecture was quite beautiful everywhere we went and we grabbed an aperitivo (same thing as the French aperitif) and a beer then headed back to Giuliano's place to clean up and get ready to meet up with the man, the legend, Paolo Benedetto.

I had talked with Paolo before on Skype in Shanghai and on facebook a few various times as he is a great friend of Giuliano and he is hilarious.  However, we had never met in person so I was excited to meet him.  Once we met, it was like two old friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time and we got well acquainted in no time.  The meeting place was actually a hostel in Milan called, Hostello Bello which is actually a pretty popular place to go for a drink even if you're a local.  We sat around and chatted and then Giuliano told me they had guitars downstairs and he as well as Paolo encouraged me to go down and have a look.

We went downstairs and there were two guys playing some guitars and doing a little bit of singing.  We listened for a bit, and then one of them put down a guitar and took a break, so I snagged it and played a quick, impromptu song.  It would be an exaggeration to say the room exploded with applause, but after a few claps here and there, I jumped into another one and the two other guitarists and I combined forces to play some songs.  It was quite an awesome experience as more and more people came downstairs to listen.  We carried on for almost two hours, then it was time to head home as it was late and Giuliano and I had to hit the road the next morning.

In the morning, Giuliano and I packed some clothes and headed out to his hometown of Treviso.  Treviso is about 30 minutes outside of Venice and it was quite the lovely town.  Giuliano and I got to his mom's house right around noon where I had the pleasure of meeting his mother who is such a sweet lady.  We headed out in search of some grub and we settled on a place that was quite delicious that also had prosecco on tap which apparently is quite common in Italy.  It blows my mind that they just have barrels of the stuff with a tap on it but I'm definitely not complaining.  We ordered a carafe and then dug into some delicious starters followed by a delicious main course and of course ended with tiramisu which Giuliano told me was highly regarded as being some of the best in Italy due to being in Treviso.  After a café and an amaro, we headed out to see some landmarks from Giuliano's childhood including his high school and an interesting fountain.  Once we had seen a bit of the city, we headed back to his place and then hopped on a bus into Venice.

It was quite surreal to walk in Venice as many people have seen it in movies or on TV, but it's actually pretty big and there is a lot of walking to be had.  When all was said and done that day, Giuliano and I had walked 30+ miles.

We stopped for a drink in a small bar next to the water (hahahahaha, it's ALL next to the water!) and Giuliano got in touch with some people we were going to meet up with all of which I had met in Shanghai.  We first met with Francesca who is such a wonderful person and we grabbed a quick prosecco.  We talked about our lives the past few years and it was wonderful to see her again.  A little while later, we met up with Chiara and Marco, two more wonderful Italians I had met in Shanghai and the group was all set.

Francesca has been living near Venice for quite some time, so she led us on to a wonderful little restaurant where we got some small dishes to share and some more prosecco.  Afterward, we headed out in search of a fun crowd and we landed at several different small, yet really awesome bars.  We had wine at a few, micro crafts at one and we ended at a cocktail bar which made one of the best old fashions I've ever had.  It was actually made by the owner and I had to tell him how delighted I was with it.  We all sat by the canals sipping our drinks and reminiscing about China.  I had a pretty good impression of answering the phone in a Chinese subway which got the whole crew laughing.  Late into the evening, we parted ways which was sad but we were all so glad to have gotten together again.  We headed back to Giuliano's mom's house and hit the hay.

After Giuliano and I ate some wonderful homemade lunch the next day, we hit the road to visit some cities on our way back to Milan.  We hit a nice small town called, Feltre where there was a really cool village sale going on with so many people and so many things!  We walked around for a bit, sampled a local craft brew and then hit the road towards one of the highlights of my trip, the city of Fonzaso.

Fonzaso is the city where my great grandfather on my father's side was born.  He lived there until immigrating to the USA through Ellis Island in 1915.  My late Uncle Rick as well as my cousin, Alicia have been and it was such a cool little town.  There wasn't much to it and I only saw 2 bars/cafes, a supermarket and a church.  However, the church had been there since the 1800s and so as cheesy as it was, I went up to the church bell tower and put my hand on it hoping that Great Granddad had done the same at some point during his life there.  I felt a good connection with the town and I was so surprised at how reminiscent it was to Grand Junction, CO where he eventually settled.  There was a nice river flowing behind the town with a mountain right behind it and it felt like I was going fishing in a stream in Grand Junction.  It was a beautiful and quaint little town and I'm really glad I got to see it.

Once we had walked for a bit and had a quick rest at a cafe, we hit the road for Bassano del Grappa which is a town well known for its grappa.  We took a stroll through the city and walked across a relatively well-known bridge where there was a shootout during WWII and some of the bullet holes are still there to see.  We had a drink that was known as a, "half and half" which was half grappa and half soda of an unusual flavor.  It was pretty tasty and Giuliano decided to buy a bottle of grappa to take to a dinner we were going to have that week.  We headed back to Milan with one stop near a lake town for some Roman-style pizza (really, really thin crust), then finished the journey and crashed pretty hard from an exhausting weekend.

Giuliano had to return to work the following morning, so I was left to my own devices.  My first decision of the day was to sleep in a bit which was a fine decision if I don't say so myself!  I went for a walk with my guitar on my back and hit a lot of the spots Giuliano had shown me to see if I could do a bit of busking.  After using my rusty Italian, a police officer told me it was illegal to play in most spots, so I just continued to walk around.  I grabbed some food, did some people watching and then met Giuliano at home.  We went out for pizza again that night, but it was Neapolitan which has a bit thicker crust and it was delicious.  We headed back to Giuliano's and called it an early night.

The next day, I slept in and then Giuliano took half a day off and we went to the World Expo in Milan.  I had been to the world expo in Shanghai in 2010, so I thought it fitting to continue the trend.  We hit a bunch of pavilions and saw some really cool stuff.  It was all about sustainability and food so it was quite interesting to see everyone's ideas and contributions to the worlds agricultural endeavors.  Overall, Giuliano and I agreed the best pavilion was Poland, not only because a beautiful Polish girl talked us into going in, but they had awesome fresh-pressed apple juice from Polish apples, delicious Polish cake and an awesome animated video about the history of Poland.  Basically, Poland has been plagued by war ever since the 10th century but it is such a resilient country that it always rebuilds itself.  It has the fastest growing economy of any Eastern European country which really shows a lot of progress from the 1940s.

The Italian and American pavilions were a bit of a let down, but we had fun none-the-less and we had to run home with a quick trip to the supermarket to grab some bottles of wine for a dinner we had planned that night at Paolo's place.

Paolo wanted to show off his prowess as a barbecue master and he definitely proved his skills.  He grilled some bread for us to make bruschetta, then he grilled sausages, pork, chicken and his masterpiece, fresh mozzarella wrapped in speck (which is almost bacon-like dried, cured ham).  It was absolutely marvelous.  We had several glasses of wine as I became more acquainted with Giuliano's and Paulo's friends that also joined us.  After some fruit for dessert, I was goaded into playing a couple tunes to entertain and then we all called it a night.  It was so wonderful to have all of these awesome experiences with locals and I realize how fortunate I am to have friends in great places.

The next day, Giuliano worked and I was left to my own vices once again.  I took a really easy stroll, got some grub and then hung out in a cafe across the street from Giuliano's house as I tried to talk with the server in Italian which resulted in a half-decent conversation.  Giuliano came to pick me up around 6 with Paolo and we headed out for Bologna, Italy which was two hours away.  Paolo and Giuliano used to live there and it's where another wonderful acquaintance from China currently lives.  Her name is Alessia and she was such a great friend to me in Shanghai.  She was always helping me out when I hit hard times, and she is just a sweetheart.  Seeing her was absolutely uplifting.

We headed to the top of the highest hill of the city where a table was waiting for us at a family owned restaurant.  As per usual, I didn't order jack squat, I just had i miei amici order everything and as per usual, it was fantastic.  First came a bottle of house red wine followed by a plate full of dried meats, a plate of fresh cheeses and baskets full of fried bread.  The bread reminded me of a huge sopapilla and I watched as Paolo did the honors and showed me how it was done.  First, you grab a hunk of bread, snag some of the dried meat to throw on top then add a piece of cheese and consume.  Needless to say, when you have fried bread, meat and cheese, you can't go wrong and it was absolutely phenomenal.  We ate and ate and ate with some smattering of conversation between bites.  Once it was all just about done and I couldn't stand to even look at another bite, Paolo ordered another plateful of meat and a basket of bread.  I had to order an amaro and about five minutes later, I felt like I could eat again, so I had some more against my better judgement.  When all was said and done, we had done some damage and we were all fat and happy.

Paolo introduced me to a walnut flavored amaro which was one of the best I had the whole trip.  We finished up with some café and more amaro then had to call it a night as all three of my Italian friends had work in the morning and I had to catch a train to Paris where I would stay for one night and then head back to the states.  On the way back to Milan, Paolo picked some rocking tunes that we all sang along to at the top of our lungs to keep us awake.  As we got back around 1:30 am, I had the sinking realization that my trip was over and I again had to leave friends whom I admire greatly and will miss until we see each other the next time.

The road to getting home was a long one and after an amazing yet exhausting six weeks away, I was so happy to sleep in my own bed and see my friends and family that I had left behind in Denver.  I have written too much here so I will end this segment of my story, but be on the lookout for one more blog about my final thoughts and what I really came away with from this journey.

To all of you who followed my trip, I thank you so much.  I only hope that you could live vicariously through my posts and see how lucky I am to have such great friends in such amazing places on this planet.

Ci vidiamo presto.

Tony G