Vinitaly + Venissa | Day 3 | 3.25.12

Day 3. Como, Italy.  3/25/2012
 
After catching up with each other to the tune of a couple cappuccinos, sharing battle stories of our last couple days in Italy, we decided to take a stroll to a close by restaurant for a nice lunch with a view.  And what is VIEW it was!  This restaurant  (name?) offered a second floor patio, very similar in size and shape to our jasoh! patios, but without the enclosures.  We took in views of the downtown neighborhood rooftops and a spectacular view of Duomo.  With Sunday church bells ringing and sun shining, we ordered a bottle of Pinot Bianco, produced by a local winemaker with a German name, Joseph Hofstatter, not a surprising name with Germany being very close, and having enjoyed a locally brewed German style beer in the same town, Wismer, just two days before.  The Pinot Bianco was a great pairing with our simply, but elegantly, prepared Freshwater Bream.  Freshwater Bream is a common fish of the Northern Alps lakes and had surely been just caught in Lake Como.  As said, it was very simply prepared, with nicely boiled vegetables and just some olive oil, but it was a very nice light lunch.

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After lunch, we took a ride in the Funiculare up the mountainside to the mountaintop town of Brunate  where we enjoyed yet another spectacular viewpoint of Como.  High above the city, we pointed out all the landmarks as well as the ancient wall that enveloped what was now the densely packed downtown.

 [[posterous-content:pid___12]]Okay, with Como sightseeing accomplished, we piled in the rented Toyota Yaris (our soon-to-be trusted companion) and gratefully put A.J. behind the wheel for the drive up the coast of Lake Como to Bellagio, the wealthy town at the tip of where the lake converges, and the famed location of George Clooney’s villa.  Little did we know that A.J. would become our personal hero, by driving the most insanely narrow, curvy, dangerous, and gorgeous path we had ever encountered.  Surely no vehicle larger than our Yaris dared navigate this road, being a two-lane road, but not quite two-lanes wide, with inches to the sheer cliffs dropping to the lake below and craggy boulders jutting into parts of the road space along the way.  Somehow, with only minor heart palpitations for each of us in the car, and only a few choice words by our studly driver, we made it to Bellagio alive.  We gratefully got out of the car to meander through this beautiful lake town, studded with primo boutiques and world-class window shopping.
  

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After our walk, we were beyond skeptical about getting back into our little Yaris for the drive back up the west coast of the East arm of the lake.  All we could do was pray that the other coast would offer at least two full lanes for the drive toward Lecco and then on to Bergamo.     

We had some  luck with wider roads on this leg of travel, albeit not much.   Let’s just say we were thankful to finally make it to the Autostrada.  We passed picturesque Lecco and headed toward the fairytale castle town upon a hill, Bergamo.

Pulling into a tight parking lot, and thankful once again for our little Yaris and AJ’s driving skills, we realized we had done nearly zero research or planning for where to eat dinner in this town.  We had looked up a few restaurant , but had not made note of any addresses or names. We had, however, researched that the local specialty was Polenta and fruits of the forest (such as mushrooms and berries) so we knew we needed to find a Restaurant that offered those types of items.  We decided to ask the parking lot attendant for a recommendation, figuring that if he gave us poor advice, he would have to deal with our wrath upon return to our car.  The gentleman seemed friendly and also impressed with AJ’s Italian, and recommended an Trattoria just a half block up the road.  With a few minutes to kill before traditional opening time of 7 p.m., we followed AJ to a famous Focacceria that had been etched in his memory from over eight years before.  Peeking through the window of the Focacceria, we realized exactly why AJ had remember this place.  With at least twenty different colorful Foccacias in the window, all topped with an array of delicious accoutrements, and a line out the door, we salivated as the attendants cut large chunks of Foccacia with scissors for lucky patrons.

After that, we were more than ready for dinner!  We walked back to the tiny Trattoria where at least a dozen different types of Polenta were listed on the menu outside.  This little spot had five tables and a kitchen the size of a smart car.  This place was teeny tiny!  A very sweet lady, obviously an owner-operator, greeted us and immediately befriended AJ, of course because of his Italian.  We started with an order of Gnocchi -n- cheese, reminiscent of mac-n-cheese, and a bottle of Nebbiolo.  We then ordered four different types of Polenta, one with mushrooms and a local young sheep’s cheese, (a specialty in the area).  The most intriguing  option on the menu was the DONKEY polenta, which we nearly ordered just to be adventurous, but finally decided that eating “Ass” just didn’t sound incredibly appealing...[[posterous-content:pid___4]]The items we did order were scrumptious, with our favorite dish being the polenta with the young sheep’s cheese.  With our bellies completely fully, we surprisingly all were still able to squeeze into the little Yaris to complete our trip on the Autostrada to Vicenza.  

Feeling both accomplished and exhausted we settled into our Vicenza hotel, hoping for a good night’s sleep to recharge for what would be a BIG day.  Tomorrow would be our first visit to Vinitaly in Verona, the world’s largest annual wine festival.  We were excited as children on Christmas Eve, but we had NO idea what we were in for!

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