Our trips to Venezia and Verona with Anthony were memorable, but those memories will quickly fade, hence the blog. My little brother eats out a lot, and likes to drink, so Italy’s café lifestyle fit him perfectly as he found himself right at home. We made two trips into Venezia. The highlight of the first trip was surely the drinks he treated us to at Lavena on piazza San Marco. Lavena has been around since 1750. The wait staff wears white jackets and bowties. Drinks are brought to customers on huge silver trays while the bandstand fills the air with classical music. Guests are served beer (Anthony), Aperol Spritz and cocktails (Cinzia), and Coke Light (me) with a variety of treats to nibble on. It was quite an experience, and one Cinzia will not soon forget, especially since that same piazza experienced the 4th worst acqua alta in the history of Venezia just one week later as almost 3 feet of water rose to flood the city. If you’ve seen the photos, they’re both mesmerizing and saddening.
During our second visit a couple days later, we visited the basilica and wondered at the gold mosaic ceilings and walls, intricate marble floors, and gilded treasures of this Byzantine marvel. This was also the first time we had ever seen any signs of acqua alta as the lower parts of the piazza were covered with 1-2 inches of water.
Verona provided its share of memorable moments too. Without any plans, we landed at an outdoor café for lunch. Nice, but it took forever for our food to arrive. Cinzia ordered some succulent braised pork cheeks while Anthony and I decided to start with a pasta course. But ordering our secondo would be impossible unless we had another 30 minutes to wait, so we left knowing that we’d have to make up for this meal during dinner. We looked in on a place that was closed between lunch and dinner, but a local who happened to be walking by said that this place was famous for their meats…the cutlets. Then she added that we’d need a reservation. The plan was to arrive back as they opened at 7pm to see if we could get a seat. So after touring Verona’s famous arena and popping in to peak at Juliet’s balcony, we settled in at a very nice café in view of it all. Anthony ordered a beer – large – and was brought a hefty glass mug with a doily the size of a plate. It held 1 liter of beer. Just as he hoisted it for a taste, a uniformed band, all mounted of white horses as they played their instruments, marched towards us in formation. We joked that they must do this whenever someone orders this impressive brew. I posted the videos in the Video Gallery (where else?).
Cinzia ordered a champagne cocktail of some sort – I think raspberry – and the waiter delivered the glass with juice and cherry garnish, then uncorked the champagne and filled her glass. Also very impressive. I, on the other hand, focused on the ice cream side of their menu and ordered a banana split. No pomp and circumstance here as the waiter informed me that they were out of bananas. Oh well. I guess I’ll just sit back and enjoy the view.
We did find or way back to the restaurant at 7pm, but without reservations we were given the option I suspected: “We can seat you now, but you must finish by 9pm.” Not a problem. I forget what we ordered as an antipasto (see, this is why a blog helps capture those memories), but we ordered the cutlet for our main course; Cinzia with the small and us boys with the medium. They were enormous! Three people could easily share one medium. No one finished theirs.
All of the photos and videos are posted in their appropriate galleries, so do enjoy.
Verona provided its share of memorable moments too. Without any plans, we landed at an outdoor café for lunch. Nice, but it took forever for our food to arrive. Cinzia ordered some succulent braised pork cheeks while Anthony and I decided to start with a pasta course. But ordering our secondo would be impossible unless we had another 30 minutes to wait, so we left knowing that we’d have to make up for this meal during dinner. We looked in on a place that was closed between lunch and dinner, but a local who happened to be walking by said that this place was famous for their meats…the cutlets. Then she added that we’d need a reservation. The plan was to arrive back as they opened at 7pm to see if we could get a seat. So after touring Verona’s famous arena and popping in to peak at Juliet’s balcony, we settled in at a very nice café in view of it all. Anthony ordered a beer – large – and was brought a hefty glass mug with a doily the size of a plate. It held 1 liter of beer. Just as he hoisted it for a taste, a uniformed band, all mounted of white horses as they played their instruments, marched towards us in formation. We joked that they must do this whenever someone orders this impressive brew. I posted the videos in the Video Gallery (where else?).
Cinzia ordered a champagne cocktail of some sort – I think raspberry – and the waiter delivered the glass with juice and cherry garnish, then uncorked the champagne and filled her glass. Also very impressive. I, on the other hand, focused on the ice cream side of their menu and ordered a banana split. No pomp and circumstance here as the waiter informed me that they were out of bananas. Oh well. I guess I’ll just sit back and enjoy the view.
We did find or way back to the restaurant at 7pm, but without reservations we were given the option I suspected: “We can seat you now, but you must finish by 9pm.” Not a problem. I forget what we ordered as an antipasto (see, this is why a blog helps capture those memories), but we ordered the cutlet for our main course; Cinzia with the small and us boys with the medium. They were enormous! Three people could easily share one medium. No one finished theirs.
All of the photos and videos are posted in their appropriate galleries, so do enjoy.