I can't believe I've already been here for two weeks! This last week has been really busy and I
definitely feel like I'm making Verona home.
This week, our excursion was at a shop in a town outside of Verona. Tortellini Remelli is another family owned
business that specializes in hand made tortellini. Visiting this shop was such a cool experience
because we were able to see each step in the process of making tortellini. The best part of this day was obviously
tasting the tortellini. We tried
different types of tortellini varying from classic spinach and ricotta to sweet
potato and eggplant. The pasta was so
fresh and delicious that it's going to be near impossible to eat tortellini in
the US from here on out! After the
excursion, we ventured into the quant little town of Borghetto. Borghetto was a
tiny village that was built around a branch of the Adige river.
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| Beautiful Borghetto |
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| Tortellini 101 |
A highlight of my time in Verona so far has been volunteering
for the "Club of Juliet." We
walked into the office on our first day thinking we would be responding to some
cheesy love letters from tweens, and found that this was much more of a
challenge than we anticipated. The first
letter that I opened came from a woman asking Juliet for advice on her failing
marriage- she had been married 42 years.
Another letter came from a 21 year old who was heartbroken when her
boyfriend came home from serving in the military as a harsh, empty, and changed
man. Some of the letters were very
difficult to respond to, but it was our job to give these people responses that
they were waiting for. Cora, another
volunteer urged us to be broad in our responses because some of these people take
Juliet's advice very seriously. Every
time I have left the office, I leave with an appreciation for all of the things
in my life that I love.
Speaking of things that I love, wine has become one of them
over the last couple weeks. Carly, Cait
and I decided that we'd go wine tasting in Tuscany for our second weekend in
Italy. We were only in Florence for a
little over 24 hours, but we made the most out of all our time there! The first day in Florence, we spent
sightseeing and climbing up the steps of the Duomo to see all that Florence had
to offer in every direction. It was
tough walking down the steps because we didn't want to leave that incredible
view!
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| View from the top |
The next day, we booked a 6 hour
tour with "Tuscan Wine Time" and had an amazing experience! If you're traveling through Florence, you
need to take this tour! We were able to
taste a wide range of Chianti wines that varied from tart to tannic, earthy to
violet, tart to tobacco. Chianti wines
are medium red in color and tend to be extremely acidic. We learned that wine tasting is an all
encompassing process that literally utilizes all senses. Visually, you can decide the acidity of a
wine by the time that it takes for the 'tears' to fall down the glass after it
is swirled. Olfactory tests are used to
determine acidity of the wine, and taste is the ultimate factor in wine
tasting. Our tour started at the Tuscan
Wine School at 9am...we literally had wine for breakfast), and stopped at the
Piazzale Michelangelo to admire the view over Florence. After that we headed up the beautiful rolling
hills of Tuscany to our wineries. This
made me slightly depressed that I didn't have my bike because there were
cyclists everywhere. Tuscany is
literally a playground of cyclists.
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| View over Florence |
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| Barrels used for storing the wines |
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| The symbol of true Chianti wines |
We visited two wineries that produced the famous Chanti
wine. Chianti Classico is the most
historical wine region in the world, and dates back to 1716. The area is perfect for harvesting grapes
because of the rolling hills that allow for successful vineyards. The Tuscan region is very specific on what
qualifies as a Chianti wine, and they have very specific parameters that the
wine must meet in order to get labeled with the famous black rooster symbol of
Chianti Classico Wine. Chianti Classico
wine must be made with at least 80% Sangiovese grapes and must be aged for at
least 1 year. The Reserve wines must be
aged for at least 2 years and has to be almost 100% Sangiovese grapes. Wine is a serious business in Italy. Everything from harvesting time, fermenting
time, time spent aging in the barrel, the type of wooden barrel, and the size
of the barrel all contribute to the smell, color, acidity, and taste of the
wine.
After our fun couple days in Verona, Taylor, Cait, Carly,
and I took a day trip to Lake Garda for some beach time. Lake Garda has got to be one of my favorite
places I've been so far. There are bikes
and boats everywhere, and everyone is so friendly! I was able to get a quick open water swim in
the lake, then we spent the rest of the day hanging out by the water. Then came the fun part- public transportation
back to Verona. We waited for our bus
for 30 minutes, so we began to think that the buses weren't running on
Sundays. This is when we made our first
Italian friend- who is more of an angel, really. We almost gave up and called for a very
expensive cab back to Verona, but a very sweet Italian girl who spoke English
told us that there was an accident on the freeway so the bus was running very
late. We sat with Elena on the bus and
she told us all about her life in Verona and was curious as to where we came
from. She even offered to give us a ride
home from the bus station so we didn't have to walk! She was the sweetest girl and we were so
incredibly lucky to meet her! We're
going to go see her favorite spots in Verona next week, and I can't wait!
More random adventures..
-missing the bus with Cait(again) and having to walk down
the dark alleyway solo...how every good horror movie starts
-figuring out that we're staying in a convent/religious
convention center
-learning how to make Tortellini and fresh pasta from
scratch
-noticing that Italian men are extremely aggressive- if they
want to stare at you, they will.
-trying grappa for the first time...it tastes like grape
flavored everclear
-being busted for trying to hop off the bus without
paying...Cait and I tried to play the dumb American card, and were unsuccessful. #internationaloutlaws
-running 9 miles then not being able to eat because every
restaurant in a 2 mile radius was closed for Italian holiday...talk about
hangry.
-finding the best view of the city by climbing the stairs to
the Austrian Fortress and seeing the orange, red, and yellow colors of Verona
from above
-Climbing over 900 steps to climb the bell tower and the
main steps of the Duomo in Florence
Some of my favorite dishes from class so far...
Gnocchi di formaggio
Pork Fillet with Mustard Seeds(yes, mustard seeds)
Cream of Zucchini soup with Quadrucci
Spinach rolled in fresh pasta
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| Couldn't get it all in one picture! |
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| After our run in with the law... |
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