Eating in Italy - Part 1

Half the fun (or WAY more than half the fun) of traveling in Italy is eating.

My first taste of Italian food in Italy on this trip, was at Vineria Tirano in Tirano, after getting off the Bernina Express train from Switzerland. A pleasant and unexpected surprise, that we wandered into, while searching for a place to eat in the Old Town.

We sat on the patio and enjoyed the sun. The amuse was a small grain salad. Our appetizer was bruschetta with really creamy burrata and thinly sliced pork and the bread was a rustic brown roll toasted and topped with tomatoes. And the main was pasta with duck sausage and a pureed vegetable soup. Everything tasted fabulous, although my favorite part was the burrata with pork.

The variety of Caprese Salads was surprising to me, since the majority did not have basil at all. There were a whole variety of herbs, did have basil and one had dried oregano and one had arugula. My most favorite was Bar Il Molo’s version (far left picture) in Varenna. The mozzarella had this superbly creamy layer just under the surface. La Vista in Varenna (far right picture), had the most beautiful version, and that was the only one with basil pesto.

I was completely ready to embrace the aperitivo hour, in the early evening, mostly because I was hungry and unused to dinner at 8:00. Aperol Spritz is one of the most popular, and I decided to go for it, because it seemed like the thing to do. It’s a bubbly cocktails, which I enjoy, and it’s a little bitter from the Aperol. The snacks that came along with the drink, are a great deal and tasty too - chips, nuts, cheese, olives.

I don’t drink coffee, but I just had to try the capuccino and I had one every morning.

And gelato…was phenomenal.

The last time I was in Italy, in 1997, I don’t think I even knew what gelato was, so I ate as much as I could on this trip. At least daily. I tried 2 of the 3 gelato shops in Varenna and both were great, creamy and flavorful - stracciatella and chocolate. The most disappointing was the blood orange in Menaggio. And the most fun was Ciacco in Milan, where we could stand on a corner and see 3 or more gelato shops. They had some interesting flavor options, I’d not encountered before, like Spagnola (cherry) and Crema di Bretagna (salted butter vanilla).