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This is the blog of Steve Burkett of Italy, Our Italy

Stay Here: Villa Giona

Oh, what a lovely place to relax…so peaceful, as it is away from the hustle and bustle of a big city, like nearby Verona.

Villa Giona — our room is within the red box

“...the eighteen rooms of the sixteenth-century Villa welcome you with their comfort and their quiet, so as to discover in an original and exclusive way the sense of relaxation and the dimension of pleasantness”

I can’t say it any better than what is touted on their website in this pull-quote. That ‘dimension of pleasantness’ can be measured only in one’s mind…there is no yard-stick for this sort of thing.

Its history? Villa Giona was originally constructed in the square, fortress style in the late 1400s. During the Renaisence it was “opened up” into its present U-shape. Gardens, complete with statues and fountains, were added in the 1600s.

Where is Villa Giona?

Villa Giona is only 7 miles north of Verona’s historic center. In this aerial photo, you can see Villa Giona dead center, surrounded by vineyards. To the left (west) is their associated winery of Tenute SalvaTerra. We toured the winery under the direction of Silvia, who showed us how their Valpolicella and Amarone are produced.

See that blue rectangle in the bottom-left quadrant of the photo? More on that later.

This photo of the very small town of Castelrotto was taken from Villa Giona’s parking lot.

And this view from Castelrotto’s Osteria Castrum reveals the tree-laden Villa Giona compound just to the right of center.

Villa Giona is within the treed compound to the right of center

The Villa’s Rooms

There are 18 rooms in the Villa, and each is uniquely decorated. This trip was taken with in-laws Leslie and Craig Johnson, so we had two rooms at the Villa.

Our room is the one with the red square that you can see in the first photo above. It is known as “Il Pisanello”, and can be seen in the panorama, below. Nice digs, heh?

Panoramic view of our room, Il Pisanello

In these photos, you look from our room to our private balcony, and from our balcony to our private room.

Each room features a colorful Murano Island, hand-blown chandelier, like the one below.

Just a Bit of High-brow Culture

These two adorn the balustrade of our patio. One of the two seems to be trying to seductively entice the other to give up something precious…though one can never be sure with Renaissance art.

From these detail photos, one seems to be a plumber, perhaps?

Just outside the door to our room, there are a few etchings. I’ve never actually been attracted to etchings, but because I was able to get up close and personal, this one caught my eye. The detail that one sees from afar is created by judiciously-carved/etched lines.

Here is the overall etching…

…and here is a bit of detail of the chariot-riding heroine. I have to say that this art form, which consists of scratching lines into a metal plate, looks like a lot of work, folks.

And thus ends the cultural part of this article!

Around the Villa

Below is the east wing of the Villa, which houses a library and a lounge.

I have to admit that we did no reading of these fine books, as we were too busy seeing the surrounding sights. Ok, I admit that they were in Italian and we couldn’t have read them, anyway.

When its time for breakfast, this quiet place is perfect.

On one wall we find a fresco, which seems to be the angel appearing to Mary.

A 1/6400th-of-a-second shutter speed reveals the inverted Villa beyond the water glopps.

There is even a nice veranda on the second floor where we found time to play a bit of Sequence…one of our favorite games. Here Craig studies the board for his first move.

A bit of rain caused us to don our jackets prior to our dinner excursion.

Around the Villa

Here are a few photos of the grounds surrounding the Villa Giona.

Please click on an image for a larger view

If you need to take a dip in a pool during the heat of the summer, Villa Giona has one awaiting you!

The Vineyards of SalvaTerra

Bother-in-Law Craig inspects the SalvaTerra vineyards

As we were at the Villa Giona during the grape harvest, we were able to see some of the machinery that is used to pluck the grapes from SalvaTerra’s vines.

Here is a closer look at the machine that straddles the vines. Gathering from two rows at one time, this machine can be used only with the guyot pruning method. Frankly, even seeing the insides of this contraption, I have no idea how it plucks the grapes from the vine…but I swear that it does!

It’s After 5-o’clock!!!

Before heading to dinner (our second meal at Enoteca della Valpolicella), we were offered a bottle of SalvaTerra’s Valpolicella wine. Offered-and-accepted is exactly how we operate.

My intention was to convince you that Villa Giona is a quiet and lovely place to spend a couple of days if you are in the Verona area. Coupled with the outstanding wine, excellent food and friendly eateries in the area, you can’t go wrong.

And if offered a bottle of SalvaTerra’s Valpolicella, I would suggest that you accept!

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Transforming a Venetian Palazzo Door

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Today we go to Venice for a transformation from snapshot to fine-art photo.

“You’ve seen the Venetian watergate entrances in previous articles, but this is a palazzo’s front door”

As with most all of Italy’s old towns, built when electricity and running water had not yet been conceived, electrical conduits in particular must be snaked along the outside of the buildings. Because of the Venetian water table, there are obviously no basements through which electrical lines could be routed. Thus, conduits are often visible being routed to places that their power is needed.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, my goal is to give you an Italy of the past, at the time of Michelangelo, Bellini, and others of the renaissance. Since you would not see electrical conduits at that time, you won’t see them in my photos. So, there!

You’ve seen the Venetian watergate entrances in previous articles, but this is a palazzo’s front door. It’s not all that picturesque, but maybe I can give it must a bit of charm. Let’s see.

Here is the original snapshot. It’s a bit crooked, as you can see. Also, it has those pesky electrical conduits, as well as in-the-street water valves. There is also a doorbell, mailbox and address placard that I would like to remove. I'll get right on that.

Below is the photo with the aforementioned items removed…as well as the straightening that was needed. You probably also noted that I’ve changed the door color to one of Michelangelo’s favorite Renaissance colors. I need to crop the photo to a traditional 8x10 aspect ratio.

Cropped, as promised. However, when I cropped it, that parapet running across the photo above the door just doesn’t do it for me. I’m thinking that you’d agree, right? So, my next task is to resolve that issue.

I hired some out-of-work gondoliers to raise that parapet to the top of the photo. Thank you Marco and Angelo.

Marco said, “Dovresti dare alla foto un po’ di patina veneziana”. So I did that next.

Then Mateo said, “Piu patina!”. So, I added a bit more patina. Below is the final transformation.

Who do you think built this palazzo? I’ve not idea, but it looks as though their initials were “LVB” — or maybe “L, upside-down A, B” — or maybe…see if you can figure it out. I have no idea, but this is the first above-the-door iron work that I’ve seen with initials embedded.

That’s one more Italian door snapshot transformed into my notion of a palazzo of times gone by. Next time I pass by this palazzo…and I surely plan to do that…I’ll ring the door bell to find out what that monogram depicts.

Until next time…

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Eat Here: Osteria and Trattoria Caprini

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What a night! It was magical. Tonight, we were welcomed into an Italian family!

Tonight, we were among old friends, newly found for the first time.

Because we had both an osteria and a trattoria experience, to avoid a bit of confusion between the osteria part of this establishment, and the trattoria part, I’ll simply refer to the overall establishment of both the osteria and trattoria as ‘Caprini’…after all, they are both in the same building…just different doors.

Caprini’s Beginnings

In 1907, two young newlyweds decided to open Caprini, serving traditional dishes and Valpolicella wine in a simple and unpretentious manner. Four generations later, Caprini is still run by the same family…both as an osteria and a trattoria.

Torbe di Negrar is a small hill town surrounded by vineyards. Caprini is designated within the red circle on this aerial view.

Osteria & Trattoria Caprini is within the red circle

Osteria Caprini

First, an osteria is like a tavern or corner pub. The food dishes are simple and the atmosphere is unpretentious. In other words, it’s casual and typically delish, but the menu is rather short.

“Come down here! Come down here! Come down here!”

— Our Newly Found Friends

We parked our rental car up the street from Trattoria Caprini in the Valpolicella-area hill town of Torbe di Negrar. Our intent was to go immediately to dinner at Trattoria Caprini, but as we crossed the street to the entrance, something wonderful happened…

We were hailed with “Come down here!” from a small crowd outside the door to Osteria Caprini, about 50 feet down the hill from the Trattoria’s entrance. Really, that’s what they were shouting over-and-over — “Come down here!”. What to do? We were in no hurry, so we told ourselves , “Sure!”, and we went down there to the entrance to Osteria Caprini.

What we found was Csaba’s birthday party. That’s Csaba to the left in this photo.

Csaba to the left…Ellen…and Dennis to the right

Csaba, Dennis & Patty Salerno, and others were celebrating, and asked the four of us to celebrate with them. So, we did. Wine was offered and wine was gladly accepted.

Csaba is one of those remarkable people that you are instantly drawn to…a great smile and a welcoming spirit. Hungarian citizen Csaba works at the local NATO facility. Dennis retired from said facility awhile back. Patty is Dennis’ wife. Though they are Americans, Dennis and Patty have a house nearby

…as well as this itsy-bitsy car that I’m inspecting.

We felt so much at home. We were among old friends, newly found for the first time. And, we were warmly welcomed with copious toasts of wine. It’s impolite to refuse wine, isn’t it? Plus, you know what the Romans say, right? “When in Italy, do what the Italians do!”

Here is wife Ellen, Patty, and sister-in-law Leslie.

And, behind the osteria’s bar was beautiful Maria (aka Mama Maria). She’s run the bar for many, many years. This lovely octogenarian was an excellent hostess.

See this early 20th century photo taken in front of Caprini? That’s baby Maria sitting in her mother’s lap!

We fell in love with Mama Maria because of her charm, graciousness and spirit. But also because she poured us a glass of Amarone produced by her husband and son.

This Corte Martini Amarone knocked our socks off! Really – one moment we had on socks, and the next moment, they were gone!

This wine was everything that brother-in-law Craig and I had been looking for in our two weeks in northern Italy -- put away the Barolo and pour us another glass of this awesome Corte Martini Amarone!

Also shown in the photo is the smaller bottle of Recioto della Valpolicella, which is a very tasty dessert wine.

Here are Csaba, Craig, me, and Dennis. Drawn in close with arms around shoulders.

Are our glasses empty? Yes. That means it’s time for a refill.

Many celebratory things were uttered as we toasted and re-toasted Csaba’s birthday!

After an hour in the osteria, we bid Csaba and friends a final “Happy Birthday!”. And, with hugs all around, we said good bye to our new friends as we headed upstairs to dinner at Trattoria Caprini. It turned out that our pleasant evening was to continue.

Trattoria Caprini

The formality — or lack thereof — of a trattoria is much like that of an osteria, but the menu is more extensive and the decor is kicked up a notch.

Sergio, the family member who supervises the dining room and wine cellar led us through the menu and helped us make our decisions. My selection was also the local favorite of Lasagnette al Ragu della Pierina (that’s pasta with Pierina’s famous meat sauce). I dove right in and had eaten the whole thing before I remembered that I was going to photograph this dish! Dang! Trust me – it looked as good as it tasted.

Here are a couple of photos of other dishes eaten at our table.

The wine we ordered with dinner? Of course it was the Corte Martini Amarone. We just couldn’t stop toasting! We had now moved into the wine-drinking-excuse toasts.

Here you see brother-in-law Craig sitting beneath a painting of a part of the town of Torbe di Negrar. Trattoria Caprini is the building with the green awning on the left.

As mentioned in my article titled Eat Here: Enoteca della Valpolicella, we had purchased a book of Italian recipes during our trip. Lo and behold, the recipe for Pierina’s Lasagnette al Ragu Della Pierina is in that cook book. As we just happened to have it with us, we asked Pierina to autograph our copy, which she graciously did.

Here is chef Pierina posing with Leslie and Ellen.

And, once again, we get an autograph from an outstanding chef.

And surprise of surprises, that’s Pierina herself on the cover of our cookbook, making her homemade lasagnette pasta.

You can order this cookbook here — be sure to get the Italian-English version.

Do you have meals that you will always remember? Evenings where magic surely played a part in your enjoyment? This evening – with Csaba’s birthday party, Mama Maria’s charm and Pierina’s great food – is one of those for the four of us.

I hope that you can make your way 11 miles north of Verona to the town of Torbe di Negrar so that you can meet Maria, Sergio, Pierina and the rest of the family. And, if you are there on October 2nd, you will surely find Csaba and friends in the osteria celebrating another birthday. Hopefully, we’ll be there too. After all, we need to go back to get our socks!

Ciao for now,

Steve

p.s. Thanks to Silvia of Salvaterra Winery for recommending Trattoria Caprini

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The Results Are In: Part 0

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[As the old western song says, “I’m back in the saddle, again”…the blogging saddle, that is. And to all of you who have written and called to wish me well in my Covid-19 recovery, you have my sincere thanks.]

For those of you who have been with me for awhile, you have seen my “The Results Are In:…” articles before. These are articles in which I toot my horn a bit to reflect that others have been tooting it for me.

I was doing a bit of cleaning up in my photography area of the basement, and I came across a Black & White Magazine from 2014, in which two of my photos were published. Then I found other bits of recognition that I have not shared with you. And then I found more.

As these are older awards that I should have published prior to “The Results Are In: Part 1”, I decided to slip this melange in as “Part 0” (zero), rather than Part 18, which should be the next in line.

Not much effort for this article, right? Just assume that I’m just kind of working my way back in to blogging very slowly.

Well, that’s it. I think I’m all caught up on horn tooting. The next installment of ItalyOurItaly.com will be a bit meatier. So, until then, please stay safe, and as always…

…Ciao for now,

Steve

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Eat Here: Enoteca Della Valpolicella

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Has there been a time when you’ve had a meal and you think, “Wow, I’d like to come back and eat here again!”. We said that. And, we then went back and ate there again. It was that good. Italy at its best. Here is what you can expect.

We had just completed a mourning tour and tasting of the wines of the Allegrini winery, and it was oh, so good. Now it was time for lunch. Because of a recommendation by Silvia at the Salvaterra winery, we had made a reservation for lunch at Enoteca Della Valpolicella…and we are glad we did, as the locals already know about this gem.

Getting There

On this map, you can see the short drive from Villa Allegrini (red circle) to Enoteca Della Valpolicella (blue circle) in the small village of Fumane, just 9 miles north of Verona. So, it’s possible that Juliette and Romeo had their first date here. Yeah, I know. Right?

Drive through the gate and park in the small lot.

“Whether you dine for lunch or dinner, either experience (or both, as in our case) will please you no end”

Eating There

First of all, don’t expect to be treated like a customer…you are a guest at Enoteca Della Valpolicella, and that’s the way you will feel.

Dining is upstairs, and it is a very pleasant place to eat. Add to that our very pleasant cameriera (waitress), and you have a very pleasant meal, assuming the food is also very pleasant.

Elisa Riolfi took or order, with a bit of a twist. She asked us what sort of things we liked (and didn’t like) and she then suggested that she bring us what one might call a 'chef’s menu’. We handed her our unopened menus and put our trust in Elisa.

We were glad that she approached our meal this way…because it turned out that, along with everything else, the food was very pleasant, indeed!

It turns out that Elisa has a good relationship with the chef, as Chef Ada is her mother.

I mentioned in the introduction that we returned to dine for dinner after having eaten lunch at Enoteca della Valpolicella. One of the reasons we wanted to return? This absolutely heavenly starter of Tomato Sauce alla Veronese.

It is finished with a bit of burrata cheese, basil, and a splash of EVOO.

And, for our dinner, once more we let Elisa and her mom take the reigns, but with one demand —- we wanted this starter with our meal, once again!

In this photo, you can see the texture of this scrumptious delight.

In testament to just how good this simple dish is, Ellen’s action speaks for itself! This gives new meaning to ‘diving in’ to a dish!

Ellen says, “It is remarkable that something so simple should be so flavorful!”.

And it is super simple. There are only three ingredients, and one of them is butter!

We know how to duplicate this dish. Click this thumbnail and you can see for yourself.

Wine with Our Meals

As with virtually every meal we eat in Italy, wine is always appropriate.

For lunch, we opted for a bottle of La Grola from the Allegrini winery which we had just visited that morning.

For dinner, it was a nice Amarone. This wine is the one that is made from grapes that have been raisinated for about 100 days before being pressed, described in the article here.

They have over 800 labels in their cellar. And they know each one…as well as the families that produce them. Just ask, and you will receive a wine that you will enjoy with your meal.

Whatever the meal, there is always a toast to Italy and friends not present — and that includes you, of course!

Ellen and Steve (in photo) along with Leslie and Craig, offer a toast

Here are the chef’s selections for our lunch and dinner. And it is oh, so good to know that bacon is often a part of a meal in Italy! That particular dish is Dandelion Leaves with Monte Veronese Cheese and Crispy Pancetta (which you will find on page 47 of the yet to be mentioned cookbook, below).

See the third dish in the top row? That is Duck Breast with Recioto & Honey Sauce…and it was absolutely fabulous.

Recioto is a sweet, red dessert wine made in the Valpolicella Amarone style. By putting the Recioto together with the honey, a delicious sweet, but not overpowering, accompaniment is created for the duck breast.

Here is the recipe so you can try it at home. Just click on the thumbnail to get a larger view.

Dessert? Yes please. And thank you!

A Visit from Chef Ada Riolfi

During our trip, we had found a cookbook that we really liked, as it had dishes that were the specialty of Italian chefs of the Lake Garda, Verona, and Valpolicella area - the area which we were visiting.

The cookbook is titled, “Polenta & Amarone: The Flavors of Lake Garda, Verona and Valpolicella”. It so happens that Chef Ada is featured in this cookbook with 7 of her recipes. As we happened to have our own copy with us, we had Ada autograph our book. Surely you too have a cookbook with you as you travel. I certainly hope so!

It is interesting that Ada had not seen the cookbook before tonight, as it was not of her creation. And, upon taking a look at some of her recipes therein, she spotted errors in cooking temperature and time.

Here she is as she signs our cookbook, after penciling in changes to the Duck Breast with Honey and Recioto Sauce recipe. She changed the ‘brisk heat’ of the Recioto sauce to ‘low flame’, and the time of ‘15-20 minutes’ to ‘40 minutes’. It’s nice to have a chef handy whilst you’re cooking, so we will try to do that for our future at-home cooking sessions! We’ve already scheduled Keller, Douglas, Flay, Giada, and more!

Four women of whom bother-in-law Craig and I are in awe

The Cookbook

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the cookbook (without Chef Ada edits…unless you make a personal visit to Enoteca della Valpolicella, of course), click here.

Just be sure to select the Italiano-English version (rather than the Italiano-German version). Each recipe is given in both Italian and English.

By the way, the woman on the cover is Pierina Caprini. Though we know her, you probably don’t…but you will soon when i publish an article featuring her restaurant and cooking. So, stay tuned for that…it was one of the most truly magical evenings of our lives.

That’s it for our back-to-back visits to Enoteca della Valpolicella. Both lunch and dinner were fabulous.

Want to give Enoteca Della Valpolicella a try for yourself, To the right is their contact information.

And here is a direct link to their website, where you can make a reservation…which is a must. Click on the British flag to get an English version and/or let Google translate for you. Click on the word ‘Reserve’ and fill out the form to make your reservation.

Whether you dine for lunch or dinner, either experience (or both, as in our case) will please you no end. If a bottle of un-ordered Amarone shows up at your table, make no fuss…just turn to the table near the window to see Ellen and me giving you a thumbs up of affection…that bottle is on us.

Ciao for now,

Steve

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