(Over) Eat-aly

Today was a day of waaaay too much food and booze. I have not been kind to my body today. But this is the price one pays when in Rome (or Bassano del Grappa)...

We started the day at the Poli Grappa Museum, conveniently located across the street from our flat. Poli is another famous grappa producer, and they've made the brilliant marketing move to create a small, FREE museum to explain grappa distillation and history...and host a large Poli shop and tasting room at the end. The museum itself was surprisingly interesting- it included a "sniff display" of all Poli's grappa flavors, solving that timeless problem of "how to give free booze samples to everyone without boozing up kids, or wasting precious liquor."

Also, grappa up one's nose is fun.

We took full advantage of the free samples at the end; each of the four of us chose two different grappas, and we all shared. My goal of the day was to find a grappa that I would drink voluntarily- most grappa tastes like lemony lighter fluid- and I happily succeeded. I discovered I like egg grappa (its creamy flavor and texture is reminiscent of eggnog), mocha grappa, and aperitivo grappa (an Aperol-like flavor). I also learned about the four types of grappa, facts of which I promptly memory-holed after a few grappa shots. Anyway.

By the time we finished our grappa-fest, it was time for lunch. However, being already full of grappa, I opted to skip lunch and advance directly to gelato.

People: I have discovered drop-the-mic gelato.

Our friends took us to their favorite gelato and chocolate shop, ChocoMi. Not only was ChocoMi's gelato delicious, but the flavors were freaking EPIC. I had two flavors: Chocolate with grappa, and- wait for it- PUMPKIN SPICE. While I know that an American white lady ordering Pumpkin Spice is a stereotype, in my defense, PUMPKIN SPICE.

We spent the afternoon on various terraces, drinking (a lot of) wine and Campari Spritzes. Later in the evening, our friends had reservations for dinner at La Bottegara, a trattoria known for its pasta carbonara, "come dio comanda" ("as god intended"). And after eating a bowl of this rich, guanciale-heavy carbonara, I must say I agree with this restaurant's god. It was fabulous. But it was also ginormous and grossly filling. But despite that, we still managed to order several bottles of wine, and huge tiramisus.

I'm not gonna lie- I felt like a python that had swallowed an entire goat, and now needed two weeks to slowly digest it. When we finally left three hours later, I could barely propel myself forward.

We finished the evening with a long, post-gorge stroll over the Ponte Vecchio to admire the town at night.Weiterlesen