Ciao to Elida and Nico - and some time with Papa Grappa
Today was our last full day in Italy. Tomorrow we fly to Ireland and then eventually home.
This morning we took care of some business and went to a small market in Fonte. Had I more days in Italy, the cheese and meat vendors would have most of my money. Fresh and straight from the people who make them. Mmmm.
My dad went up to Monte Grappa with Francesca's father and had a great time. There is much left over from World War I and World War II - the battles always occurred here.
After lunch, we paid one last visit to Nico Sartor (his father and my grandmother Maria (Sartor) were siblings). Nico's friend/partner Elida lives part time in Australia (where she lives) and part time in Cavaso (where she was born) but at her age - 81 - she thinks she may not keep returning to Cavaso each year as the journey is too rough on her. In fact, this time she has come with her sister. So unless we visit Australia in the next several years, this may have been the last time we see Elida. In 2004 we met many family who are no longer with us. Within a few months of our visit then, we lost Elio Salvestrin (cousin Nica's husband) and then Bruno (cousin Bianca's husband - he of the not so desirable wine) - then my dad's Uncle Angelo (my grandmother's brother) and eventually cousin Beppi. If Jule and I are lucky to return in less than 10 years, then perhaps we'll see many of the Sartors again - but it has been difficult to meet the younger cousins who are very busy with work and family. For this I am happy to have met so many Rizzardos both young and old who have email and facebook and many ways to keep in touch.
It was hard to leave casa Sartor. Nico will not travel. My parents may not make it back. This is life. We are happy to have these experiences and are blessed with all that makes it possible - good jobs, good family and friends who watch our houses when we are gone, good co-workers who cover us while we are away. You are all in our hearts as we have a wonderful time.
After saying goodbye, we returned to Luisa for Jule and I to spend a few hours with Davide Rizzardo and Francesca in Bassano while the girls played with Maggie the dog and my parents relaxed. We had such a fun time. Davide and Francesca wanted to take us to the museum of grappa next to the famous Ponte della Alpini in Bassano Del Grappa. Here you learn many things about the making of grappa - all which I am sure is a very specific, scientific, controlled process. But instead we made up our own story including the name of the guy who must have started the Poli story or the story of grappa hundreds of years ago. I call him "Papa Grappa". There is no doubt he was simply drunk one day and then made a mistake in making wine and ended up with grappa instead and a special liquor was born and now we sell it for a lot of money and call it "unique". This is how history goes. Dumb people stumble across something, it becomes famous, they are rich. We are follow. I present to you the Pet Rock, the Chia Pet, and of course the person who created Choco Tacos. Grappa is just part of a long line of mistakes that made people rich.
The Poli museum of grappa has a some interesting displays, but the best of all is the smell room. Poli makes at least 20 styles of grappa, some just plain clear grappa which can be used to cure cancer, clean the chrome on your car, fuel a rocket to the moon, or blow up your neighbor's house. But to make grappa more palpable to a wider audience, they have learned to infuse grappa with many flavors - cherry, apricot, black berries, you name it. They have learned to blend it with cream and eggs to make a creamy style liquor flavored like vanilla or chocolate or strawberry. And they have different ways of finalizing the distilling process. For each of these, you can push a button and a noise like Darth Vadar's breathing announces the arrival of a cloud of vapor smelling like that particular grappa. The longer you push the button, the more steamy grappa is pushed in the air. Davide, Jule, Francesca and I all pushed many buttons and I even used some as a deodorant to see how effective it would be when walking outside. We had a lot of laughs but bought no grappa. I am fresh out of chrome and rockets. If you like, take a trip to Total Wines and buy a bottle of Poli grappa. Then you can smell it like I did.... or clean your chrome.
We topped off our evening passagiatta with a walk over the Ponte della Alpini, we stopped in a ceramics shop, and had a spritz at a local bar before Davide had to get to work. It was a great evening. I will miss Davide very much - he will stop by in the morning for a quick hello, but our visit was too short and I hope we can see him soon. He and Francesca promise to visit. Maybe we can convince him to open a restaurant in Lincoln.
Then we can make our own grappa museum and tell the story of Papa Grappa and make people smell grappa steam.
Buona Sera
This morning we took care of some business and went to a small market in Fonte. Had I more days in Italy, the cheese and meat vendors would have most of my money. Fresh and straight from the people who make them. Mmmm.
My dad went up to Monte Grappa with Francesca's father and had a great time. There is much left over from World War I and World War II - the battles always occurred here.
After lunch, we paid one last visit to Nico Sartor (his father and my grandmother Maria (Sartor) were siblings). Nico's friend/partner Elida lives part time in Australia (where she lives) and part time in Cavaso (where she was born) but at her age - 81 - she thinks she may not keep returning to Cavaso each year as the journey is too rough on her. In fact, this time she has come with her sister. So unless we visit Australia in the next several years, this may have been the last time we see Elida. In 2004 we met many family who are no longer with us. Within a few months of our visit then, we lost Elio Salvestrin (cousin Nica's husband) and then Bruno (cousin Bianca's husband - he of the not so desirable wine) - then my dad's Uncle Angelo (my grandmother's brother) and eventually cousin Beppi. If Jule and I are lucky to return in less than 10 years, then perhaps we'll see many of the Sartors again - but it has been difficult to meet the younger cousins who are very busy with work and family. For this I am happy to have met so many Rizzardos both young and old who have email and facebook and many ways to keep in touch.
It was hard to leave casa Sartor. Nico will not travel. My parents may not make it back. This is life. We are happy to have these experiences and are blessed with all that makes it possible - good jobs, good family and friends who watch our houses when we are gone, good co-workers who cover us while we are away. You are all in our hearts as we have a wonderful time.
After saying goodbye, we returned to Luisa for Jule and I to spend a few hours with Davide Rizzardo and Francesca in Bassano while the girls played with Maggie the dog and my parents relaxed. We had such a fun time. Davide and Francesca wanted to take us to the museum of grappa next to the famous Ponte della Alpini in Bassano Del Grappa. Here you learn many things about the making of grappa - all which I am sure is a very specific, scientific, controlled process. But instead we made up our own story including the name of the guy who must have started the Poli story or the story of grappa hundreds of years ago. I call him "Papa Grappa". There is no doubt he was simply drunk one day and then made a mistake in making wine and ended up with grappa instead and a special liquor was born and now we sell it for a lot of money and call it "unique". This is how history goes. Dumb people stumble across something, it becomes famous, they are rich. We are follow. I present to you the Pet Rock, the Chia Pet, and of course the person who created Choco Tacos. Grappa is just part of a long line of mistakes that made people rich.
The Poli museum of grappa has a some interesting displays, but the best of all is the smell room. Poli makes at least 20 styles of grappa, some just plain clear grappa which can be used to cure cancer, clean the chrome on your car, fuel a rocket to the moon, or blow up your neighbor's house. But to make grappa more palpable to a wider audience, they have learned to infuse grappa with many flavors - cherry, apricot, black berries, you name it. They have learned to blend it with cream and eggs to make a creamy style liquor flavored like vanilla or chocolate or strawberry. And they have different ways of finalizing the distilling process. For each of these, you can push a button and a noise like Darth Vadar's breathing announces the arrival of a cloud of vapor smelling like that particular grappa. The longer you push the button, the more steamy grappa is pushed in the air. Davide, Jule, Francesca and I all pushed many buttons and I even used some as a deodorant to see how effective it would be when walking outside. We had a lot of laughs but bought no grappa. I am fresh out of chrome and rockets. If you like, take a trip to Total Wines and buy a bottle of Poli grappa. Then you can smell it like I did.... or clean your chrome.
We topped off our evening passagiatta with a walk over the Ponte della Alpini, we stopped in a ceramics shop, and had a spritz at a local bar before Davide had to get to work. It was a great evening. I will miss Davide very much - he will stop by in the morning for a quick hello, but our visit was too short and I hope we can see him soon. He and Francesca promise to visit. Maybe we can convince him to open a restaurant in Lincoln.
Then we can make our own grappa museum and tell the story of Papa Grappa and make people smell grappa steam.
Buona Sera
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