notes on espresso 3

yeah I guess it’s spelled espresso
espresso count: 10 (2+3)

I have officially come around on the after dinner espresso.

This might be very im in Italy of me but an espresso while chatting with friends after a nice long Italian dinner just wraps the night up in a nice bow. I really wish I could have this in America but all the Italian restaurants are either too pretentious or expensive for someone like me Q.Q.

So now I’m on the hunt. I want some Italian espresso beans to take home. And from there, I’ll continue my espresso journey!!!

Something esteemed subscriber Noah Curran and I have noticed since descending the mountains is that the espresso quality has gone up immensely. Not that the ones on the mountain are bad (not good though), but the ones down here are just stronger and more flavorful. Nothing beats having one on top of a mountain but the brews down here are just plain better.

Side note: I now believe most Italians would just ask for a caffé when referring to an espresso. But seeing as I’ve changed the name of this newsletter three times now I really wouldn’t count on this little nugget of possible truth!

Some quick hits that I’ll divide into sections.

bolzano

After descending the mountain to the capital of the autonomous region of Bolzano (remember how I said the area was Austrian then Italian? Yeah there were secessionists and they were mad), Noah and I took some time to get acquainted with the semi-mountain scenery.

In his words, Bolzano is not a place you go to, but a sick place to end up in. And I agree! Getting off the train, we had no idea what we were getting into. As the quaintly-colored apartment buildings stood over us, we gradually winded our way through the small alleys, passing the Ötzi Iceman museum and ending up at the Victory Monument commemorating Italy’s victory over Austria.

Here, several things were interesting. The first was the beautiful mountain landscapes with churches and villas dotting the side of the hills, gradually rolling up to a castle overlooking the entire valley.

The second is that since the region was won by the Italians, Mussolini (fascist guy) tried to stamp out their German roots during WWII and banned the use of all German in the region. Eventually some people had enough and began committing acts of terrorism, culminating in Italy just allowing the region of Bolzano/sudtirol to just be autonomous and self governing.

And with that amazing piece of history in our minds, Noah and I walked down the path by the river until we literally happened upon a castle.

Surrounded by a vineyard, the castle with its tan-colored stone almost blended in with the vines in their winter getup. It rose up from the tangle of shades of brown, looking all regal-like and official. It was quite the find!

Pasta note: had a great tagliatelle with ragu!!! I ate it too fast to take a picture sadly.

Verona

After a few hours in Bolzano, we had enough and were ready to go. Bolzano had other plans — we waited an hour for our first train before it got so delayed they just cancelled it. Luckily the next train brought us straight to our next destination: the city of Verona — home of Romeo and Juliet.

After dropping our bags at the hostel, we braved the slight drizzle to a pizzeria we haphazardly chose from Google Maps. In American fashion, we arrived a little early (7pm) — and the longer we sat the more we found our decision to be accurate.

I know that Italians ate a late dinner but Inhonestly never really believed it — not until that night. As we sat and ate our delicious pizza, the local clientele rolled in. Elderly men with suits and ties, couples on a date. They all came in to share a pizza at around 8pm.

After falling asleep to the sound of the French guy in the next room snoring the walls down, we set out into the quiet drizzle of Verona, stopping at landmarks such as the arena, Juliet’s house (people grab her statue’s right boob for good luck which is super weird imo), a plaza dedicated to Dante Alighierhi and a rather ornate burial area for his benefactors. The rain kept on as we continued our self-guided walking tour — which was gratefully provided by our hostel.

By lunch, we had seen the many sights of the old town. And after walking across battlements and gazing up at Juliet's balcony we were tired, hungry and unfortunately soaked. In our 3 hours walking around the old town, the rain hadn't let up.

Lunch was a wonderful gnochetto in a simple but refreshing tomato sauce. I walked in with my coat drenched and raindrops dotting my glasses and I guess the lady manning the counter felt bad for us and quickly ushered us in. We had taken a bit of a bet on this restaurant, and when we saw many men in suit and ties walk in and order the same as us, we knew we had found a good one.

That’s been a recurring trend this trip. Up in the ski town it was tough finding what locals eat (probably just at home) but down here it’s been a fun challenge to find the best deals in town.

After a rainy goodbye to the city, we departed without much issue and arrived at our initial and final destination: Milan.

Milan

And that brings us to today! Today was just wandering through the streets of Milan and eating a particularly tasty seafood pasta dinner. Noah and I took a break in the shadow of the Castillo Sforzesco while finding a dinner spot and couldn’t have been happier with our choice! I got a tuna pasta and Noah got a swordfish lasagna. Yeah. What a combo. But the REAL STAR LF THE SHOW WAS THE AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING CHEESE LLATTER with some caramelized onion jam and a normal jam. Couldn’t tell you the names of the cheeses. But it was stunning.

So that’s it for now! Sorry kind of a longer one today. 1.5 days of Italy left! See you all tomorrow or on Saturday!