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An Evening in Barolo

If you are familiar with Italian wine, you know of Barolo wines (and I’m hoping that you have read my article on Renato Ratti winery here, where I described Barolo wines)…and you may be thinking that I mis-wrote above when I titled this article ‘An Evening IN Barolo’, as if I’m in a glass of Barolo wine. Though not a bad idea itself if one has a very large wine glass, I am referring to the town of Barolo, from which Barolo wines get their name.

The small town of Barolo is in the southern Langhe area, which is the area of the Nebbiolo grape vineyards that form the basis of Barolo wines…as well as Nebbiolo wines. And of course, we are in the Piemonte region of northern Italy.

This is the final article that concerns the Langhe vineyards and wine producing area of Piemonte. The previous articles are as follows:

This article is heavy on photos, and low on verbiage. You will see charming buildings and a nice, simple dinner — so here goes.

Yes, those are real grapes!

On Piazza Municipio

75 or 59?

Letterbox detail

And if you are a circus fan, don’t fret, as the Circo Peppino Medini comes to town in September for 10 days. And, as it says, ‘the show is suitable for all ages’.

Only 50 meters to Osteria la Canti Nella

Piazza Falletti

A Bit of Shopping

As Barolo is king here…in the town of Barolo…it is readily available in the wine stores.

Earlier in the day, we had learned to cook Italian in a wonderful cooking class, and tajarin pasta was one of the pasta types that we prepared…found here in a small market.

The local butcher shop, or macelleria, carried many of our favorite meet products.

Dinner Time with the Famiglia Brezza

As the evening approached our dinner time, we decided on the comfortable Brezza family restaurant at the Hotel Barolo. Note that the sign has both Italian and English information, so do not fear travel in Italy because of language issues, as explained in a previous article here.

OK, we are in the town of Barolo, in the heart of the Piemonte wine country, so one should expect to see a lot of wine. But, we didn’t expect to see so many bottles in one place. The ristorante Brezza proudly displays their wine in the midst of the diners who will be enjoying them. Though Craig looks calm in the photo below, he is actually feeling a bit of angst about which wine he will choose during our dinner…so many wines, and so little time!

We chose an Arneis as our starter white wine, and it was as delicious as we had hoped.

How about a 60-year old Barolo?! The bottle below would cost you only $300 here in Italy. Or, if you wish, you can purchase a 90-year old Barolo Riserva from the same vintner for only $500. You will NOT find these prices in the US.

Here are some more prices for the Barolo d’epoca, or vintage Barolo wines, as sold here in Ristorante Brezza. Next time I return to this restaurant, I think I’ll splurge for a wine that was produced in my birth year!

Another meal and another toast as we enjoy a bottle of Barolo.

Just in case you are interested in the price of a meal in a typical small northern-Italian town, here is the menu.

By the way, do you like truffles? This area is famous for its truffles. There are both black truffles and white truffles, so you have a choice. But beware, as the white truffles are much more expensive. Did you notice at the bottom-right of the menu that you can get one shaving of a white truffle for about $31? Ouch!

Below you can see our risotto made with Barolo wine, veal sausages, and wild boar…all delish, of course.

Well, it’s time to head back to our lodgings. And we are well satisfied with our visit to the small town of Barolo, as well as our wonderful meal at Ristorante Brezza. We will find ourselves strolling the night laden streets to linger just a bit longer.

Ristorante Familia Brezza

Thank you for joining us on our stroll through the very quaint, very charming, town of Barolo. And also, we’re glad you joined us for dinner. That last Barolo toast? it was for you!

Ciao for now,

Steve

p.s. Join me next time as we leave the Barolo wine are of the Piemonte for Lake Maggiore.

Evening at Piazza San Marco

The Contrast

USA: Dinner, a drive, a movie, a drive...to bed.

Venice: Dinner...lingering over dinner...a stroll through quiet streets...orchestral music on the Piazza San Marco until the midnight bell tolls...to bed.

“Three of the restaurants on the Piazza have orchestra stands from which music entertains you througout the evening”

There is a big difference between the evenings in Italy and in the US.

Dinner in Italy is unhurried. There is no rush. Your dinner partner(s) and waitstaff are your entertainment. Each course arrives at just the appropriate time. The wine level in the bottle seems to lower at just the right pace. There is no rush. A grappa will be offered at some point after dessert. There is no rush. There is no rush. You've finally gotten it through your head...there is no rush. You won't receive your bill until you ask for it...'Il Conto, per favore'. Never were you rushed. This is your evening.

And after dinner? When the sun dims, the evening begins to shine for us. The heat of the day has been lifted. Campos which were full of vendors during the day have been miraculously cleared for outdoor dining. People are laughing and having a good time. After dinner, those fortunate to stay overnight in Venice are heading to Piazza San Marco for the nightly concert...or should I say, concerts.

The Piazza

There is only one gathering space in Venice large enough to be called a 'piazza' -- the rest are piazzetta or campo. Surrounded on three sides by consistent city buildings and on the fourth by the Basilica San Marco, Piazza San Marco is huge. 

Here is a photo of the Piazza that was taken in January from the balcony of the Basilica...if you haven't been to Venice, trust me that only in the winter will you find so few people here.  

Panorama of Piazza San Marco taken from the balcony of Basilica San Marco

The Campanile

Note that you can see the base of the Campanile (bell tower) in the photo. Here is the top of the Campanile, where the bell is located. The bell tolls an important event in your evening.

 

Original Campanile in ruins after its collapse

But, this is not the original campanile which was completed in 1514. Here is a photo of the original campanile, after its collapse on July 14, 1902 at 9:45am. Not as tall as it was the day before. Today's campanile was completed in 1912. And alas, though there were 5 bells (all tuned to a different octave of 'A') in the original campanile, each named and having its own tolling function, four of the bells were destroyed in the disaster, so that today there is only one bell.

A few of the pigeons of the Piazza

One of the joys...I guess it's a joy...are the pigeons of the piazza. In the past, one could purchase bird feed to attract these pesky birds. But, the wise city fathers have now prohibited the act to try to reduce the number of pigeons on the piazza. 

 

Concert Time

In the two photos below, which were taken in the evening from the Campanile, you see the sights of your entertainment for the evening. 

Western end of the Piazza San Marco

North side of the Piazza San Marco

Three of the restaurants on the Piazza have orchestra stands from which music entertains you througout the evening. On the left in the top photo is the Caffe Florian. In the lower photo are Ristorante Quadri on the left and Cafe Lavena on the right.

To avoid the cacophony of sound that would result from all of the orchestras playing at the same time, they take turns. So, if you stand in the middle of the Piazza, you can wander from one side to the other to enjoy the music. Want to dance with your partner? Go ahead. Want to sit down for a cappuccino or soda? Go ahead, but expect to pay a hefty cover charge. But either way, you will enjoy the evening of music.

Here are some photos of the musicians as they make their music...just for you. 

The orchestra of Caffe Florian

The Evening's End

At midnight, all will be finished. You will know the time by the one, solitary tolling of the Marangona bell of the campanile. It's now time to return to your hotel. Tomorrow will bring many more memories for the two of you in the world's most magical city.

No dinner and a movie here...just dinner and memories to last a life time. 

 

Ciao for now,

Steve

Transforming l’Uomo della Pizza

“The l’uomo della pizza (pizza man) was standing out front contemplating…who knows what? Which adds just a bit of mystery to the photo, don’t you think?”

I’d have to say that Rome by night is a good bit more enjoyable than Rome by day. The summer heat, traffic and general hub-bub of the day are gone.

It’s as if the setting sun acts as a catalyst to transform the streets, piazze and campi of each neighborhood into something that is far more charming, more romantic, and of course, more temperate.

It was during a late evening stroll to the Trevi Fountain that we came across this scene at a neighborhood pizzeria.

The l’uomo della pizza (pizza man) was standing out front contemplating…who knows what? Which adds just a bit of mystery to the photo, don’t you think?

Upon spying him standing there, I quickly dropped to one knee to take this photo, as I visualized him being the dominate object of the image, and the lower camera angle seems to make him a bit larger than life. 

Because I was kneeling down, with the camera aimed slightly up, there was a good bit of distortion as the vertical lines of the buildings converged. So here is the image after I eliminated the vertical distortion. 

You can see that a bit of the photo has been lost due to the correction, but as I was shooting wide angle, there was plenty with which to work.

I am now ready to do a bit of cropping and adjustment to color balance and lighting.

In the version above, you will note that the interior of the pizzeria is well lit, while our pizza man is in shadow – as are the tables and patrons. After a bit of work, we can see below that the building exterior, table, patrons and the pizza man have been illuminated, while the interior has been darkened a bit. 

Additionally, I really liked the texture of the paving stones and the shadows that our pizza man was casting, so I emphasized those aspects, too.

Finally, a bit of cropping to get right down into the subject of the photo resulted in the version you see just above.

That was a good bit of cropping of the original image wasn’t it? Yet, there is still a lot of detail in the photo. My camera gives me the ability to do significant cropping without a lot of loss of resolution. The Nikon D800 is a 36mp camera – this camera has a huge sensor, whereas the vast majority of other cameras are in the 10-12mp range. That gives me a lot of room to isolate objects in the image.

For my final version, I found the two patrons on the right and the Hostaria store to be distracting. I was able to crop out the store, but the two patrons had to be removed through magic – even Harry Potter would be jealous.

In cropping, it was important to the composition that our pizza man is off-center a bit to the left. Since he was looking to our right, we need to give him some room to gaze.

So, here is the final photo, which can be found on my website in the Rome gallery.

I like the feel of this late evening shot -- colorful cloths on the street-side tables, two patrons studying the menu to select just the right ingredients for their pizza, and our l’oumo della pizza contemplating…what?...use your imagination.

If you would like to speculate upon that which he contemplates, use the comment box, below.

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