We awoke to a beautiful view and the promise of another scorcher of a day. We are going to take it easy today. Barry is still recovering from his long hot ride yesterday, plus he is fighting the bug that I have.
I can’t imagine ever tiring of this view from the window of our room.
It is easy to relax here as our room is comfy, we have had a good breakfast in our hotel and Bassano del Grappa feels like a mellow place. Our hotel is across the road from the fortified gate to the old town and we will go for a walk later.
We often comment that we are in a beautiful place but how do I express how true this is for where we are. Hopefully the photos will do it justice.
A close up of Mt. Grappa from our room. Note the white building at the top: it is a massive memorial for the partisans who perished here in large numbers.
A poignant and powerful statue of General Garibaldi looking towards Mt Grappa, a site of much tragedy for the local area during WWII. The community of Bassano del Grappa has sensitively remembered the bravery and loss of the resistance who perished in large numbers.
This sign expresses best what happened here. The continued lack of restitution helps us to understand the sadness we feel from locals about this time, as well as the pride they continue to express for their valour.
Along this boulevard, there is a remembrance of each partisan who was killed by hanging. 31 trees are dedicated to each partisan with their photo, name, date of death, an illustration of a noose to reinforce the reality of their fate and a potted flower. Fittingly, the backdrop of this Boulevard is Mt Grappa, a place of much importance.
The iconic wooden Alpina Bridge of Bassano has survived much over the centuries. It has been rebuilt a few times, including after WWII, but always to the original design and materials.
After pizza, we moved on to ice cream at the gelateria and then macchiato with sweets(only 3 euros).we watched these 2 local men figure out our bike and how it worked.
Italy is truly a culture where emotion and affection is shared without reservation - through laughter, passionate conversation, hand or cheek kissing upon greeting, amorous youth. This sculpture resonates the feeling of a country that we love.
As an elderly woman was talking to us about our bike, this couple spontaneously translated her conversation. It turns out she loved the idea....and what a surprise, this couple are from Calgary Alberta. Her name is Saville and we can’t remember his name, but he was born in Bassano and is back for a holiday.
We were under the delusion that Bassano del Grappa got its name from the liquor grappa that is well known in this region and distilled here. However, it turns out that the origin of the name is from Mt. Grappa, which makes sense, as its presence dominates the landscape and is of great significance to the people living here. So, this must mean that Grappa liquor gets its name from the mountain. We’re learning!
Poli Distillery of Grappa - we are going to check it out.
Poli Distillery has a fabulous museum in the historic centre and is housed in a 15th century palace. The tour is informative, interactive, offers a good video and free tastings of a variety of their products are generously offered. As well, entrance to the museum is free.
We had low expectations of the trusting as we had tried grappa years ago. However, we really liked what we tried, so we bought two small bottles and 2 grappa glasses, handmade in Vienna....a nice souvenir.
