An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
We woke up, but we were still stuck in the maid’s room at the Villa Cipriani. We inquired about switching rooms, and were told that they’d have one for us later, after the guest checked out, so we went out for a walk around the lovely little town of Asolo, Italy.
It was gray, cool and damp, but we persevered. First stop was a brick-oven bakery where we bought some delicious biscotti and cookies, and the best custard doughnut we’d ever had. Then we walked up to the ruins of the castle, atop the hill at the end of the town. The castle grounds were closed until the weekend, but the long, curving cobblestone walk up was nice, especially with all the trees lining the path. The views all around were wonderful, too: to one side were the mountains with undulating foothills, and to the other was the valley filled with farmland and vineyards. We came down and walked the village, marvelling at the number of fine jewelry and clothing stores, and wondering who shops at such luxurious places in this small quiet town.
We ambled back to the Cipriani and saw the new room they were offering us. It was a bit larger, but with no view and was furnished like your spinster Aunt had lived in it, unchanged, since the ’30s. We checked out (without them even asking why we were leaving early) and hightailed it back to the Abbazia, where they were delighted to see us and gave us the Sandra Bullock suite. (she stayed in this duplex room in May ‘96 while filming “Love and War”, and there are several pictures of her around)
We then set off for lunch at a recommended restaurant, but got more or less lost, and as 2:00 came, we found ourselves in the vicinity of . . .the Cipriani! Since their restaurant was supposed to be superb, we stopped in like nothing had happened and they accomodated us even though it was past serving time. Lunch was, indeed, superlative. We began with a fresh salmon tartare (served with the sweetest pearl onions) and a lobster salad with arrugula, both of which were excellent. Then a pumpkin and funghi risotto and a tagliatelle with shrimp and a tomato sauce, both of which were even more excellent! That would certainly have been enough, but we’d already ordered our entrees, which were liver and onions (a regional specialty) and grilled monkfish with mushrooms, and both were done perfectly. All accompanied by a relatively light Pinot Nero. We wisely passed on dessert. Definitely one of the best meals of the trip. . .
We then drove to the small Italian town of Bassano Del Grappa. We really enjoyed this little town, known for its beautiful covered wooden bridge. As we were just walking around, we came upon their ceramic museum which we visited and loved. The museum is housed in the Palazzo Sturm, an old villa with some of the most magnificient wooden and marble floors and beautifully painted and embossed ceilings. So many wonderful ceramics, we were overwhelmed. We then stopped in several of the ceramic shops, buying some sunflowered mugs and saucers for upstate from a nice man who does all his own hand painting. Again, so many really beautiful jewelry and antique stores.
We headed back to the car, and en route Wendy picked up a coconut granita to which she had them add pineapple gelato to create the most divine virgin pina colada ever. The drive back was fine until we missed some of the invisible direction signs and drove a few too many minutes out of the way before finally returning to our home sweet home, where we got right on the web and posted a message to Fodors.com slamming the Cipriani and touting this place!