Il Nostro Viaggio a Valpolicella

September 18, 2018

View from the Tower of Scaligiari Castle in Sirmione

Today was another travel day . . . and a different kind of travel day at that because it also marked the beginning of our tour into the Italian countryside and mountains.

Our taxi ride from our hotel to the Florence airport turned into quite an experience. It was the first day of school in Florence, so the roads were clogged to begin with. Our driver tried to circumvent traffic by taking some back alleys and roads only to find that one of them was unexpectedly closed because Ryan Reynolds was shooting Six Underground (a new Netflix movie). There were several cars in front of us and, after an extended exchange between our driver and the other drivers, who had gotten out of their cars, we ended up backing up about six blocks because that was the only way out of the pickle that we had found ourselves in. Seeing a line of cars backing up out of a narrow alleyway flanked by brick walls from the 1500s was hilarious, as were the exchanges between all of the drivers and people on the street who were pissed off that the movie was being filmed without any notice or road closings. We finally got to the airport, where we picked up our rental car - a large, nine-person Volkswagen van. It took an exorbitant amount of time to get through the rental process, but, on the bright side, I learned that they were reimbursing me for the absurd international one-way fee they charged me for picking up the van in Florence and dropping it off in Munich. Apparently, they found a German van that needed to go back over the border, so I ended up doing them a favor to the tune of several hundred dollars! After about an hour, we were finally off and out of Florence.

The next leg of our Italian adventure is based in Veneto, of which Venice is the capital. We are not, however, spending any time in Venice itself. Rather, we’re focusing our travels in the area north of Verona, with Valpolicella as our final destination.

Driving through the Tuscan countryside was nice. Emilia-Romagna, not so much. As my mom aptly noted, it looked a whole lot like Indiana - flat, farmland, with little there. To be sure, there are some incredible parts of Emilia-Romagna, we just weren’t driving through any of them. We passed Bologna, which my Italian professor taught me was famous for the three T’s - torte, torre, e tette (torts, towers, and tits). We also passed Modena, which is home to the best restaurant in the world (Osteria Francescana).

Before heading into wine country, we made a pit stop at Sirmione, which is actually in Lombardy, not Veneto. It’s an ancient town located on the Sirmio peninsula, which divides the lower portion of Lake Garda. The first people settled in Sirmione around 600 B.C., and it became a hotspot for the Veronese aristocrats as early as 100 B.C. In fact, it has been famously praised by Catullus, who frequented the area. Between 300 and 400 A.D., the Romans fortified the city to defend the southern shore of Lake Garda. It existed as a free commune until the 13th century when the Scaligeri family took control of it. It was the Scaligeri that fortified the peninsula, building a castle and making sure that the only way to access the Sirmio peninsula was to cross one of two drawbridges through the fortified walls. The Castello Scaligeri also stands as one of the rare examples of a fortified harbor. Part of the castle extends into the lake so that the Scaligeri could safely maintain part of their fleet within the castle walls and provided defenses against invaders and locals. Sirmione definitely lived up to my expectations. The little town could not be more picturesque, particularly in light of the amazing castle. I could have spent a few weeks there, and was very disappointed that we were only able to stop in for lunch and a quick look around.

View From Our Hotel Room in Fumane

From Sirmione we drove into Valpolicella, which is on our itinerary because it’s one of my mom’s favorite wine regions in the world. The only region of Italy that produces more DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) wines that Valpolicella is Chianti. We arrived at Ca’ dei Maghi, our winery/vineyard/hotel around 5:30 p.m. It’s located on the hillside overlooking Fumane, and offers an outstanding view of the region and the vineyards that stretch for miles. After the three-hour drive from Florence, we decided to take it easy in the afternoon. Kati, Witten, and I took a dip in the pool (which was ice cold) while my parents enjoyed some wine on the patio. Then, we settled in for dinner.

Our dinner was phenomenal. We started with some eggplant rolled with ricotta cheese and topped with a local tomato sauce, as well as plates of local cheeses and meats. Kati and I both got some tagliatelle with duck ragu, followed by some excellent panna cotta - Kati’s with chocolate and mine with fruit. It was an excellent introduction to Valpolicella.