We spent last week in Venice, Ferrara, Mantova and Cremona celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary, half a year early because all three children were able to join us then but possibly not in October. It was of course a treat for all senses and humours – not least for someone recovering from seven very solid days tasting Bordeaux primeurs. Nick will be writing in detail about many of the tables we sat at. Meanwhile, here’s a specific suggestion for aesthetically sensitive wine lovers who are lucky enough to find themselves in that part of the world.
If you are ever in either Verona or Venice with a day to spare, here’s a wonderful way of doing so.
Padua/Padova is a 30-minute easy train journey from Venice or a short drive from both cities and the quite amazing, recently restored Giotto frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel are reason enough to make the detour. You will be allowed only 15 minutes to view them, and only 25 visitors are allowed in to this tiny, 700 year-old private chapel at any one time, but their beauty, wit and precision will take your breath away. You should book your visit in advance, especially in busy holiday periods or prime school visit times (which takes care of most of the year). You can book online in English here but you are advised to turn up an hour before your visit starts.
Suitably restored and uplifted by a late morning visit here, extended by a look at the remains of the Roman arena nearby, a roam around the church next door (which we tactlessly bombed in 1944) and the associated museum, you should walk 15 or 20 minutes south through the town to the Piazzale Pontecorvo just inside the medieval town walls, picking your way over the cobbles, under the colonnades and between hundreds of blasé students on bikes to Per Bacco, the most wine-friendly restaurant I have yet to come across in Italy.
As the name implies, this extremely relaxed, well-run establishment is indeed dedicated to Bacchus, or wine anyway. There are 1,300 exciting wines on the list, well over a thousand of them Italian, at very fair prices and every single one is available by the glass – even the Yquem. The glasses are, needless to say, of very high quality, and the wine enthusiast owner Franco Favero can talk knowledgeably though not overbearingly about every wine. All our children noted his congenitally kind expression – not something that can be learnt at catering college.
He works the room himself, hard, serving some extremely, really quite superlatively, good local produce from a simple, ever-changing menu. Nick and I had a particularly luscious risotto made from local hopshoots and herbs that are in season only at this time of year, for example.
On second thoughts, you might be better off with a late afternoon visit to the chapel and staying the night in Padua so that you could really take advantage of this wine list. I was driving so just sipped at my glass and those that I encouraged Nick and the grown up children to order – all purely in the interests of research. Particularly notable were Tercic Pinot Grigio 2004 Collio, a superlatively full yet lively example of this often disappointing varietal; Kuenhof Sylvaner 2004 Valle Isarco, Alto Adige which added new richness to this often insipid varietal; and a Loacker Gewurztraminer 2004 Alto Adige which had very respectable purity.
Our three-course meal for five with five glasses of wine came to just 176 euros.
Per Bacco, Piazzale Pontecorvo 10, 35121 Padova
tel +39 049 8754664/8762810
Closed Mondays