Bollito e pearà

A few days ago we had lunch in a small trattoria, a few steps away from Piazza Erbe. We went there especially to eat their fantastic bollito and pearà (boiled meat and breadcrumbs sauce). This is the king of veronese typical cuisine. It's warming and very homey, every mom (me included) cooks it for the family!

At the restaurant they normally come to the table with a big tray on wheels where the different types of meat are neatly displayed for you to choose. The waiter cuts the meat there and there and serves it along with pearà, a typical sauce made with breadcrumbs, stock, marrow and pepper, that you can see here in the glass bowl. 

I like to eat the meat with the pearà but I also like it with a little sprinkle of salt and olive oil (the meat is cooked purposedly with very little salt). My choice was: beef, chicken, veal, cotechino and tongue!

Love debris

I seem to have opened up a discussion about graffitis. Although in my post yesterday I didn't condemn the graffitis, I want to point out that I truly hate to see horrible spray writings on buildings or anywhere, it is indeed such a lack of respect and here in town I see so many... sometimes I shiver, like when I approached the Arco dei Gavi, a huge roman white marble arch (like a smaller Arc de Triomphe in Paris) with graffiti on it...

But this is this is quite a peculiar phenomenon, grown on very unique basis and I think the municipality of Verona should do something more. People come from everywhere to see Juliet and sign their names. There is an organization that receives thousands of letters (like a love agony column...)and each one receives a reply, whatever the language. Certainly the town owes a big slice of the tourist income to Shakespeare, so, I think they don't want to be strict on the graffiti issue in this very place.

Although, I think they should handle it in a different way and I have my own idea. I would install removable panels and let the people write on them and eventually make a permanent exhibition in different indoors town sites, or sell them...a graffiti made by lovers from all over the world...

If you have other ideas, please let me know, I might present them to the Mair!

Erased love

Yesterday, as I was walking along Via Cappello when I saw a "different scene" inside the hallway that leads to the little courtyard of Juliet's house. Not the usual groups of people taking pictures marvelling at the sight of the famous balcony,  but this little scaffolding and two guys working on the hallway right wall.

They were scrubbing the graffiti after having removed a thick layer of tiny paper notes attached to the wall with a chewing-gum... (some people are civil enough to use tape or a post-it).

The hallway is so thick with lovers names and hearts that it oozes with love... 

Within a few days of work the walls will be cleaned and painted but they will remain immaculate only for a few hours and the graffiti process will start all over again.

 

Icons

The FIAT 500 is certainly one of the most popular italian icons, I guess, along with pizza and the Colosseum. Launched in 1957, its production ended in 1975. This one dates back 1966. Nowadays it is considered a little family jewel and it is very popular among the vintage cars amateurs. 

Across the road you can see another popular italian name, Agip, the biggest petrol company. But you can also spot one american icon, the big yellow M...

Holocaust Rememberance Day

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day  is the first universal commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. January 27 is the date, in 1945, when the largest Nazi death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) was liberated by Soviets troops (Wikipedia).

Every year, on the 22nd January, this train wagon appears in Piazza Bra. It is quite impressive, rusty red and battered and it bears a dreadful chalk writing saying "54 stucke", the german for "54 pieces". This nightmare wagon was used from 1943 to 1945. It makes me shiver to think that innocent people were treated like "pieces" and shut in this iron box for a long, terrifying journey to Auschwitz-Birkenau. 

Portici #2

This is another little "portici" in the centre of Verona. It's only a few meters long but it is, by far, the most elegant I know. Red carpeted, decorated ceiling, a few very exclusive shops...

Unusual sight

I was walking by the river the other day and I was admiring the bright velvety moss that grows on the trees along the river, when I came near to this huge american car. 

A big 80's (?) Ford, quite a striking presence in the narrow italian streets...

In the photo you can also admire Palazzo Ottolini, a fine XVIII building facing River Adige.