Suburban Goes to Italy and France - Part Three

Is the pizza really that much better in Italy? Having grown up in New York, I have been exposed to some of the best pizza that this country has to offer (feel free to argue this point, but it is simply a fact). I have come to the conclusion that a big part of the difference is the setting in which one is eating (or in this case, devouring) the pizza. The pizza itself was quite good, but the fact that it happened to be sunny, 70 degrees, and we were sitting in spectacular Piazza Bra in Verona certainly added to the enjoyment. One thing I will say about most of the food I ate while abroad is this…there is nothing processed, frozen, bagged or canned about anything. Only fresh ingredients will do, and it makes a big difference.

Nothing overly spectacular about the rest of the day. After the pizza break (and some gelato, of course) we went back to the fair for another 4 hour round of tasting. Switched to red for the afternoon and concentrated on Southern Italy and Tuscany. Went though another 60 wines or so and then off to dinner. We ended up on our own for dinner that night and it was difficult to find an open table anywhere. We ended up in a small hotel restaurant that was certainly serviceable but nothing worthy of sharing here. – Lance Cerutti – http://www.suburbanwines.com/