Woke up to a nice breakfast in our B&B, “Luxury House” in Bassano del Grappa and off we went to Asolo. It was only about a half hour drive from here through pretty country side.  Asolo was pretty much deserted; we walked around the center before we took the hike up to the Rocca, which is an ancient fortress on top of the hill overlooking the town.  Archeologists have dated the stone castle back to the 6th century and mainly in use in the 14th.  In 1510 it saw its last wartime action.  Anyway–the castle itself is closed for renovations, but the hike up to it was beautiful and worthwhile.  We worked up a good sweat even in the cold day.  Here are some of the views as you walk up and around.

the beginning of the path from town.

The end of the trail

We strolled around Asolo for a bit more and decided to come back to Bassano for lunch.  We parked at the B&B and walked the 10 minutes into town.  We ended up at Osteria Vesuvious for simple pasta, salad and proseco.  Here’s what kind of restaurant it is:

The pizza smelled so great we wanted to come back for dinner.

I got a better shot of the view from the Old Alpini Bridge:

After lunch, we walked on a street called Viale Martiri (martyrs).  The street is lined with 17 well groomed oak trees.  On the trunk of each one is a flowering plant and a plaque with a name and the date, Sept 26, 1944.  At the end is an explanation of how these men were killed by the Nazis here in the Grappa.  Sobering, indeed.  It is such a beautiful tribute; I felt it really moving.

Back at “home” we did our resting thing. We saw the Super Moon come up through our window and thought of my sister’s birthday.  Did you see the moon, Pat?

After a long drawn out discussion, we finally decided to go back to Vesuvious for dinner which was fine.  We drank (a whole bottle) of a Banfi blended red, ate pizza and evesdropped on an American guy with his Italian relatives and 2 young girls sitting near us.

We both fell asleep watching The Crown.