Feeling very restless and emotional about our last days but through that I had the presence of mind (this is supposed to be funny) to go to Dolce Locanda for coffee and a sweet to start the day. They seem to have different things each day in the glass box on top of the bakery counter.  I chose the pistachio frangipani tart.  Oh man it was good!

pistachio frangipani with raspberry and a buttery cookie top!

Next stop: a visit to the Castelvecchio–the old castle.  Built in the 1300’s and restored in the 1960’s, it is a real symbol of Verona and now houses an art museum.  We really enjoyed the art–lots of saints and madonna and child.  But, mixed in, like one in each room of maybe 10 pieces, there was a contemporary piece.  It was an unusual way of having a show within a collection.  I really enjoy the contemporary stuff, even if some of it made no sense.  Here’s one that made me smile.

Title: Clown skull

And here’s one room with original fresco decorations:

love the trompe l’oeil curtain on the bottom

After the art you can go out onto the castle walls. What a treat.  We had a clear view of the mountains to the north, with the city and the Adige river below.  And the brick walls themselves with their M shaped toppings (I think they’re called merlons) –I took about a million pictures.

view

light through the curtains

castle walls

We then went to the gastronomia place nearby, called appropriately, Gastronomia Castelvecchio, and got some things for dinner. I really wanted some nice tortellini before we leave. And we went to “Gusto” the local fast food place for a panuozzo–like a sandwich made with pizza bread. It was enjoyable, but a lot of bread.

Came home for a rest and reading time.  At 5 ish, we met Virginia in Piazza Bra and went shopping together at the OVS store.  We had wanted to bring her a gift from Tallahassee, but thought it would be more fun if we went shopping here in Verona.  And it was.  We love playing “family” with Virginia–her coming out of the dressing room modeling the various possibilities for our approval.  We walked through Piazza Bra and took this selfie:

Came home and made our delicious tortellini, just simple with olive oil and grated grana.  We had some veal stew and spinach from the gastronomia, too.  We had bought a small tiramisu at Dolce Locanda and it was light and delicious for dessert.

Great day–eating, art, sun and impressive history.  What’s not to love?