After a little breakfast at our B&B, Massimo met us.  We started out on a walk through Porta Nuova where there is this incongruous dinosaur advertising the science museum:

and winding up to where the big art museum is.  Massimo is a wonderful teacher and the whole way he was giving us lessons in Bergamo (and Italian) history.  I now know the difference and the significance of Srs. Garibaldi and Cavour, how Lombardia got its name, why “they” are called Barbarians, as well as a ton of other interesting aspects of local history.

We stopped at this little piazza where Anthony, Lyn and Mary Sue stayed:

We walked quickly back down to get Massimo’s little Fiat Panda and drive about 20 minutes out of town, in Ponteranica, to Trattoria del Moro where we me Slow Travel friends Jim and Diana Zurer.  It was a great choice, somewhere we would never have found nor even known of but Massimo did.  He says it’s a place where families go on Sundays for the views and the rustic food.  A platter of salami, prosciutto and mounds of the local, hearty polenta was the starter.  Following that we each got a plate with a “tris” of pasta dishes foiade (square cut pasta) with hare sauce, casoncelli and fresh tagliolini with porcini.  All super hearty Bergamasca food.  It way really a joy meeting Jim and Diana–we had so much to talk about!  Diana even showed me a quilt she is working on.

We said our goodbyes and Massimo dropped us off for a good nap while he went to an afternoon meeting.  We met again, in the heavy rain around 7:30 and walked to a very close by place for an aperitivo.  I loved my Negroni and also got a vegetable plate that was so pretty, with pumkin puree on the bottom:

What a wonderful, socially rich, time we’ve had here visiting friends!