We've achieved a small milestone, a first ever occurrence: the three brioche breakfast. Di solito, that is to say "usually", on Saturdays we look forward to stopping at a bar and indulging in a cappuccino and brioche each. It's just one of those things that makes Saturday in Italy special. We know that wherever we're going, and whenever we get off the train, our special breakfast awaits.
Before even arriving in Rovereto we knew we would have a cappuccino and brioche breakfast, and upon arriving the first thing we did was look around for a suitable locale. Eventually, we found a great bar with gorgeous pastries piled high on the counter and in their displays. It was very difficult to choose, but we did. And, as usual, we both enjoyed our brioche and coffee.
But then, as if in an action film from the 1980's, time slowed... Stefano and I both looked at the gorgeous untouched pastries still sitting on the counter. Then we looked at each other. Then we looked at the pastries again. There was no going back.... We locked eyes and nodded.
"Signore, we'd like another brioche."
And that was the moment our decadent Italian lifestyle hit a high note with the three brioche breakfast. But, trust me, you would have behaved the same. All of those delicious pastries, stuffed with cream and studded with nuts, swirled and curled and gorgeously baked...
Fully satiated we wandered our way to Rovereto's weekend market which, for once, resembled the markets we love to scour in the United States. It was a gathering of collectors of oddball items selling random objects of equivalently random value. In our experience it's far more delightful to explore buckets of old junk than delicately organized rows of precious antiques.
And in fact, we walked away with a gem of a find: a wooden shopping list pre-printed with the essential items an Italian household might need. Next to each of these items is a hole into which you place a small peg to indicate need. Now I'm not going to dispute the Italian version of what's important but just to give you an idea of priorities, I'll name a few: salame, pancetta, prosciutto, vino, formaggio, caffé. And such a gloriously utilitarian item cost us a mere 2 euro. Even with today's falling dollar, that's a steal.
Rovereto is also the perfect place to shop for the foods on your shopping list. We found not only the perfect salumeria but also two world class candy/chocolate shops. In fact, we were so involved in shopping for basic necessities (ie chocolate, vino and formaggio) that we nearly forgot to visit the musuem for which the town is famous.
Before heading to the MART (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art) we stopped for lunch. Being in the Trentino region, close to Austria, does have it's gastronomic benefits and the food we had was tinged with glorious Austrian heartiness.
The restaurant where we ate filled-up fast with locals. In fact, the proprieters were turning away potential customers left and right because there was no more space. We knew we had come to the right place not only because we were surrounded by locals but because the food was so darn good.
My meal was like a head-on collision between dumplings and gnocchi with spinach, cheese and butter thrown in. Stefano had a pasta dish heaped with salami meat sauce. We also shared a polenta dish with mushrooms and cheese, and finished with the best apple strudel we've ever had.
After a shot of grappa to dull the pain of how much polenta with cheese costs, we went to the MART where we found minimal exhibits because we just happened to visit in that small crack of time between big exhibits. We were, however, very lucky to catch the exhibit on futurist artist Fortunato Depero and loved his unique vision.
The museum building itself is also fairly striking. A bit of a riff on the Pantheon, it's a tall circular structure with a hole in the center of the roof. The lines of its structure - white against the blue sky - were as much art as the collection we were unable to see. But despite the fact that most of the collection seemed to be in some form of transition we were happy to see what we did.
Before catching our train back to Milano we did some serious food shopping and then stopped for a drink. Happy to set down our shopping bags we each had a Spritz with Aperol and marveled over how much better potato chips taste around apertivo hour. Also, our setting was superb: we were smack-dab in front of a bounce house filled with italian children, sans shoes, hopping their way into early evening.
We left as the bounce houses were being put to rest, their bouncy-ness dissipating into the night at the hands of the maintenance men who had been waiting in the wings for just that moment... when their eyes could meet and they could agree that now was the time to shoo all the screaming kids away and deflate these giant abominations.
Kind of like when our eyes met and we agreed to indulge in the third brioche. Except there were no crying children at the café that morning. Only the cries of our cholesterol counts slowly inching towards the stratosphere...
Pasticceria: Pasticceria Andreotta, Via Roma 9, tel: 0464.421.291
Restaurant: Vecchia Trattoria Birrara Scala delle Torre, Via Scala delle Torre 7, tel: 0464.437.100
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