On our Grand Adventure, Chuck and I have visited many tiny hilltop towns whose ancient inhabitants built sturdy walls to protect themselves on the high places. On Lago di Garda (Lake Garda) it appears that the ancients put up little defense against hordes, rather the warm and friendly townspeople just offered strangers Lemoncello and Bardolino wine and peace won every time. As we walked the streets of old Bardolino I felt a peace of the old times. No cars or trucks mar the silence that is filled with the sounds of happy people, church bells, and music. We searched for the perfect cafe and found it at the intersection of two pedestrian walkways. The owner, Gianluca, a Venetian born entrepreneur, provides comfortable couch and chairs for his wine drinking clientel. While he mixes incredible antipasti he chats and takes our photo. He has a chef who creates wonderful mixes with eel, muscles, eggplant, cheeses, and other delectibles that Gianluca arranges artfully on a platter for our delight, accompanied by a medium body, full aroma Bardolino. The antipasto is a meal for us, but Gianluca says trust me and we follow the antipasti with a plate of eel, crispy and perfectly prepared… We demur and refuse a dulce (sweet) having recently finished Venetian pastries given to us when we left Mira. But we watched with interest as Gianluca decorated two strawberry tiramisus. We finished the whole splendid repast with tall glasses of lemoncello and took the Italian standard passagiata back to the hotel. As we strolled, a little lost, through misty midnight still street we blessed the little town who greeted two strangers with smiles, Bardolino and lemoncello.   Â
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