the art of dinner

One night after The Show, we find our way with our friend and guide Rob Forman of Dalla Terra into the center of Verona, to a little gallery with big art. We are at the Galleria dello Scudo to see a show of the Italian artist Pietro Consagra, paintings and sculpture, in honor of the gates he designed and built at the Badia a Coltibuona vineyard in Tuscany. We wander around, our eyes drawn by the colors and shapes, and we learn that this is the gallery that represents di Chirico, Modigliani, Morandi. Many of the greats of 20^th century Italian art. Once, a long time ago, we spent a handful of days on Lago di Lugano in the spring. After a walk in the sunny gardens full of tulips along the water, we went to a Modigliani show of portraits, the long, thin faces evocative of hunger, sadness, and spent beauty.

Dinner is at a trattoria down a street whose name changes twice. Traditional dishes like cured horse meat shaved thin and fine like shredded paper with arugula and Balsamic, polenta with a mushroom ragu, then the traditional risotto made with radicchio and sausage. The main course is a pork loin with a celery puree, and to finish a warm chocolate pudding cake. We drink new vintages of the Badia e Coltibuono estate wines which are all organic, Emanuela Stucchi Prinetti and the winemaker Maurizio Castelli talk of their experiements with Sangiovese (like fermentation for 10 months...) and their hopes for future vintages. We leave sated and warm into the cool, early spring night.

--Deirdre