Category: Italy/Slovenia/Austria/Liechtenstein/Switzerland, Fall 2021

We departed from Milan on our six day Northern Italy wine tour with Tinto Travels, run by Peter and Nina Brinkman.  We got connected with Peter and Nina when we stayed in their hotel in Evora, Portugal.  When we departed from their hotel I checked the box “Let us know if you are interested in our wine excursions”, or something to that effect.  I marked an “x” in the yes box, and the rest is history.  We were supposed to do this trip last year, but the Wuhan Flu got in the way.  Fortunately we were able to do it this year!

Our first stop was Azienda Agricola Lo Sparviere winery in the Franciacorta region of Italy, known for their sparkling wine.  This sparkling wine has become quite famous, and rivals the French Champagne regions, particularly within Italy.

This winery is owned by the Beretta family…the same family that makes the famous weapons.  I’m liking this sparkling wine more and more!  Great wine holder!

The region has this Morainic soil from glaciers that came out of the local Alps, and make for excellent soil for vineyards.  These soils are depicted by the white rocks below.

This is a Chris Stotka version of wine storage (Chris is a close friend, who likes to hunt, and also happers to be on this wine trip).

After visiting the winery, we had lunch at this truly excellent restaurant in the city of Revanto, Trattoria El Gallo.  The beef carpacio was excellent, but the Chantrelle Pie, made with Chantrelle mushrooms, was out of this world good, and I normally abhor mushrooms!  Sorry, no photos of the food here, just the good company.

Peter Brinkman in deep conversation.  Or he’s thinking, did I leave the stove on?  You’d have to ask him.

The food and wine was flowing freely.  Nobody was going hungry!

This is Elena Ercole, who is associated with the wines we were tasting, explaining the characteristics of the currently poured wine.

Next we retired to the inside of the restaurant for the rest of our meal.

This wine was truly excellent!  I also think this is what we called the Italian kids in 6th grade who were acting like dicks.

Kim really liked this light red wine from the Piemonte region.  We will be visiting this area towards the end of our trip.

Paul Turina is Peter’s import manager for their wine store in Virginia.  If you give him a chance he will talk your ear off….but I thought he had a lot of good shit to say, to be honest.  Thanks Paul!  Keep talking!

I have to say, the pasta dish we had at Trattoria del Gallo, homemade Casoncelli with melted butter and Grana Padano and Sage, is the best pasta dish I’ve had in at least 3 years, possibly longer.  Holy crap is this good!!!  This is worth a drive if you are anywhere near Revanto!

I thought this was the best wine of the day!  Colline Teramane Montepulciano D’Abruzzo Riserva.  Truly excellent!

After lunch we drove to our hotel (Bellerive Hotel) for the next three nights, right on the edge of Lake Garda in the small down of Salo.  Excellent view from our balcony.

That’s Peter and Nina down below, and Chris Stotka on his balcony staring up at me.

Kim and I took a walk along the waterfront and I actually pushed her around on this Merry Go Round ( I was shocked it wasn’t locked in place!)

The sky is just beautiful here, playing off the water.

We walked into the church shown above, where they were just wrapping up service.  I was surprised at the beauty of this small chuch in this small town.

The wine group hanging by the pool.  Surprisingly drinking wine, and assorted cocktails.

One last shot from the balcony.  Can’t wait for tomorrow!

 

We are back in Milan as we are departing on a 6 day wine tour of Northern Italy tomorrow, September 20th.  We booked a guided tour of the Duomo di Milano while we were here last time, as the tickets were all sold out previously.

We truly lucked out on weather, as it dumped all night last night, and cleared up by daybreak.  We met our guide and entered the Duomo via the fast-track line (although the regular line out front didn’t look too bad to be honest).  The first thing that hits you is just how massive this place is.

They advertise this place as the 5th largest church in the world.  It was started in 1386, and wasn’t finished until 1965.  We were fortunate to be here on a Sunday during mass, as they were playing the massive organ and had the men’s choir singing.  They were also swinging around some sort of special pollution creating contraption and holding up a book of some sort.  Not sure what that was all about?  At least they were wearing masks to protect them from the pollution they were creating.

The music really gave the place some ambiance, and gave us a feel for the acoustics of the building.  Just inside the door is the most famous statue inside the Duomo, Saint Bartholomew Flayed.  Sounds like the name for a rapper!

This sculpture was created in 1562 by Marco D’Agrate, who was apparently dropped frequently as a child.  Saint Bart was one of 12 Apostles of Jesus, who traveled to Armenia after Christ’s ascension and had the audacity to convert the Armenian King to Christianity.  As punishment, the locals flayed and beheaded him, unfortunately in that order.  Nice guys these Armenians! Remind me to write that one off my bucket list.

It looks like the statue of Bart is simply a skeletal man wearing a robe, but that robe is supposed to be his flayed skin.  Wouldn’t you hold yours up for all to see?  The detail of the human anatomy under that skin is quite remarkable.  I can’t imagine what people thought in 1562, when PG-13 didn’t exist!

One of the many beautiful stained windows throughout the church.  When you are #5 in the world, there are a lot of them!

Our guide pointed out that what appears to be carvings in the ceiling are actually just paint.

The next photo shows what it looks like with the paint removed.  They had to remove it due to humidity issues.  The church is constantly in a state of refurbishment due to the elements.

From the western end of the church looking back, our guide pointed out a small red light on the eastern wall.  This red light signifies where they keep a nail that is supposedly one of the actual nails used to affix Jesus to the cross.

Here is a picture of the actual nail.

I don’t know about you, but that looks a lot more like one of those magical metal contraptions you have to figure out how to seperate than a nail.  What were they working with 2021 years ago??

They bring the nail down once a year, on September 13th, and put it on display for three days, so we just missed it.  Our guide showed us a picture of the vehicle that they use to bring the nail down.

I think Walt Disney rejected this as the first concept vehicle for It’s A Small World!

Our guide then took us down into the Archeological Area just adjacent to the Duomo.  This was a church that was demolished to make way for the Duomo, and was only discovered when they were excavating for the new subway system.  The area in the below photo was the baptistry.  Apparently this is also where the Italians like to throw away their pennies!

They also found several tombs in this area.  I’m not entirely sure why they removed the bodies if they intended to immortalize the area.  They appeared to be sealed up tight to make sure nothing else gets out.

Here is a shot of one of the bodies before they were removed.  They didn’t exactly “Handle with Care” back then!  I’m curious what brand of blender was used?

When we were back up in the Duomo, our guide showed us a long line that goes across the floor from one side of the church to the other, and it has the signs of the zodiac in various places along that line.  This is their version of a sundial, and a hole in the ceiling of the church lights up this line at Local Apparent Noon each day (she called it something else, but I have a degree in Navigation, so trust me, it’s called Local Apparent Noon, or LAN).  The below shot is the hole in the ceiling.

Here is the line on the floor.

Here is a photo of what it looks like when the light hits the floor at LAN.  Very Dan Brownesque!!

A couple of popular religious guys are actually buried in crypts at ground level.  Now I know where the Blue Man Group got their idea!  I think the Duomo should sue for copyright violations.  Is blue far enough from silver?

We then took the elevator up onto the roof, and I was so worried that the potential for rain would shut that down, but we got very lucky.  Look at that blue sky!

Our guide pointed out that this statue was damaged during WWII (those damn allies bombing religious sites!), and had to be replaced with a new copy.

Here is the original repaired version in the Duomo Museum.  Not sure why they couldn’t just stick this one back up there.  It looked fine to me.

The intracacy of the spires is quite amazing.  There’s a reason it took nearly 600 years to build this church!

Kim last visited the Duomo in 1985.  She’s barely aged since then…even the Duomo has had more parts replaced since 1985!

The Flying Buttresses are amazing!  Reminds me of visiting Notre Dame!

Gargoyles are everywhere.

I saw a face on one of the buttresses, and thought it looked like Abraham Lincoln.  I told Kim, and almost immediately thereafter the guide mentioned it.  Apparently one of the artists wanted to memorialize him on the Duomo.  Remember, they just finished this plae in 1965.

The Virgin Mary is at the top of the Duomo.  There is a rule in Milan that any new building that is taller than the Duomo must have a smaller version of this Virgin Mary on the top.

Here you can see evidence of the constant refurbishment work being done on the Duomo.

Here we are on the uppermost roof section.

After lunch we visited the Duomo Museum, which houses items that were once in the Duomo or copied from the Duomo.  I found this particular gargoyle, with hands, interesting.

This is a replica of the Virgin Mary from the top of the Duomo.  It’s much larger than expected.

This is a model of the Duomo that was built in 1891.  You can see how few spires are on this model, versus the final product, that is covered with spires throughout.

Enough about the Duomo….but I must say it was a very worthwhile visit!  I highly suggest the guided tour as well, and do all parts, not just the cathedral.

On our way to dinner we walked by Bosco Verticale, a condo complex with a few potted plants on the terraces.

A night view.  I can only imagine how weird their Home Owners Association rules must be!  Cool spot though.