Between the Barolo and the Prosecco area spanned 450 km of highway, certainly a manageable five hours of driving. But we neither wanted to sit so long in a car nor rush ourselves between destinations. The plan was to spend a few days here and a few days there along the way. The here was Brescia and the there was Padua with a few hours stopover in Treviso along the way.

*Duomo Vecchio di Brescia and Duomo Nuovo at night in Piazza Paolo VI*

Brescia was a complete surprise. We hadn’t expected much but quickly fell under the spell of this city’s enchantments. The charm of Brescia lay with a lack of tourists even though there was much to see. Nestled in the foothills of the Alps between Bergamo and Verona, we stumbled into the authentic old time Italian way of life and loved it. One night in the city center was far too short to really get to experience Brescia and we would love to return someday for a longer visit and possibly living here.

Brescia from the castle hill

Romans had a forum there at one time

A popular square with the Dom and some old ruins

View of the bell tower from a side alley

Brescia at night

An old roman cathedral

Inside the main modern cathedral

roaming Brescia at night

A short hop from Padua, we heard great things about Treviso, so decided to check it out. We could see the influences of nearby Venice (where we spent time learning Italian two years ago) strongly throughout Treviso. The city had a mix of old city center and modern shopping area blended to perfection. We felt very comfortable wandering the downtown area having left our car with all of our worldly belongings in a ticketed parking lot on the edge of town. Treviso’s canals snake throughout the city like in Venice and one can discover open markets with stalls of fresh vegetables and fish and meats just by roaming the narrow streets.

just the right time to find chanterelles and zucchini flowers

Canals flow through Treviso like veins

They add a flair to the city

The rushing canal adds character

Padua was our destination for this leg of our journey since the outset. It was a keystone point not only because Gitty spent time here some years earlier taking a watercolor workshop with Onda Creativa (to paint with Nicholas Lopez), but because the 10th best restaurant of 2022 was located in Padua and we had a reservation to dine there. Le Calandre, a 3 star Michelin restaurant, had three tasting menus of which we chose the first and now are keen to eventually experience the other two. It was the most amazing tasting menu we’ve ever had.

A play on a Tomato Mozzarella salad

the most amazing Scorched Bone Marrow

Every morsel was fantabulous

A new addition, this played on the idea of Murano glass

I loved drinking excellent wine from this fishbowl of a glass

Padua has an impressive old city center and its architectural style is also heavily influenced by nearby Venice. Another Italian city we could spend a longer time exploring in the future.