Francesco, the owner of the building where we are staying, offered to resume our tour of the city where we left off yesterday, when it started to rain. He grew up in Bassano and he has shared many stories and showed us some of the city’s treasures. It takes some time to become familiar with a city and we always remind ourselves that first impressions aren’t always accurate. At first look, Bassano might have looked a little sleepy, but it turns out that is has much to offer.
We made a stop at Libreria Palazzo Roberti… a fantastic bookstore with a complicated history. The short version is that it was a 17th century palace where Napoleon lived for six months. Many years later, a local photographer became very wealthy from his design of the camera tripod and he used his wealth to buy the palazzo for his daughters to set up a bookshop. It’s still going strong today and the daughters are still running the shop.
Behind the bookshop is a beautiful garden;
On the top floor of the shop, they were setting up for a book signing event. It’s an incredible store.
The tour continued and we stopped to see Carteria Tassotti, a paper shop with cards, prints, and gift wrap in beautiful Italian designs. The shop also houses Giorgio Tassotti’s collection of decorated papers, popular prints, and books.
Francesco walked us by the castle (closed on Tuesday) and down a steep hill to Bassano del Grappa’s own Ponte Vecchio. The bridge spans the old town and a newly renovated part of town with hip restaurants and shops. The bridge has been rebuilt a few times due to flooding but with modern reinforcements, it’s holding strong today.
Our tour today ended with a pre-lunch aperitivo of Mezzoemezzo, described on the website as “Smooth, bittersweet and herbal, Mezzoemezzo is the original aperitivo from the house of Nardini in Bassano del Grappa. To best enjoy its rhubarb notes and citrus and bitter overtones serve cold with soda water in equal parts and a lemon peel.” It’s good!
We like this low-key city very much. There was a torrential rain storm this afternoon but we were inside when it began. Many shops are closed on Tuesday so with that and the rainy weather, it’s very quiet here this evening.
We have two more full days here. It’s a great place! Francesco has introduced us to some of Bassano del Grappa’s treasures and we’re grateful.
