Breakfast Pizza, Barolo and a Night at the Opera in Verona
Some meals are carefully planned. You choose the restaurant, study the menu and perhaps even check the wine list before leaving home.
Others just happen.
Ours began with an evening at the opera in Verona and ended on a terrace with a €10 breakfast pizza and a very good bottle of Barolo.
Opera, breakfast and Barolo, all in the same evening. It was not an obvious combination, but neither of us was complaining.
It was not a combination we had planned, but perhaps that is exactly why we still talk about it.
Breakfast pizza, Barolo and Verona—the evening as we remember it.
A Night at the Opera
Going to the opera is not something we do very often.
We are not against opera, of course. It simply does not appear regularly in our diary. But when you find yourself in Verona, it seems only right to give it a go.
So we did.
It was a proper occasion and quite different from one of our usual evenings out. There was music, drama and a great sense that we were experiencing something special.
Did we understand every detail? Probably not.
Did that matter? Not in the slightest.
We enjoyed being there and taking in the whole experience. It was one of those things we might not rush to do every weekend, but we were very glad we had done it.
Once it was over, however, culture gave way to hunger.
It was time to find something to eat.
Hans and Karin outside the Arena di Verona before the opera. Photo: CasaDelVino.
Breakfast Arrives for Dinner
We found a terrace near the opera and settled in for the evening.
Then we spotted breakfast pizza on the menu.
Breakfast pizza sounds like something created by a person who could not decide whether they wanted breakfast or dinner and wisely chose both. Whatever the thinking behind it, we were interested.
The fact that it was evening did not seem to trouble anyone. This was Italy. The weather was warm, we were sitting outside in Verona and the pizza cost about €10.
There are times when asking too many questions only gets in the way of a good meal.
So we ordered it.
It arrived warm, generous and completely comfortable with its unusual place in the day. It was simple, satisfying and very hard to dislike.
Then came the next decision.
What should we drink with a €10 breakfast pizza?
Naturally, we chose a bottle of Barolo.
Barolo Meets Breakfast Pizza
Barolo is a serious wine.
It has history, character and a reputation that normally encourages people to sit up a little straighter when it reaches the table. Breakfast pizza is a more relaxed sort of character.
On paper, they did not appear to have much in common.
At our table, they got along wonderfully.
The Barolo was excellent. The pizza was exactly what we wanted after the opera. One was elegant and thoughtful; the other was breakfast pretending to be dinner.
It had no business working as well as it did.
Perhaps someone with a detailed knowledge of food and wine pairing would have suggested something more traditional. Fortunately, nobody arrived to stop us.
We drank the wine, ate the pizza and thoroughly enjoyed both.
The whole evening had developed a lovely rhythm of its own: opera first, breakfast pizza second and Barolo throughout the important final act.
The Meals You Remember
It would be easy to think that the opera should be the main memory from that evening. After all, it was the grand occasion and something we do not often experience.
But the meal afterwards became just as important.
Maybe it was the contrast. We went from the drama and ceremony of the opera to sitting casually outside with a pizza that had breakfast in its name.
Maybe it was the Barolo.
In fairness, the Barolo deserves some credit.
More than anything, though, it was one of those evenings that could not have been planned in quite the same way. Everything came together because we were in Verona, enjoying the moment and willing to order something slightly unusual.
The best travel memories are often like that. They are not always found in the expensive restaurants or the carefully organised plans.
Sometimes they cost €10, arrive at the wrong time of day and go surprisingly well with a very good bottle of wine.
We still do not go to the opera very often.
But we would happily have the breakfast pizza again.
STAY AT THE TABLE
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