Enjoyed the view of the rialto over breakfast once again.

In Cantina do Mori on Saturday I'd asked if they had torbolino - they said they'd have it the day after tomorrow. So I thought an early pre-lunch snifter would make a fitting goodbye to Venice before I got the train to Bassano.

See you next time, Cantina do Mori!

My hotel room in Bassano del Grappa was, of course, a bit of a come down after my splendid lodgings in Venice. It did at least have this rather attractive old number sign.

Views of the mountains from Bassano del Grappa.

Wandering around Bassano.

The Nardini distillery, the main purpose of my visit.

Alas there had been a fire on Bassano's famous bridge a couple of days before, but it was still walkable and refurbishment work was already under way.

The view from the bridge, on which I have to admit I was slightly apprehensive about lingering too long.

Over the other side of the bridge.

Caffe Ponto Vecchio, on the other side of the bridge, sounded like it might have been a good place to come for cocktails. Unfortunately though it was closed today.

Was particularly interested in their non-alcoholic Negroni, having tried to make one of these myself at home, and not having been very successful.

The famous bridge. Apparently designed by Palladio - I hadn't realised he did wood as well as stone.

There are in fact several grappa distilleries in Basssano - here's Cavalin, one of the others.

Amusingly named perfume shop if you happen to work with computers.

The window of the Nardini distillery.

Inside the bar at Nardini.

My Mezzo e Mezzo aperitivo.

The view from the little sitting room at the back of the bar.

The sitting room.

My second aperitivo - their Bitter.

Another grappa distillery - Poli - they also had a little museum attached.

Paraphernalia used in making Grappa traditionally.

The little wine bar I popped into, and had a chat with the owner and one of the regulars.

I found it mildly incongruous seeing British cheeses in this rather remote corner of Italy.

I was probably stretching the notion of aperitivo by this point, but nonetheless decided to have a Negroni in this rather fashionable cocktail bar with seats on one of Bassano's squares.

The place where I went for dinner - Pizzeria Bella Capri - was a tad, well, spartan.

The food was, however, very good. A particular type of home made pasta whose name I forget, with porcini. Whilst I assume the porcini were probably from a jar (especially given the price of this dish) the pasta was excellent - a bit ike udon noodles.

Also this was a real experience - I couldn't resist ordering the "Bastardo e Raddichio" pizza. Bastardo is apparently a local cheese, I think made using a mixture of cow and goat milk. It was quite sweet and rather pungent, and the bitterness of the raddichio was an excellent counterpary.