copyright 2010 Maria Liberati
A cool August night in the piazza in Tagliacozzo and nothing soothes the soul more than eating a dish of creamy gelato in front of the fountain in Piazza Obelisco while discussing French and Italian wines….. and ..since the discussion is in Italy with only Italians… favoritism slanted to the wines of Italy..
As the heated discussion continues..and I try to concentrate on the smooth, creamy glob of chocolate sliding down my throat, and the medieval architecture of teh buildings in view… almost not paying any attention to the discussion that is well in progress..
Let’s just say that the conclusion was that Italian wines have an edge over French wines because of the superior quality of the Italian grapes, since climate is more favorable to grow grapes in Italy..,,grapes grown in France tend to be bitter…Italian grapes are sweeter..French tend to aromatize their wines.they have to because the grapes are bitter..Italian wines are made without anything added..just real grapes…
Anyway the perfect way to cool the discussion was to turn all thoughts onto the dishes of gelato we were at this point halfway through..after a few more spoonfuls who could think about anything else..our taste buds were drunk with the intensity of the flavor..and the discussion turned to which flavor is the best and where the best gelato places were….even a subject that cool got a little heated since Italians are passionate about their gelato also…well what is it that they are not passionate about??
But the discussion all of a sudden stopped as everyone quietly concentrated on finishing their dish…every last drop..and everything was forgotten..and we joined everyone for our evening walk around the piazza..and an evening of intent discussion ended cool, relaxed and satiated..