Brendola, part 2: L'incompiuta, town, and La Pergola Trattoria

After we left Volcar Spa, we headed toward the old part of Brendola. Before we quite got to the old town center, however, we made a very brief pit stop at L'imcompiuta, or the Incomplete Church. Construction of this building started during Mussolini's reign, during the 1920s and was halted for budgetary reasons. I think it is in a glorious state of decay and would have loved to poke around inside it, but unfortunately it is fenced off so you can only really appreciate it from the outside. However, the church is enormous and juts out more or less by itself halfway up a hillside, so if you are headed into the Berici Hills toward Brendola, you can't miss it. There's a place next door called Monkey's Cafe, which looked really cute; although I didn't get a chance to try it out during our class field trip, I would patronize it just for the fun name.

L'incompiuta: The Incomplete Church

Here you can see L'incompiuta from above

After poking around at the unfinished church for a few minutes, our caravan continued onward to the main (only) parking area in Brendola, which is a tiny town of only about six thousand residents. The first picture below is looking up toward the Madonna dei Prati church. Madonna dei Prati means Madonna of the Meadows, and I can only imagine it's called that because of the views. A quick wikipedia search reveals there's been a worship site on that particular hill for hundreds of years. Though the church building itself was reportedly built in the 1600s, its entry portals date to the 15th century and the building was built atop a probable pagan worship site. [Edited: After doing some reading about the Brendola area, I'm not convinced I got the name of this church correct. I'm going to leave it for now but I will update once I confirm the true name.]

Madonna dei Prati, as viwed from below

Madonna dei Prati Roman Catholic Church

View of the surrounding area from Brendola, in the Berici Hills; on a clear day you can see Romeo's castle

Originally our class instructor was going to take us to lunch at a restaurant called Novecento (nine hundred) which is situated right next to the church and is part of a B&B. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovation, but it's also on my list of places to visit on a future trip to the area. In this context, the name Novecento actually refers to the year 1900 (mille novecento) and the origins of the restaurant, which is probably still run by the same family.

Since Novecento was closed, we walked back down through the tiny town to the parking area, practicing giving directions in Italian. "Sempre dritto, giri sulla destra..." Luckily the town was so small there was no way we could get lost! Once again, we loaded up our caravan and headed a few kilometers beyond the town to La Pergola Trattoria, which is a locally famous place with absolutely stunning views. The parking area is adjacent to a vineyard, and I would love to go back later in the year when the vines have leaves on them. And as promised, we had a better view of the castle ruins from the restaurant. Rocca dei Vescovi, or Rock of Bishops. It's also sometimes called the Castello dei Vescovi, or Castle of Bishops, and dates back at least to the 1000s, though it was at least partially destroyed and rebuilt in the early 1500s. The ruins were originally designed as a watchtower because they are so high up. You are allowed to hike up there, and I bet the views from the very top of the hill are stunning! Have I mentioned yet that I would like to go back to this area and do some more exploring?

Looking out into the valley from La Pergola

Looking up at the Rocca dei Vescovi

We sat down at several long tables put together, and a waitress opened up bottles of red, white, and sparkling wine. Oh, Italy, how I adore you. And your lunches. And your alcohol. We got to try a 2013 and a 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon, which were both pretty good. The white wine was called a Gambellara, which was very very boring, and the sparkling was a Brut Spumante. All were local!

Our first course was a purple potato soup with little pancetta crisps and bread on top. It almost had the consistency of refried beans, but it was quite good. Next we had one of my favorites: risotto! This was zuca e trufoli, aka pumpkin and truffles, and it was really delicious, perhaps the best risotto I've had since I moved to Italy. The Berici Hills are known for their black truffles, which are plentiful and cheaper than the white variety. One of my classmates piped up that there's a local training course where you can drop your dog off for three weeks and when you pick it up, it's a trained truffle hunter! Doesn't that sound like fun? I would love to go truffle hunting one day. Dessert consisted of an apple tart thing which I don't know how to describe. Our instructor called it an apple pie, but it didn't resemble any apple pie I've ever seen. They came in little round pats as if they were made in ramekins, and had a texture somewhere between a pineapple upside down cake and a creme brulee. Regardless of what it was called, accompanied by fresh custard it was a perfect finish to the meal.

Inside La Pergola, which was decorated for Easter

Here's one last picture from earlier in the day, which might just be my favorite. The sun was shining, the air was clear, the company was nice, the food was delicious, and now I want to go back and share it with more people!