The Vineyards of Pavia

Trip to Italy - Journal Entry #26 - September 28, 2009 - 9:30 am

The plan for my final afternoon in Stradella, and in Italy for that matter, was to take a driving tour of the Provincipia di Pavia. Roberto was our driver and chief tour guide. Nikki and Paolo came too. We drove for about two hours up into the hills

around Stradella. Much to my amazement, we were in the middle of some very serious wine country. There were vineyards everywhere. Most of the grapes already had been harvested, but in some of the fields the vines were heavy with ripened grapes.

We had the fantastic luck of driving past a field where they were running a grape harvester up a row of vines. We stood at the top of the hill and watched the entire process. I got some great pictures (again)! Meanwhile, I should mention that the vineyards here are often planted on very hilly terrain. Some of the landscape is so steep that I cannot imagine how they do the

harvesting, But it's an impressive and beautiful patchwork of fields -- truly breath-taking.

For all the times, over all the years, that Dad and Aunt Rena, and so many others, have talked about Stradella, I had no real idea of what the countryside was like here. Stradella itself is a wonderfull smallish city, quite vibrant. The surrounding areas are full of beautiful rolling hills dotted with picturesque small towns and vineyards. Some of the vineyards are private and some are commercial. Others sell their grapes to cooperatives. It's a beautiful scene. Roberto drove us by some of the very vineyards that produced the wines we drank earlier in the day at our barbeque banquet. What a wonderful drive this was. Around every corner, there was a view that belonged on a post card.

Our last activity of this day -- before I made an early exit to bed -- was a walk through the center of town (Stradella) with Nikki and Chris. It was a pretty evening -- as has been just about every evening during this trip. The walk from Ca' Rossa to town is less than a mile. Roberto and Nikki and Maurizio and Barbara live in the center of town. They live in the same building -- in apartments one on top of the other. We popped into Roberto and Nikki's apartment for a glass of water. It was nice to see their home -- which is full of large airy rooms and feels very comfortable. It suits them!