Cortona

[Craig Camp]

It's not that hard to find a bad meal in Rome, in my experience.

If you eat next to the tourist attractions yes, but Roma is a big city. With little effort it is easy to find exceptional food. Roma and Venezia are two different things all together. Venezia is a tourist attraction that has a city and Roma is a city that has tourist attractions.

[Pan]

By the way, I also had one very bad meal in Perugia, though that was probably the only bad meal I ever had in Umbria. I found Tuscan cuisine pretty consistently good, what with all the wonderful fresh ingredients that were used at every eatery of any description.

Edited September 28, 2003 by Pan (log)

[Craig Camp]

By the way, I also had one very bad meal in Perugia, though that was probably the only bad meal I ever had in Umbria. I found Tuscan cuisine pretty consistently good, what with all the wonderful fresh ingredients that were used at every eatery of any description.

I have yet to find any region in Italy where the cuisine is not consistantly good. My favorite regional cuisine tends to be the region that I am in at the time. As Stephen Stills wrote: Love the One You're With. Yet there are always bad restaurants everywhere. I still strongly recommend the Osterie d'Italia Guide by Slow Food as the best way for tourists to avoid bad meals and to find delicous authentic Italian food. After a while you also get an instinct - some places just don't look good, but there will always be some that fool you one way or the other.

[rshorens]

A cute place in Cortona with reasonable food is Trattoria "La Grotta", Piazza Baldelli, 3- it's just off the main square. There is a small stationery store a few stores down from Bar Signorelli that has an excellent selection of locally made hand bound books(great for photo albums)- best prices in Italy. I have found that the local coffee houses in Cortona are hang-outs for locals, not just tourists. I've gone back several years in a row and greeted the same group of older women- they're quite friendly if you can speak a little Italian.

Bevagna is a lovely little stone town not far from Assisi. It has a very nice hotel(Hotel Palazzo Brunamonte(www.brunamonti.com) phone 07422361932- great double room for 86 Euros including breakfast) Very good restaurant we enjoyed was Enoteca Locanda Piazza Onofri(0742361926). 5 course tasting menu with 5 wines was 39 euros last year. There's also an excellent bakery in town. The only problem is there's never enough time to go everywhere!

Buon viaggio

Roz

[hollywood]

Venezia is a tourist attraction that has a city and Roma is a city that has tourist attractions.

Pretty slick. I'm stealing this.

[Bill Klapp]

But how about "Venezia is Italy's answer to Disneyworld--strong attraction, but packed with tourists and the food is mostly terrible"?

[hollywood]

But how about "Venezia is Italy's answer to Disneyworld--strong attraction, but packed with tourists and the food is mostly terrible"?

Somehow this doesn't trip off the tongue as easily, and it doesn't address the issue of Roma for contrast. But I'm not disputing the accuracy of the statement. They don't call it the bridge of sighs for nothing. Although good food can be found in Venezia.

[Bill Klapp]

Well, armed with years of research and the concensus wisdom of this board, I am about to go in search of good food in Venezia. However, I have a hedge-friends have borrowed an apartment, and if all else fails, I will go to the Rialto fish market and do the job myself! I expect to eat my weight in bar snacks over several days. I am particularly excited about my overnight stay in Bergamo on the way from Venezia to Paris, and a trip to Bar Donizetti. Check out this menu:Bar Donizetti Menu

[IlCuoco]

Hey All,

Bumping this up as I'm off to Cortona a the end of next week for a stay of about 9 days or so. We'll be at Il Falconiere for some of that time (stayed there before and loved it) and we're fans of La Grotta but could use some other suggestions for the week. I'd like a good mix of inexpensive and moderate with a couple of special places thrown in for fun. I'd also like to know if the recommendations earlier in the thread still hold.

To give some context, we'll be there with a bunch of friends and family so there's a mix of hardcore foodies, some folks who are up for anything and some for whom budget will be a real concern. The highpoint should be the 5 course menu with wines that Il Falc is throwing together for us on Friday, 1 June so we're looking for stuff before and after that.

I'm really interested in the smaller, less known places but I'll take as many recs as possible.

We'll spend some time in Florence and Siena as well but I'm really anxious about Cortona. Love the area but have found very few places to eat *shrug*.

Can ya help?