<table border="0" align="right" width="310"><tr><td><img src="http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/italpizza.jpg" border="1" align="right"></td></tr></table>After two weeks as a wine judge and traveling wine writer, I've been dining very well indeed at some of the best eateries in Northern Italy's Lombardy and Veneto regions. Not that there's anything wrong with that: It's a hard job, but <i>somebody</i> has to do it.
But on the eve of my flight home, I was almost desperately ready for something simple, earthy and divine: Pizza, of course, from the land of pizza, and if the Verona area isn't quite as close to the mother lode of pizza as, say, Naples, it's a lot closer than Louisville. What's more, I could see a simple, modest pizzeria out the window of my room in Hotel Tower in Bussolenga, outside Verona, within an easy walk. As quick as you could say "Mozzarella," I was greeting the friendly folks at <b>Pizzeria Gardesana</b> and taking a seat in its small but comfortable dining room.
It took a while to look over the entire menu - 53 variations on pizza, from the very traditional (Margherita with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, 3,80€) to the somewhat more modern, if not quite California style (<i>Erika</i> with tomatoes, speck (German-style ham) and, er, Philadelphia cream cheese, 6€).
I'm not really fluent in Italian and the staff wasn't at all fluent in English, but we communicated easily in my bad Italian, and I soon had a big glass of cold Italian draft beer (3€) and a most excellent <i>Romano</i> pizza (4,50€) in front of me. And quick as a wink, my plate was clean.
I've captured a glimpse of the experience in this short video: Click here to view it.
Does any Louisville restaurant make a pizza that resembles this real Italian treat? Read the full report on LouisvilleHotBytes to find out!
