179. Hot Stuff

I will remember this trip for many things.

I saw world-class tennis in Torino, and arguably, the greatest player of all time. I visited two towns, Bergamo and Brescia, I’ve always been curious about. I ate raw veal, not once, not twice, but three times.

But most of all, I will remember this trip to Italy in 2023 as the time I started drinking my espresso straight, no milk, no sugar, no nothing. It’s just that good here.

Early on in this trip, I made the move from frothy cappuccino to macchiato, which means “stained,” as in just a little stain of milk on top. But then I went the Full Monty to what Americans call espresso and Italians just call caffè, and could not get enough of those little two-sip cups of rich, caffeinated goodness. And even though Americans think of espresso as being super strong, it has less caffeine than a mug of American coffee, allowing one to have it at the end of dinner and still easily fall asleep an hour later.

In Torino, the thing you notice everywhere is chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. There is a particular prism-shaped candy of chocolate and hazelnut mixture, gianduiotto, that dates back to Napoleon’s time, and not surprisingly, Nutella was born there.

But it doesn’t stop there. Many of the bars offer hot chocolate, meant literally – not Swiss Miss powdery style, but a cup full of melted dark chocolate to drink.

And if that’s not enough, there is an only-in-Torino specialty called a bicerin, which is a hot beverage of this melted chocolate, espresso, and whipped cream.

I don’t think any of this is transportable back home. I can’t think of even one time I’ve had an espresso in America, even that I made myself, that I was tempted to drink straight, and I am not likely to start having melty cups of chocolate. It will have to remain one of those special things to look forward to when I get off the plane.