[April 2025] A married couple we’re friends with came from London, so we spent two nights touring around the areas close to our home in Northern Italy.
We were allowed to plan the itinerary, so we started our trip with lunch in Pavia, as we were generally focused on food.
We made a reservation at our usual place, Antica Trattoria Ferrari.
It was Sunday, so it was full, and there were many large families.
We shared the antipasto misto starter, and I had lamb for the main course.
It was fried lamb, which was unusual, but it wasn’t heavy and was delicious.
My husband had beef cheek stewed in wine, which he said had a very rich flavour.
What was interesting was the sea bass gratin that my friend ordered.
She was imagining the gratin she eats in Japan, but what came out was baked with breadcrumbs.
She was completely disappointed.
But when I searched on my phone and showed her the definition of gratin, which is “a dish made by putting cheese, breadcrumbs, butter, etc. on top of ingredients and baking them in an oven to give the surface a nice golden brown colour,” she said, “Well, I learned something.”
Another interesting thing was that her husband had onion soup as an appetizer and beef tagliata as the main course, but he was already full from the onion soup.
His wife, who was disappointed with the gratin, finished off the tagliata in no time.
That’s right, when we went to Tuscany together, she finished off a large bistecca in no time, too.
That was a nice lunch along with a delicious wine called Buttafuoco Vigna Pregana.
Usually, we make a quick round trip across Coperto Bridge on our way back, but on this day we went further into the old town and headed for the cathedral.
Construction of this cathedral began in 1488 and was finally finished in the 19th century, but some parts are still incomplete.
According to legend, Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante were involved in the design.
The sales pitch was impressive, but it was too simple and there was not much to see.
Only noticeable thing was the size of the dome.
Apparently it is the third largest in Italy.
“Hmm, this isn’t enough,” I thought, and decided to head to the Certosa, even though it was approaching closing time.
