[June 2024] Mantua, a historic town in Lombardy, northern Italy, is within a day trip distance from where we live, but this time we stayed overnight in the suburbs.
We actually wanted to stay in Mantua city, but there was some kind of manga-related festival going on, and all the nice hotels were full.
So we stayed at a hotel with a long name, Villa dei Tigli 920 Liberty Resort, in Rodigo, less than 20 kilometres west of Mantua.
It used to be a nobleman’s mansion built in the early 20th century, so it had a certain atmosphere.
In particular, the decoration of the lounge with a high ceiling was luxurious and impressive.
Our room was on the upper floor of this main building, and the furnishings from around the 1920s and 1930s were nice.
As soon as we arrived in the late afternoon, we had an aperitivo in the nice lounge.
This was an option that we had selected and ordered in advance.
We enjoyed the standard spritz and ham snacks.
Later, a young couple came for an aperitivo, too, but perhaps feeling intimidated by us having already started, they had it brought to their room.
There was also the option of room service.
After that, we had a rest in our room, and then it was time for dinner.
We had dinner also at the hotel.
The dining room downstairs was a classic room with tables covered in high-quality white tablecloths.
However, since this was in the new building, the interior was relatively simple.
We had to choose the menu when we checked in, and instead of antipasto, they had a choice of primo + secondo.
For the primo, we both had pumpkin ravioli.
The butter sauce with sage and pine nuts was effective, and it was sweet and delicious.
For the main course, I had a suckling pig dish, which was very tender.
My husband had a ham and cheese platter that was almost like an antipasto, with apple mostarda.
Mostarda is usually sweet and spicy, but apparently this one wasn’t spicy.
For dessert, we shared an apple strudel and a strawberry semifreddo.
The semifreddo was a little too sweet for my taste, but overall, it was a very satisfying meal.
By the way, the wine was a red wine from Trentino.
I didn’t know that there were bitter and strong wines in the north.
It was very good.
After dinner, we had a walk in the garden in the dim light and found a swimming pool.
I imagine it gets very lively in midsummer.
