Bassano Del Grappa Tourism

The non-ride things I did and saw around Bassano! I try to keep the rides and the museums separate because there’s too many pictures.

First experience with the train to get from Mestre to Bassano. It's a learning curve for sure. The Italian train system is chaos compared to the buses.

There was nobody working there so I just put my bike bag wherever and no one ever said anything. Weird.

Ponte Vecchio connecting two side of the city. It's got real character.

My Airbnb was right through the town gates!

Home sweet home for a week. Really big and nice airbnb but... no air conditioning. 35c+ most of the day since it was the 3rd floor

That's how it is with these old european buildings. If they didn't modernize them get ready for some ghettoness.

The main plaza with its iconic clock tower. They were having some kind of luxury car show that day.

Basso bike shop in town. It's a meeting point for cyclists and they have a 7:30pm wednesday ride and free spaghetti after

Pretty standard shop though. But what's wrong with Italians? You eat from 8 to 11pm? Then sleep 4 hours or something? Awful.

Few shots of the city itself. It's very typical, has the cobblestone streets and lots of shops and cafes.

It's very quiet all day in Bassano, people only came out at night and made a racket until 1am. Nobody works in Italy.

Huge cathedral right outside the city gates.

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Grappa Museum

This is “the thing” in Bassano. They make Grappa which is a spirit distilled from the discarded mush you get when you extract all the juice from grapes while making wine. The Museum has a lot about the history of distilling in medieval Italy. Apparently they were pioneers in this technology and spread it all over Europe. Though I’m guessing every country in Europe says it was them who invented / originated everything.
Grappa itself is really good and like any liquor you can mix it with anything you want or age it in barrels and give it actual flavor. I also learned that they just cheat and deal with wine producers to get some grape mush that still has a good amount of moisture so that their grappa isn’t just basically distilled bark.

The museum is conveniently located right next to the Ponte Vecchio in the heart of all the touristic stuff.

One of the founders of this distillery. Probably. They've been in the Grappa game for over a century.

There's a few rooms featuring old stills and various distilling equipment

Some medieval distiller reproduction ( still can't touch it )

Apparently Arabs were ahead in the distilling game before they received the gift of Islam (lol)

Huge collection of antique Grappa samplers

Many of the bottles still had liquid but I guess eventually it'll all be evaporated

Really unique thing here. You can smell every Grappa they make to get an idea of whether or not you want to buy some

This one was the best.

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Civic Museum

Just a medium sized archeological/art museum in Bassano. Entry also gets you access to the typography museum that’s a 5 minute walk away.

Here they have a really stunning collection of greek/roman pottery in great condition

Dozens and dozens of very well preserved pieces. I love these.

Some interesting drinking cups

Believe these are oil lamps. The collection spans a few centuries and styles.

Non-PC ancient pot.

Really interesting how thick these coins were. Who wants to carry this around?

A lot of this museum is dedicated to the history of Bassano itself and the architecture of the bridge

Also a section showcasing the region's periods with artifacts going all the way to the Neolithic

There's a decent art collection as well, with very interesting 19th century depictions of Bassano

As well as Venice. Photographs before photographs and a nice break from the malformed babies.

They really got good at painting in the 19th century. That was the peak, only place to go then was down (20th century modern art slop )

Looks like they put all their money into the frame and could only commission a 5x7 painting

Nice collection of engravings. This was a thing around Bassano as we'll learn.

Lot of great busts, all modern works and copies though.

Not a bad deal for the entry fee. Lots of stuff to see, spend maybe 90 mins to 2 hours there.

Their art collection spans a few centuries and is very nice. Crazy what you find in even relatively small cities in Italy.

Of course you'll get your fill of infant Jesuses

Religious artifacts of all kinds. Imagine living in a straw hut and the priest's cup has more hours of work put into it and is worth more than your entire farm. Brutal.

Some interesting pre-rennaissance frescos featuring a more Byzantine inspired style.

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Pallazio Strum (Typography Museum)

This is a smaller museum that you get access to if you buy the ticket for the Civic Museum. That’s how they trick you into going there. However it has the second coolest thing in Bassano after the Ponte Vecchio: The Kong Rhino.

Kong Rhino in all its reflective majesty. A robot rhinoceros, the least Italian thing of all time, completely breaking the immersion of being in DA OLDA COUNTARY.

The museum itself. Anyway, build me some more rhinos please.

Here you will find hundreds of printing/typography related items and artifacts

From the rennaissance and into the industrial era as well as all the products they made in the region

They have several printing presses you can check out.

Engravings were pretty cool

A plate used for engraving. Slater it in black ink and press it onto paper and you get...

This. It's actually pretty impressive that they hand-carved these plates with such precision

The details are minuscule. Sometimes you really have to appreciate the skill that goes into making some things we find kind of mundane today

There's sections with all sorts of vaguely print-related commercial products like these 3D lightboxes

And whatever these are. Wait I'm the one who should know, I was at the museum.

The basement has modern art ceramics. Like most modern art, they are terrible and could have been made by blind children.

Not the best museum but the Kong Rhino redeems it. 20-30 minute visit and go grab something to eat.

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Now time to leave and go an hour up into the mountains to the city of Trento where I’ll meet up with my friend Dar!

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