Bassano del Grappa Culture

Grappa is the town's calling card, and it is taken seriously rather than sold as kitsch. Nardini's grapperia at the bridgehead has been open since 1779 and functions as an ordinary bar where people stand and drink a mezzo e mezzo before lunch. Poli, a few steps away, runs a free museum that is genuinely informative about distillation.

Ceramics have been produced here since the sixteenth century, and Bassano maiolica -- brightly glazed, often with rustic figures and floral work -- is collected across Europe. Palazzo Sturm holds the civic collection.

The Alpini are the third strand and the least visible to outsiders. Italy's mountain infantry are woven into the town's identity through Monte Grappa, the bridge they rebuilt in 1948, and a museum at the bridgehead. Their annual gatherings are civic events of real weight.

Food is Veneto hill cooking with one protected specialty: the Asparago Bianco di Bassano DOP, white asparagus grown in the river gravels, in season roughly April to early June and treated locally with something close to reverence.