Thanks to our friends MO and SM, we got to visit a winery museum near Verona on our last trip to Italy.

Our visit to the museum occurred on the day before my birthday, after we’d just eaten a delicious (and huge!) meal prepared by both MO’s mother and SM. In the photos below, I’ve included one of me blowing out candles on the cake SM made to celebrate my birthday. Of course,  it’s bad luck to wish someone “Happy Birthday” before their birthday in Italy, a tradition we’d learned when we lived in Bolzano.  So, even though they essentially had a party for me, complete with huge delicious meal, that scrumptious homemade birthday cake, and presents, there were no wishes for a happy birthday made until the next day (on my actual birthday). It’s the same thing that happens in Spain, apparently – you don’t wish someone a happy birthday ahead of time. I don’t know if that’s true in Germany – I’ll need to find that out before I try to wish anyone an early happy birthday!

But I digress.

Chris, MO, SM, and I all went to check out the little wine museum that is connected with the Villa Canastrari winery near Verona. As part of the admission price to the museum, they gave you a guided tour, and then offered some wine tasting. The museum was set up in some buildings on the edge (I think) of the winery’s vineyards. They had a nice display of old machines that were used to process grapes and to bottle wines, with explanations about how the machines were used and each step of the process involved. You could see photos of the founders of the winery, plus some original ledgers from 100 or more years ago.

Plus, they take you down into the cantina to see how the vats of wine are stored while they age. On a hot day, that was a nice cool place to be! I don’t think I’d ever been in one like that before – it was very old and very atmospheric. They gave us permission to take a few photos, which I’ve included below.

Thanks, MO and SM for finding out about this place and taking us there, and also for everything else that day! It was a great way to start off our trip to Italy this time!