{"id":904,"date":"2012-10-30T14:03:18","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T14:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2ndcupoftea.com\/?p=904"},"modified":"2012-10-30T14:06:54","modified_gmt":"2012-10-30T14:06:54","slug":"2nd-cup-of-tea-in-bella-compagnia-all-thanks-to-strawberry-grape-gelato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/2ndcupoftea.com\/?p=904","title":{"rendered":"2nd Cup of Tea in ‘Bella Compagnia’ – All Thanks to Strawberry Grape Gelato"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘You must try this<\/em>‘, said Davide and handed me a large gelato.<\/p>\n

‘It’s uva fragola and I made it knowing you were coming<\/em>‘… Oh my goodness it was delicious. Uva fragola<\/em> – roughly translates as ‘strawberry grape’. They are a very round, small and extremely intensely flavoured grape, traditionally and semi-illegally (rumour has it they make you a little loopy) turned into a sweet wine in certain parts of Italy. I had never tried it as gelato before, but now I’ll be keeping an eye out.<\/p>\n

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Uva Fragola – Turns Out A Sensational Gelato Ingredient<\/p><\/div>\n

Davide, the owner of the Mela Verde Gelateria, arguably the best in Venice, I met just after he opened a few years ago. I was pursuing one of my very favourite pastimes anywhere in the world – getting lost in Venice. I was immediately impressed by his attitude – something I shared – that there was no good gelateria anywhere in the city, despite the millions of tourists. Perhaps the trouble was they know no better?<\/p>\n

I have since returned whenever possible, with as many groups as possible. An integral part of being on one of my tours of Italy on which I now insist, is that you need to learn to appreciate the difference between home made – artigianale<\/em> – gelato and, well…. not! La Mela Verde has become an essential stop on such an educational experience.<\/p>\n

As of some time last year, other guides and with them guide books made the same discovery and reviews started appearing. Young and\u00a0entrepreneurial, Davide quite rightly started displaying his write-ups on his small shop front. The secret is out. 2nd Cup of Tea was no longer the only place to read about this place.<\/p>\n

However my last visit to this gelato heaven saw something I have never seen before. Grown men asking permission of their wives to go back for seconds and the wives themselves, ice cream number one barely finished, following them in. It seems given top quality, real home made gelato, they do<\/em> know, something I always believed.<\/p>\n

Seeing the obvious delight of my clients, Davide, asked permission to add the review from 2nd Cup of Tea to his posters on his window. Asked permission?! Of course he could and so….. he did!<\/p>\n

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2nd Cup of Tea – Pride of Place<\/p><\/div>\n

As of this morning, the Mela Verde, best Gelateria in Venice has my review, with my website displayed for all to see, in the ‘bella compagnia’ (good company) as he describes it of Hachette, Routard and Letsgo.com.<\/p>\n

Bella Compagnia indeed and I plan to celebrate with a huge gelato the next time there…<\/p>\n

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