What a brilliant day. It was John's birthday today and he had a beauty. We had our last excellent breakfast at our accommodation at Santa Cristina, which had been our nicest room yet, and were about to head off in the car at 8.00am when Bella called on Skype. With 'Happy Birthday to Papa' sung by three little grandchildren still ringing in our ears, we happily set off on the 2.5 hour drive to Verona.
We took the toll road to try and reduce the amount of time driving. It's not something we typically do, but have done it more than normal on this trip. Otherwise there is just too much time spent driving and it's too draining. The motorway was from time to time clogged with trucks (who must use the inside lane), but thankfully the faster lane seemed to be reasonably clear. We did slow down to a stop on one or two occasions, for no apparent reason, but that is the way traffic often seesaws on highways.
 |
| Lines of trucks in the inside lane for as far as you can see |
We hadn't initially decided where to have a break journey for a short rest, but yesterday Googled the location of some interesting art museums in Rovereto. Two of them had exhibitions featuring Futurists. John's birthday looked set to be an intriguing day.
We drove directly through to Rovereto, and had a very quick coffee and bite to eat before entering the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MART). After touring the various galleries for over two hours, we both felt it was one of the most enjoyable art museums we have been in. The building itself was a very interesting modern structure, but the current exhibitions by "modern" painters, those who wanted to paint in the old style but use modern subjects, the futurists, and one amazing sculptor sealed an amazing morning.
 |
| The Museum of Contemporary and Modern Art, Rovereto |
 |
| Modern |
 |
| Futurist |
 |
| Sculpture by Giuliano Vangi |
 |
| Modern, but in the style of the old masters |
Rather than try and race across town to the second museum included in our ticket, we opted to have a simple lunch at the museum cafe, renew our parking ticket, and walk to the next museum at a leisurely pace. Lunch turned out to be another big buzz. The cafe was styled in a very classic but modern way, with chic furniture and tableware. Our meal was wonderfully presented and a prosecco hit just the right note for a birthday drink.
 |
| Our coffees arrived in gorgeous Illy coffee cups |
Next it was a 10 minute walk to the Fortunato Depero Museum, which exhibited the works of just the one artist, but what fantastic work it was. Again, we were blown away by how clever the compositions were.
 |
| Fortunato Depero Museum |
 |
| These artworks were textiles, with every coloured panel hand-stitched around its edges. |
 |
Rovereto buildings
|
Walking back to the car we passed some lovely old buildings in the centre of Rovereto. Then it was off to a car museum, which meant driving down to and past Verona by 20 minutes.
The car museum, the Museo Nicolis, was the collection of one clearly eccentric collector who bequeathed it. It was mainly cars, motorbikes and bicycles. But additionally there were strange things that must have simply interested him such as cameras, typewriters, Italian coins, Formula 1 steering wheels, and all sorts yet more odd.
 |
| Guess which is ours |
 |
| Fiat Topolino, named for its Mickey Mouse ear headlights |
 |
| Some rather nice Fiat 100-based sports cars |
The bicycles included what must have been most models of Bianchi from the 50s on, all looking exactly the same to me, though 2 old visitors were busy discussing them in minute detail, poking and prodding the cycles. M. Nicolis must have been a Bianchi fan. It was worth the visit, though not the best motor museum we've been to.
After getting back to Verona, parking the car and dropping the bags in our room, we explored our building a little more. Access to the rooftop affords a pretty good view of this part of the city. We were soon out in the nearby street, and within 200m discovered a rather large Roman amphitheatre, plumb in the middle of a huge piazza which was ringed by tens of restaurants and hundreds of guests enjoying an early evening apero.
 |
| View from our rooftop |
 |
| Roman amphitheatre we came across in the early evening |
 |
| Our fun little wine bar - just 3 Euros for a prosecco |
 |
| Birthday dinner. |
We did likewise until a table we had reserved at a restaurant in a little lane nearby became available at 7:30pm, early for Italy. We greatly enjoyed a lovely two course meal, with a splash of wine. The perfect ending to a great birthday.
