We’re back, baby! The long, dreary winter and all its nasty wet weather is finally over! Spring has sprung, and with it, a new adventuring season for the Spritz Club. We kicked things off with a trip to Marostica, a town that has been on our to-do list since the beginning. 
Marostica is small and about 40 minutes north of Vicenza, at the foot of the Dolomites. It’s built on a very steep hill and surrounded by a stone wall with a castle at the bottom, and another small castle at the top. I was told that you can walk on castle wall – unfortunately that is not true, but it was well worth it anyway. It’s a peculiar town, but easy to fall in love with.
Once you enter the castle wall, you’re greeted by the lower castle and a wide open piazza, in the center of which is the famous chess board where live chess happens every two years! It’ll be happening this year in September, and we plan on attending one of the matches. If you go into the castle gift shop, you can ask about the hike up to the top. The nice girl whipped out a map for us and explained that there are two trails you can take. One goes right up the hill, and the other curves around the outside of the wall.
Since we had a bit of a hike ahead of us, we decided to fuel up in the square with a spritz and snacks.
Then it was off to the top of the town! There is a clear hiking path up the hill and the entrance is easy enough to find – just head for the back of the town and if you see this church, good! The trail is just to the left of it.
It only took a few minutes of climbing before we noticed the lovely views out over the rooftops. All in all, the hike was maybe twenty minutes all the way to the top. It feels like longer because it IS surprisingly steep and cobblestone is hard to walk on even when it’s flat. Even with such a short hike and comfortable temperatures, we wished we’d brought water. If you go, especially in the summer, bring a bottle just in case.
The top of the wall was the very best part of the day. You’ll find a road and a sign for a restaurant called Castello Superiore – follow it up because even if you don’t want to eat, there is a section of the old wall that you can climb up and see even more amazing views. (On a clearer day you’d be able to see for miles.) We wouldn’t have noticed it if we hadn’t seen people walking up the stairs. The entrance is to the right of the restaurant and you won’t regret the extra climb!
If you DO want to take a break and have something to eat, we can highly recommend the restaurant. Aside from the breathtaking location, the food is delicious as well! Our server spoke English and was very friendly (almost confusingly so). The prices aren’t cheap, but they’re not particularly expensive either considering everything you get (we were given a bread plate and prosecco on the house). The sun and the breeze made it a perfect day to eat outside, and that’s just what we did! We worked on our tans as we sat and enjoyed lunch. Ananas even tried steak tartar for the first time.
A View from the Top
To get back down, we decided to take the other path. Part of it goes along the back of the hill, and that view was nearly as nice as the one from the front. We expected this path to be less steep, and I think that it was… but not by much. It was hard on the legs, so be prepared and wear the right shoes!
We got back into town and hunted for gelato for Ananas (you know it’s spring when the gelaterias are opening up!). As we were doing that, I spotted a shop with lots of delicious-looking alcohol in the windows and the door read something like “Città delle Ciliege” which means city of cherries. We had to get to the bottom of this, so we went in and the lovely lady who worked there (and probably owns the shop) spoke perfect English. She explained that Marostica is famous for its cherries. She also told us that the cherry trees were already in bloom and that the annual cherry festival would be coming up in May. Then we got to try some cherry grappa, which was surprisingly delicious.
We left Marostica, swearing to return for the cherry festival and the chess matches in September. It was a simple outing, but we agreed it was one of our favorites, if not THE favorite. Five stars from the Spritz Club!
❤ Maracuja
God Save the Spritz 