Marostica at Cherry Festival Time

I  have written about Marostica before. The last time I was there was on that trip before I learned the joy of owning a digital camera.

http://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2015/06/italy-marostica.html 

It is nice to be able to include some pictures of the upper and lower castles.

Some things were new to me for this trip. I remember the life-size chessboard, but not the smaller but still pretty large one.

I also do not remember some of the displays and cutouts that are now there, though we had some fun with them.

There were two main things that were different about this visit. One is that we did more looking among the shops. I am not sure if the shops were there before, or if we just didn't browse. (We were there pretty early in the morning that last time.) There were boutiques, bakeries, butcher shops, and furnishings. There were some that seemed to primarily have souvenirs, but that was not the overall focus.

 My favorite was Sizi (Prêt a porter), which had beautiful clothes at reasonable prices. The window display was attractive, but we also noticed the shop because she called us in to give us cherries.
That was the other big difference. It was the Cherry Festival. (Last time I went in October, 2006.)

There were many fruit stands on the way to Marostica as well, much like summer here, but in the square itself you had people selling cherries, jams, merchandise with cherry designs, and many shops incorporated the cherries into their displays and giveaways.

One of the specialties is cherries preserved in grappa, a grape brandy that nearby town Bassano is famous for. (There is also a Sizi in Bassano, but I am not sure if they are connected.)

We brought back a cherry bread. The girls in the shop was very excited that this loaf was traveling to America.

I enjoyed my visit to Marostica before, but everything seemed more vibrant this time. I am glad I got to go again.

http://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2015/06/italy-marostica.html