The Aromas Of Piazza Erbe

I will be travelling this month to my beloved Verona. This is a picture of Piazza Erbe, one of my favorite spots in Verona. Piazza Erbe has changed over the years. When I lived in Verona and was attending high school, I would walk through the crowded piazza where merchants had parked their semi-permanent structures and packed as much "stuff" as possible in their cramped "stores". You could find clothing, leather and non-leather bags, tourist trinkets, groceries, vegetables, ice cream, and my favorite, the "bomboloni". Fried donuts hot from the oil, rolled in sugar. Or you could get a square of sweet "polenta", a fried pudding, the yellow color of the real polenta. The smell of the fried goodies was irresistible and called you to the stand. You would wait for your turn as the old woman worked the dough and the old man handled the frying pans. The stand was always busy, and churned out orders at a steady pace You didn't mind waiting . In the winter, across the piazza, you would find an old man selling "caldarroste", chestnuts roasted on coals, handed out in cone shaped paper wrappings. The aromas of Piazza Erbe are unforgettable.