Visiting a dream couple, Musica e Montagne: Crespadoro / Italy

08/25/2023-08/28/2023

The train continues from Udine to Montebello. A friend's parents are already waiting at the train station to pick us up in the car and drive us to Crespadoro - a cute little village in the small Dolomites. Flavia and Paolo immediately took a liking to us and took great care of us over the next few days, checking out our every wish - out of necessity 😉 - since Flavia can only speak very little English and we can't speak any Italian at all. It's a joy to experience the two of them as a couple, they are so loving and humorous with each other and we laugh a lot together.

Of course, they didn't miss the opportunity to drive us to a mountain hut called Rifugio Bertagnoli the next day, from where we hiked comfortably in 6 hours with breaks to the mountain peak of Cima Marana, to Montefalcone and back again and enjoyed the wonderful views - even of the huge ones Dolomites - enjoy. Only Italians from the area and Italian tourists hike here. When we stop at a mountain hut on the way, the cook there is so "ashamed" that he can only offer us, as vegetarians, cheese sandwiches and fermented vegetables, that he refuses to accept money when we want to pay for them. It's probably a question of honor given the outstanding reputation of Italian food😅....

The next day we are very lucky that the Camencasa, a hike through the villages with traditional food at 7 different stations, is taking place on this weekend of all days. Paolo accompanies us and proves to us that you can be in top shape even at 61 by setting a good pace when hiking.

We hike for 4.5 hours in happy little groups along springs on enchanted paths through picturesque villages and on the way we can snack on hot pastries filled with vanilla ice cream, various types of honey and cheese, truffle spread and fruit skewers. Again we are the only non-Italian tourists.

The evening has something very special in store for us: Paolo spontaneously decides to give us a house concert. We already knew that Flavia and Paolo are teachers and that Paolo also teaches music, but we were not aware that Paolo is a true musical genius and loves old instruments.

Without further ado, Paolo plays us his own compositions and gives us a concert on what feels like 20 different instruments, which he masters perfectly. We end the evening at the piano. While Paolo plays, Flavia and I sing all the Italian songs that I know from "Volare" to "O sole mio" - what a fantastic final evening for our time in Crespadoro.

I am very touched by the hospitality of both of them. So Flavia lovingly cooks for us, does my laundry and motherly worries that we might get lost in the mountains.

Hopefully we'll meet them both again soon in Bonn when they visit their son...