Last week during a discussion with a friend in Italy, I was asked that question; "What is your favourite memory of your trips to Italy?"

There isn't one. There are many, and that's just from my "recent" time there, being the trips that I have made since 2016. (As opposed to my early years in Roma.)

I started to list some of them, and I thought of this photo. I remembered the photo with clarity. I remembered the castle behind. I remembered the restaurant I was outside. I remembered the outstandingly delicious meal. I remembered the slightly-mad-but-in-a-good-way chef.

I could not connect them to a city. Or more precisely I could, but it just refused to resolve. ("Was it Verona? No, can't have been. I'm sure it was. No, that's not possible.")

The problem is that when you travel there is too much nuanced data to store in your brain. You cannot recall the whole of a week in a moment. Thus, you are left with overall positive or negative impressions of places. I loved San Gimignano; the people, the buildings, everything. I disliked Siena which, with one or two exceptions, I found to be very unfriendly. On the 2016 trip we all liked Verona – what we saw of it in a 2 hour lunch stop on a tourist bus – and we vowed to return in 2019. Which we did, but my impression of Verona now is negative. That isn't really fair because it was based mainly on the people in one place; the Archaeological Museum at the Roman Theatre. There we found Signor Sleaze, a late middle aged man who spends his days trying to sleaze onto 20 year old female coworkers (plural, seriously), because he's never heard of "Me Too". There's Signora Bellowlungs who talks at full volume on her mobile non-stop and tells visitors that they need to be quiet. There's the "no photography" rule because... why? Do we Romans still have copyright on our artifacts, and if we do, shouldn't there be an exception to the rule for us? The jackasses that we encountered there flipped my perception of Verona from positive to negative within hours. (Not only them, but mainly them.) That is why I could not connect a really positive experience with the city.

And yet, there was one. In reality, there were a few. But the question was about ones which stand out. This first day in the city was filled with nice sights and experiences and an absolutely awesome dinner, plus some excellent photo ops.

Yes, it was Verona. This shot was taken from just outside our restaurant (the Torcolino da Barca, which I'll discuss in my relevant Verona gallery) looking across the Corso Castelvecchio at the walls of the Castelvecchio ("Old Castle") which dates to 1354 (and which I'll also discuss separately).

The people walking past and the bicycles were silhouetted by the golden lights of the castle. With a full belly of delicious food, and photo opportunities like this, all seemed right with the world that night. The museum experience would be the next day.

Maybe I'll even go back to Verona someday after all. I already know where to go for dinner.