After two days, Monte Grappa was finally visible!
Casa Paganano from the front--take the stairway in that little recessed area to the 2nd floor and there's the room!
Casa Pagnano, Pagnano, Italy
Via Vallorgana 22
Pagnano d'Asolo, Italy
July 3, 2010, one night.
http://www.casapagnano.com/
After spending Thursday and Friday evenings at the nice B&B al Lauro in Lauro we had to clear out on Saturday morning and find new digs for Saturday night. The B&B had booked full beginning Saturday night, which they warned us about when we first spoke.
Linda and I decided to ride Monte Grappa on Saturday morning, after which we'd search for a new location for Saturday evening. It always sounds so easy when you're discussing it--it turned out to be another search full of dead-ends, scary looking places or, worse, no air conditioning.
Making matters worse was the fact that Linda and I couldn't shower after our ride--we toweled off as best we could, changed into some normal clothes, and drove around with tourist guides and the GPS. We were more comfortable than if we had remained in our riding clothes, but given how hot we'd gotten, how much we'd sweated, and how dirty we felt, it was a miserable few hours.
We looked at a few places close to Lauro that looked very nice from the outside. One was full. This was one that the owners of B&B Al Lauro had suggested. The owner there didn't speak English, but it sounded like he said he didn't have a room. That's what I assumed--we called from the parking lot.
The other place looked like it had just had a major renovation and looked very nice from the outside. We called to make sure that they had a room available and the English-speaking desk clerk said they did. We stopped by to take a look at the room, which was a little more pricey than we'd been paying or really wanted to pay, but we were getting desperate. This place, despite all it's nice features and attractive looks lacked one crucial requirement: air conditioning. We thanked the young woman and left.
I don't know, exactly, how many places we looked at, drove by, called, and disqualified but it was at least a half-day affair. We saw a lot of this little region. We could have given directions to almost anywhere in the vicinity after three days of riding our bikes and driving around this place.
Anyway, finally, we called a place in the guidebook, almost on a whim, and were rewarded with an English-speaking voice of the son of the innkeeper. We almost didn't call the place because we'd seen the address in the guidebook, found it via GPA, and it looked like a dump. It turns out that there are two addresses with the same number on the same street--one north of town, one south of town. I'm sure there was more to the logistics of this address issue, but that's how it seemed to us. Turns out the place we were interested in finding out about was up the road a bit.
I have to admit that when we first drove through the gate and saw the house we thought there'd be chickens in the kitchen and straw on the floor. It looked old and, well, used. It certainly was rustic, no matter how you viewed the exterior. The home had been around a while. The owner didn't speak any English, but her son was there to translate for us. The price was very reasonable and it had an air conditioner!!
Casa Pagnano had two rooms to let, we took the smaller of the two to save a few Euros and since we were going to be there for just one night. The room was plenty comfortable and nicely appointed. The owner had gone to some trouble to decorate with a rustic feel, I suppose what we'd call here country casual, or whatever it is. It looked rustic and had a very nice atmosphere about it--but everything was nice, i.e. it wasn't just a bunch of old junk lying around. And the AC!! It was just outside our room and there was a window along the top of the wall where it met the ceiling that could be opened to let the cool air in. It was wonderful.
Comfortable rooms, clean well-appointed bathroom en suite. An excellent deal for I thought it was 50 Euros, although I see the website says 60 for a double and 40 for a single. In any event, it was a good deal for an air conditioned, comfortable room.
Our AC unit, white, above the door. . . .
There was no covered parking, but no big deal. The house was a a hundred yards, or so, from the street behind an electric gate. Plenty safe.
The breakfast on Sunday morning was terrific. Linda said the coffee provided was the best she had during our trip. Plenty to choose from and the owner (wish I could remember her name!!) was anxious to make sure we had enough.
They had a nice German shepherd and a cool cat. Chickens were close by, but the rooster wasn't too close.
They had cable TV where we were able to catch some of the World Cup and, more impressively, the Italian TV carried, live, the Maratona dles Dolomites bicycle gran fondo. They take their cycling seriously in Italy. It was sooo cool to see.
Prcing: very good
Staff: we liked them a lot, just couldn't communicate much.
Food: Excellent--best coffee on the trip
Location: if you're there to visit Monte Grappa, Treviso, take the train to Venice from Castelfranco Veneto, etc., it's a very good place to be. Asolo's a nice town to visit and I'm quite sure there were quite a few places of interest that we just didn't figure out were there. The Gran Fondo Pinarello's run in July (that's gotta be miserable with the heat; I wonder why they don't run it in, like April or September). They do some time trials and other organized rides involving Monte Grappa, Monte Boldo's not far away. . . there's lot's of good riding if you carefully choose the time of year you're going.
No internet service.
Recommend? Sure! Don't judge it from the exterior's appearance, it's really quite nice inside. The owner's very nice. The log book of visitors consisted primarily of eastern Europeans and Italians. We were the only Americans (North, Central, or South!) to have visited.
The breakfast on Sunday morning was terrific. Linda said the coffee provided was the best she had during our trip. Plenty to choose from and the owner (wish I could remember her name!!) was anxious to make sure we had enough.
They had a nice German shepherd and a cool cat. Chickens were close by, but the rooster wasn't too close.
They had cable TV where we were able to catch some of the World Cup and, more impressively, the Italian TV carried, live, the Maratona dles Dolomites bicycle gran fondo. They take their cycling seriously in Italy. It was sooo cool to see.
Prcing: very good
Staff: we liked them a lot, just couldn't communicate much.
Food: Excellent--best coffee on the trip
Location: if you're there to visit Monte Grappa, Treviso, take the train to Venice from Castelfranco Veneto, etc., it's a very good place to be. Asolo's a nice town to visit and I'm quite sure there were quite a few places of interest that we just didn't figure out were there. The Gran Fondo Pinarello's run in July (that's gotta be miserable with the heat; I wonder why they don't run it in, like April or September). They do some time trials and other organized rides involving Monte Grappa, Monte Boldo's not far away. . . there's lot's of good riding if you carefully choose the time of year you're going.
No internet service.
Recommend? Sure! Don't judge it from the exterior's appearance, it's really quite nice inside. The owner's very nice. The log book of visitors consisted primarily of eastern Europeans and Italians. We were the only Americans (North, Central, or South!) to have visited.
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