My wife and I arrived in Salerno the previous evening to commence our 3 week vacation in Italy and France. After a huge sleep-in to get over our jet lag we hit the road with a bounce in our step on Wednesday morning to explore beautiful Salerno. We had a fantastic day enjoying a fabulous breakfast, checking out retail stores, a wonderful lunch and finished with decadent desserts at Mr Whippy. In fact Karen the young lady who served us said the pizza at Don Antonio 1970 is the best.
ENOUGH SAID ! We decided it would be our dinner destination that evening so we headed home to recharge our batteries. THERE’S MORE ! Having come to grips with the late dining habits of Italians we left our apartment at around 6.30pm for the 20 minute walk to this restaurant which didn’t open for dinner until 7.45pm. PLENTY OF TIME ! Soon after we left our apartment we saw a huge crowd blocking the whole street down below. Little did we know that every year on Sept 21st is the Festival of San Matteo. My wife found this out when she asked a clothing store owner near our apartment. WIKI – It is precisely on this day that the Feast of the Patron Saint St. Matthew is celebrated.
This event involves all citizens in a lively way and is an event rich in tradition and folklore, therefore it is not surprising that it manages to attract many tourists every year. WOW ! The crescendo of noisy excitement grew louder and louder as we approached . . we could see a very long street parade marching to music. DETOUR ! We had to take cobblestone side streets and alleys pushing our way through crowds of onlookers. It was unbelievable . . 150,000 people out on the streets to celebrate this once a year historic festival. WHEW ! It took us over an hour to get to Don Antonio 1970…my wife was exhausted from battling through the crowds on the cobblestone streets when we arrived here at 7.35pm.
We approached the host desk and chatted with Francesco & Roberto who we told about our adventure packed walk here. At 7.45pm the restaurant opened for business and we chose to sit on the sheltered outdoor patio. At this point we had the whole restaurant to ourselves . . Italians love to dine out late and outdoors. I popped inside to say hi to the pizza crew led by Luca the fun manager. A warm & friendly server named Antonio looked after us during our dinner visit.
A filled carafe of cool water and glasses plus Italian only dinner menus arrived quickly. FIRST UP ! I need a good beer and cheery Jose Luis the beverage server suggested my first choice . . La Bionda Del Brenta a pretty potent Italian micro brewery blonde ale at 8.2% abv. It tasted very satisfying. My wife and I studied the Italian dinner menu . . we didn’t have a clue what to order. Antonio our talented server came to the rescue with an appetizer suggestion and a pizza we would love. Our fluffy pizza like appetizer arrived quickly and tasted fabulous. THE MAIN SHOW ! A food runner brought out our lovely looking pizza and then Antonio arrived with his mini flame thrower to melt the cheese.
I ordered a second beer from Jose Luis . . a German one called Erdinger Weissbier – 5.3% abv. It arrived in a tall matching glass and tasted very refreshing. DESSERT ! There were 2 desserts on their menu so we ordered one of each. They came out in pre-packaged glass jars and tasted fine. By the time we left for home at almost 10pm the outdoor patio was packed out and there was a line waiting to get a table . . Italians love to dine out late. WE HAD A GREAT TIME HERE !
