If you are thinking about studying in Paderno del Grappa you may be wondering what is there to do in this town that you have never heard of before. Most students leave almost every weekend, but at least once or twice one is bound to stay in PDG. I am here to tell you what one can do when staying back in this quaint village, whether it be a weekday or a weekend.
A lot of people stay back in PDG a few weekends to rest from traveling and/or to save money. Don’t be fooled by this small area because there are still a lot of fun things to do. For example, you can go hiking in Mount Grappa or visit a nearby town called Bassano to go out for dinner or clubbing. There are also several fun bars there.
Or you can chill on campus and play soccer, tennis, or basketball. The CIMBA program hosts trips to Bassano or Asolo. Asolo is a small medieval town nearby by with a super cool flea market on Sundays. It is a nice place to get lunch and sit at a café. You may find yourself making friends with Italians here too who also attend the high school apart of CIMBA. Some students have gotten invited over to eat dinner and hangout during the weekends.
During the week sometimes people will go to Bassano for dinner. An even more popular destination for a change of cafeteria food is to go to the one and only restaurant in town called Al Sole, which is a pizzeria. My personal favorite pizza is called the “guilty pleasure”. I am not sure what the Italian name is, but they will know what you mean. It is a personal size pizza with cheese, bufala mozzarella, friend raddicio and prosciutto. For some nightlife action in good ole PDG many students go to the Sports bar, café by day and bar by night.
Something I have yet to do is to go to the spa at the hotel next to campus. You can get an hour massage for only 45 euros. In the States, an hour massage runs for about $80 to $100 dollars, so here you can get a great deal. Furthermore, there is a sauna and other things like that for visitors to enjoy.
If you are craving a treat or a cappuccino rather than one out of the coffee machine, the local favorite café is called the Gambison. It’s about a 20-minute walk from campus and they have the best pastries. I got a fruit tart and this other pastry only for 2.50 euros. It’s super cheap, while being the best pastries in town. Especially on warm days, it is s a beautiful walk and an excuse to get off campus during the week.
Something I’ve experienced while studying here is that on weekdays I mostly am preoccupied with homework and studying since every weekend I usually travel. In this program there are a lot of extra activities such as dinner with an Italian family, dinner with professors, gourmet dinners, the Expat Panel, LIFE, pasta/pizza making and more. I also have only stayed back one weekend thus far and I will say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It can sometimes feel like you are just running and going nonstop with travel and school, so it was rejuvenating to take a break. Overall, I highly recommend staying back a weekend or two in PDG!
Pictures: The river and the bridge is in the town I mentioned called Bassano. Also, I wanted to share some pictures from Rome from last weekend. Everyone must go to Rome when in Italy.