To the left of the entrance, a group of zare. "Zare, not jars" a man explains to me. “The artisans who built them had workshops in Mestre or Venice, but it was a common notion that their art came from Dalmatia, and in particular from the town of Zara. This is the reason for the name: zare. On the outside they are made of copper; in the inside, of tin ".
The man continue: “I see you are looking at the numbers on that billboard. What could they possibly be, in your opinion? "
“Well”, I reply “or bingo, or lotto ...”.
"Lotto: right. Once, when the lotto was the only state game and getting to know the numbers drawn could be complicated, the taverns published, in the way you see, the drawings that took place on a particular wheel. Here they advertised the wheel of Venice, but other pubs informed about other wheels. So our villagers and peasants, when they came up here, could check their receipts”.
Behind the counter, on a cabinet, stand some old pots. “They are called cuchéti (read kuketi). The customer came in and asked for the quantity of grappa he wanted. Give me a cuchéto. Or even half cuchéto. And then there were the tagliatelle... " (*)
On the top shelf of the shelves unit behind the counter, some zares stand in line. Each of them, in the lower part, houses a tiny tap; under each tap, are tied small cups, to collect any drop.
“Especially in times of war, nothing was wasted. Imagine the grappa. The zares maybe contained different types; every now and then the cups were emptied into a container which, in this way, collected them all, whatever kind they were ".
"A mix".
"Sure. And do you know what is its symbolic image? Harlequin. Many colors. Many varieties of grappa".
Between the zares, in the center of the shelf, there is a space; in this space, stand a sacred image. "It is Saint Anne, mother of Virgin Mary. Why the image of a saint next to hectolitres of grappa? Soon said: Saint Anne is the patron saint of coopers. So, by extension ...".
(*) tagliatelle are a type of pasta
