Vicenza jazz club Bar Borsa offers unbeatable breakfast

Bar Borsa, located within the Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza's landmark, is open from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day but Monday. In Italy, that's almost like a 24/7 Denny's. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)

Bar Borsa in downtown Vicenza which also hosts late-night jazz bands, has a wide swath of outdoor seating and a cozy inside dining room used mostly in the winter. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)

Located inside Vicenza's Basilica Palladiana, Bar Borsa's aesthetic allure is flawless. Here, dried peonies set off the centuries-old stone wall. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)

Bacon and eggs comes in a very hot pan at Bar Borsa. It's one of the few restaurants in Vicenza offering a semblance of an old-fashioned American breakfast. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)

A "plain" brioche at Bar Borsa in Vicenza, like brioches throughout the city, comes dusted with powdered sugar. It was buttery and happily not really sweet. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)

Morning in Vicenza's Piazza dei Signori provides a cheery backdrop for a big breakfast at Bar Borsa. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)

You can’t get a “Moons over my Hammy” or a “Grand Slamwich” in Italy. There are no Denny’s, no IHOPs or Waffle Houses where you can begin your day with 1,000 calories or more. Breakfast in Italy isn’t really a thing.

But Bar Borsa in downtown Vicenza, a late-night jazz club with some excellent cuisine, also offers “all day drink and food.” That includes, starting at 10 a.m., bacon and scrambled eggs and pancakes. I went for it on a recent mid-morning.

As a true measure of the interest Italians have in a hearty breakfast, I was the only one there except for a woman drinking an espresso — until I left at 11:30 a.m. and the tables started filling with people drinking wine.

I ordered a brioche, an Americano, and the scrambled eggs and bacon. I even successfully ordered a free glass of water, which I’d thought was impossible in Italy.

The buttery brioche, at 1.20 euros ($1.30), came first with some top-notch apricot jam. Then the bacon and eggs arrived along pieces of toasted white bread in a untouchably hot metal pan. There was a lot of it — so much bacon — and it was terrific.

The eggs were in perfect creamy curds, the bacon was crisp and salty; even the toast, which I generally don’t eat, was irresistible — possibly because it soaked up bacon grease. All for 6 euros, or about $6.60. That’s about 60 cents more than a Denny’s Grand Slam, which also includes sausage links, hash browns and buttermilk pancakes, true.

But the ambience — dining al fresco under the massive arches of the Basilica Palladiana, watching the sunny day unfold on the city’s main plaza? Priceless.

montgomery.nancy@stripes.com Twitter: @montgomerynance

Address: Piazza dei Signori, 26, 36100 Vicenza

Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday, Monday 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Phone: +39 0444544583

English menu: Yes

Prices: Moderate

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