Italy Intensifies

Southern Italy, according to Rick Steves, is Italy at its most Italian. If that’s true, then Italy is the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen, as well as the sketchiest. The last weekend in May I went down south to Naples, Sorrento, the Island of Capri and the Amalfi Coast for some whirlwind traveling with Deanna. She headed down a day before I did to see Pompeii, while I took the night train down to wake up in the city where Pizza was invented. I had taken one night train before, to Germany, and learned to reserve a bed instead of a really uncomfortable seat if I planned to sleep the whole night. I got a bed in a room of four; there were two Milanese (a couple) and a Swiss lady sharing the compartment. We had a three-language conversation going, between Italian, German and English (the only common language between all of us, and that’s stretching it). The Italians made a few jokes about Naples that only someone from Italy would get, so I fake laughed and moved on. Eventually the conversation died down and we all got ready for bed. The next morning we arrived in Naples, albeit about 30 minutes late. I met Deanna at the station and we went to check in to the hostel, walking through the trash strewn Piazza Garibaldi right outside the station. Welcome to Naples!

Got checked in at the hostel and moved out, to do the grand one-day tour of Naples. We walked from the hostel down to the water and saw some more trash:

A few cruise ships:

One of many

And the Castel dell’Ovo (Egg Castle in Napolitano)

After, we made our way to Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples’s huge square with the old Duke’s Palace and a long curved white building which probably has a name.

Duke's Palace

And then saw Naples’s Opera House (second in Italy to La Scala) and went in to Naples’s Galleria (which was smaller but also way brighter than Vittorio Emmanuele II in Milan).

Next stop was the Archaeological Museum, pretty much the last thing worth seeing in Naples (besides the pizza). We made our way slowly up to the Museum, stopping at a couple really old churches and walking down Naples’s oldest shopping corridor along the way. The whole time I was not nearly as charmed by the city as I had been by most other Italian cities; it was dirty and overall ugly (some nice buildings but they didn’t make up for the abundance of ugly old apartment buildings and the trash strewn on the streets. Thanks, Casa Nostra) but at least the people were really friendly. It almost reminded me of Greece, the hospitality people showed at times. Of course that hospitality would later get overshadowed, but I still need to bore you with another (yes, ANOTHER) museum visit. Honestly, my traveling orbits around museums and I’m tired of them. Especially as I write this coming back from Paris. I think it’s a perfect time to get museumed out, I’m leaving Italy in three days. (Time to start packing!) Anyway we got to the museum and started searching for Pompeii stuff because we thought that they had some. We were wrong. We saw a ton of statues though, and I even got to be the head of one:

Il Toro Farinese, Famous

But that’s pretty much all the museum had to offer. And a couple friezes from Pompeii (nothing quite like we were expecting, though a few that were unexpected, to say the least)

Famous, apparently

Painting materials

Pompeii...

Yes, porn in a museum. It’s history!

After getting our fill of all that… we headed back out in to the beautiful city of Naples and stumbled upon its equally beautiful Duomo!

Classtastic

I think the Duomo is really a reflection of Naples, however. It is obviously a place with an incredible history and a façade marred by vandalism and criminal syndicates, but if you go deeper (which we didn’t. the Duomo was closed and we left Naples after 24 hours) you find something to love, which shows the true potential and strength of the most important city in the southern half of the country. Now that I’m done being all poetic and stuff, we left the Duomo and went back to the hostel, where we were greeted with chilled Crema di Limoncello, the most delicious alcohol known to Southern Italy (and just the beginning of at least 5 different Cremas we had this trip. Mmmm alcohol). We rested our tired feet for a while then headed out for dinner (I got lunch at some point earlier in the day, a hot dog in a pretzel. So Italian!) at one of the most famous/most well regarded pizzerie in Naples, Trianon. First thing we see as we walk in the door? The wood fired stove and three really Italian cooks spinning, rolling and baking the dough. Good start. Second thing we see? A waiter, who takes us to our table. Third thing? The menu.

Look at those prices! Five euro for the best pizza in the whole wide world. Needless to say, it was the best five euro I spent the whole time I’ve been abroad. Actually seven. I got the Pizza Sostanziosa:

I LOVE PIZZA

Prosciutto, Mozzarella, Pomodoro, Uovo, Basilico.

Ham, Mozzarella, Tomato, Egg, Basil.

So good. SOO GOOD. When we finished our amazing meals, we headed to the gelateria recommended by our hostelier/my best friend Rick Steves and were further blown away by the food in Naples. Best meal for under 10 euro of my life.

Pizza was obviously the capper to our day in Naples, and so we started making our way back to the hostel to get some sleep before our going to Sorrento the next day. There was one thing we had left to do in Naples, though, and neither of us planned it. As we were walking back to the hostel I was, of course, absorbed in Rick Steves planning for the rest of the weekend while we crossed a street. Tried to run me over so Deanna grabbed me to avoid an accident, and keep her tour guide alive. No good deed goes unpunished, however, so the guy reached out and grabbed Deanna’s wallet (on a lanyard around her neck) and tried to drive away. Thanks to the lanyard the guy didn’t get her wallet (which at that point had less than five euro and a metro card. Worth it) and ended up breaking the clasp. Bastard. With that, we were definitely ready to leave Naples. See ya, smell ya later. Our odyssey through Southern Italy continues in my next post, with Sorrento and Capri!