See Naples and Die

That’s the title of a book I read some years ago by Penelope Green, an Australian journalist who ends up living in Naples. I enjoy reading this kind of book, always fascinated and a little jealous of people who get to experience living in a foreign country (especially Italy). I can’t remember too much of the story, but after recently visiting Naples myself, the book’s title came jumping back to my memory. Why? Because everyone I knew who had been to Naples  cautioned me of pick-pockets, gypsies, and sordid stories of the Camora, describing the city as foul smelling with garbage lined streets, dirty, ugly, loud, erratic, with death defying drivers and locals who should not be trusted. They insisted I should avoid it like the plague.

Most tourists who stay in Naples only use it as a base to visit Pompeii or the nearby island, Capri. But Naples surprised me. Full of life, personality, a mish-mash of old and new, where I could not stop myself from taking photos of every street we walked by. This city has a grittiness, a certain toughness. With the highest unemployment rates in Italy, and yes, the Camora is a part of its shadows,  somehow the people seem proud, vibrant and incredibly social. The streets become outdoor public parties, in amidst the rows of washing strewn between buildings above. This city is in your face, and it’s a kind of crazy beautiful, See Naples and Die –  it’ll take your breath away.

We travelled to Naples by train from Rome, only a one hour trip on the express, speeding along the countryside at 300 clicks. Signs all over Napoli Centrale (the main train station) warn of pick-pockets, just as my friends had warned me.  I was prepared with a special travel cross body bag with wire running through the straps and double fasteners on the zip openings. We also had a backpack with similar features. It makes sense to be cautious no matter where you’re travelling and I would never just sling a normal bag over my shoulder or keep a wallet in my pocket. It’s just common sense. Mind you, I didn’t see anyone dodgy, or the gypsies I was told lurk around the train station. It felt no different than any other train station, in fact this station is quite classy, like an airport. I wasn’t expecting that.

We arrived, suitcases in tow, smack bang in the middle of Piazza Dante, so named after the famous poet. The square opened out onto the main street, Via Toledo. We were in luck, there was a food market on, lots of white shaded stalls selling all kinds of local produce, from shiny plump olives in brine, fresh pastries, artisan salamis, crusty golden bread, buckets of varieties of nuts, creamy gelato, you name it, a plethora of deliciousness at every stall. I made a beeline for it, but was pulled aside by my husband who reminded me we were still lugging suitcases. Disappointed, but telling myself we can return later (we did, and I was in food nirvana) we headed for the hotel.

(One of the stalls at the food market on Piazza Dante, the salamis were incredible. They also sold jars of chilli paste made using Carolina Reapers (the hottest chilli in the world). My husband tried it, and I can’t tell you how hard I laughed later as his face turned beetroot red and he was running around trying to find a way to relieve the pain… It seems they like it hotter than most here in Naples!)

We consulted the map to find our hotel, Hotel Piazza Bellini, which was, as you can guess, on Piazza Bellini. As usual, I had chosen this place after positive reviews on TripAdvisor, which is my go-to for finding good accomodation. After rattling our suitcases over cobblestone streets, through a small laneway lined in second hand bookstores (I am obsessed with book-shops and wanted to stop, but once again I was pried away with a promise of coming back later), we took a right onto a leafy, picturesque street and I was starting to wonder if we re really were in Naples, it looked too nice. Where’s all the rubbish I was warned about?

Our hotel, I was surprised to see, was very new, polished and bright. We were offered a welcome drink (the first time that has happened to us in Italy) while our bags were taken to our room. You don’t have to ask me twice when it comes to a complimentary glass of vino. Especially when it is in a little courtyard, adorned with fountains, flowers and sculptures that make me feel like I’m in a 5 star hotel (it’s not, our room was under $200 per night). The room was light and airy,  a ‘gift’ on the side table – a bag of artisanal pasta, striped red, yellow and green, the pride of the Italian flag. That was a nice and unexpected touch. But the best part of the hotel was its location. Piazza Bellini is a small open space, peppered with bars, quirky shops and great restaurants. Smack bang in the middle of everywhere we wanted to walk, and just down the road from the National Archaeological Museum, which was the first destination on my list.

I must admit, the National Archaeological Museum was the real reason I wanted to stay in Naples. I have a keen interest in ancient history, particularly Roman, and this would be the first time I would be visiting Pompeii. But most of the best preserved artefacts from Pompeii, as well as other Roman and Greek sites, are actually housed in this museum. Even if you’re not into museums this one is worth the visit. It is mind boggling how many brightly coloured frescoes, mosaics and artefacts were saved, and they give amazing insight into what the Romans valued, what they feared, their customs, rituals, and wonder, what was it like to live thousands of years ago?

Particularly famous is a mosaic dating back to 100BC, originally on the floor of the House of the Fawn which you can visit in Pompeii. This massive mosaic, over 2 x 5 metres in size, is made up of over one and a half million  tesserae, tiny coloured tiles that were painstakingly put together to make this incredibly detailed scene of Alexander the Great in battle.

Alexander the Great in action

The Secret Room is also worth a peek. Erotic art was very common in ancient Rome, the phallus was seen as a good luck charm, so it was common to have statues of giant phallus’ at the entrance to your house, on the walls, or made into ornaments. Frescoes depicting sex scenes line the walls, they hung in private rooms, bathrooms, some considered to have come from brothels (there were more brothels than bakeries in Pompeii) where customers could point at an image and say “I’ll have that one please”. It’s titillating, yes, but also incredibly interesting. The House of the Vetti, in Pompeii, has a large picture of a man, whose appendage is so large it hangs past his tunic, supported by a set of scales, right at the front entrance for all to see. These images were not necessarily bawdy, but represented luck, fortune, and sometimes to turn bad spirits away. When we went to Pompeii I was obsessed with seeking them out, imagine what other people thought of me as they walked past and me, shouting “look I’ve found another d$#k!!”
 I thought I’d leave out the other pics in case they offend, but this is a good luck ornament to ward off evil.

Museum done and dusted (and more photos of mythical statues and emperors to add to my collection – my husband doesn’t understand why I need to keep taking pictures of the same ‘dudes’), I won’t bore you with too many pictures in case you’re like hubby and have seen one statue too many (or ‘rocks’, as he calls any ruin I drag him to see). And don’t get me started on churches!

Hercules always makes an appearance at an Italian museum.

As do mythical characters – this is Perseus holding the head of Medusa.

Time to walk the streets of Naples. Did I mention how erratically beautiful they are? The colours, the sounds, every nook and cranny filled with restaurants, shops, local markets with boxes of fruit and vegetables, scooters zipping in-between the chaos, little old ladies walking with shopping carts, dogs who seem to own this place just as much as the local residents, rather than simply being a pet, underwear hanging from terraces, jelly-bean sized cars somehow squeezed into impossibly tight spaces, graffiti, neon lights, banners strewn from street to street, fairy lights, flowers… there is so much to take in, it’s like a kaleidoscope that keeps swirling into a never-ending image of colour and pattern that your eyes struggle to keep up with.  These eclectic streets were like treasure troves to walk down, taking in what is real, everyday life. Sure, there may be some tourists, but this is not a tourist town, you’re in amongst the locals here.

Still not seeing the dirty grungy streets I was warned about, I am actually quite obsessed with the beauty of the streets of Naples, which I think are cleaner than Rome (and I love Rome). Aside from street appreciation, there are plenty of attractions and monuments here too, and it is all within walking distance. Mount Vesuvius (which you can actually visit, although we chose to just see it from land) is majestic, springing out from the horizon from the bay.

Piazza Plebiscito, which we stumbled across with surprise, is a huge piazza, resembling the Vatican in some way. Named after the plebiscite taken in 1860, which officially united Naples to the Kingdom of Italy. Huh? What do you mean Naples wasn’t part of Italy until 1860? A very brief history:  (if history isn’t your thing, feel fee to scroll down…)

Naples was discovered by the Ancient Greeks, then conquered by the Romans in 326 BC, during the civil wars in 88-82 BC, half their population was massacred. After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, all of Italy was taken over by the Germanic peoples. The Byzantines revolted and captured Naples, which then became a duchy with a duke. Then in 1139 the Normans conquered Naples and it fell under the Kingdom of Sicily, ruled by a German emperor. He was conquered by Charles of Anjou (King of Sicily), then in 1442 Naples was conquered again and became a part of Spain. In 1600 Naples was the largest city in Europe, but by 17th century faced economic depression, internal rebellion, and then a devastating plague. In 1734 Naples became an independent empire, then conquered by the french during the French Revolution in the 1790s. Napoleon was defeated in 1815 and Naples returned to order with its own king. After a few revolutions and turmoil throughout Italy and the work of the great general Garibaldi, in 1860 it became unified. Naples then agreed to be part of the new Kingdom of Italy.

So if you came from Naples you could say you ancestors were Greek, Roman, German, Sicilian, Spanish or even French. You can understand why, then, residents don’t call themselves ‘Italian’, they are proudly ‘Neopolitans.’ No matter who has been in charge, the people have always remained fiercly connected to their city.

There’s a lot of history and historical sites to see in Naples. Castel Nuovo is hard to miss, a medieval castle built in the 1200’s as a fortress. We didn’t go inside for the tour, but it apparently has a story involving a crocodile that somehow found its way to Naples from the Nile in Egypt and was kept in a pit that would be fed the dumped lovers of the insatiable Queen Joan II after she grew tired of them.

But let’s not dwell on history, even though Naples has plenty to offer if you are into churches, palaces, even underground catacombs. Here’s a few.. quite stunning actually.

Let’s get onto the important stuff….food.

Everyone knows Naples is famous for its pizza, and I was on a mission to find a great place to try one. I wanted to visit L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele the restaurant made famous in Eat Pray Love, starring Julia Roberts, where she famously says to her friend who can’t finish her pizza because her pants are too tight: “Let’s buy bigger pants,” but it is closer to the main train station and with limited time we decided to stay in the old town.

We ended up at Pizzeria Da Attilio, a little hole in the wall pizzeria that was packed to the brim. The pizza was incredible, huge, yet I was able to fit it in (but the pants by this stage were definitely getting tight!). The pizzas were massive (and it is expected to eat one all to yourself, no slicing and sharing here), and the dough ridiculously good. Soft and chewy with an almost charred sourdough taste, light as air and minimalist toppings.  This was a family restaurant with no airs and graces, they even had their dog, Luna, walking around, yapping at customers while they ate their pizzas and drank their wine. No-one seemed to mind (imagine doing that in Australia! The health inspectors would have a field day.). She even jumped up on my leg begging for some food! The staff simply walked past and smiled.

When you can’t decide which flavour you want do what I do and order the Quattro Stagione – 4 flavours.We also ate pizza at Di Matteo’s which was equally as delicious. This place is world famous, loads of celebrities have eaten there (including Bill Clinton) and they have won the Pizza World Cup many times (I’d like to be a judge for that one!), but that was not reflected in the price – we paid half what we normally would back home for a pizza that wouldn’t have been half as good. What I particularly loved about this restaurant was the banter between the waiters (all men I noticed), the loud, fast paced conversations (sometimes sounding like arguments, I wish I could understand more) and plenty of hand gestures. Sitting in this restaurant and scanning the tables with other diners I was amazed at the young single girls sitting together, a whole pizza each, eaten greedily with wine for lunch. There are no salads here, and no-one seems to be worried about the carbs either.

Pizzerias are serious business in Naples, with fierce competition and certain restaurants famously better than others. With such minimalist toppings you might ask, how different can they be? Well, here’s a pic of a pizzeria I wanted to go to, Pizzeria Sorbillo. As you can see, it is so incredibly popular with the locals hoarded out the front like this from midday until evening. I am not kidding, we walked past many times and it was no use. All I can say is, if there’s this many people waiting for pizza on a weekday,  it must be good. Places like this one have been serving the same pizzas for years,  going back many generations. The secret is in the dough… a true art form.

Naples isn’t just about pizza, like anywhere in Italy, the pasta is good, as are the panini and gelato. They also make a fried pizza which was decadently good. Fried spaghetti, fried sandwiches, arancini (which area also fried). No-one seems to be on a diet that’s for sure!

Fried food porn – hard to resist as you walk by

But, my favourite was the Baba. What is a baba? A mushroom shaped yeast cake, soaked in either rum or (my favourite) limoncello. These were everywhere and very hard to resist. To be honest, all their sweets are pretty hard to resist. Taralli, Canoli, Sfogliatelle, and more.

Whew, all that pizza and baba calls for some serious walking. Luckily everything in Naples is within walking distance, and the contrasts from one area to the next is quite incredible. Via Toledo is the main street, full of shops and lined with piazzas and markets. We found the shopping in Naples to be very inexpensive and there are some real bargains to be made. Via Toledo is your standard city street, with all the brand name shops you will know, cars zooming along, throngs of people walking to work and sitting at outdoor tables drinking coffee or wine (depending on the time of the day).

Turning off Via Toledo is the Spanish Quarter, a whole new world. This area housed the Spanish garrisons during the revolts, hence the name. It is apparently known for crime, poverty, prostitution and the Camora and the guide book advised not hanging around  late at night. However, during the day it is a fascinating area to walk around. It’s one of these areas where you need to walk slowly, meander down the streets, peer into the shops, the barber, the butcher, the florist, past the tables of boxes of fruit and vegetables, it is amazing what you can see when you take the time to watch the people go about life.

Back on Via Toledo, walk further up and you will find a complete contrast to the Spanish Quarter. Squished between a cathedral and an opera house is the stunning neoclassical Galleria Umberto, one of the world’s first shopping malls. This kind of architecture was not what I thought I would find in Naples. The floor to ceiling mosaics, sculptures, paintings and glasswork is a sight to behold. It is absolutely gorgeous, and apart from some luxury shopping,  not a lot to see in it apart from standing with neck craned and admire the opulence, but still, breathtakingly beautiful.

Back towards Piazza Dante (where we started) we turn right and walk down beautiful cobblestone streets full of restaurants, bakeries, quirky shops including some touristy type wares, and plenty of bars to stop for a refreshment. This little place, Bar Nilo, is worth a peek. Grab a beer or a Spritz and admire the shrine to Maradona, the famous Neopolitan soccer player, on the wall. Soccer is like religion in Naples and Maradona the Messiah. Just make sure you buy something before you take a photo or heed the warning sign below.

Notice the sign below which translates: “Do you want to take a photo? If you take a photo without buying something your camera or cellphone might explode in your hands – understand me?” 

It’s the quirkiness of Naples that is so endearing. Further along, the streets become lined with shops selling incredible Christmas ornaments, Naples is well-known for them.

Walk a little further and Naples changes again, this is old Naples, and the souvenir shops and fairy lights fade to what is a residential area, tight streets with balconies almost touching each other and washing strung zig-zag above. We walked around here and I found it fascinating, but I wouldn’t feel quite as safe late at night. But, there aren’t many places I would feel safe walking around at night in a foreign country, unless it was the main tourist zones, and this definitely is not. But even with its towering apartment blocks and graffitied walls, I still found a rough beauty in these pastel washed streets with peeling paint, and couldn’t comprehend how it must be to live in such small spaces, with streets so narrow two cars could not pass each other, you couldn’t find a parking space, your balcony is your washing line, all your underwear on show to the world, your neighbours on the other side of paper thin walls, the alleyways your backyard and privacy in general would be scarce.

As we sauntered back to the main hub, and the late afternoon was upon us, another part of Naples showed itself to us. The social side. The streets filled with people, young and old. Either gathering around a bar for the special one euro Spritz, spilling out onto the streets with drink in hand as the mopeds swerve around, or couples out with prams and dogs on leads (everyone loves dogs in Italy, and we saw dogs sitting at bars, in restaurants, out at midnight walking with their owners), older people linking arms, dressed up for a night out. But it all happens on the streets. They come alive with talk and laughter, groups of young people flirting and gossiping, there seem to be no rules. The people stand on the streets and drink and talk and eat, while the traffic just seems to weave and slip by the best it can.

No wonder there’s a crowd – only 1 Euro for a beer or a Sprits (mine a little blurry..)

Seen enough to think Naples gets a bad rap? Me too. And there’s so much more to see and do. If archaeology is your thing the incredible sites of Herculaneum, Pompeii, Paestum and Oplonti are nearby. You can take a tour to see Mount Vesuvius, or take a ferry across to Capri, Ischia or Procida (definitely on my bucket list). The Amalfi coast is a short train trip away, and that’s not even considering all the places actually in Naples we didn’t get time to see.

Naples really took me by surprise, and I was only there for two nights. There is so much to see and do there, but for me, the beauty of the streets and the social liveliness of the people is what sold her to me. It made me wonder if the locals actually like having that tough image, which seems to keep the tourists away (and many Italian cities are just way too overrun with them). It had such feeling to it, such authenticity – and that’s the kind of thing I like when I travel. I don’t want to go somewhere that is pristine, full of souvenir shops and English accents (like Sorrento), give me Naples any day. It’s gutsy, full of character and life. This city screams “we don’t care if you don’t like us” wearing a leather jacket and a middle finger in the air. And I like it.