The last stop of our two week trip in Italy was Naples. After spending time in the tourist hot spots of Rome, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast, it was a nice change of pace to visit a city that was a bit further off the main tourist route. Naples is one of the largest cities on the Mediterranean, with over three million people in the metropolitan area (about tied with Milan as Italy's second biggest city). We'd heard conflicting things - that it was dirty with no real attractions, but that it's an authentic Italian city (whatever that means), less touristy and bustling with bars and young people. We decided to add Naples to our itinerary.
Our AirBnB was in central Naples, a UNESCO world heritage site. The narrow streets in central Naples are vibrant and atmospheric. The city feels very lived-in with graffiti and hanging laundry outside many windows. Naples if full of Italians, unlike Rome and Amalfi which were very international. There were very few American tourists here. Most cars are banned from the center, so our driver had to drop us off at Piazza Gesu, a couple blocks away. Our host, Floriana, came and met us, and our friends Janice and Peter arrived from London at the same time as us. After settling in, we had pizza for lunch at Antica Pizzeria Port'alba, and walked to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, narrowly avoiding some rain. The museum, a must-see, was huge and had a ton of artifacts from Pompeii, medieval Naples and Egypt. There was an entire room for sex-themed frescos, and a wide variety of mosaics.
We were pretty exhausted after so much travel and carby food, so we went back to AirBnB and chilled for a bit before taking an evening stroll. About half of Naples is closed at any one time. Bars are closed until around 7pm. Shops close for a few hours over lunch. Many restaurants close from about 3-6pm. A street can look dead at one time, and be bustling later adding another interesting layer to how Naples looks and feels.
Our first meal in Naples - of course it was pizza!
The bustling streets of Naples.
A pretty street near our AirBnB.
The museum had a sizable Egyptian collection.
Some very happy busts.
One of the halls of the museum.
Mosaic from Pompeii of Alexander the Great.
Full view of this awesome mosaic.
There were a lot of mosaics.
A scale model of Pompeii.
The famous "Portrait of Sappho."
After leaving the museum, we walked through Piazza Dante.
This graffiti was on the end of our street, so we used it as a reminder for where to turn.
The little street/alley we stayed on.
There was a weird internal courtyard for our AirBnB. Janice enjoyed it.
Bonus side window with Paul!
On our evening exploration, we visited the nearby church and monestary of Santa Chiara, and then went south through Piazza Municipio, past Castel Nuovo, and through Galleria Umberto I on our way to Teatro di San Carlo and Piazza del Plebiscito. This walking route only took about 30 minutes but we passed a lot of the major sites in Naples and ended up at the water front. We met up with our Aunt Terri and Uncle Rick, back from their trip to Tuscany, and walked around Via Partenope along the bay before getting dinner.
There are lots of fountains in Italy, and Naples is no exception.
It's Peter, from the NORD!
In Galleria Umberto I.
The recently pedestrianized Naples waterfront.
We found a great place for dinner down a side alley. It was called La Casa di Ninetta, and had a very talkative elderly owner who told us in great detail about his mother's recipes. David E loved the meatballs, and several of us had clam pasta (a Naples specialty). Paul had a delicious sausage with broccoli rabe. For dessert, we had our first rum soaked baba, a local pastry. Unfortunately it started to rain and got pretty chilly on our walk home, so we stayed in for the night.
Clam pasta at dinner.
Pasta with zucchini.
Walking home through the rainy streets.
We started the next day with some more baba for breakfast, before taking a 1/2 day trip to Pompeii, which you can read about here. We then had a quick lunch from a doner kebab place right by our Airbnb, which was just 5 euro for sandwich, fries, and drink. It's very possible to eat cheaply in Italy if you don't sit down somewhere.
For our afternoon adventures, we went to Catedral di Santa Maria Assunta (aka duomo) in Naples. The cathedral was very impressive, with a huge central hallway, beautiful paintings, and side chambers with domes. Next we stopped in Museo Cappella Sanservo to see the Veiled Christ, a famous sculpture by Giuseppe Sanmartino. No pictures are allowed, but it was a really impressive sculpture, similar to some of the best sculptures we saw in Rome.
Our last historic site of the day was Napoli Sotterranea, a tour of some of the underground portions of Naples. The initial underground chambers were carved by the Ancient Greeks to gather building supplies (tuffa stone) and later as an aqueduct and fresh water well system. There's no river that runs through Naples, so the tunnels provided the cities drinking water supply. Finally, the tunnels were used as a World War II bomb shelter. The tour also included a visit to a former Roman theater that is buried under modern buildings, and can't be excavated because it's so intertwined into the modern city. Our tour guide was fun but very odd, like an Italian Muppet. He lived in Scotland for a while and had the oddest Italian-Scottish accent. He also said somewhat inappropriate things from time-to-time. It's a bit of a cheesy tour, but worth doing to see another side of Naples and to delve into layers of the city's history. During the tour someone in our group *cough* Janice *cough* may or may not have unlatched a rope-barrier resulting in a few random tourists briefly getting lost... (whoops)
Neopolitan style baba for breakfast. Delicious rum-soaked pastries!
This dog ate too much baba.
There are a lot of layers of history in Naples.
Plants growing on the roof of an old church.
The front of Catedral di Santa Maria Assunta, the main cathedral in Naples.
The impressive interior of the cathedral.
The main dome.
Janice and Peter with a statue of Pulcinella, a famous puppet character from Naples.
Descending underground for a tour.
Part of the tour was completely dark and lit only by candles.
An underground well. No one fell in.
We had dinner at La Taverna di Santa Chiara, and got a disapproving scolding from the waitress because of the order in which we were ordering food. Don't order a salad first! After dinner four of us went for drinks down the street at a place called Boof. The area has a great nightlife. Most of the bars have a very small interior space, but the streets are filled with people drinking. You order and pretty much just stand outside the bar. Because the historic center of Naples has restrictions on cars there isn't much traffic, but watch out for scooters! Another thing we noticed is that most people wear dark colors when going out. 75% of people were wearing mostly black. Naples fashion is mostly easy-going but not very colorful. It was a great night out, and we got to experience the energy of Naples.
Drinking just outside the bar.
For our final day in Naples (and last full day in Italy!) we took the funicular to the top of Vomero hill. It's a wealthy neighborhood with sweeping views of the city and the sea, and a couple of tourist attractions. We toured Castel Sant'Elmo, a medieval fortress, and visited the museum in the Certosa di San Martino. The castle was great for the breathtaking vistas, and the museum was really good except about half of it was closed. We walked back to the heart of Naples (down a lot of steps) and had lunch at Pizzeria Bellini by the Port'Alba.
Brief stop into the Chiesa del Gesu Nuovo on the way to the funicular.
The piazza del Gesu, near our AirBnB.
Chris and Peter... uhh, flying(?) in front of the interesting facade of the church. It reminds us of Bowser's Castle.
Looking up Vomero hill.
Paul got yelled at for taking this picture...more than once.
The business center of Naples seen from the top of the hill.
The historic center, where our AirBnB was.
Vesuvius looking over the bay. It's uncomfortably close to the metropolis.
Janice and Peter in the castle.
It was a beautiful sunny day.
View toward the western neighborhoods of Naples.
Us with Vesuvius!
Jumping picture.
And a smiling picture.
The museum on top of the castle had some creepy modern art.
The main chapel of the museum.We couldn't walk in any further because it was roped off due to an "unstable floor."
Just baby Jesus giving Mary an egg. Move along.
A bizarre huge diorama in the museum.
The courtyard of the museum.
Interesting decorations.
The map room was really cool.
Flaming angel.
Time to walk way back down to the historic center. Lot of stairs!
The main street that bisects Naples (via spaccanapoli)
Lunch! Most of us had pizza but Janice and Peter got this pasta with giant crawfish.
After lunch we went back to the AirBnB to grab our bags and check-out. Fortunately, our host let us know that her cleaning person wouldn't be coming that day and that we could stay as long as we liked. Very generous of her and we'd recommend staying with Florianna if you're in Naples.
After hanging out for a bit, we parted ways with Janice and Peter and caught a cab to the train station to return to Rome for our last night in Italy. From the Rome train station we took a cab to our hotel near the airport in Fiumicino. The hotel was nice and modern (a change in pace for this trip for sure) and had abundant hot water (a slight issue we had at several locations along the way). We both took two showers in the twelve hours we were here!
After checking-in, we took a stroll with David E and Christina down the pier out to the Tyrrhenian Sea. Walking along the canal we saw lots of people fishing in the twilight with bobbers that glowed in the dark. After we met up with Uncle Rick and Aunt Terri for dinner at a pasta and seafood restaurant near our hotel. Finally we went back to the hotel and had a few drinks on the roof before turning in for the evening. Can't bring the liquids, so we had to finish them. 😉
Chris at Mt Vesuvius as we left Naples
View from our hotel room in Fiumicino.
We took a stroll along the pier. Paul and Christina having some fun. OMG what's that in the distance!?
Ahhh! The humanity!
Our last view of Italy, leaving the airport.
Flying over the alps.
That's a wrap on Italy! Overall, this was a wonderful vacation to a beautiful country that has a big place in David's family's heart. Going with so much family was really a joy and something we'll all remember for the rest of our lives. This trip really focused on Rome and Naples. There's so much left to see in Italy that we're sure we'll be back soon.
The name Pompeii is instantly recognizable. The Roman city buried by volcanic ash has been the subject of a multitude of movies, books, and TV shows, and is renowned for the wonderfully preserved art that was recovered from beneath the ash. So when we were visiting Naples and the Amalfi coast, we made sure to include a visit to Pompeii in our plans.
There are several ways to visit the archaeological site, which is about 25km southeast of Naples. Because we were limited on time, we opted for an organized tour to get the benefit of a guide. We were picked up by a bus in the morning at Fontana di Monteoliveto, near our AirBnB. We were hoping for an intimate experience, when we booked a "small group tour," but unfortunately got the complete opposite. The bus was a huge coach and there were dozens of people on-board. When we arrived at Pompeii, we realized that our tour was one of many run by the same company, and there were busloads of people all funneled to a central location. Our final tour group had about 45 people. The tour only lasted two hours, a fraction of the time necessary to see the entire site. That said, we did see most of the highlights and got some interesting back story and dialogue from our guide, Eliza, that we would have missed out on if we were on our own. Eliza didn't disappoint, and we were happy she was as snarky and expressive as most of our guides in Italy.
Eliza taught us quite a bit about the ancient Pompeii sex industry. Apparently, there were a ton of brothels in the city, more than there were bakeries. Pompeii was a port town so there were lots of sailors to... satisfy. The brothels marked their location with penis shaped markings on the roads that led from the port straight to their businesses. Some of these are still visible today on the streets. Female sex slaves were cheap and cost about as much as 1/2 a glass of wine at the time. Most of these women did not live into their 20s.
In lighter news, we also learned that there were tons of fast food restaurants in Pompeii. Vendors would put food like meat and vegetables on top of bread and this served as a plate for people to take food to go. It also served as a precursor to pizza. Bread was stamped with the logo to mark the restaurant for advertising purposes.
While there is still some art on site, many of the most significant findings from Pompeii, like statues, mosacis, and frescoes were taken to museums. We were able to see a lot of these pieces at the National Archeology Museum in Naples, which helps to contextualize the ruins.
Our first few steps into the site. Blue sky, cool day, great for a hike through an archaeological site!
Preserved pavers.
Road and buildings in the center of Pompeii.
Vesuvius looming in the background.
Exceptionally preserved Roman road through Pompeii.
Being history dorks.
This was likely an oven at one of the many bakeries in town.
Road with stepping stones. Wagon wheels fit within the grooves and people could walk over the road which was covered in filth and waste.
Crowded but not too bad, especially compared to the Amalfi Coast and Rome.
Some original frescoes exist throughout the site.
Plaster mold of a person buried in volcanic ash. There are several preserved silhouettes in Pompeii.
Inside a bathhouse. Some original paint was preserved.
Geometric patterns in the bathhouse.
Frescoes from a brothel. Our guide told us the art was to help you pick what you wanted.
More brothel art.
Well preserved mosaic tile walkway.
Vesuvius over the Forum.
Augustus really got around...
Old columns.
Another plaster silhouette of a person covering his face.
Hanging out in the Forum.
Janice and Peter in the Forum.
Vesuvius is still an active volcano.
It's really hard to get the scale of this place, it's a huge site!
We definitely recommend you go to Pompeii. How you visit really depends on how much you are interested in Roman history and how much time you have. Since we're both fairly interested, we wish we had made a more intimate arrangement with a private guide. The tour we took was fine if you're just interested in the highlights and don't mind being shuffled around in a herd. There are also add on trips you could arrange from Pompeii. Christina and David E. tried to go up Mount Vesuvius for the views, but a cold front came through the evening before and the winds were very high on the summit. Supposedly some tourists were knocked over and they closed the path. Can't have a 90 year old woman falling into the volcano, now can we?
