Eating Naples

Despite all the hype, I didn’t find pizza in Naples to be any better than the pizza in other parts of Italy. But it was still really, really, really yummy. And the seafood, oh the seafood. Below are some of the culinary highlights.

Antonio e Antonio. A mildly touristy seafood restaurant near the water. Spaghetti vongole (clams, white sauce with cherry tomatoes), fried ricotta-stuffed zucchini flowers, mussels, and some of the best fried calamari I’ve ever tasted.

Bellini. An insanely popular pizzeria whose pizza is worth the hype. We were squeezed into a corner table in the bustling upstairs room. My pizza ortolana (veggies) was heavenly washed down with a couple bottles of local falanghina wine.

Gay Odin. Luckily it’s plenty warm enough for gelato even in December in Naples, and we enjoyed some sumptuous dark chocolate variations (chocolate peperoncino and chocolate cinnamon) at Gay Odin. We also had a good gelato experience at Motus.

Ciro. Another great pizzeria, another great pizza ortolana.

La Stanza del Gusto. Fancy food Neapolitan style. The vegetarian tasting menu contained many delights, including thick homemade noodles with an intense tomato and cheese sauce, a squash soup with a ricotta cigar, and something that appears in my notes as ‘melty cheese course.’ I’m not usually a big dessert person, but the ricotta and chocolate mousse made my knees weak with lust. Scott’s purple octopus was pretty, too.

Even food for sale on the street looked beautiful in Naples.

Well, almost all of it. We did have to pass on the street pizza with hot dogs, french fries, and mayo.

If you have a favorite Naples restaurant, please share it in the comments!

Tags: Europe, food, Italy, Naples, pizza, restaurants, southern Italy, travel

Not getting robbed in Naples

Technically my first trip to Naples was over a decade ago, but my grandmother refused to let us get out of the bus – too dangerous. My second visit was similarly brief, although it involved a little more foot-to-pavement time.  So this time, my third visit, I was ready to soak it all in. Surely all those rumors about crime in Naples were exaggerated?

Struffoli like my grandmother used to make

We were welcomed by a taxi driver who tried to charge us double for our trip to the hotel, and I wondered if all this fear of crime might actually be founded. But my doubts quickly faded as we eased our way into life in this fascinating city.

The last time I was in Naples, this square contained a sculpture of horse parts

Naples is a wonderful walking city, with so much life and vibrancy. It also has a galleria so similar to Milan’s that I could look up and be confused as to where I was.

Via Toledo is the main shopping street, and over the course of three days we wandered up and down it many times. A network of narrow walking streets was lined with shops selling nativity scene figurines and Pulcinellas. I’m guessing they sell other tourist trinkets the rest of the year.

Christmas lights over Via Toledo

There were nativity scenes and Christmas decorations everywhere you looked, including inside this giant wheel of parmigiano:

We spent most of our time in Naples walking or eating, but we did squeeze in a couple of sites, too. The Archeological Museum contains more Roman statues than you can shake a fig leaf at. Other highlights include various plunder from Pompeii and the mildly pornographic ‘forbidden room,’ which is more titillating to anticipate than to actually view.

We also loved the Castel dell’Ovo, an imposing structure which juts out into the water and houses the odd free art exhibit. I must have taken hundreds of photos of the interesting architectural spaces that we wandered through.

In Naples we found the locals to be friendly and the prices low. And the food, well, it deserves a post all its own.

Do subways do this in other cities?

Tags: Europe, Italy, Naples, southern Italy, travel