6 May 2020
Travel

A visual journey through Napoli

My first time in Napoli surprised me. I fell in love with it the minute I set my eyes on it, stepping outside of the train station on a sunny October day. The sky was blue with barely a cloud in sight, and the city lay before me with all its layers and secrets just waiting to be discovered. It’s a city for all the senses, maybe even a sensory overload if it’s a busy Saturday.

I feel like I barely brushed the surface with my day in Napoli. I know that because I felt like I was finally beginning to understand it as I made my way back to the train station, desperately wishing I had been staying the night at least.

Our day seemed to center around pizza, which makes sense because it’s Naples. If they are known for one thing, let it be the best pizza in the world. Though we may have followed in Julia Robert’s footsteps straight out of Eat, Pray, Love, our visit to Da Michele proved to be nothing short of magical.

Visiting this pizzeria is one of those travel experiences that you just have to do. It feels like a pilgrimage, the waiters lingering on the line between showmen and pizzeria employee. The theatrics and the long line are just part of the deal.

If anything, Neapolitans hold their pizza in as high regard as their deity. They are very much superstitious creatures, cornicelli (those lucky little red horns) hanging for sale on every corner. My favorite part of the day happened in a church we stopped into while walking around. A man who worked in the church was super eager to point out an altar to us, explaining to me in Italian that St. Peter had stopped at that very altar on his way to Rome. I was awestruck by this historical fact, as well as the pastel beauty of the airy church. It was a moment of peace and reflection in a day that felt hectic since the minute we had arrived, darting through crowds nonstop.

As with any of my blog posts, I strive to show you the everyday moments of life that combine to make it what it is. I hope by sharing all of the aspects of my day in Napoli, you can imagine the whole picture…the time spent sitting at a table outside a cafe, taking a break halfway through lunch to digest while eating the best pizza ever, and pausing to regroup in the monastery, all while taking time to notice the beauty of every little part of this new city.

I read something recently out of the book The Artist’s Way, that I think relates so well:

‘changing a known route throws us into the now. we become refocused on the visible, visual world.’

That is exactly what travel does so beautifully. I’ve often said I love travel because it forces me to live in the present. Now is all we have, so we have to savor it and be curious and live fully present, as much as we can.

There’s no doubt Napoli is a city rough around the edges, but who says that can’t be a good thing? A rather positive attribute because it really just means it’s imperfect (like life). If you ask me it’s the rough parts that make it beautiful. The contradiction, the chaos, all things perfectly Italian. Like I reflected on Instagram after my visit, Napoli was exactly how I imagined it and how everyone describes it and yet there were pockets of beauty and artistry amidst the utter chaos that is its normal state of existence. While I was there I felt a sense of dread or doom or misfortune looming, I couldn’t quite decide, but the artist in me was inspired by the displays and the roughness and the light hitting the ornate facades just right.

Napoli is a city that left me wanting so much more, and it’s top of my list when I’m back in Italy. There’s so much left to discover and uncover.

Scroll all the way to the end for my recommendations.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I got some recommendations from an Instagram friend and native to Napoli, Domenico Marco, and others from my own research. Cassandra from Travel Italian Style is also a Naples lover, and I love following her Instagram for additional Napoli inspiration.

food

PIZZA

  • Da Michele
  • La Figlia del Presidente
  • Antica Pizza Fritta da Zia Esterina Sorbillo (fried pizza)

ETC.

  • Sfogliatelle from Attanasio or Sfogliatella Mary (riccia are the curly and flaky ones, & the frolla is more like a mini ricotta pie)
  • Baba from Pintauro
  • Gran Caffè Gambrinus (for coffee, next to the Royal Palace) or Caffè Del Professore 
  • Cuoppo (fried fish in a cone) from Il Cuoppo Friggitori Napoletani or I Fritti di Serafino
  • Friggitoria Vomero (located in Vomero, the most hip & fashionable neighborhood)
  • Puok for panini
  • LIMONCELLO!

museums

Capodimonte

From Wikipedia: Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italian schools of painting, and some important ancient Roman sculptures.

Certosa di San Martino

From Culture Trip: Overlooking Naples and offering marvelous views of Mount Vesuvius, the Certosa di San Martino is a visible landmark throughout the city and is a beautiful property with a truly enviable location. A former Carthusian monastery that dates back to the 14th century, the enormous complex contains a large cloister, a sumptuously painting church decorated in the Neapolitan Baroque style and a museum that houses a famous collection of Neapolitan nativity scenes with hundreds of figurines and miniature items.

Royal Palace of Naples

From Italy Magazine: Naples was an independent kingdom from the 13th through 19th centuries (known as the Kingdom of Sicily for most of its existence and from 1816, the Kingdom of Two Sicilies), its rule shifting between France, Austria, and Spain. The Spanish were responsible for the construction of the kingdom’s most lavish palaces. The Palazzo Reale in the heart of Naples was originally designed as a retreat for King Phillip III of Spain; in 1734 it became the royal residence of the Charles III.

Museo MADRE

From Culture Trip: Naples has a thriving contemporary art scene and its most important venue is Museo MADRE. Housed within the 19th-century Palazzo Donnaregina, it was adapted into an exhibition space by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira and opened to visitors in 2005. Its permanent collection includes works by Sol LeWitt, Jeff Koons, Lucio Fontana, Andy Warhol and Anish Kapoor, to name but a few, and the museum hosts temporary exhibitions each year on its third floor. One of the most impressive works is Ave Ovo, an installation by Neapolitan-born Francesco Clemente that depicts ancient symbols of the city through colorful mosaics and whimsical frescoes.

churches  

I found this article from Visit Naples to be helpful, along with this one from Napolike.

neighborhoods

Chiaia

From Wikipedia: Waterfront Chiaia is an affluent district with cool boutiques and designer shops, plus seafood restaurants and elegant bars. Locals grab an ice cream before heading to the Villa Comunale park, with a playground and the Casina Pompeiana, an 1870 venue hosting cultural events. In a 19th-century villa nearby, the Museo Pignatelli shows-off period interiors. The Palazzo delle Arti Napoli is a contemporary art center.

Posillipo

From Wikipedia: Spread over a lush hillside, Posillipo is an affluent residential area known for its seafood restaurants and classy cocktail bars. Small beaches dot the coastline, and terraces in Parco Virgiliano offer views of the Gulf of Naples. Nearby is Pausilypon Archaeological Park, with the remains of a Roman villa and amphitheater. More Roman ruins can be seen with a glass-bottomed-boat tour of Gaiola Underwater Park.

souvenirs

I’ve advised on souvenirs in places like Venice and Florence, and thought I’d do the same for Naples…

  • ceramics
  • anything lemon flavored from the nearby Amalfi Coast (my family loves the hard candies with the lemon juice inside)
  • Nativity scene or pieces for your own (Napoli is famous for the presepe, or elaborate Nativity scenes, you’ll see them all over the city)
  • pulcinella (the famous mask with the long nose, sold in many forms)
  • cornicelli (but you can’t buy it for yourself, they can only be given as gifts for good luck…they make beautiful jewelry with this famous red horn!)

buon viaggio!

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