BEST OF NAPLES IN 1 DAY, ITALY

Naples is exactly as I imagined it – wild, beautiful, dirty and kitschy gypsy. Everything here has an atmosphere that will get you, whether you want it or not. Before the trip, everyone warned me to be careful of pickpockets. They say they lurk everywhere, even in broad daylight. I have to say that I didn’t lose anything, no one robbed me, but somehow I was still on the lookout.

I have been to Rome several times, but never to Naples. That’s why I decided to make a trip directly from Rome to this place. The train ride takes two hours, depending on how expensive the ticket is and how many times the train stops. I somehow associate European cities with movies, so when I hear the word Naples, I think of the scene from the movie Eat, Meditate, Love, where Julia Roberts eats the best pizza in the world. And who wouldn’t want to taste one at least once in their life? Well, I do! I have to admit that Naples is the place I enjoyed the most in all of Italy so far. So now I’m coining a new motto: “See Naples, taste pizza, and die!”

TASTE THE BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD

Everyone knows that the real and only authentic pizza can be found in Italy. But if you really want to have the best, it’s not enough to just go to Italy, you have to go to Naples! So what does a Neapolitan pizza look like? The base is a simple bread dough, made from high-quality flour, virgin olive oil, yeast, a pinch of salt and water. The dough must be properly rested. The fragrant dough is baked in a wood-fired oven. It is full of bubbles and has beautifully puffed edges. The entire pizza is decorated with San Marzano tomato sauce, mozzarella, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil. As for mozzarella, the typical mozzarella for Campania is buffalo, which is made from the milk of water buffaloes. I wondered why their pizza was so good. “What a nonsense, isn’t it?” I thought to myself. There’s nothing wrong with the recipe. But those wonderfully sweet tomatoes are perfect. The sun works wonders with vegetables here. Here, simplicity is truly beautiful. It is simply very ordinary and yet so delicious. For me, it is pizza with a capital P!

EAT, MEDITATE, LOVE

And where to find such a perfect one? In Naples you can find a lot of pizzerias and I believe that they are all excellent, but I wanted to try the genuine, unique and original Margharita from the American sweet EAT, MEDITATE, LOVE at the restaurant L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. Would you expect that after the release of this Hollywood blockbuster the owners would raise the price and start making money from the film? Exactly, not at all. They sell the pizza for 4 Euros. You can find a mention of the film in the form of a photo of the staff with Julia Roberts and of course her signature.

They are open from 11 am to 9 pm and you should know that a long line will start forming on the street in front of the entrance before 11 am and you have no chance of getting a seat. Luckily, I somehow managed to catch up, or maybe I was lucky and ate at a table. They have very modest furnishings here. This is not a place for long sitting and chatting. In short, eat and leave immediately. You can see into the kitchen the whole time and watch your pizza being made right before your eyes.

Pizza makers will skillfully roll and roll the dough right in front of you, forming a flatbread, on which they will then add the aforementioned ingredients. They are incredibly skilled here and will serve you right away without any problems, so you can enjoy the best pizza in the world. As soon as someone finishes eating in the restaurant, one of the waiters will come out. He will shout out the number that everyone gets at the entrance, so that someone else can sit at the newly vacated table.

Or you can just take the pizza with you in a box and eat it somewhere outside. I also tried this method because I didn’t want to deal with anything for dinner and the pizza was really delicious. Basically, you just order and pay directly at the cash register. They sent us straight inside because there were a lot of people waiting to eat directly in the restaurant. It seemed to me that we were blocking all the space that the waiters had, that we were simply getting in their way. But no one was angry with us, on the contrary, the entire staff kept smiling and passing us by. They would probably have kicked us out of the restaurant.

SWEET DELIGHT OF SFOGLIATELLE

AND KILLER ESPRESSO

Walking through the streets, you will come across a pasticeria on almost every corner. It is a pastry shop and a café in one. Locals come here for breakfast and espresso on a stand, the so-called “Cafe”. I must admit that this is where I first learned to drink espresso without milk. In Naples, it is much stronger and creamier than in Rome. It is such a habit that an Italian cannot go a whole day without coffee. I think I was Italian in a past life. But what you must definitely try is the Neapolitan sweet specialty – sfogliatelle.

Sfogliatelle is a delicate, crispy pastry made from hazelnut dough, filled with either vanilla cream or, here in Naples, fragrant ricotta with pieces of orange peel and candied fruit. Most often, it smells of oranges. This sweet is said to have originated in a monastery, where the nun Rosa wanted to use up leftover ingredients. The treat was called Santarosa in honor of the nun. A guest at the monastery was the Neapolitan pastry chef Pasquale Pintauro, who took over the recipe and slightly adapted it to its current form. Today, you can find sfogliatelle in many other unsweetened forms.

The second dessert is Cannola, which is a frozen cream roll filled with ricotta cream and decorated with pistachios and candied fruit. I would say it’s one of those desserts that looks better than it tastes. But it’s not that terrible.

Be sure to get some ice cream at IL Gelato Manella Napoli. Not only is it incredibly photogenic, but it’s also delicious. Eating ice cream in Italy is a must.

THE GLOSSY AND MISLEADING OF THE NAPLES’ STREETS

Since we only went to Naples for one day, we decided to explore it on foot. But one thing is undeniable. The atmosphere! Suddenly you find yourself in narrow, cobbled streets, where neighbors shout loudly at each other from their balconies and clotheslines are stretched between the houses opposite each other. Streets full of life, full of spirited and proud residents who know how to enjoy life, and motorbikes and scooters weave through it all. This is how I imagine the real, authentic Italy.

SPACCA NAPOLI

The Spacca Napoli street runs through the whole of Naples, a long, narrow street without a single bend. There are also neighborhoods that are more reminiscent of Arab medinas. Such a contrast is rarely seen in Europe. Maybe that’s why Naples is said to be the northernmost city in Africa. I think that in the case of Naples, one simply must not trust first impressions. Despite its ugly exterior, Naples hides an unforgettable and unrepeatable atmosphere. Moreover, good drinking water is free from fountains on every street corner, so it’s no wonder that so many people live on the streets here.

SUN AND SEA

The richest Romans, Berlusconi and the Italian president had their seaside resorts in the suburbs of Naples. Castel Nuovo is an imaginary dividing point between the old authentic Naples, which has no access to the sea, and the new, more expensive Naples, which is cleaner, quieter, open to the sea and where you can find luxury shops, hotels and restaurants. When you look at the coast from Castel Nuovo to the famous bay and Vesuvius, it is as if another perspective opens up to you – this atmosphere was already appreciated by the English romantics who came here as part of the Grande Tour.

SANTA CHIARA

You won’t be able to do much in one day, but be sure to visit the beautiful monastery gardens of Santa Chiara (the monastery of St. Clare). There is divine peace here. The most beautiful thing about the entire monastery is the garden. It is wonderfully elaborate and thought out with all those tiled painted seats standing between ornamental columns, above which lemon and orange trees climb. The tiles depict scenes from rural life.

Why such bright colors?

Looking at the bright and cheerful decorations, you might ask yourself: “But why is a cloistered convent so… colourful?”. Well, the Poor Clares spent their whole lives within those walls, and having such a decorated cloister was not only a pleasure for the eyes, but also a way to feel closer to the beauty of Creation. Those colors, those pastoral images, were a small earthly paradise, a corner of serenity to reflect and find inner peace.

But who do we have to thank for all this wonder? Part of the credit goes to Queen Maria Amalia of Saxony, wife of Charles of Bourbon. She, who knew something about good taste, wanted to make the cloister a more modern (for its time) and spectacular place. Perhaps anticipating studies on the psychology of color he requested bright colors such as yellow, blue and light blue. In fact, these colors have the power to alleviate moments of melancholy and despondency that could afflict young girls forced into the grey of a cloistered convent.