Proud to be an Italian

My impressions of Napoli:

Just over a week ago, on our last day in Lucca, Sarah and I ran into to a guy from California that we had previously met in the Lucca market, who was staying in the city for few weeks. He asked about our trip and I listed off the places I would be going post-Lucca. When I mentioned Napoli, he immediately cut in, saying, "Don't waste your time in Napoli." I pointedly responded, "My family is from Napoli!" And he wisely didn't say anything further on the subject.

Arriving in Aversa, 104 years after my great grandfather left

However, despite my defense of the city, I wasn't entirely sure of what to expect, as except for the pizza, Napoli doesn't have the best reputation. Well, I am happy to report after spending several days here that Napoli is definitely worth a visit! As in any urban area, there are of course some not-so-nice areas, but there are many different things to see and do and lots of picturesque views.  And the freshness of the food is unlike anything I've had! If I had to sum up Napoli in one word, I would use the word "character." Napoli has lots of character!

Here's the verdict on several key components:

THE PEOPLE:
-many Neapolitans do seem a little rough around the edges at first, but all the ones we have talked to have been very nice. And when I've mentioned that my family is from the area, their faces immediately light up! Best of all was meeting Guiseppe D'aniello outside his photography shop in Naples. He was thrilled to hear my name was also D'Aniello and he insisted we take multiple photos together. If we traced the family tree back far enough, we'd probably find we're tenth cousins or something like that!

-Neapolitans are so proud of who they are! It's actually been fairly amusing at how much regional pride there is, not only here, but all throughout Italy. Nino talked about how you could spend a few weeks in Napoli and not run out of things to do, and added, "I don't know why anyone would want to go to Rome for even a week."  He was curious about my opinions of Milano, as based on what he pointed out, every single thing was better in Napoli than Milano.  Nino also mentioned how the Royal Palace of Caserta was built to look like Versailles, and many say this is nicer. He couldn't say, though, because he'd never been to Versailles. "Why would I go to Versailles when I have this beautiful palace right here??" He did make one concession, though, admitting that while Neopolitan wine is good, the best Italian wine is in Toscana.

-there used to be hundreds of different dialects spoken across Italy, but in the last century, through the invention of mass media and in attempts to further unify the country, one official italian language was proclaimed. This is the language that I've been attempting to learn.  Well, Nino informed us that just a few months ago, a second national language of Italy was announced: Neapolitan! I couldn't help but groan inside, thinking, "should I attempt to learn that language too??" After all, this is where I am registered as an Italian citizen.

-while I did not come across any rude or aggressive men, some stereotypes did prove to be true....particularly the one about italian men and their moms.  We thought it was funny to learn that not only did Nino's sister live next door, but his mother lived downstairs.  When I asked Nino to use his washing machine, there were a bunch of clothes in it. He had Pascuale go get the grandmother, as she was the one who had done the laundry, even though she had her own machine downstairs.  "Sometimes she washes my clothes," Nino explained with a smile.  Then, when I asked him how to use the machine, he looked at it for a moment and then admitted, "I don't know, my mother always washes our clothes!" Luckily Nonna was around for him to ask!

View of our balcony from the room in Nino's place

-one other thing I found to be particularly entertaining was when I went for my run on Friday. I planned a basic 3 mile loop, wrote down the directions, but of course got lost, with less than a mile to go. The lack of street signs and constantly changing names did not make it easy. So I kept stopping to ask for directions (silently thanking the Italian audio CD I listened to that really focused on direction-asking!) and probably asked 8-10 people as I went along. Now remember, I was within a mile of where I needed to be, and the majority of Italians have spent their whole lives in the area they live.  Well, not one single person knew where I had to go. I began to feel like I was in a comedy routine, unbeknownst to me. I would see someone that looked nice, stop and ask, "dov'e via Giovanni Pacoli?" (Where is Giovanni Pascoli Street?) And every single person would repeat, "Via Giovanni Pacoli? Hmm...uno momento!" and they would walk over to someone else and repeat my question. This happened close to 10 times! And I think a lot of the responses were incorrect, because I definitely got turned around. So I ended up asking at most street corners to ensure that I was on the correct route.  There was even one time when I saw a guy in his 20s in the front yard of a house and I said, "Questa e via Cavour?" (Is this street Cavour St?" The guy turned to the lady behind him and said, "Ma, e via Cavour?" (Mom, is this Cavour Street?) He didn't even know his own mother's street! (For all I know, he could have lived there, too!)

THE PIZZA: while all the food was excellent (even the gelato seemed consistently better than other cities). Napoli is of course known for being the birthplace of pizza. Before this trip, the best pizza I'd ever had was Sally's in New Haven, CT.  As a fourteen year old, I ate nine slices there in one sitting.  So I was excited to see how Napoli compared.  Brad and I got pizza for dinner both Friday and Saturday nights, at two different places Nino recommended. Both were fantastic! What really caught our attention was the flavors, so fresh and vibrant! While the pizzas are all cooked in brick ovens, they came out still soft, so it was kind of like eating the pizza on naan bread. They were great, of course....but, I am a big texture person, and I love the crispy dough of Sally's, so I think I might have to go with New Haven pizza on this....maybe Napoli will prove me wrong next time!

THE HISTORY: I hadn't realized how fascinating the history of Naples was. Between all the castles, the underground tunnels, the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, and the sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum (Ercolano), there is so much to take in.  Nino encouraged us to visit Ercolano over Pompeii, as the civilization there was much better preserved after it was covered in the eruption of 79 AD, plus it is a lot smaller than Pompeii, which takes a full day to see on its own. So our final day in Napoli we toured Vesuvius (the kid in me couldn't help but excitedly think, "I'm perched on the edge of a real live volcano!) - the last eruption being in the forties so they are probably due for another soon - followed by Ercolano, which was preserved so incredibly well. It was an amazing sight. Another cool thing I hadn't really thought about...Neopolitans originally came from Greece, thousands of years ago. So it makes it fitting that Greece is the other country we decided to explore on this trip!

This woman and her dog absolutely cracked me up

Vesuvius from the distance

Ever hear of this Neopolitan song? It was written for the cable car that used to go up Vesuvius.

Ercolano (Herculaneum) 

Ercolano was buried under 50-60 feet of lava that turned into fertile ground.  The civilization wasn't discovered until the 1700s when some guys were trying to build a well.

The coolest part of Ercolano, in my opinion, but also the saddest.  The ancient shoreline used to be much further inland and the grass you see in this photo was ocean. These are the boathouses of the people of Ercolano.  They weren't discovered until 1980 and hundreds of skeletons were found inside of people who had been trying to escape.  If you look closely, you can see some of the bones by the door openings. 

I was disappointed not to learn any more about my family while in Napoli or see the address where my great-grandfather was born, but without a car and so little time, it just wasn't doable on this trip. I will surely be back, though.  The Italy phase of this adventure is officially over, as I am writing this from the plane to Athens.  Using my Italian passport at the airport and communicating with the check-in guy fully in Italian, I couldn't help but feel so proud! Yes, I am a citizen of this wonderful country!

Final gelato count: 121 

Now that I've toured Italy, here are my views on the cities I visited, on a sliding scale of 1-10, 1 being definitely don't go; 5 being it might be worth a look for a couple days but if you don't make it, don't stress; and 10 being you must visit and spend as much time as you can there!

Milano: 5

Venezia: 9 (definitely a place to visit, but probably just for a few days)

Lucca: 10 (yes, I am biased. If you love big cities you might get bored here...but it was just perfect for me)

Firenze: 8

Cinque Terre: 10

Roma: 7 (the massive amounts of tourist prevented this from being higher)

Napoli: 8

So long for now, Napoli!