Naples, In the Shadow of Vesuvius: Pompeii and Pizza

****A series of Posts about our travels through Southern Italy*****

January 1, 2008-January 2, 2008

We arrived in Napoli on New Year's Day after seven hours of traveling on trains only to find out that the circumvesuviana train (the metro system in Naples) was not running. Just our luck!! Our hotel, Casa Mazzola (which our friend's Lawren and Steve from Verona had recommended), was in Sant'Agnello, a hill top town near Sorrento and 50 km from Naples. We had many bags and Ollie, so taking a bus was out of the question! We ended up taking a taxi for 150 Euros that took nearly 2 hours! We were so glad that we had agreed upon a price before the taxi driver saw how much traffic there really was (heading back towards Napoli)! Our taxi driver was really friendly, albeit sexist, and many times wanted to pull off the highway so we could take pictures of Vesuvius or the coast. He was so proud of Naples, which was really nice. As we came to find out, our taxi driver was only interested in what Reed had to say and could care less what I had to say! At one point he asked when Reed's birthday was and also when Oliver's birthday was (he knew Ollie was a boy), commenting on both of their astrological signs (something that a lot of Italian seem to be interested in) but never once asking about my birthday! Just an observation.....

We were a little worried when we arrived at Casa Mazzola because it was definitely not near the Circumvesuviana train line, like the owner had said. Instead it was about 2 miles up a winding road. (A Note: Casa Mazzola is def. budget friendly at 50 Euros a night, however without a car it can be difficult. There is one bus with infrequent service down to the Circumvesuviana. In addition, without a car it is necessary to get a ride from the owner to get to any restaurant.)

We were not quite sure that anything would be open for dinner or even sure how we would get to a place if it was open. The owner, Luigi, found a restaurant that was open, La Rosa. This place was great and cheap. We were the only people in the restaurant and we shared an order of gnocchi alla sorrentina (with bufala mozzarella) and both had a margherita pizza (Reed's had sausage and onions). After a long day it was time for bed!

Wednesday, January 2, we woke up early to head to Pompeii. The views from out B&B out towards Naples and the Gulf of Naples were spectacular.

Mt. Vesuvius and the sunrise

Gulf of Naples

Vesuvius and vineyards

The circumvesuviana train was running and in 30 minutes we had arrived at Pompeii. We planned on spending a few hours at Pompeii touring the main sites (The Basilica, Casa del Poeta Tragico, Lupanare (brothel), and the Terme Stabiane (thermal baths)) before heading to Naples for lunch.

Mt. Vesuvius behind Pompeii

Some of the more interesting things we learned from the audio tour was that the basilica was not used for religious purposes; instead it was the center of law and home of the tribunal. It's name, the basilica, was adapted later because of the similarity in appearance to Christian basilica's. The Lupanare was one of 25 brothels in Pompeii. The name, Lupanare, comes from the Roman word "Lupa" which means prostitute. The lupanare had 10 rooms and the price for a prostitute was equivalent to 2 glasses of medium quality wine!

Ruins of the Basilica

We were shocked when we got to Pompeii and saw that dogs were allowed at the ruins. Not limited to the stray dogs that make Pompeii there home, but also a number of tourists had brought their dogs along!

Preserved human

Preserved dog

One of the other interesting things I learned from the audio guide was that Pompeii was pretty much under construction at the time Vesuvius erupted. An earthquake 10 years earlier had pretty much leveled the city and at the time of the eruption construction was under way!

Pompeii street

Orange and Lemon stand outside the gates of Pompeii

The lemons were huge!

The weather was really cold and windy so around 12:30 we decided to head back and catch the circumvesuviana train into Napoli so we could sightsee and have some great pizza! We really wanted to have pizza at Da Michele in Naples, which is supposed to be the oldest pizzeria (having made pizza since 1870!) but the line was crazy and it looked like we might have to wait for a long time and it was already 2. Instead we headed over to Trianon, which is right across the street and we only had to wait 30 minutes.


Ttrianon has been tossing pizza dough since 1923 and the walls are covered with black and white photos of old Naples. We both had the margherita pizza con bufala but were kind of disappointed that the pizza was not as good as it had been the night before!

Waiting for Pizza!

The menu

The pizza!

After lunch we wandered around Spaccanapoli, the ancient heart of Naples. Spaccanapoli is really interesting, having a number of alimentari (food shops) and restaurants nestled in narrow winding streets.

It even has a doll hospital!


Naples has a lot of charm and a lot of potential. Of course we took all the precautions with our money etc., but we never felt threatened or unsafe. The buildings were beautiful and if you take time, Naples is a city worth visiting and exploring.






As we were walking around we came across a lemon store which sold lemon liquors and other lemon products including lemon pasta! The very nice man inside, invited us inside to see his production of limoncello and gave us a taste! We also found an alimentaria/salumeria located at Piazza Luigi Miraglia (in the heart of Spaccanapoli) that has been opened since 1895! We bought some bread, olives, Mozzarella di Bufala, and salumi for dinner. The store owner told us that in order to have the best mozzarella we needed to soak it for 20 minutes in warm water. We later found out that this is done in the winter because the cold temperatures change the texture of the cheese.

Lemon rinds used to prepare Limoncello

Before heading out we stopped by the cathedral, which is fairly plain on the outside but very ornate on the inside.

Exterior Facade

Interior Facade

The 17th century baroque Capella di San Gennaro is one of the highlights of the interior. Inside the chapel you can see the skull and a few phials of the saint's congealed blood, St. Gennaro, the city's patron saint. St. Gennaro was maryred in 305 AD and legend has it that his blood liquified within the phials when his body was returned to Naples. On the 1st Sunday in May, September 19, and December 16 thousands of people gather in the cathedral for the Festa di San Gennaro to witness the saint's blood liquify: a miracle believed to save the city from potential disasters.

Capella di San Gennaro

Ceiling in the Capella di San Gennaro

We finished off the day by eating some of the great food we had bought in the city!

Soaking the Mozzarella di Bufala in our bathroom sink...

Preparing dinner

Wine, bread, cheese, olives, and salumi all from Napoli!

Tomorrow: We head out of Campania and visit a majestic seaside cathedral in Trani and then off to Ostuni, Puglia's white city where Opera music is played in the streets!

Ristrorante La Rosa
Via Nastro Azzurro, 28
80063 Piano Di Sorrento (NA), Italy
+39 081 8083556

Trucker Strike!!

There is officially a full blown trucker strike going on here in Italy! The 5-day strike began on Monday as a result of truckers protesting the high price of fuel. Some drivers blocked highways and roads with their trucks, while others formed convoys that deliberately slowed traffic on major highways. This is causing a crisis as no food, merchandise, gas etc. can be delivered anywhere! With more than 70 percent of Italy's merchandise delivered by truck, this is a huge problem! By this morning, almost all gas stations had run out of gas and the ones that did have gas had huge lines on people waiting (even emergency vehicles-ambulances, police cars, fire trucks-are running out of gas).

Google News picture

Being that we don't have a car, we actually did not realize this was going on to be honest until today. Yesterday we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things and sure they were out of a few things but nothing to really take note of. Today we walked down to the new huge grocery store near the train station and it was empty! Almost as if they were going out of business. Reed went in and said that there was barely any food, and what was left (spinach and tomatoes were the only vegetables) was about three times as expensive at it usually is!

This is what a lot of the grocery stores look like here:


No joke! And there is still two more days of this strike to go!

There are more consequences....The pharmaceutical association is warning that there could be drug shortages if this strike continues and Fiat, the Turin-based car manufacturer temporarily closed a number of it's factories and laid off 22,000 workers because parts were not being delivered.

Only in Italy!

A Night in Siena: Pizza, Sushi, and Christmas

Since we had leftover pizza dough from yesterday, we once again had pizza for dinner, this time changing it up a little. Our topings included: Cipolla rossa (red onion), aglio (garlic), basilico (basil), prosciutto, carciofi (artichokes) and mozzarella (not mozzarella di bufala because we ate it all already!).


Pizza dough with a little sauce.....


....and some prosciutto and cheese.....

a few more topings.....


Fresh out of the oven!


This evening after Reed headed off to work, I took Ollie for a walk around Siena. I came across this sign for happy hour:


This was the first time that I have seen anything about sushi since we got here. Judging from the way all the fish smells around here, it is not that fresh. The ironic thing is that the place having the above mentioned happy hour, Nannini, is more of a pastry shop known for it's panforte, not a sushi-type place. Oh well.

Walking around it is starting to see like Christmas here. They have begun to hang Christmas lights on the streets (although they are not lit yet) and a lot of stores already have Christmas decorations up.




They have also been putting up new light fixtures all along the streets, like the one pictured below. All these decorations make Siena really look beautiful. We have been told that they also put up a giant Christmas tree (possibly with yellow and green lights?!?!)!


I was finally able to take some nice pictures at night so I thought I would post them up here as well. Below is Piazza Salimbeni (Reed's favorite building(s) here in Siena). The piazza is formed by three palazzi (only 2 are really visible in this picture) and has been the headquarters for the Monte dei Paschi di Siena since 1472 (Monte dei Paschi di Siena is likely the oldest bank in the world!).


The bank grew from the practice of charging shepherds to graze their sheep on the pastures (paschi) in the Maremma region of Toscana (Southern Tuscany). The money the bank earned from charging the shepherds was then used to make loans.

Banking was integral to medieval Sienese wealth, in part because Siena was able to capitalize on it's position on the Via Francigena, the "French Road," between Rome and northwest Europe (also between Rome, Florence, and Bologna). The Via Francigena brought thousands of visitors to Siena, increasing the banking trade even more. A lot of the banks and moneylenders charged high interest, but Monte dei Paschi charged less, and therefore was more popular.

Monte dei Paschi was originally established in 1472 as a lending and charitable institution. Under Medici rule (16th century), it's role was consolidated and the bank began to focus solely on banking activities. In the 20th century, it merged with other Tuscan and Umbrian banks to form one of the key financial institutions in all of Italy.


The first Italian bankers worked from a bench (banco) in the street. If the city decided to stop them from trading, the bench was broken (rotto); hence the Italian for bankrupt (bancarotta).


I was also able to take a few nice pictures of the Campo at night:




Up Next: We head to Verona tomorrow, the city of Romeo and Juliet. I read something yesterday that said that the play Romeo and Juliet was originally set in Siena, not Verona. Hmmm. We also booked train tickets into Venice for Sunday, since Reed has never been. We are hoping to go on a Gondola ride and do a little sightseeing too!

When we are back in Siena next week I hope to take a few more pictures of some of the highlights here so that I can post about them!

What's for dinner: Pizza!

Pizza! Using some (actually the rest...ooops!) of the fresh mozzarella di bufala that we got a the market on Wednesday we decided to make Pizza Margarita for dinner tonight. It came out great!

Step 1: Pizza dough


Step 2: Some high quality ingredients (aglio, pomodori, mozzarella di bufala, e basilico)


Step 3: Time to eat! Tasted just as good as it looks.


And for dessert....some Prosecco with Basil!

Luckily the frozen pizza dough comes in a 4-pack here. Tomorrow we are going to have pizza with prosciutto e carciofi (artichokes) which we also purchased on Wednesday at the market.