Explore Italy: Naples
/Bella Napoli, the city famous for its pizza, mafia, poverty, trash, and charm! Maybe not all of those words jive together, but I can honestly say that Naples was one of the dirtiest cities I have been to while also being completely charming. If you can get past the chaos and unkept streets, Naples has a lot to offer, not to mention the surrounding area!
Naples in a nutshell
Location: Campania, Italy
Best known for: world-class pizza
Days needed to explore: 2-3+ - to explore just Naples, you could get a nice idea in 2-3 days, but because the surrounding area has so much to explore Naples would be an ideal place to stay a week or more and use it as a base. It’s a very affordable city which makes this easier to do!
What to see and do:
Within Naples
Quartieri Spagnoli (Spanish Quarters) - the famous residential area immediately recognizable by the close-set buildings and narrow streets, filled with locals and small shops
Duomo - also known as the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, this is another stunning duomo to see inside and out, even if it doesn’t quite have the impressive surroundings that draw attention to it like, say, the Duomo of Florence or Milan
Piazza del Plebiscito and the Palazzo Reale - The large square and palace that is an icon of Naples (Palazzo Reale paid entrance)
Napoli Sotterranea (Naples underground) - explore the bowels of the city by guided tour, where you can see Greek and Roman influence and see where many Neapolitans took cover during World War II bombings (paid entrance)
Museo Cappella Sansevero e Cristo Velato (Sansevero Chapel Museum and the Veiled Christ) - see the Veiled Christ and wonder just how one goes about carving a veil, the church, and some of the other strange sights this chapel holds. Some of the old rumors are a bit unsettling. Read more here
Spaccanapoli - the heart of the old city with many churches and interesting sights, the street that runs between the Spanish Quarter and the Forcella quarter
Walk the Petraio - walk up this stone path in the Vomero area, mostly steps, that leads to some spectacular views of Naples and the Bay. If you don’t prefer to walk there is always the funicular!
Castello dell’Ovo - fortress right on the Bay with two towers
Surrounding Naples
Reggia di Caserta (Royal Palace of Caserta) - the Versailles of southern Italy (paid entrance)
Pompeii - ruins of a city wiped out by the explosion of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD
Herculaneum - another town near to Pompeii that was destroyed but well preserved by the volcano ash in 79 AD
Mount Vesuvio - The volcano responsible for all the destruction - you can hike around and on it, all the way up to the “Gran Cono”. And yes, it’s still active, but the last eruption was in 1944.
Sorrento - a coastal town, you might have heard some songs about it
Positano - another coastal town not far from Sorrento
Amalfi Coast - the famous coast with viewsssss and winding roads
Capri - the island of rugged beauty with upscale shopping and hotels
Ischia - volcanic island with hot springs
Procida - Naples’ third colorful island sandwiched between Ischia and Capri
Established: founded by the ancient Greeks
Places to eat:
Pizzeria Vincenzo Costa Napoli
L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele
Gino e Toto Sorbillo - pizzeria
Mennella il Gelato
Pizzeria Salvo
Typical foods to try:
pizza
pizza fritta (fried pizza)
mozzarella di bufala - water buffalo mozzarella, the best mozzarella you will probably ever eat
babà - pastries soaked in alcohol, often rum
struffoli - little fried sweets topped with honey and sprinkles
sfogliatelle - pastries with an orange scented ricotta filling. There are two types, regular (shortcrust) and “curly” (flaky and crunchy)
Why I like Naples
It took me awhile to get to Naples. While I’ve long heard about the pizza, the mozzarella di bufala, I’ve also heard that Naples isn’t all that great. It’s a world of its own in Italy, with a dialect that even other Italians can’t understand. People either seem to love it or hate it. Those who love it usually reference the hospitality of the people, the delicious cuisine, and the beauty of the natural surroundings. Those who don’t favor Naples tend to say it’s dirty and unsafe with not much to see.
When we had an opportunity to go to Naples this past April, (read: a “necessary” reason as all of Italy was in a red zone lockdown and you could only leave your house with such), we jumped on it. I mean, worst case scenario it’s an ugly city but we’ll be eating amazing pizza, right? Well, we had a blast. After 4 days I was sad to leave, even though we were traveling with our 6 month old son and Naples’ streets are most definitely not stroller friendly. Word to the wise, if you’re traveling with a young child in Naples (or really anywhere in Italy), baby carriers are your best friends!
There’s nothing like being thrown into the different world that is Naples like stepping out of the train station and immediately witnessing a love triangle showdown by the man who didn’t realize he was in a love triangle. Yelling on the phone, accusing his lady of being with another man. Whatever she may have said to deny it, he continued to stand there on the street corner, yelling into his phone that he can see her walking hand in hand with some other guy, while completely oblivious to the rest of the world still moving around him. Welcome to Naples! Aside from masks, you’d never know Covid was a thing, let alone in a red zone.
We stayed in a lovely Airbnb not too far from the train station. Not the loveliest area, even for Naples, but I didn’t feel it was a dangerous area. The Airbnb was on the first floor (American second floor) with an elevator. Except, the elevator was so small I had to retract the stroller handle to the shortest level, suck in my stomach, and hover over the stroller to get the door closed. My husband (M) took the stairs and met us at the top, only to find the way the door opened onto the landing made it impossible to wheel out. One person had to hold the door and stand back while the other lifted the stroller out and over the steps. Every other time it was much easier for M to just carry the stroller down the steps. While the elevator wasn’t baby friendly, our host had a pack n play all set up for us!
We spent as much time exploring as we could (and eating pizza), putting it under the category of “we’re taking a walk, exercise is necessary” while still being respectful of the rules. I can also tell you by the groups of old men chatting in the piazzas and people everywhere, most certainly not everyone was out with an “essential” reason. Ha. No museums or attractions were open, but we enjoyed our strolls and getting glimpses of the culture and city life. I took hardly any photos, so as not to draw attention to myself as a tourist. Every time I wanted a photo I would pretend I was taking a photo of the baby. “Hey, Elyas! Look at mommy!” :) Not that it probably did much good, all you had to do was watch us try to cross the street to realize we weren’t locals. There was one time I don’t know that we would’ve been able to cross if it wasn’t for the obviously local young woman who barely looked up as she pushed her toddler in a stroller out into the street while texting with one hand. All the cars dutifully stopped, and we dashed along after her.
We had been warned to avoid Spaccanapoli and the Spanish Quarter, as those were the most dangerous parts of town. Mugging and pickpocketing are supposed to be big here. I was even reading this blog from a girl who used to live in Naples who suggested “when you get mugged, keep a 10euro note in your front pocket to throw at them so you can run away safely.” Not if you get mugged…when. Hahaha. Ironically those are places you should definitely see, and we stumbled across both of them. Naples might feel rough around the edges, but as long as you use some common sense and are aware of your belongings, you should be fine. Like any big city. The Spanish Quarter was actually one of my favorite parts, I think we were the only non-residents during our stroll there, and got a unique glance of life there without tourists; the little shops with lines out the door for daily purchases, people reading newspapers on benches, birds singing from their cages on the balconies.
We tried to go up towards Castel Sant’Elmo to see some views, but that didn’t go as planned. With the uphill trek, mostly stairs and us having a stroller, we opted for the funicular. We got our tickets and went up the escalator to wait, only to find we had to pass through turnstiles that the stroller most definitely didn’t fit through. Thankfully some spunky teenager saw us struggling and came over to help us haul the baby and stroller over the turnstile. Did I mention we were trying to stay inconspicuous? We looked around, panting, and…oh no. What turnstiles did we go through? Now we’re in this closed off area that we can only get this…train thing from, the area for the funicular is over there, through those other turnstiles…we were amusingly mortified and mutually agreed there was no way we were lifting the stroller back over the turnstiles to go lift it over the other turnstiles…we were stuck taking the mysterious train to a mysterious destination. It was like an above ground subway, but you had to wait for some doors to open to access the platform. We got on, and got off at the first possible stop. We were…way outside the city in some nondescript area. We took one bus back towards the center but next Google maps was telling us to take the metro, and we couldn’t find an elevator down to the metro station. We decided to walk the hour back to the apartment rather than deal with all the stairs and the stroller. The hour turned into two, with Naples not being that easy to navigate apparently. Sometimes there was no sidewalk, drivers are crazy, and Google Maps led us down all the routes with major staircases. The whole thing was ridiculous and had us laughing.
I think one of my favorite moments was trying to cross at a major intersection. Despite the crosswalk light being green, there was a wall of cars and vespas turning left. When there seemed to be a let up, all of us pedestrians started to cross. Another wave of vehicles was coming, and when a man on a Vespa saw us with the baby in the carrier, he stopped and even held out his hand to stop the car that was turning beside him. He looked at the car and pointed at us, like, “Stop! Look, don’t you see there’s a baby crossing??” And that warmed my heart, that even strangers were looking out for my son.
I didn’t hear as much of the dialect as I was expecting, but when I did, it made me really happy. It’s so fun, and even though I speak Italian, I only understood a few words here and there. I didn’t even know that the guy who was making our fried pizza asked me if I wanted some cracked pepper. What?? Pepe. Oh er, yes please! I hadn’t felt like such a tourist in a long time! I can’t wait to go back and make a fool of myself again.
I guess I should say something about the pizza. When you eat pizza in Italy, you know you’ve found something special, as long as you don’t find yourself in a tourist trap restaurant. But then you eat pizza in Napoli, and just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, your mouth explodes. The creamy mozzarella, the fresh tomato sauce that tastes like the tomatoes are still growing on the vine, and the chewy, fluffy, but not overly so, crust that may leave you speechless, having nothing to do with your mouth being full.
Overall, Napoli is a city to be enjoyed without hurry and loved with all of its chaos and rugged beauty.
