Don't Knock Naples

Photos by H. Darr Beiser

    

Much Maligned Naples

     “Don’t bother spending any time there. There’s nothing good to see. Naples is only a jumping off point for the Amalfi coast. Get in. Get out. Naples is the Detroit of Italy.”

     These are the insults I heard hurled at Naples while planning my trip. But I’ve grown quite fond of it during my three days and 38,000 steps. It’s gritty, they don’t take very good care of their historical treasures and they don’t speak much English. But it’s real and hopping and lively and people walk fast, talk fast and break into arguments. A salesman at a shoe store burst into song.

 

Rooftop View from Renaissance Hotel Mediterraneo

     Our hotel Renaissance Naples Hotel Mediterraneo is very close to the major artery Via Toledo and the activity never stopped there, street musicians, vendors on the fly, shop keepers, hustlers and street entertainers, families, tweens, they very young, the very old. They are eating gelato, smoking, and speaking in this lovely lyrical tongue. It’s hard to find a bar but not an expresso bar, which can be packed late at night.

   

     This is not the first time Naples has been kicked around.  Since the 4^th century BC they’ve been under a parade of rulers, first the Greeks, then the Romans, the Byzantines, the Aragonese, the Spanish and the Bourbons. Naples finally became part of Italy during the unification in the mid 1800s. Then the Fascists built some ugly architecture, Naples was bombed during World War II, and Vesuvius erupted again in 1944.

Naples Port

Mosaic from Pompeii at the National Archeological Museum

     So yes there is a high crime rate, and some litter in the streets, and yes you could get killed as a pedestrian because mopeds and Fiats in-a-hurry rule the street. And yes the waiter will continue to speak to you in Italian even though he knows you don’t speak a word.

    

     But it was a good enough place for Virgil to live and write The Aeneid. And it has shopping malls that that look like this:

Galleria Umberto-Nice Place to Shop

 and views like this:

View from the Castel Sant' Elmo

     It has castles and forts and artwork and museums and boulevards, people dense with beauty, and a history that will kill you before the Mopeds do. And it’s not expensive. And, 70 degrees and sunny in November.

     Glamour report. The women wear skinny jeans, black jackets for fall, mega platform heels, boots; lots of red lipstick and nail polish; and it’s never wrong to wear Sophia Loren (born in Naples) eye makeup. The men often look as if they have stepped out of an ad from the New York Times Men’s Style magazines. And many of them are sporting the Euro Cut, shave the base of the head, leave your hair long on top. Gel it to stand straight up, or have your hair jut out like a baseball cap if you can pull it off.

     Eat at Pizzeria Brandi—a street runs through it and the buffalo mozarella and pizza will astound you. Try Casa Infante for gelato with a little cone hat; and get some fries in a paper cone cup at any Chipstar. They are hot and salty and you can get them drowned in the topping of your choice.…

     So protect your wallet and look both ways before crossing. But don’t cross Naples off your list.