Naples – a “hood” but with character and friendliness?
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We arrived in Naples last night – what a surprise to see that Naples is not like Tuscany. How ignorant we were to think so!
Thoughts on Naples after less than a day:
1) Eugenio, one of the nicest people on the face of the planet, runs our hostel, which is a bit like an oasis in “the hood”, which seems to be Naples.
2) We are hoping that garbage day is tomorrow and that is why there is garbage overflowing everywhere. (We are told however, that the Mafia runs garbage collection and doesn’t get around to it most of the time).
3) Miracle of miracles, this is the one place we have visited in Italy that has restaurants with foods from other countries. Most places in Venice, Rome, and Tuscany all had the same very limited Italian menu.
4) In spite of food variety here, we ate last night at Michele’s pizzeria, which has the reputation for having the best pizza anywhere. It has been in business for more than 100 years, serving just two types of pizza – margarita and marinara. The reputation is correct. We found out that Julia Roberts ate there when recently filming Eat, Pray, Love.
5) There is a lot of life on the street. I called it “the hood” as there are many elements of tough looking people, a city that needs to be cleaned up, warnings not to carry cash or where jewelry, etc, but there are also little old Italian men sitting in plastic chairs outside small cafes on the street, enjoying each other’s company, woman watching life on the street from their balconies (which are everywhere), people playing music in the street, kids playing, etc. Right now I am having breakfast (espresso and a pastry wonderful prepared by Eugenio) while a lady across the street hangs her laundry and several stuffed animals that she has washed.
6) Naples has so much traffic – cars are everywhere and so are motor scooter. Double parking is common and it is difficult to navigate around the smaller streets in the city center. People are also in the street amongst the cars and bikes. The honking is just like in New York City. Why did I think Naples was anything like rural Tuscany?
Naples is definitely not what we expected, but I am starting to like or at least appreciate it already. I feel like this is real Italy – not tourist Italy. Maybe not the best part of “real Italy”, but I do see many elements of the way I have seen Italian families in the US living – very community oriented with people out of their home in their yards or on their front steps talking. The shops are real shops, not tourist shops. We saw this in the small towns we visited in Tuscany, which were not tourist towns, but since that was rural, there were less people. In Naples, we see the Italian culture in city form, with many more people going about their daily lives.
I was also happy to see that, even in regard to the differences that are not nice – like the garbage everywhere or the tough elements we saw in the city last night – the kids seemed excited to see and experience it all. It gives me confidence that when they see crowded, dirty living conditions in developing countries, they will accept it for what it is and take it all in rather than being repulsed that all of life is not the way it is in our small town of Groton, MA, or Meagan’s Salt Lake City, UT.
All in all, I am very happy that we made the stop in Naples, even thought it was not as expected.
Today – we are off to Pompeii!!! What could be better?
Posted on: September 17, 2010 | Categories: Fun Facts - Cultures and Countries, Italy, Snacks and Food
Hey Teresa, hope you’re having a blast. I was ten when my mom took me to Pompeii and that’s the reason i’m with Archaeology Magazine today. enjoy and hope you are well.
Malin
I just want to make a comment on Naples.It’s a beautiful city and like in all the parts of the world you will will find the good and the not so good side.
Napoletans and all the italians are very generous to everybody not matter where you came from.I lived in Naples for 11 years of my life and I never experienced wherever you have.I guess all depends in wich “HOOD”you choose to live in . Ciao!
Thanks for the comment, Rosella. When did you live there? We explored more of the city and found that some areas were different than what we first experienced. But still the city had the feel of a city that was once extremely beautiful, that for some reason is not cared for as it once was. Also, while in a better part of the city, my daughter bought a chain that was only 1 once of gold, but the store owner told her not to when she asked to wear it out. I am surprised that those running the city do not start a campaign to clean it up and restore it to the gem it once was and could be again…but politics is always more complicated than that.