A Napolitan Weekend

I swear there is no other country on earth that has the ability to continue to become more and more beautiful each time I open my eyes like Italy does. Each time I explore some new part, even those not so far outside of Rome, I am just amazed at how blissfully beautiful this country is. This weekend was the election for the European Congress so most everyone at Villa went back to their homes to be able to vote. I was invited to stay at my friend Gennaro’s house just outside of Napoli with his family along with another Villa student Matteo. Matteo and I left early Friday morning and met up with Gennaro in Napoli. Knowing that I am a singer, Gennaro somehow found out that his father is friends with a tenor who sings at the Teatro di San Carlo which is probably the second most famous opera house in Italy, right behind La Scala. So what did I do first in Napoli? Oh yes, that’s right, toured the entire opera house with one of their leading tenors and then when he found out that I’m a singer, told me that he would be happy to give me a lesson sometime while I’m still in Italy. WHAT?! Yes, we are trying to figure out another time for me to go to Napoli before I head for home. It was a very good start to what was to become an amazing weekend.
After the opera house we didn’t stay in Napoli long and headed for Gennaro’s house. Before getting on the train however Gennaro of course wanted me to try some of the famous Napolitan pizza. Yeah, that whole argument in the States about whether New York pizza is better than Chicago style and vice versa… yeah, that can just stop because neither come even sort of close to this. First off this pizza had to be at least 13-15 inches in diameter and the lady just folded it up into a pocket and handed it to me in a piece of wax paper. It was also just one Euro. I was stuffed and had spend probably 5 times less what I would have spent even on a street vendor in NYC… and of course it was far far better.
When we reached casa di Gennaro, his mother of course did not know we had just had pizza and had prepared a lovely meal of homemade gnocchi for us. Surely I could not eat another bite? But to be polite and I tried a gnocchi. Suddenly I was wondering who had stolen my gnocchi as I was staring down at a now empty plate. Oh wait, no one stole my gnocchi… I hade eaten it. Then ate buffala mozzarella… and prosciutto… and salad… and fruit. This is when I remembered Antonio (who is also Napolitan) telling me that Napolitan mothers are notorious for worrying that their children don’t eat enough. Well, no worries here because I was seriously on the verge of exploding.
We decided to go for a drive up Mount Vesuvius to see the mountain face and to get a better look at the sea (which could easily be seen just from Gennaro’s balcony as it was less than 500 yards away). The sun was high in the sky but since we were next to the sea a salty breeze was constantly keeping the worst of the heat off us. The mountain was beautiful and as we climbed higher and higher the sea continued to become more vast and eventually we could see the entire Napolitan gulf from Napoli to Sorrento. After the drive we went to see the excavation sight of the city that was buried (along with Pompei and all the other surrounding cities) by lava in the last volcanic eruption. It was really kind of amazing. The city was in a huge pit and I wondered why it was surrounded by all this land and actually below the modern city. Then I realized that the modern city is built on top of nearly 200 yards of lava. The old city used to sit right against the sea. Now there is nearly another 300 yards from the city to the sea because the lava piled so high that it buried the city and stretched out that much further into the tide. Really incredible and quite frightening at the same time as the huge mountain towered above us the whole time.
After walking around the city and then the beach for a while and taking some amazing pictures of ruins and sunsets, we went back to the house… for more food. No. There could not possibly be more room in my body for more food. But since we were guests, Gennaro had requested that his mother made the specialty dish of Napoli which is spaghetti with clams. Of course they were clams that she had bought that day from fisherman who had caught them that morning with tomatoes that had been picked probably in the last couple days if not that day and then after the pasta there was octopus salad with boiled potatoes (sounds gross but was quite amazing and didn’t taste at all what I had expected) and then there was an entire pan of steamed mussels (by far the best I’ve ever had) and then gelato and of course every course was served with tons of wine. I thought I would die and never be able to digest again. I went to bed stuffed like a calzone and fought hard to keep it all down.
The next day we headed back to Napoli and met up with Antonio. Our first stop was at the top of the city (Napoli is built on a hill) to a very old palace and monastery that over looks the entire gulf. It was of course, like every other palace and museum in Italy, chocked full of art and history. It was beautifully decorated and painted with amazing frescos that seemed to cover every inch of every wall and ceiling. We went back into the city and went to the Museum of Archeology which had many exhibits of specimens that had been collected from excavation sights all around Vesuvius from the explosion. There was also a room that was entirely dedicated to the penis. Yes the male sexual organ in all kinds of fashion from statues, to painting, to hanging ornaments, to furniture, sculptures, demons made out of penises, people made out of penises, in other words “Long live the penis.” In the top floor there was a huge ballroom that was easily as big as if not bigger than a football field. Of course the entire ceiling was one huge fresco. If there is one thing in Italy that is everywhere and yet I never seem to tire of it, it is the ceilings of these old castles and villas and museums that are covered in paintings that are completely life like and yet are bigger than anything we have in America. I just can’t imagine the time it must take and the detail that goes into such work. Really amazing.
After walking until our feet hurt, we got some more Napolitan pizza (except this time I watched them pull it out of the oven) and ate it under the statue of Dante. There is a street that runs along Piazza Dante (yes named for Dante himself) that is nothing but book stores. Matteo and Antonio being art history majors of course went rampant and went on a book buying spree. After walking around for a while we decided it was time for me to try the coffee of Napoli… along with a sfogliatella which is a famous Napolitan pastry that is nothing but flaky crust and sweetened ricotta in the middle. Of course it was sinful and delicious.
We departed from Antonio and went back to Gennaro’s for a small break and then headed out again for Sorrento. We got there just in time to watch the sun set over the gulf and I am positive that I have never seen the sun in a more beautiful form. Toward the end the globe honestly looked like it was melting into the rim of the ocean, pouring itself into the pinkish blue of the water and turned the surrounding islands an almost purplish blue. The whisps of clouds that still hung in the sky were a kaleidoscope of color ranging from peach to blue to pink to purple. It was surely the most amazing sky I have ever seen. For those of you who do not know, Sorrento is the birthplace of the famous Italian liqueur, limoncello. So what did we go in search of? Limoncello! There is a street that is full of basically nothing but shops selling different products made with Sorrento lemons. Soap, lotion, water, lemons alone, and of course tons of limoncello. We stopped in one store and took some samples (So. Good.) then went in search of dinner. We stopped in a trattoria called The Garden which sat on a porch over looking the city. I had pasta with clams and mussels in some kind of sumptuous sauce that made my lips tingle as it had so much garlic in it. The wine of course was fantastic and we shared a bottle between the 3 of us. We walked back through the city, bought some limoncello and then made it back to the station just in time to catch the last train back to Gennaro’s. It was a fantastic night.
Sunday morning we woke early and Gennaro took Matteo and I to the station to go to Antonio’s city. We met up with Antonio and then went in search of more art. Antonio’s last name is Jomelli which is kin to the famous composer Jomelli who lived in Jomelli square in Averso… where Antonio grew up. Apparently Italians really are serious about sticking to their roots. While looking inside a church was built in the 12th century, we realized that mass was starting and decided to stay. Matteo and I didn’t understand a single word as it was said entirely in Naplitan dialect which apparently to other Italians is an entirely different language. After mass we went to Antonio’s home where his mother, thrilled to have company for the first time in a while as neither of her sons live at home anymore, made us the largest meal I have ever had in my life. It started with small pieces of fried bread, bruschetta, wine, more bread, the famous spaghetti and clams, followed by more clams by themselves, then mussels steamed in garlic and white wine, then steak, then salad, then fruit then more famous Napolitan pastries called baba. I wanted to cry my stomach was so full. I didn’t eat anything for the rest of the day and it was only 3.
We arrived back in Rome around 9 and after checking my email and reading for a bit I fell into a completely card induced slumber. What an amazing weekend.