Natale Italiano | Naples – Day 1: Coastline Castles and the Spaccanapoli
After the dazzling ancient spectacles and baroque masterpieces of Rome, and the elegant watery wonderland of Venice, we weren’t exactly enamoured by Napoli when we arrived one late afternoon after Christmas. Described by some as the last bastion of civilisation before Italy turns savage to the South, it felt to us a little like civilisation had gone away for the holidays. Our purported 4 star hotel, La Ciliegina had to be accessed up some dark and dingy lift shaft in a side street block of flats; everywhere we ventured in this crowded rowdy city was doused with layer upon layer of graffiti (even their most sacred palaces and churches) and a most unwelcome rain shower meant that the darkest most intimidating of Naples’ unfriendly looking cobbled streets took on an even more sinister guise, not helped by the shuttered (graffitied) shops and the eery lack of visitors. And all the time our ears were ringing with the forewarnings which had been consistently delivered at every mention of a visit to the city: beware pickpockets, muggers, criminal gangs. Gosh, we had even left our wallets locked away in the hotel safe for fear of attack!
But come the following morning when the sunshine washed its warming radiance across the city, suddenly Naples was a different place. Walking up to the hotel rooftop and seeing the dazzling spectacle of mount Vesuvius, its slopes partially shrouded in mist like some ancient Japanese silk painting, and its grand peaks rising up into the blue sky at the end of the wide sweeping bay of Naples, was like a postcard dream straight out of the summer. Filled with a new sense of excited anticipation, we headed out into Naples to reacquaint ourselves with the city afresh.
It’s so true what people say: the sun changes everything, and the Naples we found that morning was no longer a dingy den of backstreets but an elegant city of faded grandeur, with its stunning shopping arcade straight out of the Belle Époque (the Galleria Umberto I) and its vast semi circular Piazza Plebiscito nestled between the Basilica di San Francesco and the old palace dating back to Bourbon rule.
But with the weather so good, we were not about to hang around in the city centre. Rather, after so many months separation, there was only one thing we wanted to embrace that sunny morning – the sea. And so heading down the pine tree lined Via Cesario Condole, our nostrils filling progressively with the light salty perfume of the sea, we soon encountered an even more spectacular view of Vesuvius – with the sparkling sun-drenched waters of the Mediterranean sea lapping up against its feet.
And so began possibly our favourite day of the whole Italy holiday, as we got to know the seafront of Naples with its small marinas, two castles and lines of elegant hotels all under the warmth of a very welcome winter sun.
After a quick stroll around the Castel Nuovo, we headed down to the much prettier Castel dell’Ovo, which juts out to sea at one end of the bay of Naples, and encircles in its embrace a little marina. That delightful situation became the sight of an hour or so of enthusiastic photography (see tomorrow’s post) and a divine coffee by the waterside. We also trekked around the vast castle walls from where views of Vesuvius to the south and Naples’ urban sprawl to the North were better than ever. And in the latter vantage, we set our eyes upon a rather welcoming looking seaside cafe and headed straight there for a well earned lunch.
The Castel Nuovo
and the Castel dell’Ovo and its marina
What does one eat in Naples? Well pizza of course, and I ate my first with this spectacular seaside view before me. I have to say, Neapolitan pizzas were a little stodgier than I was expecting, but then I am used to the crispier bases which I gather may be a bastardisation of the north. There was no denying taste or flavour though – covered with a rich pesto, my pizza tasted as good as it looked, helped down by a very chilled and very summery glass of white wine.
The Daily Norm 
