Naples – how to think about it?
- Ancestral home of Pizza, my favorite food of all time.
- “Dangerous and dirty.”
- Gateway to the Amalfi coast and Pompeii.
- The first place we’ve traveled to since the pandemic.
First off I have to say we went too hard. We are the type that has to see everything. We didn’t take the late afternoon siesta from 3 to 6. We forgot all about that. Our first day was 25k steps. It was a mistake. Then 2 days in the sun (high 70s) in Amalfi and Pompeii. We tried to pick up Herculaneum after Pompeii and we just stumbled thru it. I was near heat exhaustion by the end of day 3.
I had to get new sneakers. Mine weren’t supporting me and my feet and calves were killing me. Thank God there was a Foot Locker near the hotel so I could pay $100US for some $50 New Balance. But now I’m a New Balance fan.
But first, Pizza. The Pizza in Naples was truly amazing. The flavors were so intense. Even when it was just tomato sauce, olive oil, not much mozzarella. The crust, fluffy inside and crispy outside, and chewy. And it’s even better when you’re sitting inside at L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, just before 11am, cuz we got there early (after walking the wrong way for 20 minutes), didn’t read carefully about how to navigate takeaway vs eating there, something about taking a number? But they spoke English (never depend on this!) and we got seated right in the middle of the room, waiters already bustling, carrying handfuls of dough and bags of flour.
We ordered the classics, the Margarita and the Marinara. There’s only four pizzas on the menu and the 4th one is half Margarita and half Marinara. The 3rd one is the Marinara but with basil and pecorino. These are important differences, people! Fior di Latte means cow’s milk cheese, not bufallo.
Later we saw most people were sharing pizzas but not before a 2 foot wide Pizza Margarita landed in front of me and it is so large it drapes over the edge of the table. Remember this costs only 5.50 euro!
The tiny Coke Zero was barely enough liquid to wash down the pizza. It was over too soon. The waiters were taking pictures with their tables.
We waited and waited for the one room bathrooms, no bigger than an airplane bathroom. We snapped pictures of the pizza oven on our way out.
We stepped outside to a crowd of 20 people waiting. It was loud, it was bright, there was trash in the street, it was like we had just come from church. It was Tuesday. Go on a Tuesday.
L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, Via Cesare Sersale, 1, 80139 Napoli NA, Italy
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