NAPLES AND AMALFI COAST 2007 - BLOG

Funiculì, Funiculà
Jammo jammo ncoppa jammaja
Jammo jammo ncoppa jammaja
Funicoli funicula funicoli funicula
Coppa jammo ja funicoli funicula

See Naples and die. Well, there is something to it, it is definitely a place worth visiting. As it is unknown who invented that saying in the first place I preferred to stay alive and get back again.

Naples is well known for many things. Its streets are said to be dirty, nowhere else there are as many murders, the car traffic is said to be horrible and recently there seems to be an intense garbage problem. TV reports say that in some quarters the garbage is even burned by the locals. I cannot really prove that much of that is actually true. Well, there are piles of garbage in the streets but that I have seen in other places as well. Traffic is bad but not impossible. And I never felt unsafe. In a way I would have expected an even more morbid charm. It is not as worn and run-down as expected.

Coming to the many nice and charming and advantageous sides of the city, let me start with the most obvious and appealing ones: The coffee is excellent. Everywhere. And especially in its espresso form it is almost divine. The pizza has been invented in Naples and much to my personal satisfaction the pizza Margherita seems to be best. But I would not want to have missed out on Bruschetti and Mozzarella either.

Walking through the historical center one of the most special places is the Piazza Bellini. Its colors are warm and relaxing, some of the surrounding houses are covered with bougainvilleas. This square has a lot of atmosphere.
An old gate and a short street connect the Piazza Bellini and the Piazza Dante which is bigger but also impressive.

For me the most typical and also most beautiful street was the Via Tribunali. In between loads of unavoidable shops selling basically Limoncello, a lemon liquor, there are a few nice squares with churches and some interesting crossroads. A few antiques shops are there as well selling sculptures, glass and other more or less useful items.

From the Via Tribunali there is a direct entry to the hidden treasures of Naples’ underground (Napoli Sotterraneo). A few years ago and old Roman theater was discovered and parts of it can be visited. Via numerous passageways it is connected with the ancient cistern and the aqueduct. One goes through very narrow corridors, sometimes only using candles. It is in a way frightening. Some of the caves have been used as shelter during the second world war. There are graffiti from these times as well and they are scary as well.

Comingback to the ground one can still take a ride on one of the cable cars. The first cable car, or funicular railway, was opened on the slopes of Vesuvius in 1880. It was destroyed when Vesuvius broke out in 1944. Back then Peppino Turco wrote the text for the famous song by Luigi Danza which you can hear in the background.

More on Pompei, Herculaneum and the Amalfi coast soon…

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