Italy 2024
November 9–17, 2024
This trip picks up from my company trip to Portugal where I spent a week with my fellow ParkHub/JustPark nerds building software and surfing.
Europe is a long way from Seattle, so I knew I wanted to tack a week onto the itinerary for a vacation. Ever since we visited Naples in 2012 on a family cruise in the Mediterranean, my dad has been talking about going back. He went to high school there from 1964–68 (more on this later) and talks about missing the pizza just about every time we speak.
This year we finally made it back!
Naples
My parents arrived in Naples a day before me, so I set them up with a walking tour around the Piazza del Plebiscito and a few restaurant recommendations. When my connecting flight from Barcelona landed that afternoon, I caught a cab down to the waterfront so I could do a bit of walking around while they finished their tour.
We met at the Meridio Bistrot, a small cafe near our hotel that would become our base of operations for the next few days, ending most evenings with a Peroni or a Campari Spritz.
Geography
First let’s get some context. Naples is coastal city in southern Italy on the Bay of Naples. Looking across the bay one receives stunning views of Mt. Vesuvius in the distance (yes, the same one that destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii). The city slopes upward from the coast to the medieval Castel Sant’Elmo which looms over the city.
Chiaia & Palazzo Cellamare
We stayed in the neighborhood called Chiaia (key — eye — yah) which is one of the more metropolitan, high-end shopping neighborhoods. Though our AirBnB was still reasonably priced, it was definitely a posh part of town.
Mom likes to point out clothes she thinks would fit my style. She pointed out one coat to which I replied “That’s Burberry, and it costs $3100.” We kept walking 😆.
Our airBnB was a three bedroom apartment within the Palazzo Cellammare, a 16th century palace right there in the center of Chiaia, so we had great access to many wonderful cafes and restaurants.
Castel Sant’Elmo
On our first full day together in Naples, we visited one of the numerous breakfast cafe’s for sfogliatelle and coffee (more on these later) before taking the funicular up to Castel Sant’Elmo. Even though we took the train up, the walks through the Spanish Quarter to get to the funicular and from the terminus to the castle itself both had a lot of up to them. We took it slow.
The castle is one of those places where the inside seems to built just to confuse invaders…many ramped hallways in the stone branching in varying directions trying to get you lost. But the real winner was getting to the top and getting to look out across the city. I always love getting a birds-eye-view on my first day or two in a city if i can. From the ramparts we could see much of our itinerary for the week: our AirBnB, Mt. Vesuvius, Sorrento, Capri, and Ischia.
Galleria Umberto
Another beautiful site we checked out was the Galleria Umberto I next to the famous San Carlo Opera House (which we did not visit). The shopping center was built in the late 1800s. It has an iconic ceiling of glass panels as well as an incredibly ornate mosaic floor. At the time of our visit some artisans were refinishing portions of the floor which was fun to observe with a doppio espresso in hand.
Quartieri Spagnoli
I briefly mentioned the Spanish Quarter before on our march up to the funicular, but we popped back through one other time on our trip. This is “picturesque Naples” with its tight streets, laundry, vendors and restaurants.
Along the way we stopped by the Pescheria Azzurra fish market and looked at the catch of the day.
Also in this area I spent some time explaining to my parents who this religious figure was that we were seeing on all the murals and votives and merch stands…
We actually didn’t make it all the way to this famous Diego Maradona mural, but his merch was everywhere. Often his face or jersey was literally painted over religious paintings. Like our cab driver told us, in Naples, Jesus is a close second to Maradona.
Side note, if you’re interested in how important Maradona was to the city, check out the documentary called Diego Maradona (thanks Ami and Hardeep for the rec). I wish I’d watched it before this trip.
Dad’s High School Home
Probably the most most memorable experience from the whole trip was visiting Dad’s family’s apartment from his high school years. Dad’s father was in the Army and was stationed in Naples from 1964–68, directly aligning with his high school years, so he attended an American school during those years.
I grew up hearing stories of my teenage dad working at Pizza Cotta, playing American football all over Italy, taking the ferry to Ischia with his friends, and riding his Moto Guzzi (motorcycle) all over Naples.
Back in 2008 when we visited Naples on the cruise, we were only in port for the day so there was no time to visit the old house. This time we made sure to make it happen. mo
We took a cab to Via Petrarca, which our driver told us was one of the nicer neighborhoods in town now. When we arrived you could see why. The neighborhood was built into the side of the hill with five to ten story apartment buildings providing their residents’ beautiful views of Naples Harbor and Vesuvius.
Once we saw the building from the street and chatted about it for a few minutes, calling a cab was suggested, but I asked for a few more minutes, I had everyone hike up to the apartment building’s parking garage. Dad pointed out small details like where the “super” used to park his car.
At the top of the drive I managed to get the attention of the new “super” who spoke as much English as I speak Italian. I explained the situation to him via Google Translate. With me holding the phone up between them Dad and the nice man had a bit of a chat. Upon mentioning the name of the neighbor back in 1968, the super gave us the universal “one sec” sign and went back into his office. I got excited. I was hoping for something like this.
Five minutes later, Dad was talking to the current owner of his high school neighbor’s apartment. It was in fact the son of the the then-neighbors, who was about eight years old at the time and remembered my Dad from back when he was a teenager.
He also spoke little English so the conversation was limited, but he invited us upstairs to see the place and hang out on the balcony for a few minutes. It was a truly wonderful, serendipitous experience that I don’t think any of us were expecting. I know I’ll never forget it.
On the “Roughness” of Naples
I had a few people before this trip say something to me along the lines of “You’re going to Naples? Good luck” referring to the roughness of the city. Our experience was quite different than what those bleak warnings might have implied.
Of course here are my disclaimers/caveats:
- I’m a relatively large guy that’s lived in cities for many years at this point. I generally know how to not be an easy mark.
- It was November, i.e. the arm side of shoulder season. So there were fewer crowds and maybe fewer troublemakers.
- We stayed in a pretty nice area in Chiaia. However we traveled all over the city, including on the metro. We didn’t stay out late anywhere other than Chiaia though.
- There were some unhoused folks in some areas. But it’s a city, and I’ve seen unhoused people in every decent sized city I’ve ever been in.
So with those caveats in mind, I can state that we felt safe in all the neighborhoods we visited, including the older part of town near the Dome of Naples. So just treat it like any other city, keep your eyes open, don’t be an easy target, keep track of where you are at night, maybe go on some guided tours if you want to feel extra secure.
Naples, the food, and the people were all lovely. I highly recommend a visit if you’re in the area.
Ischia
During our time in Naples we took a day trip to the island of Ischia to the west of Naples. While on the ferry across the bay, Dad told us that when he was a kid the motorcycle rental rules were more lax on Ischia when compared to Capri. A high schooler could rent a 125 or even a 250CC bike which could really zip around the island.
We didn’t have a driver on Ischia so we spent the day walking around the port city, eating lunch, and taking in the beautiful views from atop the Castello Argonese.
The castle was really beautiful, looming off the coast of Ischia, connected only by a small causeway. It’s one of those situations where one castle was built atop another dating way back into history. But according to Wikipedia, the first one was put up in 474 BC.
Sorrento
Our second port of call for the trip was Sorrento, which is situated across Naples Bay. As this was our only hotel move of the trip, we decided to spring for a transfer car to take us from our Chiaia accommodations to Sorrento by way of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, which was on the way.
Our hotel in Sorrento sat atop the hill looking back across Naples Bay. There was a great restaurant on site and a courtesy shuttle into Sorrento which we used most days. Sorrento itself is quite small compared to Naples so there were fewer sites, and we mostly explored the city while going to and from great restaurants.
Pompeii
Back to Pompeii for a second…it’s incredible. It’s huge! I’d been once before back in 2008, but it was great to revisit this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
To revisit high school history class, Pompeii was a medium sized Roman city built on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. When Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum were covered in a deadly blanket of ash killing thousands of people.
Our tour guide was great, pointing out many little details that would be easy to miss if you were going on your own:
- lead pipes with leak detection titles
- lots of ancient graffiti
- beautiful mosaics and their meanings
The coolest bit to me is the fact that visiting this well preserved ruin gives you a sense of the scale of the Roman empire and its cities. Standing amidst the ruins and imagining the city in its prime while understanding that it was a relatively small and unimportant settlement in the empire is mind-blowing.
Mom mentioned a few times while walking around that she “never expected to see [Pompeii] in person.” So happy we made it happen!
Amalfi Coast
Probably my favorite excursion on the trip was along the Amalfi Coast. Initially I had planned to simply take cabs between the towns but we decided to spring for a private tour van. It was definitely the right call.
The Amalfi highway is crazy, zig-zagging along the coast with tight corners and steep drops. And the towns, though very touristy, are absolutely beautiful. Plus it’s hard to understand how they actually work as towns, since they are built near vertically into the cliffs along the coast.
Positano
Saving the best for…first? Positano was our first stop on our Amalfi coast tour and it may have been the the most stunning of the spots we visited. With views like this, it makes sense that luxurious villas have been built in the area back to Roman times.
You can’t drive all the way down to beach level so we did the very easy walk down to enjoy a coffee at a beachside cafe. We then huffed and puffed our way back up the streets to our Benz.
Back in the van, we continued our drive along the Amalfi coast highway, passing through Atrani and Praiano. Our guide regaled us with stories and facts from the area while we took in the sites.
Emerald Grotto
Along the way we visited the Emerald Grotto, a beautiful cavern with an underwater cat’s eye that lets in light. I think they would have called it the Blue Grotto but that name was taken by the one in Capri.
Again, back to the van for more gorgeous driving.
Ravello
This was our eastern most stop on the tour. We had a great lunch here and toured the buildings and gardens of the famous Villa Rufolo.
Amalfi (town)
Our last stop was in the namesake town of the Amalfi coast. It was by far the most touristy and probably not worth stopping in, but we did find some good gelato.
Note from our guide: “Do not get the limoncello gelato served in a lemon. It is a huge rip off for tourists who want to take a good picture.” Good thing I didn’t want to take any good instagram pics 😆
We ended the day watching the sunset over the ocean on our drive back to Sorrento.
Capri
Though we did not initially plan to visit Capri, I’d left our last day free of plans. As a group, we felt that we’d seen most of Sorrento so we decided to spend our last day exploring Capri. We grabbed some ferry tickets.
It’s a very tall island with steep, stunning cliffs on most sides. Capri is much more touristy (and fancy) than Ischia. It feels like a playground for the rich and famous.
After hopping off the ferry, we took the funicular up to the lower city-center. The island is split into two sections: Capri and Annacapri. Anna is the Greek word for above, so it is the upper city. We saw the sites in the lower city and then took a small bus up to Annacapri.
On the bus during the ride up, it was clear that something weird was going on when we kept hearing this buzzing/beeping noise. All the Italians were looking around and asking questions (which we could not comprehend). After a couple minutes, a nice lady confidentially pointed out that one of the family (I won’t say who) was leaning against the “stop requested” button 🤦♂. The buzzing quickly stopped.
This bus took us up to Annacapri. The ride up is a little wild since you are driving on a road cut directly into the stone of the island (see above picture).
The best part of the Capri day was taking the chair lift from Annacapri up to the very top. You can see the whole island including the famous Faraglioni (rock formations) near the island. Mom and Jill weren’t keen on the chair lift so Dad and I went up alone. To be fair, the chair lift was very European in that it was just the one little bar across your lap as a “safety” measure.
After a great day on the island we took the ferry back and enjoyed our last evening in Italy with one more big dinner in Sorrento. Sadly the trip had come to an end.
The next morning we took a transfer car to Naples where I said goodbye to the folks, and I boarded a plane to Rome (from where my flight was leaving).
Food!
But of course, I can’t leave you without a few paragraphs about the wonderful food I consumed while in this culinary paradise.
This was my third time in Italy; the first time was in 2008 on a cruise with my family and the second in 2014 with college friends after graduation. Neither of those trips were exceptional in terms of finding great food. Not to say, that was Italy’s problem. It was definitely my fault. However, this trip I came armed with a super secret weapon… the internet!
On past trips I did not spring for an eSim or international data plan, and the options were less abundant and more expensive back then anyways. This time I was quickly able to locate great restaurants either directly through Google or through the Michelin app (highly recommend) which has good cheap food as well as “starred” restaurants.
Anyway, here are some of the food items/experiences that really stuck with me…
Pizza
…Possibly the main reason we came to Naples! Dad used to work at Pizza Cotta in Naples as a high schooler, and he still talks about how good the simple pizzas were. We did our best to try some of the best Neapolitan style pizzas in the city.
If you aren’t familiar with this style of pizza, it’s wonderful. Stretchy, glutenous dough covered in San Marzano tomato sauce, bufalo mozarella or fior de latte cheese, and a bit of basil and olive oil. Cook it in a bazillion degree wood fired pizza oven. Simple, perfect, chef’s kiss…
We also ventured to the older section of Naples to visit the famous Antica Pizzeria de Michelle. Though not my favorite of the pizzas we tasted, I loved the simple menu (only two or three options) and the quality of product for the money. I couldn’t quite tell if this place became super famous because it was featured in Eat Pray Love or was famous already making them want to feature it 🤷♂ Fun to go fight for a table and make friends with the staff though.
Sfogliatelle
These little beauties were to be enjoyed every morning with an espresso or two. Similar to the lobster tail you might be used to, this flaky pastry is layers of thin crunchy dough with a ricotta filling flavored with cinnamon, vanilla, and candied orange.
We enjoyed them so much that we took it upon ourselves to make them when was back home for Christmas the following month. I’m not a baker by any means, so it was a great delight when the homemade ones came out of the oven looking pretty similar to those we had eaten in Italy.
Espresso
Coffee culture in Italy is serious business and is quite different than that of other countries I’ve visited. Tiny single shots of espresso are the norm. You can also get a macchiato (espresso marked with a bit of milk) or a cappuccino. If you order standing at the coffee bar, it’s slightly cheaper than if you get table service at a cafe. Usually your espresso is served with a bit of sparkling water to cleanse your palate prior to enjoying your tiny coffee. Also folks will have multiple shots throughout the day.
Unlike the US, it’s less about the beans (single origin, etc.) or the add-ins (i.e. Starbucks or Dunkin’) and more about pulling consistently good espresso shots from Arabica beans.
Babá
Another option in Naples for those with a sweet tooth is the dessert Babá: a rum soaked sponge cake with a distinctive shape.
Pasta al’Dente
Much to Mom’s chagrin, pasta is not cooked as much in Italy as it is in America. The homemade pasta was quite al’dente at almost every restaurant.
Seafood
Naples is coastal so there were many great seafood options as well. We had one special evening at a small restaurant in Chiaia where we ordered two whole fish (one monkfish and a sea bass) for our meal. It was a shared table so we were in close proximity to our neighbors.
I made friends the vacationing Italian couple seated at our table. It turns out that speaking slow [and mediocre] Spanish with a few Italian and English words can actually get you pretty far! They gave us a few recommendations for sites around the city.
Dad and Jill made friends with the server/owner who gave us all glass of meloncello (cantaloupe flavored liquor) to end the meal.
Gelato
Most of our evenings concluded with popping by the local gelateria. Compared to American style ice cream, gelato has less milk fat, is churned slower (introducing less air), and is served slightly warmer. This makes it taste a bit richer, smoother, and more dense.
Wine
Lastly, drinking wine with dinner in Italy is almost a requirement. And they make it easy! Bottles were super reasonably priced. We enjoyed a few bottles of red Aglianico and white Greco di Tufo. Both are from the Campania region (same as Naples) and had a lot of minerality to them which I enjoy in a wine.
Honorable Mention
Closing Thoughts
This was such a great trip. I’ve been wanting to get Dad back to Naples for a long time, so it was wonderful to make it a reality. Plus with a few more travel scruples in my pocket than during my past Italy trips, I was able to find great tours and meals.
I will note that I’m glad we went during the shoulder season (November) when the weather was a bit cooler and the crowds were far smaller. We lucked out on weather though, having very little rain.
My family and I have already begun discussing next summer’s trip :)
