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| View from the Castel Sant'Elmo |
My Lonely Planet: Italy
describes Naples as city in a state of anarchy and stories from friends who
have visited the city had an unnerving effect on Melvin and me. A close friend
of mine told me that his less-than-pleasant encounters in Naples marred his
Italian experience. Hawkers constantly pestering you with their wares, people
rushing to collect your change from ticket machines before you could receive
your tickets, and thieves attempting to snatch your mobile phone while you were
having a conversation – these helped to create a degree of queasiness in me as
I prepared for the trip. It’s strange but I have always been eager to visit the
place despite its less-than-‘perfect’ reputation from a visitor’s perspective.
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| Via Toledo |
Being a fan of Neapolitan traditional songs like the famous ‘O Sole Mio’ and
the heart-breaking ‘Core N’Grato,’ I’ve always thought that Naples would embody
the romanticism in these tunes. In fact, my interest in these songs played a
part in my decision to learn Italian some six years ago. I had, by chance,
spoken to a few Neapolitans and they had (it was perhaps to be expected)
praised the place to the skies and told me about how much cheaper the cost of
living was compared to more prominent cities like Milan and Rome. In spite of
the aforementioned criticisms of the place, I was determined to visit the place
and in all honesty, I was looking forward to seeing a different side of Italy.
After less than five to six hours in the city, I came to
conclude that ‘anarchic’ was indeed, an apt description. Our introduction to
the city was a curious one. After we alighted at the Central Station in Naples,
we had to take a metro station near to our hostel. Determined to ensure that we
were on the right platform, I decided to use my limited Italian to ascertain
this. The young couple we approached were friendly and told us that we were
indeed on the correct platform and that the next approaching train was the one
we should take. However, Melvin and I realised that we had not bought our
tickets and I enquired as to where we could get them, unable to spot a ticket
machine in the near vicinity. The man responded, ‘you can get them from
upstairs,’ but then let out a grin before continuing, ‘but calm down, it is
only one stop away.’ Still hurting from the hefty fine we incurred a year back
on our way to Florence from Pisa (we didn’t validated our ticket), Melvin and I
nonetheless followed his advice.
It didn’t help that we arrived on a Saturday and spent our
time in popular streets like the Via Dei Tribunali (where a few reputable pizza
shops, notably ‘Gino Sorbillo,’ were located) and Via Toledo, a long and busy
shopping street. We had to combat the massive crowds while dodging incoming
motorcycles which insisted on taking such congested routes. Heaps of rubbish
were a common sight and even more common was the dog poo that littered almost
every street, even the busier ones! Our hostel receptionist, upon discovering
that we were from Singapore, exclaimed ebulliently, ‘Singapore! The cleanest
city in the world! Just like Naples.’ Traffic lights were few and crossing the
roads brought back memories of Vietnam, although unlike in Vietnam, cars
outnumbered motorcycles which arguably made crossing in Naples a little more
hazardous. We even saw someone drive into a street which had a clear ‘no entry’
sign. In Naples, it is definitely wise to look both left and right before
crossing the street. Dario, a friend we met in Rome through Sindy, told us that
if we found Rome disorderly, we would be shocked by what we would see in
Naples. He was right.
The moments of chaos aside, I was to find Naples to be
tremendously charming in its own right. I generalise, but the people here
appeared to be warmer than in the other Italian cities I’ve been to and
everyone I stopped for instructions was perfectly cordial and helpful. They
would smile at you and respond with sufficiently large gestures which ensured
that anyone who didn’t understand a word of Italian would be able to make out
what their instructions were. I’m sure that my attempts at speaking Italian
helped a little although they sometimes got me into trouble by summoning Italian
sentences uttered to me at breakneck speed. Perhaps it was because I was
wearing a ‘Forza Napoli’ scarf for most of the second day. It was not uncommon
for a passer-by to smile at you and greet you, especially in the less busy
areas. People you encountered would tell you that they liked your scarf or ask
if you were going for the match. Walking to and from places of interest was
always a pleasant experience. The fact that we didn’t see a drop of rain during
our first five days certainly helped!
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| St. Januarius, Naples' Patron Saint |
Football
Diego Maradona once donned the light blue of S.S.C. Napoli,
a very well-supported football club embodying the great footballing tradition
in this part of Italy. We decided to get tickets to watch a home game against
A.S. Roma. I have to admit that I possess a soft spot for the team in
red-and-gold (‘giallorosso’ to the Italians), having watched them a year ago at
the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, but of course, there was no way I could let this
be known to others in the stadium. We arrived almost on the dot and from afar,
we could hear the chants from the home fans. I shouldn’t have been taken aback
but we were to realise upon entering the stadium – again informed by the
smiling Neapolitan – that there was no fixed seating in our section despite
clear assignments on the ticket. The usual light blue flags were flown and one
particular flag contained the image of the club’s Argentinian hero. I can’t say
that I’ve been to too many football stadiums around Europe but I found a
cauldron of an atmosphere in the Stadio San Paolo. The Roma players were
greeted with the expected chorus of boos and whistles as they entered the pitch
as the home crowd followed this by enthusiastically shouting the last names of
Napoli’s first eleven.
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| At the Stadio San Paolo |
Both teams didn’t start off well although Napoli, on a quick
counter-attacking move, scored through their Uruguayan talisman, Edinson
Cavani. Roma maintained a good share of the possession for most of the game but
were unable to execute the ideal final ball. Napoli always looked dangerous on
the counter-attack and Cavani (who else?) was to score two more goals to
complete a hat-trick. After his second, he leaped over the barricades which
surrounded the pitch and raced towards the fans seated in our curva, many of whom responded by hopping
out of their seats and running towards his direction, in a display of loyalty as he kissed the shirt badge. Melvin and I
were slightly concerned by the explosive devices thrown from the upper stand,
two of which felt like the grenades we got to throw during our national
service. You could feel the ground tremble and seated a good fifty metres away,
we could feel the impact of the explosion. Roma scored a consolation after
Cavani’s treble but Napoli replied close to the end with a fourth, which we
missed (but heard the celebrations) as we attempted to avoid the pandemonium
which normally ensues after the blow of a final whistle.
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| Cavani, after scoring his second |
I can’t quite ascertain if I enjoyed the game as much as I
did when Roma played Chievo but it was certainly a joy to have seen Cavani bag
a hat-trick (we saw Totti grab a brace a year back). I certainly hope that,
amid recent reports of interest from Manchester City, he doesn’t join the light
blue of Manchester!
Pizzas
Naples has long been known to be the place where pizzas
originated and I’ve often been told by Italian friends that it is where one can
still get the best pizzas in the world. In all honesty, I’ve had some wonderful
pizzas in my life and have been quite sceptical about this claim as in terms of
crust quality and taste, I wondered how much better pizzas could possibly get.
The receptionist at our first hostel recommended that we
visit Via Tribunali which he claimed was the most prominent street for
pizzerias in Naples. He recommended three particular pizzerias but made special
mention to ‘Gino Sorbillo’ and said that it was the best of the three. My
Lonely Planet guide also makes mention of this particular pizzeria. The long
queue outside ‘Gino Sorbillo’ stretched into the already busy Via Tribunali (it
was a Saturday when we arrived) and we decided to check the other two out
instead, our stomachs yearning for some decent Neapolitan pizzas. To our
horror, they too had lengthy queues of customers. It was only a few days later
when we arrived early enough (too early, in fact, as ‘Sorbillo’ only opens for
dinner around seven in the evening) to get a seat without needing to queue
outside.
Melvin and I had less than a minute to look at the menu before we were
rushed to place our orders and the waiters were unpleasantly cold toward us, in
stark contrast to most we’d encountered in the city. Fortunately, the pizzas,
which were served less than five minutes after we placed our orders, were
well-made and delicious. The prices were also very reasonable, in fact, cheaper
than most other pizzerias we had visited and one could get pizzas from as
little as over €3 (there is a service charge which should be accounted for).
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| At Gino Sorbillo's |
Other notable pizzerias we visited were:
Brandi - an old pizzeria dating from the 1800s and located
off Via Chiaia.
Trianon - established in 1923 and serves up a lovely
specialty pizza containing eight different flavours (think ‘otto stagioni’), located off Corso
Umberto I.
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| Linguine ai Frutti di Mare |
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