The people of Naples

If I had to choose one word it would be passion.

In the area by our hotel we found some bars where the locals gather after work. Some providing happy hour from 7 to 10pm with free food to nibble on. What was unusual was having a selection of wines by the glass, most have just one house wine, and seats at the bar, most people stand or sit at outside tables.

As Tony and I are debating the best white wine of Campagna, I ask a women her favorite. Next thing you know she is buying me a glass of her favorite, not on the written menu. As the night ensues we meet all of her friends, at least the ones who can speak a bit of English, so she has a translator. One is a chef who works on cruise ships and has just returned from France, another quite a crazy guy had lived in Miami and the list goes on.

They hate their government, love their family, and all have an opinion on the best spot to vacation in Italy. Their passion was ever so apparent when they debated for close to 30 minutes on where to send us to dinner. We parted with pictures, hugs and well wishes.

It made me wonder how we would embrace travelers in our town. It surely made a nice experience that much more memorable.

Describing Naples

This is a tough one. It is a city of extremes and contrasts. This can be seen from shopping in a street market in one neighborhood to a street filled with high end labels (Gucci, Prada, Armani) in another. The old town can feel almost claustrophobic with its narrow streets but then by taking the funicular up the hill you have tree lined streets and sweeping views of the bay. One cliff side area has grand villas while another area has clothes drying from the balconies.

It is true what they say about the pizza of Naples; it was truly the best. Its all in the crust, well and maybe the tomatoes which are the sweetest you will ever taste. You'll also find it hard to beat the seafood; octopus, mussels, clams and calamari.

You don't need to shy away from Naples, every big city has its issues. It doesn't have the art of Florence, or the history of Rome, but somehow it slowly finds it way into your heart. It may be because, with fewer tourists, you feel like you've had more of a true Italian experience.

Le Sirenuse

I'm spending my final hour on the deck of our hotel taking in this beautiful view. I have to give a shout out to all the people who talked us into staying at this lovely hotel. It was the icing on the cake. We are so blessed to be able to enjoy this wonderful experience.

Here are a few shots of this place named for the Mermaid. It will forever be in my top travel memories.

A little slice of Heaven

Sitting high above the hills from Amalfi is the town of Ravello. As you make the climb up the hill you leave behind all the hustle and bustle, the craziness of the sea road and find yourself in a serene oasis. It has secluded villas and extraordinary gardens. And because of its position you have the most magnificent views.

It's no wonder so many famous artists found inspiration here.

Lemon, limoncello, limone, citro, sfusato

Lemons are every where. Having dinner on our first night on the coast, they gave us two lemons with our limoncello - what are these parting gifts? They are huge with pointed ends and thick skin.

The history goes that the Arabs brought the lemon to the Campanian coast in 1000 ad. The lemon became indispensable for preventing scurvy and was a highly prized commodity.

It will definitely be a reminder of our time here.

Amalfi the Conquered

We took the ferry up to the town of Amalfi. Between the 6th and the 13th centuries Amalfi was a striving port playing an important role in the Byzantine Empire. Today it seems that the tourists have conquered this town. Every tour bus and Mediterranean ship make a stop in this port. It made me wonder when the locals get a break.

Excerise on vacation?

Positano is one of the most picturesque cities I have every experienced. I'm sure I will take well over a hundred shots and they may not capture it's beauty.

For whatever reason I got this wild hare that we needed to climb over 800 stairs up to the top to get some exercise. Having eaten pasta for a week now I thought this was a grand idea. How hard can it be, I've done the stair climber.

Yes, we'll I don't think they make step machines that go at this vertical climb. Hopefully I have some great shots for all of my huffing and puffing.

The church dome from our hotel and the church dome from the top of our climb (lower right hand corner).

We layed at the pool all afternoon :)

Mario's parting shot

So we agreed to drop the car a day early and hire a driver to take us up the Amalfi coast. We'd heard enough about the coast highway to know our marriage may not survive "that" driving experience. Now we just had to get the car back to the Salerno airport and the hotel in Positano was having someone pick us up.

We start out from the our hotel in search of the autostrada going South. Little did we know at the time, the sign was long since faded out, so we end up on the autostrada going North. Mario is not pleased, maybe he didn't have enough breakfast, but after paying two tolls to get back on going the right direction he is irritated to no end.

I wish I had pictures of this... as Mario is pulling out of the toll booth and putting his change in his pocket, and struggling for the umpteenth time to get his seat belt back on, the car behind us starts honking. Now this was just enough to send Mario over the edge and the finger comes up. A heated argument ensues, but the most precious thing was the look on the lady passengers face, why us?

Here are some shots of the coast highway. Mario is relaxing, and with our driving experience behind us, turning back into the fun loving Tony I know and love. Here's to having someone else drive - Ching, Ching!

Greek ruins in Italy?

Some say (the Italians) that these are the most well preserved of all the Greek temples. Well I hope some day I will be able to compare (yes, dragging Mario to Greece). I must say, these were pretty spectacular. The site dates back 2,500 years. The oldest of three temples dates back to 530 bc. The Romans came through later and further enhanced the city with spas and a forum. It's hard to imagine how they built these wonderful shrines.

la Famalia

Beyond wine tasting, a focus of our travels was to visit the towns where our grandfathers were born. As it turns out, the towns were less than an a hour from each other.
Tony - Ateleta, Abruzzi
Patty - Cantalupo, Molise
The first thought was this was just an interesting stop, knowing that neither of us had any living relatives, but it turned into much more than that.

No, we didn't meet any relatives, but we learned more about what they gave up. We had been to Ateleta on our honeymoon, and visited Tonys great aunt on those travels. With her gone, this time we wandered the town to find the monument erected for those killed in the town due to the bombings of WWII, I think one third we're LeDonnes another third Donetteli (his god parents name). Although we couldn't trace the names back to a direct family line, it was obvious how close they were in relation.

Then we went to my grandfather, Gennaro Manfredi, birth town. Only to find his grandfather on the monument of those who died in the town during WWII, Antonio Peccia. Wow to have that hit so close to home. In all of our travels, seeing the many monuments to the war, this somehow made it real. Luckily my grandfather had long since came to America, but I felt a loss for my father who never knew his grandparents, or where they came from, or maybe even that they lost their lives during the war.

Food and People of Benevento

The history is an attraction which brings you to Europe, the wine is another strong contributor, but the food and people of Italy bring it all together.

Three people recommended this restaurant to us, as being traditional of the region, but the experience was such a nice touch; after being seated Momma Nunzia sits down with you and describes what she has made for the evening (her son helped translate for us) all handmade pasta and fresh fish of the day. We also went to a new place, the Unconventional Crazy Cook, who could resist with that name! The chef was experimenting with traditional cuisine in new ways.

I tried the same dishes in both restaurants...
Octopus and a local pasta in tomato sauce with goat cheese. Both fantastic, but I may give the edge to the new chef.

We usually try to find a small local bar and get to meet some of the locals, this time was one great experience. We stumbled upon a bar, Jimbo, which turned out to be owned by a character who loves Jim Morrison and thus named his bar after the musicians nickname. I think he may be Anthony's kindred spirit as his favorite movie is the Big Lebowski and his passion is Microbrew beers (which is becoming a new trend in Italy). For the three nights we were there we were treated like royalty, I think we may have been the first Americans they had meet. We had some great discussions; learning each others language, traditions and how small the world can be...

Wines of Campania

We came to this area called Irpina to explore a new wine region. Well you can't really call it "new" because some of these places have been making wines for 5 generations, but you can say new to most of us in the US. I'm not sure why we don't know these wines, my only guess is their Italian neighbors to the North are much better marketers.

We visited three wineries;
Mastroberadino - the oldest and largest
Feudi San Gregorio - the new generation, modern
Quintodecimo - family owned, small boutique. We spent 2.5 hours with the wine maker / owner

The whites:
Falanghina - this is just as good, if not better, than a Pinot Grigio. Crisp, light with a great fruit bouquet. If you can find it,try it! Great for a summer day.
Fiano Avellino - this is complex white, like a Chardonnay, but without the butter. Very good.

The reds:
Aglianico - very drinkable, medium body
Taurasi - big and bold. You need to let it age at least 4 years to avoid too much tannin.

They all import to NY (omniwines). I'll be looking for the whites as a nice alternative.

Here we are with Luigi Moio after spending two hours with him he has invited us to lunch when we are in Naples where he teaches chemistry.

Day 2 with Mario

So after our driving lessons Day One, as the trip Navigator, I was feeling kind of out of sorts with our driving incidents. So what do you do, hunker down and stay home or buck up, well we are in Italy so of course I'm scouring the Internet. I find an easy route out of town, an easy route into town and I have directions to a winery well off any map on-line or otherwise.

After a two and a half hour wine tasting (more on that later), we are driving with no incidents and I'm starting to feel a little cocky. I've got this trip back to the hotel nailed...

Those Italians, such smart engineers - Who makes an autostrada with the EXACT same number that goes east/west & north/south? I'm not making this up. So we get on the freeway at that particular intersection and needless to say we went a good 30 miles out of our way. This I have to take as my own mistake, as Mario was only following my lead, which by the way once back on the east/west highway, we had no issues getting to the hotel.

Still searching for our hotel in Benevento

Two wineries down and we are feeling pretty good. Now to find our hotel just 45 minutes North. Lessons continue... Never believe google maps and print the directions without thoroughly checking the route. There is nothing like getting off the highway at the exit furthest from your destination and trying to find your way through a city who's road system was probably developed 500+ years ago. Of course the map of the region has no level of detail and I've given up on my printed instructions. Okay so I give, turn on the data, save the day. No such luck, GPS can find us, but google maps has no details on the city. Okay don't panic, call the hotel. Lesson number, what number is this by now... No one speaks English in rural Italy! Oh ya, that's what we said we wanted. Ok find the city center, I remember it being close to all the sights and ask from there. A few instructions with waving arms later and we've finally parked the Fiat for the night.

The Roman Theatre in Benevento, 200 AD. It's like a miniature replication of the Forum in Rome except no crowds. Bring on the Lions I survived a day of driving in S. Italy!

Driving with Mario - leaving Rome

You would have thought I learned my lesson 19 years ago when we first got a car in Italy, more specifically Rome. No, we don't need to take the train (says Mario) how hard can it be to get out of the city. Yes, last time we didn't have the Internet on our phone, but even this time I was instructed to turn off my data ($15/mb) and use my printed instructions and the map from the rental car company (who had no GPS units in stock). Well 45 minutes into what should be 15 to 20 minute max ride to the autostrada, I've turned my data on and good old google maps is finally coming through for me. So we went way North to go South, at least we made it to the highway. I will remind myself when I get my cell phone bill it was worth every penny.

So now we are on the Autostrada and I'm thinking it's time to kick back for a couple of hours. Oops no, I'm riding with Mario. Nothing like going 90 miles an hour in a little Fiat and god forbid we let any trucks get in our way. Now again I'm thinking, why did I let him talk me out of the train, or at least a really big BMW...

Mario's car, said Fiat.

Our trip route

Map of the trp

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