“You either love it or you hate it,” said a friend of mine. It was the first thing I ever heard about the Italian city of Naples, and the phrase’s authenticity remains intact after all these years. Naples is unlike any other city in Italy: It is busy, loud, and dirty on one hand (many […]
I’ve never felt more a part of Italy, which makes for a sad goodbye. Spending so much time in its mountains (even shaping them with my own hands!) and all the people I’ve met over the last two months of travel—these are things I’ll never forget. Georgeta Perhald, Sommelier and Manager of PR for Rocca […]
The lively city of Naples has a lot to offer, from a 13th-century Gothic cathedral to terrific pizza joints, but the most compelling attraction by far is the National Archeological Museum of Naples – Museo Archeologico Nazionale de Napoli. It is one of the great classical museums of Europe. If you are going to see […]
Some 2,000 years ago, Pompeii was a thriving city of shops, taverns, workshops, theatrical shows, and homes with elaborate courtyards. Then, one disastrous August day, Mount Vesuvius blew. The volcano’s eruption smothered Pompeii and everything in it under 60 feet of ash. There the city lay, untouched, until excavation began in the 18th century.
Pompeii is one of the leading sights in all of Italy because it takes visitors into the past, one that not only surrounds them on all sides, but which resembles the present. Originally, I’d questioned the necessity of visiting Pompeii after hearing that it is a tourist trap. In the spring, school groups fill the buildings […]
Ok, so I’ve come around to accepting that there are other things to do in Naples than eat pizza. It was tough though, and took something as tremendous as Naples Underground, or Napoli Sotterranea, to prove it to me. It’s as creepy as any underworld tale, but there’s a friendly guide to take you through […]
The internet in the hotel never came on. A major inconvenience. It forced my girlfriend and me to pack all of our bags and carry them through the streets of Naples to a new hotel—one with WiFi. The cobblestones were in sad shape and our wheeled bags flipped whenever a moped whizzed past. Just a […]
Naples’s public transportation can save you a lot of time and take you to incredible parts of the city. For example, the city’s hilltop peaks, where the Gothic castle Sant’ Elmo stands, and Capodimonte Palace, which houses the world-famous Farnese collection and is surrounded by one of the largest and most relaxing parks in Naples. […]
In the last edition of Planning your Italy Vacation, I wrote about traveling north from Rome, with Venice as the final destination. In this post we’ll explore the alternative: traveling from Rome southward. This alternative will be attractive to travelers who have already seen the major sights in the north of Italy, and to travelers […]