Italy, September 2018 (Part 5 - Naples & Pompeii)
On Friday morning, Audrey, Emily and I went back to Rome’s Termini train terminal to catch a trip on the Frecciarossa to Naples in southern Italy. Our journey down to Naples only took around 50 minutes on the high-speed rail, unfortunately, our train took us to the wrong place.
Please note: if you’re booking a train ticket to Naples, make sure to arrive at the Napoli Centrale train station. Our train dropped us off at the Napoli Afragola station, about a 25 minute drive from the city.
For some reason there is no form of mass transportation from the Afragola station to downtown Naples and both Uber and Lyft were not available in the city either. Fortunately, a friendly TrenItalia service agent called a taxi for us.
The ride to Naples was pulse pounding to say the least as the driver drove like a madman, at one point he began taking the wrong exit on the highway, made a complete stop, backed up, and got back on the main road. Maybe I am overreacting, but I was a little worried for our safety.
We were charged 60€ for our trip to the city, which pretty much negated any savings we originally made by taking the train.
Upon our arrival to downtown Naples, something immediately seemed off. Much of Naples was destroyed by allied bombing during the second World War, and despite undergoing major rebuilding after the war, the city looks much more run down than Rome or Venice.
Despite it’s role as one of the most important ports in Europe, the unemployment rate in Naples currently hovers around 28%, worse than ANY metropolitan area in the US.
We couldn’t help but notice the amount of very young children running around in the middle of what is supposed to be a school day. Unfotunately, between 2005 and 2009, 54,000 children left school to go work in order to help support their families. 38% of those children were under the age of 13 (source).
The global recession of 2008 has also played part in Naples economic woes. Several social security nets have been cut and in 2010 the region cut it’s minimum welfare program plunging 130,000 families into poverty.
This economic hardship has also led to a rise in crime, especially organized crime so one needs to be extra weary of pick pockets and muggers.
The main reason for our trip to Naples was food. Naples is credited with creating numerous popular dishes including Spaghetti with ragu, Neapolitan ice cream, and most importantly, pizza.
Originally made as food for the poor, pizza quickly became popular with the elite thanks to King Ferdinand IV in the early 19th century. The people of Naples take pizza very seriously. So seriously in fact that it has been regulated by law since 2004.
The Margherita pizza, named after the Queen consort of Italy of the same name, must adhere to the following standards in order to be sold by that name: the dough must include both “00” and “0” types of wheat flour, yeast, natural mineral water, sea salt, and extra virgin olive oil.
The sauce on the other hand must be made with San Marzano tomatoes which grow exclusively on the volcanic plains to the south of Mt. Vesuvius, and Mozzarella di Bufala Campana must be used for the cheese.
The commitment to authenticity from the Italian people towards Neapolitan pizza has earned it a stamp of approval from the European Union as a “Traditional Speciality Guaranteed” product and the art of its making is included in UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
We looked on TripAdvisor for the best pizza place within a reasonable walking distance from the Piazza Nazionale and found the Pizzeria Oliva Corsa Garibaldi about 10 minutes away on foot. The interior of the restaurant was simple and cute but we opted to sit in the patio outside. The menu was simple but then again, pizza isn’t something that needs to be too frilly.
The restaurant was right next to Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi, an important street in Naples lined with stores, cafes, and restaurants. We did a little shopping for Emily’s birthday. Without any real idea as to where we were going, we walked past the Porta Capuana and found ourselves in the real heart of Naples, Via dei Tribunali.
Via dei Tribulani is one of the oldest streets in the city, existing in one form or another since the ancient Greeks founded Neapolis in the 8th Century BCE.
Via dei Tribulani is a microcosm of Naples as a whole: old, run down, poor, dirty, and a little smelly, but it has a soul and vibrance to it that is difficult to truly define. Though technically still an active road, masses of people walk up and down the middle of this old alleyway forcing cars and Vespas to zig zag and around people in order to get where they’re going.
We walk past numerous shops selling knockoff goods, restaurants with smelly seafood right out front, and several locals visibly pissed to have to deal with countless tourists.
Halfway down the Via dei Tribulani we walk by the Cathedral Santa Maria Assunta, better known as the Duomo di Napoli. Completed in the early 1300s, the Cathedral is most famous for the “miracles” that occur there almost like clockwork.
Inside the church is a vial of what is claimed to be the blood of the martyred Saint Januarius. This vial is brought out to the public twice a year: on the first Saturday in May, and on September 19, when the dried “blood” usually liquefies. Like a macabre version of groundhog’s day, legend has it that if the blood fails to liquefy on either of those days, a great disaster will befall the city.
As the cathedral’s nickname implies, the church is best recognized by it’s large dome. Like so many other churches from the time period, the interior of il Duomo highlight the strength and decadence of the Catholic church at the height of its powers. The gold lined interiors offering a stark contrast to the poverty just outside.
We left the Cathedral and headed back down Via dei Tribulani for a bit, taking in all the sights and sounds old Naples had to offer.
Our train to Pompeii departed at 2:40, so we began circling back to the Piazza Garibaldi train station close to where we were originally dropped off by our cab driver. We tried to get there early since we weren’t really sure where we had to go to catch the train.
We weren’t helped by the fact that the Garibaldi Train Station and Napoli Centrale were on top of each other on Google maps. It so happens that Napoli Centrale really is on top of it as Garibaldi train station is technically the basement of the main station.
We arrived at the Pompeii metro station after about 35 minutes. At the station, there was a sign for a shuttle service that would take people straight to the ruins of Pompeii. Since it would save us about a 30 minute walk and was only 3€ per person, we decided to take the shuttle.
A 15€ entry fee will get you into the ruins of the ancient city. As a student of history, there’s something almost mythical about Pompeii: an entire community wiped out of existence in the blink of an eye by the forces of nature.
In its prime, Pompeii was a thriving city in the Roman empire known for its fertile lands and beautiful scenery. Many historians believe that Pompeii was a popular getaway destination for many Roman aristocrats.
One fateful day in the year 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius, the volcano at the base of which Pompeii rested, awoke from its dormant state and erupted violently. At the time, the Roman citizens living down below didn’t even know Vesuvius was a volcano as it had not erupted during the entire time the city had existed since the 8th century BCE.
For two days the mighty volcano erupted sending a huge column of ash and pumice into the air. Eventually, the weight of the column collapsed in on itself and descended down the sides of the volcano in what is known as a pyroclastic flow.
This flow moves like a tsunami of ash, barreling downwards at speeds approaching 60 miles per hour. Temperatures within the flow reached close to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. Buildings in its path were blown apart or buried. Organic matter, such as people, were carbonized in an instant, their bodies frozen in place as they were when they died almost two millennia ago.
By the end of the eruption, Pompeii was buried under 25 feet of ash and pumice and left undisturbed for almost 1700 years. The quick burial turned Pompeii into a massive time capsule, preserving buildings, statues, and even people in their final moments. This has given modern researches a previously unforeseen glimpse into the daily lives of Roman citizens. Whereas other paintings from ancient times have faded away, the cocoon-like burial preserved frescoes like never before.
When we arrived to Pompeii, I couldn’t imagine how large it was. Obviously it was an ancient city, but I was shocked at how much of it was open to the public. As the three of us wandered through the ruins without using a map, it was very easy to get lost. We didn’t really want to have a plan of things to see and were more than happy to let Pompeii surprise us. Fortunately in Pompeii, there were surprises around every corner.
