Another fan of bella Napoli here. :)

If you haven't already, you might want to check out Fodorite Marija's trip report from a few years ago. Packed with pizza and pastry, it makes me hungry just thinking of it!

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-and-paris.cfm

Thanks, Peter! It looks like the 3 day Artecard will serve us well for admissions. It looks like the transportation added option will be very useful if the Circumvesuviana train is included, since we will be in Sorrento for our base in the area. I can't find out for sure if the Circumvesuviana is included when I look on the Artecard site. Any better link?

Oh, I found it on your unicocampania link. Circumvesuviana is included.

ggreen - I just read through Marija's hilarious and delicious trip report. Now I'm starving.

I went ahead and booked a room at the Palazzo Bellini and told them that I'd prefer a room with a terrace and a view. It sounds like a great location. Since we follow this w/ 2 nights at an Agriturismo at 80EU for half board per night for both of us in the Cilento, it all averages out. ;)

Peter - if I get the 7 day pass I think I can use it for the 2 days in Naples and then to visit Paestum and other Cilento sites a few days later. Is that correct? Once I initiate use I've got 7 days to complete?

For AJP.... not sure where you'll want to buy the Artecard, but see this for recent news on their location at Napoli Centrale station...

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTop...-Campania.html

In Sorrento, I think the only place may be the news stand at the station!

And Rose, yes! Valid till midnight (or whenever the last museum etc closes) on the 7th day after first use... so Sunday to Saturday etc etc - but regardless of which day it was when you actually bought it!

Piazza Bellini is a nice spot, and very handy!

Peter

PS...
Do have a good look through the list of places the Artecard covers... for example, easily missed under the "reduction/facility" heading, there's the 'Galleria di Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano' - which is in a restored noble palazzo, that was at one time an elegant banking hall.

(It's on Via Toledo, only a street or two from the Royal Palace, Piazza del Plebiscito etc.)

The building houses only part of the bank's huge art collection, but has as its centrepiece the last work by Caravaggio. They also host touring exhibitions - until June 24th it's "Italy and the Italians", photos by nine members of the celebrated Magnum agency to celebrate the country's 150th anniversary (*)....

http://www.palazzozevallos.net/

(While the website may appear to suggest otherwise, only groups need pre-book - individuals can just walk in!)

Not one of the places that give free entrance with the Artecard, but you get a third off the usual €3 price.

(*) http://www.italiaitaliani.com/en/mostra

>>> Not one of the places that give free entrance with the Artecard, but you get a third off the usual €3 price.

Duuh, since last year it's gone up to €4 - but no extra charge for the exhibition:

http://www.palazzozevallos.net/info.asp

P

Thanks Peter - I'll be excited to see the Caravaggio.

We bought the Heritage card on a family trip to Ireland one summer and found that we saw cool places we hadn't known about because it was so easy to just pop in with the card. Those (of course) were our favorites.

If you have time to pop into places and like Caravaggio, please note that the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia in the heart of Napoli (not far from the Capella Sansevero) features Caravaggio's "Seven Works of Mercy" -- which is a painting I think is extremely representative of his darkest style:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sev...cy_(Caravaggio)

There are works by Caravaggio in the Capodimonte as well.


I've not seen the palazzo mentioned by Peter. I too feel that I could be happy spending the rest of my life in Naples, not only for the chance to see all the art -- which would take a lifetime to see -- but to eat what I believe is some of the very best pasta, seafood, vegetables, fruits and pastries in all of Italy.

I went to Napoli almost by accident my first visit -- I was looking to escape the crowds the descended on Rome when the last pope died. I was headed to the Amalfi, and had no intention of lingering because of Naples "bad reputation."

I was so stunned by the few brief hours I was there by the throbbing life of the open city and the collection in the archeological museum, that I schemed for years to get back there.

It has its faults, but I much prefer it to Venice. :)

AMEN!!! Zeppole.

Well, come then - there should be plenty of room for you!

Although the overall populations of both the region:

http://www.comuni-italiani.it/15/sta...polazione.html

... and the province:

http://www.comuni-italiani.it/063/st...polazione.html

....continue to grow, within the city itself numbers have been falling for a generation or more:

http://www.comuni-italiani.it/063/04...polazione.html

Peter

Since no one offered restaurant suggestions, I will offer this one, in the Spanish Quarter, just north of Via Toledo; traditional regional dishes at moderate prices.

Reserve ahead; early in the day, or day before, should be fine.


http://www.hosteriatoledo.it/

As long as you're recommending restaurants, here goes--- Giuseppone al Mare, in Posillipo, and La Fenestrella a Mare Chiare at Mare Chiare. For pizza-Tutino, near Piazza Nolana.

Thanks ekscrunchy & Waldo. Your timing is good: I spent several happy hours yesterday combing through chowhound for Naples and Rome recommendations. I pinned my favorites on Pinterest and organized them into google maps.

With 2 dinners, 1 lunch and as many snacks as I can fit in I will have to narrow it down.

ekscrunchy, do you prefer Hosteria Toledo to Osteria Donna Teresa? Toledo looks closer to our hotel.

Waldo, do you prefer Tutino to Gino Sorbillo? One meal has to be pizza, but which place? I could not find La Fenestrella a Mare Chiare online. Do you have an address? Is it fairly close to the center? Giuseppone al Mare looks wonderful for seafood.

As far as I'm concerned, Tutino's is the world's best pizza. I've tried them all, and while they are all good, Tutino is fantastic. Another thing--if the owner is there when you go, and he realizes that you're American, he will treat you royally. I can't say what he will do, but I'm sure he will go out of his way to do something special. The pizzeria is a neighborhhod place, and he does not get many Americans, if any at all. During the war, when he was very young, he tells me, his parents were killed, and he lived with friends. Then, when the Americans came to Naples, he was taken in by four GIs, and was really taken care of. They fed him, housed him in their barracks somehow, and he was given a lot of love. After the war, he made a bunch of money, and he visited all those GIs, in Nebraska, Alabama, Wisconsin, and New York. He always kept in touch with them, and he recently told me that the last of them died. He will never forget them, and one cannot say a bad word about the USA. When I go there, and he sees me, he yells out "L'Americano sta ca!" ( The Ameerican is here, (in Neopolitan). He's given me a couple of Zippo lighters, which I keep in rememberance because I don't smoke, A great Cinzano beach umbrella, which is now worth big money, and other great things, besides insisting I don't pay, but I always do, because I really don't want to take advantage. I have some great stories about Tutino's, that are typical of Naples. Additionally, the owner, Giovanni Tutino, speaks English with an Italian, Alabaman accent. It's a riot.
Fenestrella a Mare Chiare, is sort of out of the way, but from that location, you get a fantastic view of the Bay of Naples. You have to take the No.32 bus at Piazza Garibaldi, and tell the driver to let you off at Mare Chiare, and then walk some steps down to the sea level. There is a large arch down there, and the Bay of Naples from sea level, (which is a rare sight), is framed within that arch. It makes for a terrific photo spot. The restaurant is very, very good, but it's kind of expensive. That area, Mare Chiare is where the song, "Quando Spunta La Luna a Mare Chiare" was written. Legend has that the guy that wrote the song was looking through a window there, so that window is now really taken care of like a monument. There's NO PLACE LIKE NAPLES!!!

I made a mistake. The name of the song is "La Fenestrella a Mare Chiare".

Well, Tutino's it is.

My father-in-law was a GI during WWII. My daughter recently published his letters home and a couple of weeks ago we pulled out the book to see if he said where he landed in Italy. It was Naples. He had a vivid description of sneaking off the ship to explore Naples at night. That sealed the deal on going to Naples.

The letters were especially interesting because he was well educated, a good writer, an infantryman, and wrote a long letter home to his parents every day. We will be thrilled (no doubt to the point of tears) to meet someone who lived in Naples during the war.

It's funny how one story leads to another. I happen to live with someone who lived in Naples during the war, my wife. She was born here in the USA (New York), and then her family moved back to Naples. She has three brothers and five sisters living in Naples. When we go there, practically every year, she is called L'Americana by her family and their friends. One other strange fact--- how many people in this wide world have stood VERY close to that bastard Hitler? My wife was standing close to him when she was in grade school in Naples, and he made a visit to that school, with another bastard, Mussolini.

For Waldo - although I'm not sure whether it was the building or the coastline on the slant!

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/52425173

Another, and rather nice, way to get there - although with a bit of a walk involved - is on the Posilipo tour of the HoHo bus...

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/nap_ho_ho

Peter

Rose: I did not try Donna Teresa so cannot comment on the restaurant. Hostaria Toledo offered good renditions of classic dishes. Simple food; well prepared. The interplay between the male and female (husband and wife, I assumed) owners was pretty entertaining.

I thought Sorbillo was outstanding, but I will defer to Waldo who knows the city a thousand times better. There was a negative report on Sorbillo on Chowhound recently. There should be lots of good information on that site about dining in Naples, as you know.

Here is a report on one of my trips to the city; I mentioned my meal at Sorbillo (see post May 15; 1:44pm)

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...and-naples.cfm

Never mind, I gave you the wrong time of the post on Sorbillo; here it is:

<The Via dei Tribunali is home to two of Naples’ legendary addresses: DiMatteo, at #94 and Sorbillo, at #32. These two names show up on every list of Naples best pizzerie. If we had had more time in the city, I am sure we would have visited both but on this day, we had to make a choice and so we headed for Sorbillo. (Their site has photos and a menu):

http://www.pizzeriasorbillo.it/

Happily, there were a few tables free when we arrived shortly after noon. (By 1:15pm on this Saturday, there was a large cluster of people waiting in the street outside) Is the pizza in Naples as good as everyone says? Yes, yes, and yes! My partner, the purist, had the simple Margarita (3.30 Euro) and I had the artichoke-bedecked Elena (4.80 Euro). We drank Cokes with our pizza. Is there a better 12 Euro meal available anywhere in Europe? I seriously doubt it!>