Solo in Italia May 2015: Sorrento, Amalfi, Paestum, Naples, Rome
Aug 10th, 2015, 01:28 PM
#21
I'm another who suffers from motion sickness. I was in the AC briefly when I was much younger, but that was before I became so sensitive to swervy car rides, bus rides, etc. Wonder how I'd deal with it now.
Keep going, bon_voyage! This report is so relaxed and fun, much like your trip I'm guessing.
Keep going, bon_voyage! This report is so relaxed and fun, much like your trip I'm guessing.
.
Aug 11th, 2015, 03:00 PM
#24
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NAPLES: From the sublime to the grotesque, Naples has it all. The challenge was how to spend my 2 ½ days in this city of so many riches. While I am not religious, the power and intensity of sacred sites draws me. In addition, on this trip my preference was to see artistic works in their natural settings. My Michelin Green Guide and Eyewitness Top 10 for Naples along with some web research helped me sketch out a plan. I also had input from two knowledgeable sources, a friend of my husband’s who’d grown up in Naples and visited often and the friend of a friend with whom I was meeting up for dinner my second night.
There were always lots of people on the colorful main thoroughfares of the historical center, Via dei Tribunali and Spaccanapoli. In addition, there was a major security presence at the Piazza San Domenico Maggiore--a soldier dressed in fatigues, standing next to a humvee and holding a automatic rifle. I felt comfortable walking around during the day. I was more cautious after dark when, except for my dinner outing by taxi to the waterfront, I stayed close to the hotel.
I arrived in Naples in the early afternoon from Paestum with a change of trains in Battipaglia. The train from Paestum was late and I just barely made the train from Battipaglia to Naples. A million thanks to the sharp-eyed woman standing near the doors who saw me running up as they were closing and who thrust out her arms to push the doors back, one of many acts of kindness I’ve experienced in Italy over the years.
Tripadvisor reviews of both Napoli Centrale and Rome Termini had me on alert in the train stations but I had no problems. My community college Italian, refreshed the past semester, was helpful here in that I was quickly able to orient myself. I was not as successful with the taxi from Napoli Centrale. My hotel was just inside the Centro Antico and the basic fare for that zone is €7. I’d gotten good advice on the TA Naples forum on what to say, “tariffa predeterminate, sette euro, per favore.” No, the man at the taxi stand said, “quindici.” My return fare for the cab called by the hotel was €10.50.
My hotel, the Piazza Belllini, was very well located for exploration of the historical center. For going farther afield, a few minutes walk through the Port’Alba brings you to the metro station at the Piazza Dante. With its lovely gated courtyard, the Bellini provided repose in the midst of the bustling city. My room on an upper floor had a terrace with a view of the Vomero, the high hill overlooking the city, and the most spacious bath of all my hotels. The TV offered BBC World News, Bloomberg Financial, and a CBS cable channel. The pictures on the web of the décor made me think Ikea. It looked better in person and everything about this place worked and was comfortable.
Day 1, Afternoon: the Cloister of the Chiesa Santa Chiara followed by Sorbillo’s for a late lunch.
An 18th century cloister whose octagonal columns and benches are covered with majolica tiles, utterly charming, it was the first of many places where I wished I had an art historian by my side. The seat backs of the benches all had different scenes, each one suggesting a particular narrative. I had looked at Context Travel but their tour including some of the most famous churches was not available until my third day, and I was eager to explore the immediately surrounding area. Pizza di funghi at Sorbillo’s, excellent. Yes, the center is molten. The ingredients were so fresh and the crust so light, I came close to eating the whole thing.
Day 2: the Cappella Sansevero, Sant’Angelo a Nilo, San Domenico Maggiore, Gesù Nuovo, the National Archeological Museum (purchased a Naples Campania Arte card here), light lunch at l’Etto’s next to the hotel, dinner at Stella’s on the Via Partenope. This dinner was as close as I got to the waterfront, catching a glimpse of the Castel Nuovo on the way and the Castel dell’Ovo at the restaurant.
Walking into those Baroque churches (I have a nodding acquaintance with Baroque art, generally prefer the sculpture to the architecture), with all that visual stimulation—oh my, where to look. I’d starred some things in my guidebooks to search out, and then I just let my eyes wander and looked more deeply at what grabbed me. Favorites: “Modesty” and “Despair” at the Cappella Sansevero; the frescoes of Cavallini at the San Domenico Maggiore, little Via Nilo that crossed from Via dei Tribunali to Spaccanapoli to the theatrically red and grey Sant’Angelo a Nilo, the statue of Jeremiah in the Gesù Nuovo. Take your pick of the many wonderful objects at the Archeological Museum.
Day 3: Both friends had strongly recommended a visit to the Certosa di San Martino which turned out to be one of the absolute highlights of the journey. The hotel staff suggested taking the metro at Piazza Dante up to the Vomero and the funicular back to Via Toledo.
The Vomero’s wide streets and elegant buildings were a world apart from the tenements of the Centro Antico. A 15-minute or so walk brought me to the Certosa di San Martino with its commanding view of the city below and Vesuvius looming in the distance. Formerly a Carthusian monastery that was inaugurated in 1368 and expanded in the 16th and 17th centuries, it now functions as a museum. What I saw: the church, the area of the prior’s apartments which now held paintings, the naval exhibit with two royal barges, the small carriage exhibit, the refectory, the world-class collection of precepi, and the very best, the Grand Cloister.
Here I learned from a helpful guide, a smaller group of thirty monks lived in silence in 30 cells on three sides of the cloister, their meals passed through a small wooden window adjacent to the door. On Sundays they joined their brothers in the refectory, still maintaining their silence. In one corner of the grassy center of the cloister, there was a small cemetery whose stone balustrade was marked with skulls. Above the doors in the four corners leading from the cloister were the most fabulous sculptures, pairs of half-figures peering down from stone windows on high. The severity of those tiny cells, the unmarked graves, lives spent so sparely, living side by side with the wealth and might of the monastery.
Mesmerized by those sculptures, on returning to the hotel I found photos of what I’d seen on the web and learned that their creator, Cosimo Fanzago, was considered the greatest architect/sculptor of the Baroque period working in Naples. He made major contributions to the monastery’s expansion, and, in fact, I had met him the previous day. Fanzago was the sculptor of the figure of Jeremiah to which I’d gravitated in the Gesù Nuovo.
Returning by funicular, I followed the first of two recommendations from the hotel, and had lunch at the Hosteria Toledo in the Spanish Quarter. The second was to see the Toledo metro art station, which has topped polls as one of the most beautiful in Europe. Its themes are water and light, its deepest level covered with a sea of blue mosaic tiles. A don’t miss. I had come full circle from the Triton mosaic in the apodyterium at Herculaneum.
Late in the afternoon I took one last walk up Via dei Tribunali to Via Duomo and back on Spaccanapoli, checking out a church here and there, the Via San Gregorio Armeno, picking up a sfogliatelle at Leonardo’s. A number of churches were under scaffolding, the beneficiaries of UNESCO dollars for refurbishment.
I’ve read that there are two reactions to Naples, you love it or hate it. Mine was more complicated. I loved much of what I saw, but I couldn’t say that I loved Naples as a whole, in part because, unlike every other city I’ve ever been to, I didn’t feel that I'd gotten my arms around it. Perhaps this was because I experienced only two neighborhoods, perhaps because I felt the need to be unusually careful. Still, I’m very glad that I went.
There were always lots of people on the colorful main thoroughfares of the historical center, Via dei Tribunali and Spaccanapoli. In addition, there was a major security presence at the Piazza San Domenico Maggiore--a soldier dressed in fatigues, standing next to a humvee and holding a automatic rifle. I felt comfortable walking around during the day. I was more cautious after dark when, except for my dinner outing by taxi to the waterfront, I stayed close to the hotel.
I arrived in Naples in the early afternoon from Paestum with a change of trains in Battipaglia. The train from Paestum was late and I just barely made the train from Battipaglia to Naples. A million thanks to the sharp-eyed woman standing near the doors who saw me running up as they were closing and who thrust out her arms to push the doors back, one of many acts of kindness I’ve experienced in Italy over the years.
Tripadvisor reviews of both Napoli Centrale and Rome Termini had me on alert in the train stations but I had no problems. My community college Italian, refreshed the past semester, was helpful here in that I was quickly able to orient myself. I was not as successful with the taxi from Napoli Centrale. My hotel was just inside the Centro Antico and the basic fare for that zone is €7. I’d gotten good advice on the TA Naples forum on what to say, “tariffa predeterminate, sette euro, per favore.” No, the man at the taxi stand said, “quindici.” My return fare for the cab called by the hotel was €10.50.
My hotel, the Piazza Belllini, was very well located for exploration of the historical center. For going farther afield, a few minutes walk through the Port’Alba brings you to the metro station at the Piazza Dante. With its lovely gated courtyard, the Bellini provided repose in the midst of the bustling city. My room on an upper floor had a terrace with a view of the Vomero, the high hill overlooking the city, and the most spacious bath of all my hotels. The TV offered BBC World News, Bloomberg Financial, and a CBS cable channel. The pictures on the web of the décor made me think Ikea. It looked better in person and everything about this place worked and was comfortable.
Day 1, Afternoon: the Cloister of the Chiesa Santa Chiara followed by Sorbillo’s for a late lunch.
An 18th century cloister whose octagonal columns and benches are covered with majolica tiles, utterly charming, it was the first of many places where I wished I had an art historian by my side. The seat backs of the benches all had different scenes, each one suggesting a particular narrative. I had looked at Context Travel but their tour including some of the most famous churches was not available until my third day, and I was eager to explore the immediately surrounding area. Pizza di funghi at Sorbillo’s, excellent. Yes, the center is molten. The ingredients were so fresh and the crust so light, I came close to eating the whole thing.
Day 2: the Cappella Sansevero, Sant’Angelo a Nilo, San Domenico Maggiore, Gesù Nuovo, the National Archeological Museum (purchased a Naples Campania Arte card here), light lunch at l’Etto’s next to the hotel, dinner at Stella’s on the Via Partenope. This dinner was as close as I got to the waterfront, catching a glimpse of the Castel Nuovo on the way and the Castel dell’Ovo at the restaurant.
Walking into those Baroque churches (I have a nodding acquaintance with Baroque art, generally prefer the sculpture to the architecture), with all that visual stimulation—oh my, where to look. I’d starred some things in my guidebooks to search out, and then I just let my eyes wander and looked more deeply at what grabbed me. Favorites: “Modesty” and “Despair” at the Cappella Sansevero; the frescoes of Cavallini at the San Domenico Maggiore, little Via Nilo that crossed from Via dei Tribunali to Spaccanapoli to the theatrically red and grey Sant’Angelo a Nilo, the statue of Jeremiah in the Gesù Nuovo. Take your pick of the many wonderful objects at the Archeological Museum.
Day 3: Both friends had strongly recommended a visit to the Certosa di San Martino which turned out to be one of the absolute highlights of the journey. The hotel staff suggested taking the metro at Piazza Dante up to the Vomero and the funicular back to Via Toledo.
The Vomero’s wide streets and elegant buildings were a world apart from the tenements of the Centro Antico. A 15-minute or so walk brought me to the Certosa di San Martino with its commanding view of the city below and Vesuvius looming in the distance. Formerly a Carthusian monastery that was inaugurated in 1368 and expanded in the 16th and 17th centuries, it now functions as a museum. What I saw: the church, the area of the prior’s apartments which now held paintings, the naval exhibit with two royal barges, the small carriage exhibit, the refectory, the world-class collection of precepi, and the very best, the Grand Cloister.
Here I learned from a helpful guide, a smaller group of thirty monks lived in silence in 30 cells on three sides of the cloister, their meals passed through a small wooden window adjacent to the door. On Sundays they joined their brothers in the refectory, still maintaining their silence. In one corner of the grassy center of the cloister, there was a small cemetery whose stone balustrade was marked with skulls. Above the doors in the four corners leading from the cloister were the most fabulous sculptures, pairs of half-figures peering down from stone windows on high. The severity of those tiny cells, the unmarked graves, lives spent so sparely, living side by side with the wealth and might of the monastery.
Mesmerized by those sculptures, on returning to the hotel I found photos of what I’d seen on the web and learned that their creator, Cosimo Fanzago, was considered the greatest architect/sculptor of the Baroque period working in Naples. He made major contributions to the monastery’s expansion, and, in fact, I had met him the previous day. Fanzago was the sculptor of the figure of Jeremiah to which I’d gravitated in the Gesù Nuovo.
Returning by funicular, I followed the first of two recommendations from the hotel, and had lunch at the Hosteria Toledo in the Spanish Quarter. The second was to see the Toledo metro art station, which has topped polls as one of the most beautiful in Europe. Its themes are water and light, its deepest level covered with a sea of blue mosaic tiles. A don’t miss. I had come full circle from the Triton mosaic in the apodyterium at Herculaneum.
Late in the afternoon I took one last walk up Via dei Tribunali to Via Duomo and back on Spaccanapoli, checking out a church here and there, the Via San Gregorio Armeno, picking up a sfogliatelle at Leonardo’s. A number of churches were under scaffolding, the beneficiaries of UNESCO dollars for refurbishment.
I’ve read that there are two reactions to Naples, you love it or hate it. Mine was more complicated. I loved much of what I saw, but I couldn’t say that I loved Naples as a whole, in part because, unlike every other city I’ve ever been to, I didn’t feel that I'd gotten my arms around it. Perhaps this was because I experienced only two neighborhoods, perhaps because I felt the need to be unusually careful. Still, I’m very glad that I went.
Aug 12th, 2015, 02:31 PM
#25
"...came close to eating the whole thing." Hmm, I think you just weren't trying hard enough with that pizza. 
Interesting thoughts about Naples, bon_voyage. I was there once when I was young, just very briefly as part of one of those if-it's-Tuesday, college-age trips. I have almost no memory of it. I think the "adult me" would probably like it, though it sounds like I would need at least five days to get a sense of it.
Can't wait to read about Rome, my very favorite.
Interesting thoughts about Naples, bon_voyage. I was there once when I was young, just very briefly as part of one of those if-it's-Tuesday, college-age trips. I have almost no memory of it. I think the "adult me" would probably like it, though it sounds like I would need at least five days to get a sense of it.
Can't wait to read about Rome, my very favorite.
Aug 12th, 2015, 05:06 PM
#26
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Leely, I promise to up my game for the next pizza!
Knowing how much you liked Sicily, I do think Naples is your kind of town. They definitely share an intensity. The city's soul is deep and it has survived so much--it was heartening to see that knock-your-socks-off metro station and the ongoing improvements in the historical center.
Knowing how much you liked Sicily, I do think Naples is your kind of town. They definitely share an intensity. The city's soul is deep and it has survived so much--it was heartening to see that knock-your-socks-off metro station and the ongoing improvements in the historical center.
Aug 13th, 2015, 05:51 PM
#27
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For the photo album of this trip: https://www.flickr.com/gp/50153650@N04/R64Z1N
ROME: I had two main goals for my brief stay in Rome, to re-position myself for my return flight and to park myself in front of the Pantheon. On my second visit to Rome in 2004 I’d seen the Pantheon for the first time, looked around me in the Piazza Rotunda, and said to myself, “I want to come back and stay right here.” I was glad, given how easy it is for life’s eddies to take one in unexpected directions, to have been able to fulfill that wish.
My train from Naples arrived right on time around noon. On exiting Termini, uh-oh, a super long line at the taxi stand, 40 minutes to crawl to the front. Then it was Grand Prix time! My driver quickly veered off the main drag onto the little back streets. We drove at breakneck speed with nanometers to spare between us and cars coming the other way. I put my Italian to perhaps its best use when, on alighting in front of the hotel I said, ”lei guida molto bene,” and he broke out in a big smile.
I’d chosen the Albergo del Senato for its view and had requested a room on a higher floor to minimize street noise. When I opened the door to my Juliet balcony I found myself eye-to-eye with the dome of the Pantheon. They’d given me #604 right in the middle of the uppermost floor of rooms. I thanked the front desk staff for taking such good care of me. My deluxe double, although the smallest room with the tightest bath of all my hotels, was well appointed, the furnishings comfortable, the lighting good.
A day and a half and all of Rome before me. I’d given this a lot of thought and had decided to compare two churches of two great architects of the Baroque period that afternoon: Sant’Andrea al Quirinale by Bernini and Borromini’s San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. The back stories of the architects, their differing styles, and their rivalry had intrigued me. The churches were of similar size and located just a few blocks apart. The Sant’Andrea’s richly detailed interior is a kaleidoscope of marble and gilt while the San Carlo displays the intricate, monochromatic geometry of Borromini’s genius. I was captivated by the way they played off one another. Bernini’s Ecstasy of Santa Teresa was nearby at the Chiesa Santa Maria della Vittoria, and, although under refurbishment and surrounded by scaffolding, was still worth a visit.
I had my best dinner of the trip that night at Armando al Pantheon. My first course was the artichoke in olive oil followed by a terrific veal special with mushrooms, truffles, and berries and a semifreddo for dessert.
My last day was a take-it-easy day. Wandering here and there, poking in little shops. Small gifts found at Il Papiro and almond hand cream for me at Santa Maria Novella. Caravaggio’s St. Matthew series at San Luigi dei Francesi with an organist practicing for an upcoming concert a bonus. In the Piazza Navona a sign caught my eye: the University of North Alabama’s Chamber Choir was giving a performance at 4:30 pm at the Sant’Agnese in Agone. A stirring performance of hymns, spirituals, and minstrels, the Choir’s rousing finale was the theme from Slum Dog Millionaire. Lifetime memories for those kids. A perfect chance ending of the trip for me.
ROME: I had two main goals for my brief stay in Rome, to re-position myself for my return flight and to park myself in front of the Pantheon. On my second visit to Rome in 2004 I’d seen the Pantheon for the first time, looked around me in the Piazza Rotunda, and said to myself, “I want to come back and stay right here.” I was glad, given how easy it is for life’s eddies to take one in unexpected directions, to have been able to fulfill that wish.
My train from Naples arrived right on time around noon. On exiting Termini, uh-oh, a super long line at the taxi stand, 40 minutes to crawl to the front. Then it was Grand Prix time! My driver quickly veered off the main drag onto the little back streets. We drove at breakneck speed with nanometers to spare between us and cars coming the other way. I put my Italian to perhaps its best use when, on alighting in front of the hotel I said, ”lei guida molto bene,” and he broke out in a big smile.
I’d chosen the Albergo del Senato for its view and had requested a room on a higher floor to minimize street noise. When I opened the door to my Juliet balcony I found myself eye-to-eye with the dome of the Pantheon. They’d given me #604 right in the middle of the uppermost floor of rooms. I thanked the front desk staff for taking such good care of me. My deluxe double, although the smallest room with the tightest bath of all my hotels, was well appointed, the furnishings comfortable, the lighting good.
A day and a half and all of Rome before me. I’d given this a lot of thought and had decided to compare two churches of two great architects of the Baroque period that afternoon: Sant’Andrea al Quirinale by Bernini and Borromini’s San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. The back stories of the architects, their differing styles, and their rivalry had intrigued me. The churches were of similar size and located just a few blocks apart. The Sant’Andrea’s richly detailed interior is a kaleidoscope of marble and gilt while the San Carlo displays the intricate, monochromatic geometry of Borromini’s genius. I was captivated by the way they played off one another. Bernini’s Ecstasy of Santa Teresa was nearby at the Chiesa Santa Maria della Vittoria, and, although under refurbishment and surrounded by scaffolding, was still worth a visit.
I had my best dinner of the trip that night at Armando al Pantheon. My first course was the artichoke in olive oil followed by a terrific veal special with mushrooms, truffles, and berries and a semifreddo for dessert.
My last day was a take-it-easy day. Wandering here and there, poking in little shops. Small gifts found at Il Papiro and almond hand cream for me at Santa Maria Novella. Caravaggio’s St. Matthew series at San Luigi dei Francesi with an organist practicing for an upcoming concert a bonus. In the Piazza Navona a sign caught my eye: the University of North Alabama’s Chamber Choir was giving a performance at 4:30 pm at the Sant’Agnese in Agone. A stirring performance of hymns, spirituals, and minstrels, the Choir’s rousing finale was the theme from Slum Dog Millionaire. Lifetime memories for those kids. A perfect chance ending of the trip for me.
Aug 14th, 2015, 07:13 AM
#29
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Adelaidean, thanks for following along!
Armed with my scopolamine patch, i enjoyed having the opportunity to to take the road--it really is an engineering marvel--as well as the ferry from Amalfi to Positano.
Armed with my scopolamine patch, i enjoyed having the opportunity to to take the road--it really is an engineering marvel--as well as the ferry from Amalfi to Positano.
Aug 14th, 2015, 06:31 PM
#37
What a great trip report. We took a bus from Amalfi to Positano and there were so many people on it that I never was able to look down. The ferries were my favorite and thankfully I don't get motion sickness.��. I would love to go back and wander around Paestum. Thanks for sharing.
