NeoPatrick

Hmm. I'm curious underhill. Is that a branch of the same LaPizza that is in Nice and in Cannes? Those were my two favorite pizza spots.

mccoy

We were in Naples in September and ate pizza in a wonderful little restaurant - Leon D'Oro in Piazza Dante. We stayed at Belle Arti Resort (great B&B)and they recommended this restaurant. In fact, on our way back from AC we stayed one more night in Naples and ate again at Leon D'Oro - great antipasta plates. This was a Saturday night and it was packed with local families - some were obviously disappointed that they had to wait. It was very inexpensive and the food excellent.

petertherabbitt

if you nknow someone or have relatives in these areas ask them where they get their pizza from. i have eaten some of the best pizza ever in smaller trattorias around rome. thin crust, libral but not overabundant toppings andall with incredible taste

NeoPatrick

Of course, you've all got to realize that there is no common opinion of what good pizza is, so this entire thread is kind of pointless. I mean some people LOVE deep dish Chicago and others cringe at the thought. No one can agree in New York whose is best. So what some local in Rome likes and what some American with specific tastes likes can be two different things.

Gekko

Neo, while I agree with you in concept, few New Yorkers would exclude Lombardi's from any "best pizza" list, and most would include Grimaldi's as well.

Both make just about every Citysearch/TONY/DigitalCity/etc &quot;best&quot; list. Yes, part of the equation is fame, but they <i>are</i> incredible and deserve the recognition.

If you want something that New Yorkers can't agree on, look no further than &quot;best hamburger.&quot;

rje

I have found that that New Yorkers are passionate in their differences over what makes a pizza &quot;the best&quot;. And equally opinionated about which of the many pizza places makes the best.

While some think Grimaldi's is the hight of the pizza-making craft, others will opine that it has been going downhill for years. Some will give the crown to DiFara's, others to Frannie's, others to Tonnino's. And I'm just getting started!

But back to Italy, I have to say that both my wife and I love the pizza in Naples. Having stayed there twice now, we've decided that our favorite was the pizza at Trianon. We found the pizza at Brandi to be depressing. And we love the city of Naples, too, but I think where one stays there could really color the experience.

I have to agree with the poster who wrote that there is no common opinion on what makes a good pizza. I think that someone who likes a lot of toppings on their pizza is going to be disappointed by the Italian ideal... it is a more spare vision of what a pizza should be.

And as much as I love the Neopolitan pizza, I wouldn't want to have to give up the option of an occasional deep-dish Chicago pizza!

NeoPatrick

The reason I mentioned New Yorkers and pizza was because just in the past week or so some New Yorker here specifically mentioned that they &quot;hate&quot; the pizza at Grimaldi's.

rje

Drummindave, to answer the non-pizzza part of your question, a longtime favorite restaurant of mine is Mimi alla Ferrovia, which lives up to it's name by being so close to the train station that we have twice gone there for lunch and then rolled our luggage across Piazza Garibaldi to the station in about 5 minutes. The waiters didn't mind the bags, as we and our bags sat outside on the small terrace.

A local institution, and delicious. Great seafood, pasta, wonderful desserts.

And do try the coffee while in Naples. It is world-famous.

miasmadude

Gekko, I just loved Naples, much more than I expected to. Yes, it is totally chaotic, verging on the ararchic, but the rewards!

Fabulous coffee in great caffes, wonderful food, the best pastries.

Amazingly nice people.

Astounding cityscape, from Spaccanapoli to St Elmo.

San Carlo is the best opera house I have ever been to.

Two world-class museums: the Archaeological museum, of course, but the Capodimonte is a treasure-house of fabulous paintings, exquisitly lit and hung.

I certainly have never seen a city like it, and I loved every minute of my three days there. One must keep ones wits, and sense of humor, about one. When I got back to Rome, I was amazed at how calm the traffic seemed, compared to Naples!

caroline_edinburgh

thit_cho : have you even been to Da Michele ? You obviously don't know anything about real Neapolitan pizza, anyway, since you obviously think Marinara means seafood. I suggest you do some research yourself before advising others.

We liked Da Michele very much and it's as authentic as they come - that's why they only do Marinara &amp; Margherita (although you can have extra mozzarella on the latter).

We though Brandi was OK but nothing special.

We had a very good 'Pizza DOC' at the Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba but the atmosphere &amp; service were very poor when we were there. However I've read of other trustworthy posters here regularly having a good experience there, so maybe we were just unlucky with the time we went &amp; the waiter we got.

Our favourite, which we liked so much we ate pizza there 3 times in one week, was Lombardi a Santa Chiara.

What we found in general was that if a place is good enough that its Marinara &amp; Margherita are fantastic, you don't really want anything else added.

caroline_edinburgh

P.S. We also love Naples as a whole &amp; can't wait to go back. Haven't noticed any piles of rubbish, burning or otherwise.

P.S. There have been very few other tourists at Da Michele when we've been, so it's certainly not catering for the tourist hordes. I got the impression Brandi is, though.

Underhill

If the La Pizza in Nice is owned by the same people as the one in Cannes I wish we'd known! We were looking for a good place and ended up at Alexander's, which wasn't anything special. The thing we liked so much about the pizza at La Pizza was the amount of cheese, including, I think, provolone, on top of the terrific tomato sauce.

NeoPatrick

Mmmm. Underhill, now I'm confused. LaPizza in Nice and in Cannes ARE owned by the same people. But you said Marseilles. . .

thit_cho

Caroline_Edinburgh. F*CK Y*U! I have never been accused of being a liar, until now. And Da Michele sucks -- worst pizza I have ever eaten, and perhaps the most touristy restaurant I have ever been to, living on hype and tourists (including myself) willing to wait an hour to suck a wet dishrag. Unlike your experience, we waited nearly an hour (mabye slightly more), and everyone in the crowd had some sort of guidebook in their hands -- don't kid yourself, its not locals filling the seats at Da Michele.

That being said, Naples is a great city, with an undeserved reputation.

Angela_m

Wow that's some pretty strong scentiments, thit_cho!! We just returned from Naples having gone specifically to taste the pizza. My favorite was Di Matteo on via Tribunali. We live in Chicago and trying to compare pizza here in the U.S. to pizza in Italy is senseless. There is no comparison. Even so-called &quot;Chicago deep-dish pizza&quot; is purely a recent invention. Now if you REALLY want good pizza, go to Sicily. The best I had was in Corleone.

tdyls

Before this flamewar gets out of hand, let me try to settle it first:

1. Pizza marinara is tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, and a drizzle of olive oil. Nothing more. There is no seafood (pizza Napolitana is pizza marinara with anchovies, IIRC) on it.

2. &quot;True&quot; Neapolitan pizza is either pizza marinara or pizza margherita. If there are toppings other than cheese and basil (margherita), or garlic (marinara), it's not &quot;true&quot; Neapolitan as defined by the DOC.


That said....

I can vouch for what caroline_edinburgh said about the locals vs. tourists at Da Michele. At noon-ish, I and the rest of my party were the only people in there speaking English. Everyone else that I could hear seemed to be speaking Italian. Perhaps certain tour groups do stop by there, so at the one particular instant there may have been a lot of tourists.

FlyingMaltese

Oh goodness. You will be in Naples at Christmastime. Naples has a wonderful Christmas market near the Capella Sansevero on Via San Gregorio Armeno.

Also, try some of the nougat candy--torrone. Naples makes some of the best of this candy at Christmastime. There are incredible varieties there including soft chocolate covered ones. My favorite is torrone with &quot;Pan di Spagna&quot;, which is a strip of a rum soaked cookie sandwiched between two strips of hard torrone and covered in chocolate. The alcohol soften the candy and it melts in your mouth.

As for the pizza, the DOC restaurants will only serve pizza margherita or marinara. It has been some time since I've had pizza in Italy. I know that non-DOC pizzerie will serve pizze with sausage in the wintertime. There is no such thing as pepperoni. If you do order a pizza with pepperoni, you will get a pizza with peppers.

In the past, I usually do not have time to go to a particular pizzeria, but have not been disappointed in the Naples area. I would never eat pizza outside of Naples or Sicily, however.

Underhill

Well, that's jet lag for you! The restaurant where we had that fabulous pizza was in CANNES.

Girlspytravel

Yes-the word &quot;pepperoni&quot;- good point. Folks, this word does NOT mean the little rounds of red sausage on pizza-that's an American made up word. This IS a word in Italian, but it translates directly to mean the &quot;red pepper flakes&quot; that I always request for my pizza.

kja

topping for mike_b12