From Naples to Amalfi in 72 hours

From Naples to Amalfi in 72 hours A three-hour flight away from home lies Naples, the capital of Campania, and one of Italy’s extraordinary cities, which no one can ignore. I won’t lie, I had some concerns before we arrived there. I imagined a city that resembles Pavelas, filth, poverty, and crime. But I actually discovered a colorful, lively city with wonderful food and pastoral alleys. No doubt, this city moved me. The most historic district in Naples is called spaccanapoli- a charming area with narrow alleys, where laundry hangs above your head between the houses. You can enjoy the many churches in the area, crowded squares, restaurants, cafés, puppet stands, crafts, souvenirs and bakeries with delightful pastries. In Italy, it all starts and ends with food.

Who doesn’t love pizza? It’s the kind of food everyone likes to eat in the middle of the day! In Naples, you can find one of the world’s best pizzerias- Antica Pizzeria da Michele. Open since 1870, the line in the entrance is endless and requires to take a number and wait patiently for your turn. The pizzeria stars in the film “Eat, Pray, Love” with Julia Roberts, and her pictures are displayed on the restaurant walls. You won’t need to waste time making decisions, this pizzeria serves only two kinds of pizza: Margherita and Marinara. The pizza’s crust is thin, the dough so soft it melts in your mouth. It’s topped with tender tomato sauce made out of San Marzano tomatoes (plum tomatoes from Marzano mountain), above is mozzarella di buffalo, and it’s roasted in a local stone oven, garnished with basil leaves. It’s recommended to arrive before 12 o’clock to spare yourself the line.

Right across the street, you can find a just as good pizzeria called Dangeli pizzeria. The crust is slightly thicker, the sauce made from cherry tomatoes from the villages around Naples, and it’s topped with buffalo/cow-milk mozzarella. Yummy Yummy Yummy!

After all this dough, it’s only appropriate to eat more dough for dessert! Have you heard about sfogliatellea? If not, it’s time to get to know this wonderful Neapolitan dessert. It’s a Hand-fan looking pastry, made out of thin layers of dough filled with sweet ricotta cheese and semolina. The pastry was invented in the 17 th century in Santa Rosa

monastery, located about eighty km from Naples in Conca Dei Marini. The original filling the nuns made was ricotta cheese and cherries, and later on, they swamped the cherries for sweetened citrus skin. During 1818, a Napolitanian confectioner bought the rights for the pastry and started to sell it in his bakery. Since then, the sfogliatella is recognized with Naples.

You can find this wonderful dessert in almost every place in town, here are some recommendations:

Sfogliatelle Attanasio- the first one in the city Sfogliate e Sfogliatelle- located in the main boulevard of the city, the smell coming out of it is just wonderful.

If you’re still not sick of pastry (it’s Italy, get used to it), you can get a paper cone filled with deep-fried vegetables, risotto balls, and dough balls. If you like seafood, you can

also get a deep-fried seafood mix in a cone. You can get them in a stand called Passione di Sofì.

I haven’t said the word ‘coffee’ yet! And how can you not talk about coffee in Italy? One of the most recommended places for coffee in town is – centrale di Caffe Napoli . With the trail of smell coming out of it, and the Moka-pots in all colors and sizes in the entrance- it’s unmissable! Moka-pot is called ‘Makineta’ in Italian, meaning “little machine”, it’s a tool for espresso-making from Italy. The coffee is great, and if you want you can buy grounded coffee and enjoy it when returning home.

If you please a shopping stroll to burn all the delicious pastries, you can go to the main street with all the big brand stores, Via Toledo. If you are in the area you can go and see the impressive metro station Toledo, one of the most famous and beautiful stations in the world, located 50 meters underground, designed by the Spanish architect Oscar Tusquets Blanca. The main motives of the work are light and water, the walls and ceiling are covered in mosaic in shades of blue, which will make you feel like you’re in the middle of the ocean.

Another recommended attraction in the city, practical for a hideout during rainy days, is a tour through Naples’ underground. Only a few know of the 40 meters underground reality of the city, that requires a 136 steps strip down. I won’t recommend a person with claustrophobia to enter the narrow alleys, even though it is a fascinating experience (which I almost gave up) and I am happy that I was courageous enough to do it! The walk down such a narrow alley alone, only lit by a candle you receive when entering, makes the tour exciting. During the tour, you can see natural clean water pools, and if they were warm I would just jump right into them, and you listen to stories about 2400 years of the fascinating history of the city.

From Naples to Pompeii-

A twenty-minute drive will take you to the ancient Roman city Pompeii. What differs it from the other cities around it is that most of the city was preserved after being destroyed and abandoned after a volcanic eruption from Mount Vesuvius. Historic documents indicate that Pompeii was a rich society. Its streets discovered houses, stores, public spaces, workshops and bordellos. The place is a UNESCO world heritage site. It’s recommended to take a tour guide and walk through the antiques, the place is beautiful and impressive, especially during sunset.

A forty-minute drive from there will take you to Sorrento, a charming town build above Naples’ bay. We spent two nights at Hilton Sorento Palace hotel located on a mountain, a 10-minute walk from the town’s center. It has outdoor pools for summer days and a warm indoor pool for the winter. All rooms in the hotel have balconies, most of them with a view to the sea and town, the beds are big and soft, and each bathroom had a warm tum for the chilly evenings. Breakfast is good and you can enjoy it with a charming view of the bay.

It’s recommended to take a walk around the main square Piazza Tasso and stroll down the alleys, where you can find boutiques, restaurants, and cafés. If you want a romantic moment, you can see the sunset from the beautiful lookout point in the western edge of the cliff ( punta del capo ). Back to food and more dough 🙂

If you are pasta fans and appreciate perfectly crafted dough, don’t miss the restaurant Locanda Del Gusto. You can eat there amazing eggplant-filled ravioli! The ravioli is served with a tender sage sauce and it’s so tasty and light that’s you’ll keep wanting more and more of it. The owner and chef of the restaurant is a woman named Carmen, and it’s amazing to watch her run the place in an efficient and graceful way. And the taste… no words for it.

If you still have room for ice cream, you can find in Sorrento an amazing gelateria called Gelateria Primavera, well, apparently with ice cream in Italy you can’t go wrong, each one I tasted was either delicious or very tasty. Let me assure you that it will be tasty. One of the main attractions in south Italy is a sail to the island Capri- You can either fly or sail to this magical island from Sorrento’s bay and in half an hour you arrive in the pastoral bay of Capri called Marina Grande. From there you can take a trip uphill to town with the funicular. In the center of town, you can find a lot of boutiques, souvenirs, cafés, restaurants and a view downhill on the coast. If you keep uphill you will reach Anacapri on the clifftop.

Apart from the boutiques, souvenir shops and cafés in Anacapri you can find stores for leather sandals and hand-crafted ceramics, the specialty of the island. If you’re not afraid of heights take the seggiovia funicular to the top of Monte Solaro (mountain of the sun). The twelve-minute road there is like a meditation for body and soul. From the mountaintop, you can see a beautiful view of the entire area and it’s a great spot for coffee. The trip is 10 euro per person, and it’s recommended to bring something warm since the mountain top is pretty cold.

Nonna Carmela Capri- a delicious gelateria in Anacapri. The cones are homemade and the smell coming out of the place is wonderful. A regular portion costs three euros.

One of the most beautiful roads in Europe is the way from Sorrento to Amalfi, through Positano.

From Sorrento to Positano- a 40-minute drive, depending on season and traffic. If you’re visiting during the summer, take into account that the roads are narrow and tangled, and at parts, only one car can pass, so be patient and don’t honk! Italy isn’t Israel, there are event signs forbidding honking, something I would like to take home with me…

The drive is breathtakingly beautiful, if I could, I would stop the car each moment just to watch the various landscapes with their different shapes and colors. You will most probably spend the drive makes “wooww!” and “aahhh!” sounds from all this beauty!

After a stop at the charming lookout point on Positano , you can take another 40-minute drive to the stunning Amalfi, which gives the name to the Amalfi Coast- Costiera Amalfitana. Amalfi has a beautiful boardwalk with a tiny beach, suitable for bathing during summer days. In the center of the town, there’s a nice square (Piazza Duomo) where the impressive local cathedral is (Duomo di Sant Andrea).

Through the town, from the beach to the mountain, crosses the main road. The road serves as a pedestrian for walking and for cars, and speaking of cars- one of my favorite things in Italy are the beautiful collector’s cars. Something about them makes the place stay authentic despite the tourism, I feel like I traveled back in time and it’s amazing…

In the main square, you can find one of the best cafés in town called ANDREA PANSA. All the desserts are made in a factory across the street, which I found by accident when following the smell. It’s recommended to come inside and see how everything is hand- made step by step, where each one has a different job. One spreads the chocolate, one cuts the cookies, one dips the dessert in cream, it’s amazing to watch, and the smell, the smell…

After the visit to the factory, we sat down at the café eager to taste all the desserts! We ordered a well-foamed Italian cappuccino, wonderful pistachio-Nutella ice cream, Sfogliatelle crispy, Oreo-cheesecake and last but not least, a local dessert called “Delizia Al Limone”- half a ball of sponge cake with grated almonds, filled with crème patisserie with touches of limoncello. The cake is covered with whipped cream and lemon cream. Usually, I am not a big fan of lemon desserts, but this one was so good.

Speaking of lemons, this area of Italy is filled with lemons and their limoncello is delicious. I recommend a visit to the store Antichi Sapori d'Amalfi. The place was established in 1989 by the Cobalto brothers- Antonio and Silvio who started making the lemon liquor “Sfusato Amalfitano”. Nowadays work there people, the third generation of limoncello makers. They are the only ones producing and selling limoncello in the center of Amalfi, the limoncello is prepared traditionally from fresh lemons bought from farmers around the area. The owner is a lovely man and will offer you tastings of different kinds of limoncello. Limoncello la crema, made with milk, melon and milk limoncello, and one from pistachio and lemons. Everything is tasty and very special! Additionally, the place sells cosmetics made of lemons. The smell in the place is lemony and tempting. It’s recommended to visit it just to enjoy the tastings and smells.