Naples: The First,
Second, and
Third World

Only half a day in Napoli and already I'm half freaked out and half impressed. You know that feeling when you're watching a sci-fi movie like "Blade Runner" or "The Fifth Degree"? That feeling you get when everything kind of looks familiar but there's so much going on as the camera pans down the street that you feel disoriented even by the familiarities you see? That's Naples.

We wanted to stay by the train station since we're taking so many trips away, but the hotel there was grim and the window was easily reached by the street. Given Naples' reputation, we decided to trade up. On the cab over to the new hotel (not grand by the way as it's the Holiday Inn) our cabdriver said, "Welcome to hell," and then proceeded to trash-talk Naples, its lack of civic pride, its lawlessness, its poverty. Gee, maybe he shouldn't be a "front line" type of person for tourists!

We checked in, dealt with the variety of problems one typically runs into in the second world: strange Internet rituals, keys that don't work the first time, even stranger taxi rituals. (I mean, everyone knows the doorman can't hail a cab; you have to go to the front desk and they will call one.) Then we headed out for a stroll during the passagatta. We started at the Piazza Dante. Getting there was very Calcutta. I stopped looking ahead in the cab and just stared at the shops that passed by rather than see the chaos of vespas, pedestrians, and other traffic as they wove in, around, across, and some times almost through our path.

There were lots of kids playing soccer in the piazza, probably about five groups rangin in age from 5 to 15 (groups segregated by age however). They all used these ultracheap soccer balls you saw for sale in the stores that were designed to look like American basketballs. Did I mention that Naples was kind of a surreal place? We then walked down the street, packed with pedestrians and the occasional vespa swerving onto the sidewalk to save an instant's time on the road. I had a pistacchio gelato (good but nothing like the godlike taste of the gelato at Harry's Dolci). Ira briefly consulted a map while we finished the gelato and then got us quickly to the Chiesa del Gesu Nuovo, which has this severe front of squared pointed stone. Apparently the interior of the church was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the 18th century.
We did get into the interior of the Basilica di Santa Chiara. (We didn't see the famous cloister of the adjoining monastery, but we will later on.) Inside, the church was rather severe (more fire damage reconstructed at a later date) and there was a service going on (Monday night!) so we didn't stay long. We did sit there long enough for the priest to begin singing in a heavily accented but beautical and strong tenor voice. It was kind of glorious.)

Then we walked up a pedestrian street lined with music shops, mostly guitars stores with a smattering of drum stores. And then down a street enclosed by two portas and roofed at the far end. The shops were all closing by then, but it's apparently a book street, with metal racks put out into the street. Then we arrived back in Piazza Dante and had dinner at Ristorante 53 there, a simple place that gave us some terrific dishes. Ira's antipasto, eggplant and tomato was rich and creamy and it made me glad to think of those very crops I have growing in Sonoma! My pasta dish was a seafood risotto that was delicious but so big I barely had room for my polpette al sugo.