We were up bright and early for the ferry to the beautiful little island of Procida, our first visit there. It is so pretty with pastel coloured houses around the harbour. We walked around the narrow streets and gradually made our way to the top of the island, stopping for coffee beside the tiny domed St Maria’s Church on the way. Every view was more stunning than the last. The film Il Postino was filmed here in 1994, I must watch it again now that we have been here. Back at the harbour we had cool drinks at a café before jumping on to our next ferry to Naples.
I have never been to Naples except for the airport; it was very hot we decided just to visit a couple of places. We took a taxi to L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele and the taxi driver insisted on taking my arm to help me across the busy road which I thought was very funny. We went there because it’s somewhat of a Naples institution, founded in 1870 and with a reputation for excellent pizzas, allegedly the best in Naples. There was a crowd outside when we arrived and it all seemed a bit confusing, but we worked out that you have to take a numbered ticket and then when your number is called you joint a short queue to enter the restaurant. We waited about 30 minutes and it was worth the wait - the pizzas really are fantastic. There is only a choice of four; James had pizza margerita and I had pizza marinara. Once you’re inside the service is very quick. The decor is very plain and there are photos on the wall of various celebrities who have dined there, such as Julia Roberts and Jude Law. It is very well known and therefore extremely busy but the pizzas are absolutely delicious.
Next we visited the Capodimonte museum. It’s an old palazzo situated on a hill above the city, in a pleasant park. It houses a huge collection of Neapolitan and other Italian paintings and is very impressive.
There are so many paintings, but of course Caravaggio’s Flagellation of Christ stands out. It looks almost graceful at first but the underlying violence is frightening. I also thought that Botticelli’s Madonna and Child and Two Angels was amazing, I loved the expressions on their faces. I would love to return to the Capodimonte some time, because although we spent a reasonable amount of time there, there’s so much to see.
A hair-raising taxi ride through rush hour Naples took us back to the port and our ferry back to Sorrento in the hazy twilight, in which the land and the sea were many shades of blue.
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