June 18-19 Pompeii and Napoli (Naples)

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DAY 1 - POMPEI

For this weekend, we stayed in Pompei, the city that has the ancient ruins of Pompeii. It felt like the American Southwest, although we were in the Italian Southwest - the cacti, colorful houses, and lack of sidewalks...

It was surreal to walk through such monumental structures in Pompeii. One thing I didn't expect were how high the sidewalk was compared to the roads!

Scaled some sketchy stairs...

We didn't expect the buildings to be so tall and grand, considering that people of that time are rather short by today's standards. Seeing the only slightly fainted colors of storefronts, juxtaposed with the plaster forms of people trapped in volcanic ash, really brought to life what it was like to have experienced the volcanic eruption.

Approaching the colosseum

Being in a different country doesn't stop hackers from hacking

 Look closely, us duking it out in the Colosseum



LA BETTOLA DEL GUSTO - part of the "slow food" movement

  • Bonus appetizer - dough ball (of flour? potato?), flavored with tomato and cheese. Like a pizza ball!


  • Seared octopus and reduction of its water on Cicerale chickpeas with rosemary and polenta chips - chickpeas almost tasted liked potatoes, polenta chips like fritos!
  • Arancino of anchovies with broccoli, lemon and mayonnaise with the traditional colatura of Cetara - very soft rice surrounding anchovy. Mainly anchovy flavor but nice soft texture from rice

  •  Frittatina di pasta con patate e provola, montanara pomodoro e parmigiano - fluffy dough with tomatoes and cheese!


  • Mozzarella di bufala Campana DOP 250gr e prosciutto Avellinese e bruschette al pomodoro - BEST MOZZARELLA EVER! It was squishy and chewy, and with each chew so much flavor was released and becoming increasingly complex with each chew.
  • Cacio e pepe con bottoni ripieni di carciofo brasato, ricotta e caviale di birra - cacio e pepe ravioli, burst of flavor from cheese and maybe beer?
  • Ricciola scottata su zucca, vongole e croccante al sentore di porcini - well cooked fish with crispy skin. Sweet pumpkin with salty crispy cheese bits. Though overpowered flavor of fish and clams.

  • Scarola stufata con capperi di salina e olive taggiasche - very salty, olives and capers / salt overpowered escagrole
  • Babbà alla cassata Siciliana - spongey, rum soaked


DAY 2 - NAPOLI

While my friends headed to the Almafi Coast, I decided to go on an excursion to Naples. The elevation changes reminded me of Genova, while some of the wider streets reminded me of Torino.

NEAR THE STATION
Market - lots of mussels and seafood! Also cigarettes, along with the usual produce

Almafi lemons

CHAIA
One the way to the pastry shop Pintauro, I stumbled upon the neighborhood of Chaia as well as a few tourist destinations.

Insightful street art

QUARTERI SPAGNOLI
This is my image of Italy with laundry handing outside doors and kitchens opening right up to the street. I did not expect the steep elevation though.


One of several homages to a famous soccer player

VOMERO

The hike up to Vomero

Vomero definitely more affluent than Quarteri Spagnoli with the cleaner streets, larger houses, and older (wealthier) people. Also beautiful views!



After lunch, I sat on a bench next to a nice old lady. She chatted with me in Italian, while I did my best with my one-word answers. She was so gracious and insisted I take some cherries on the train ride back to Milan.

FOOD RUNDOWN
  • Breakfast on Day 2 was a brioche like bun filled with two types of jam, reminded me of bubble gum flavors?
  • Sfogliatelle - two versions, one with crunchy flaky crust and the other with softer mooncake (but softer) crust. Both had ricotta flavored with sweet orange (what I think of as "Italian orange") and cinnamon (like Cinnabon, more sweet than spicy)
    • Attanasio - Kiera waited half an hour for this! Sweeter aroma / more pungent filling. Better of the two places.
    • Pintauro - More mild filling, a bit more oily of a crust. Still great!
  • BUATTA
    • Genovese con ziti spezzati - sweet onions, tender piece of beef cooked with celery, carrots, onions. Pasta definitely handmade because it came in different lengths lol
    • Alici in tortiera - simply cooked anchovies with some olive oil, a bit of raw garlic, parsley
    • I wanted to try all the baccala (and soup) options they had
  • ROSTICCERIA MAGIA - nice brioche like bun with a little bit of filling (cheese, spicy salami, and eggs)
  • BONTA SILICIANE
    • Arancino a pistachio - filled with meat (pork?) and cheese, both the rice and meat was dotted with pistachios. Pistachios didn't add too much flavor, but seemed to enhance nuttiness / umami flavor of cheese / filling. Rice was rather soft, compared to some other arancino I might have had (whole thing fell apart relatively easily)
    • Cassata tradizionale - in between cheesecake and rice pudding? Very creamy flavor (as in fragrant cream). Semi soft texture. Bottom layer - ricotta / cream with some candied fruits (think panetone) mixed in. Second layer - sponge. Top layer - icing with more candied fruits. 
  • SFOGLIATELLELAB (near train station, so take what you will)
    • Fried pizza - mostly dough, filled with mozzarella and tomato sauce, though mainly dough. Both light and heavy (light dough, heavy cause it's fried)
    • Biscotto - crust made with lard? filling looks chocolatey, but mainly walnut and "Italian orange" flavor
  • Perline Agerola  - smoked baby provola. heavy smoked flavor.


TOP 3 FOODS (of equal ranking): SFOGLIATELLE, MOZZARELLA DI BUFALA, PASTA ALLA GENOVESE











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