Welcome to Napoli ….. City of Art and…..Champions of Italy!

Napoli - THE RENAISSANCE

June 21, 2023

If you have been in Napoli these past months, you must have seen an explosion of blue & white banners, flags and pictures of Maradona around the city. Probably you must have thought ‘what’s going on here?’. It’s a very simple explanation. Napoli football club won the serie A, which is the the main football championship in Italy.

It is very hard for me to explain what this victory means for the city.

Because is NOT just a game, but it is much much more. A lot more.

Napoli is feeling like it’s a city on the up. The successful football season gave the city a new vibrant, self confident feeling. Yes, because you might think ‘It’s just a game’. Probably true, but not in Napoli. We live everything to the extreme! Including football.

We need to go back a few years to fully understand why football is so important to the citizens of Naples.

Precisely 33 years ago there was a man called Maradona. You can love him or hate him, surely as a human being he can be criticised, but as a football player (except for the English) he was a God, at least in Napoli.

I am old enough to remember what he did for the city. When he arrived in 1984 the city was in a sorry state of decline and the football team were a real disaster. But he gave Neapolitans hope. It was like David against Goliath, the hopeless Neapolitan team of the south against the big boy rich teams of the north, such as Juventus, Inter & AC Milan. No one believed in us, but Maradona took Naples to two league championships and to UEFA cup glory.

Maradona was the catalyst that initiated Naples steady ascent from the dark days of urban decay and crime to a reawakening of what Naples had to offer the world. Beauty, passion, life and vitality. Since the pandemic this renaissance has accelerated. Improvements in infrastructure and ambitious civic projects are finally unlocking the potential of the city. Today it is a safer more business friendly city. Tourism as well is growing rapidly. Once, not so long ago, tourists would only fly into Naples to use it only as a gateway to Sorrento and the Amalfi coast. But now all that is changing. People from all over the world are finally discovering what an incredible city Napoli is and it is becoming a destination city like Rome, Florence or Venice.

Going back to the football, that is why it is so important. Because it has given the city a new optimistic and joyful vibe. Even the elderly ladies at the market were talking about it like they were professional managers! Around March this year, despite the famous superstitious nature of the Neapolitan people, we started to decorate the streets with blue and white flags even before it was certain that Napoli would win the championship!. It didn't really matter, Neapolitans were happy to be doing so well anyway. We were determined to enjoy the moment we had been waiting 33 years for.

Believe me, in all my life I’ve never seen my city so beautiful and joyful, and studying art I feel proud that tourists are discovering and loving Napoli with its amazing architecture, its incredible treasures, its beautiful landmarks and traditions, and of course food.

It is safe to quote Goethe ‘See Napoli and then die’ (‘Vedi Napoli e poi muori’) because there’s no other place like it.

Banners and flags all over the monuments and buildings.

I asked my artist husband to make banner ……he made a masterpiece!

In loving memory to my dad (big Napoli fan), his favourite flag!

The Girl From Naples Is Back!

May 31, 2022

Hi there! Here I am again! I have just realised that my last blog was dated 2018! .

We all know very well, the last two/three years have been very difficult. We had a global pandemic that has changed not only our lives but also our way of travelling, so keeping up with all the restrictions and rules have made writing a travel blog very challenging, almost impossible and quite frankly, very depressing. So I am sorry for this long absence. I will try to write more often because there is still so much more to know about my wonderful city and region.

I have to say I really do miss travelling. Properly travelling, discovering new places, new countries, new cultures. It’s one of the things I have been missed the most. I have been travelling back and fourth between England and Italy for family reasons and had few outings in Italy without going too far. But I so miss that excited spirit that comes with a new adventure! As I said before our way of travelling has changed and so did we. A lot of people were (and still are) very scared to go to a foreign country, without knowing if they have to quarantine, having tests, etc. Let’s face it. It also has been very expensive and quite stressful to travel. Book the right test for all the family, get the green pass, quarantine in a hotel, ‘no you might not need to quarantine’, etc. How many times did you hear all this?

My very first holiday after two years, one of my favourite destinations: the island of Ischia (August 2021).

Fear also changed everything. I went to Ischia last August and even though it’s still my favourite, it was strangely too quiet, not as buzzy as it used to be. Most of the tourists were italians or local.

Thankfully, the situation is getting better everywhere. Now when you come to Italy, you don’t need to quarantine or show a negative test anymore. Since April 1st, all the travel restrictions have stopped. Hooray!

Even wearing masks indoors and having to show your green pass (the QR code showing you had two jabs and a booster) when travelling or indoors restaurants and bars has stopped.

If you test positive, you still need to quarantine until you have a negative result and must wear a mask.

Hopefully, even those few restrictions will drop by the end of April/beginning of May, so we can all enjoy the summer, the very first summer without stress!

I can’t wait to write more about my region. This summer, to celebrate the end of the pandemic, there are a lot of events and new places opening to visit for the very first time.

A place I definitely will write about is the island of Procida that this year has been nominated as Italian Capital of Culture 2022. Many events on the land and sea have been organised and a taste of the flavours of the Mediterranean cuisine. Definitely a place to visit!!

Finally also in Napoli, tourists are slowly returning and actually, for the summer, many hotels and b&bs are already fully booked!

Of course, please consider that rules to visit museums and art galleries are changing on a daily basis so I will try and keep all information up to date. It is recommended to book ahead of a visit to a museum as now in many places there are limited spaces for visitors. Remember also that from April to October it is free entry in all museums every first Sunday of the month.

It’s so good to know that we can start to think about travelling again and return to our ‘normal’ life.

Napoli is finally open to the world once again! Welcome back! Bentornati!

A Neapolitan very committed to social distancing!

La Movida . . . . Neapolitan Night life.

January 27, 2017

Napoli is a lively city at night as well as during the day. As soon as the sun goes down, it becomes a very interesting universe of joyful people, kids playing football, girls wearing the best dresses just to impress, families, couples and singles, it is a place where everything is possible, even some bookshops turn into vibrant bars or the fishmonger shops into smart fish restaurants.

Bars and restaurants are open until late and are always busy. For late I mean, really late almost until dawn. Some could be scared just to go out in the 'dangerous' alleys of Napoli. It's nothing like that. I have been living in Napoli all my life and I have always felt safe. Just take the usual precautions that you would do in any other city. I actually found that many tourists get used to this night 'lifestyle' very easily. How could you not.

Especially in Summer, when the schools are finished, the heat is more gentle in the evening, from the promenade to the historical centre, everywhere is always very crowded with markets, musicians or just people that can't sleep or don't want to. Everywhere is an interesting place to visit. It just depends of what you are looking for. You can have a pizza or a burger, to sit in or take away. There are also lounge bars and wine bars (enoteche), or listen to live classical music in an old churche or a dj set in a pub.

Kids playing football in piazza Dante until late.

The areas called baretti which means 'little bars' have a lot of lounge bars, clubs and bars where you can have a nice drink and chill out with friends. There are many around Napoli and they are not only for the young people, there is a huge choice for every age. The old town, from piazza Dante around piazza del Gesu' and Monteoliveto is an area very crowded especially with students, in fact not far from there is a university. Here there are lots of pizzerias, restaurants, kebab shops and bars where you can have a nice cocktail or a shot for €2. Not far from here is the Keste' which is more than a bar, it's an art gallery with live music sessions.

Book shops in the morning, bars in the evening in piazza Dante.

Pizzerias open until late, Port'Alba pizzeria.

In the posh area of Riviera di Chiaia you will find small and trendy bars with dj set music like the Kiki bar or many more around via Chiaia, via San Pasquale or vico Belledonne. There is no need for me to tell you which one is the best, there are so many and they are always full of people. A nice walk along the promenade to Borgo Marinari around the Castel dell' Ovo is a very interesting spot for restaurants and bars near the sea.

Going up to the hill of Vomero you will pass to via Aniello Falcone, another area full of baretti like Il Baretto, One, Baik or Flame. The bonus of this area is the stunning view of the gulf, which is not included in the price!

Once you are at the Vomero, there is a good choice of bars and pubs, like Goodfellas, where every night there are live tribute bands performing. There is the famous Fonoteca with a huge range of classic cocktails and music. Some other bars have on certain days of the week cocktails at fixed prices from around €1 to €3.

All the areas have very trendy and popular bars so for me it is not easy to recommend one in particular. The beauty of going out is not only the venue itself but what's around, in fact the night life is more outside, in the streets, in the narrow alleys and in the squares. It is this vibe that makes this city so unique and charming.

If you want to stay out until late be aware that much of the transports will close quite early (check the section Travel info of my website for metro and funicular timetables) however, you can walk from one place to another (for instance from the old part to the promenade is more or less 30 minutes) but if you are getting to or from the Vomero taking a taxi will cost you around €15.

A typical Neapolitan night out is not to get drunk, but to enjoy some good food, a chat with friends and few drinks. If you want to live like the 'local' you should go first to a pizzeria or a pub and then in one of those bars until you are not too tired. There is no rush, remember, you are in Napoli, and here having a good time is more important than sleep!