We learnt two things prior to leaving Napoli; the first is that churches on the outside are not what they seem, and the second is that the “chilis” we were seeing everywhere are actually red painted horns to ward off evil spirits.
Our Final Day in Napoli
It was a bit sad to be saying goodbye to Napoli but we cheered ourselves up with the excitement of moving onto our next Italian destination, Roma.
Our train to Roma was in the afternoon, so we spent our remaining hours in Napoli at the nearby markets and trying out some more gelato. We were completely ripped off by the Gelateria – possibly because Chris ordered half a cup of Nutella. We’re not sure what happened but two small cups of gelato cost us 11 euro. Chris said, “if this is the worst thing that happens on this holiday, I think we would have had a good holiday.”
We then decided to go into the big castle-like structure at the Palazzo Petrucci. It turns out it was a church! The San Domenico Maggiore and it was possibly the most grand church we have seen thus far, definitely the most grand in Napoli. It was built by Basilian monks, passed on to the Benedictines and then in 1231 to the Dominicans.
Chantal noticed the dog with the flaming stick and saw it had been painted on the roof!
Arriving into Roma
The train takes an hour and 10 minutes, travelling at almost 300km/h to get from Napoli Centrale to Roma Termini.
Upon our arrival into Roma, we noticed something different to Napoli straight away. Roma has a grandiosity to it, monstrously large buildings and monuments. In the Cavour area where we walked, there was little juxtaposition between grand palazzos and forgotten buildings. All have splendour and all appeared to be maintained for the great many visitors of this ancient city.
This is not to say that Roma doesn’t have character. Roma just shows off with scale rather than the “hidden gems” that we found Napoli was able to give to us. In Roma, nothing is hidden, all know the trattorias and the pizzerias and we have yet to stumble across someone who doesn’t know English. Whereas in Napoli, we had to learn some Italian to get by and be polite.
A Note About Food
Our first night in Roma was punctuated by the most amazing Linguine alla Bolognese (so far) at Trattoria Al Tettarello which was very close to our hotel. We also were able to compare the Vino della Casa (house wine) between the two cities of Roma and Napoli. Just as a friend warned us, the red wine in Napoli is rough. It’s worth trying, though as it went extremely well with our Carne and Pamigiana dishes. The Rossa Vino della Casa in Roma, however, was a fair bit sweeter and had a Lambrusco taste to it.
We are looking forward to ordering pizza by the weight in Roma (we discovered this practice is not a thing in Napoli).
Chris and Chantal 