Hello dear travel lovers. In today's post I am going to tell you about the local flavors I experienced in Naples. Here Maradona's only rival in popularity and honestly, near deification is a piece of local culinary pride. We are of course, talking about Neapolitan pizza. If pizza is a special dish for the whole of Italy, for Naples it has a literally sacred meaning. There is a strict set of rules here and even a special association that determines which product can be called a true Neapolitan pizza. For its dough, only flour, water, yeast and salt are used. It must be soft, elastic, with high, airy edges and slightly charred. The ingredients as for tomatoes, only the San Marzano variety grown in the volcanic soil of mount Vesuvius. As for cheese, the freshest Mozzarella di Bufala made from water buffalo milk or Fior di Latte made from cow's milk, extra virgin olive oil. And of course, a wood-fired oven. The temperature is around 450 degrees.
Where can you experience a delicious pizza? Personally I think you can choose a spot in any neighborhood. Just check the reviews on maps before you go. That provides a near hundred percent guarantee. However if you want to visit the city's most famous pizzeria, you wil probably have to wait a bit for your order. It's 10:00 am and a queue is already forming. The host at the door takes the orders and people wait in the street. Can you imagine how popular this pizzeria is? The pizzeria opened in 1870 and for centuries, across five generations, the masters have guarded the family secret of the pizza.
The place owes its specific popularity to the filming of the movie Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts. After that there was a massive influx of tourists to the venue. Also, in the old hall there is a place where two symbols of Naples merge. This is the table where Diego Maradona sat. Due to this extreme popularity, the pizzeria recently opened a large additional hall in the adjacent building. And here absolute classic reigns supreme. There are only three options on the menu. Margherita, Marinara, Cosacca. Honestly I think they are not that different from each other. Marita, on the other hand is a combination of Margherita and Marinara. So, there really are only three pizzas. Just the classic.
If we talk about Genovese-style meat, it is usually served with pasta. A massive amount of onions is simmered for hours with beef until it reaches the consistency of a thick, sweetish sauce. Afterwards you absolutely must try the Ragù Napoletano. These are whole pieces of meat cooked in tomato sauce over low heat for at least 6 hours, until they become so tender that the meat falls apart at the touch of a fork. Of course, there are many other different dishes besides these. And finally I guess we can count the Caprese salad. It originates from the Campania region. Not exactly from Naples itself, but it is considered to be from the Island of Capri. In fact Caprese literally means made on the Island of Capri. Even though it's highly unlikely that it actually originated on the island itself, I have a funny memory regarding Caprese.
I remember, it was about 3-4 years ago. I went to the house of a friend who knew how much I love Italy and Italian cuisine. He told me, Look, I'm going to prepare an Italian dish for you, Caprese. And I thought, Oooh, wonderful. I went to their house, we drank wine, we had some snacks. About an hour passed and I asked: Hey, you were going to prepare something, maybe it's time to bring it out now? And he said, Well, you already ate it. What do you mean? Turns out, the thing I was snacking on was the Caprese and only the remnants were left.
Of course, I was shocked because the name Caprese sounded so fancy. Even though it's a wellknown name, in reality, it consists of nothing more than tomatoes, that same mozzarella we all know and plenty of basil. Mind you, preparing this correctly is also an art. You need to use good ingredients. But still... Anyway, you be sure to try the Marinara. It is a perfect pizza for vegans. Try the Margherita. After that, enjoy it with other ingredients like the Pulcinella. Cheers.
Alright, now let's get to the sweetest part. The most important dessert of Naples, Sfogliatella. We tried a classic Sfogliatella Riccia, meaning the one with layered or puff pastry. Hundreds of thin layers and powdered sugar on top. I will talk about the filling in a moment. There is another variety made with the same filling, slightly less popular but still very delicious, made from cookie dough Sfogliatella Frolla. This one is also sold almost everywhere. In my opinion it is a flavor you absolutely must try when you come to Naples. It's highly successful. It is probably the most famous dessert of the Campania region and you can find it on every corner.
But still I say don't try the one on every corner. Firstly if things go on like this, we won't fit into those narrow streets and won't be able to climb the hills anytime soon. Secondly, you risk running into a low quality one. So, just in case always check the reviews. The filling of Sfogliatella consists of ricotta cheese, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract and orange zest.
In Naples there are also historic cafes where you can taste all these traditional desserts accompanied by a classic Neapolitan coffee. For example, Gran Caffè Gambrinus, located in that famous Piazza del Plebiscito we passed by earlier. It is very surprising that such a historic and classic cafe has a super modern payment and ordering system. We can choose anything we want from here. Let's say we are getting a dessert. Let's pick a Babà or Rum baba for 2.80 Euros. Of course it's expensive, but prices cannot be expected to be low in a cafe of this caliber anyway. We add a Neapolitan-style espresso as well and confirm the order. We press the Conferma button and pay by card. If you want to feel the 19th century atmosphere, you must definitely stop by this cafe.
Do you know what the biggest problem of Naples is in my opinion? Many people come to this city by train or bus and find themselves directly in Garibaldi Square . And this is the most unpleasant area, where a lot of cheap Chinese goods are sold and where there is incredible chaos and pickpockets. I don't know if the word pickpocket is still used, but as a result, the feeling you get there is very uncomfortable. There is a fear that something of yours might be stolen and an uncanny chaos.
For instance, that noble, sincere chaos of the Spanish Quarters, where the locals live and don't care much about tourists, is not present here. On the contrary, here everyone is uncomfortably focused on the tourists. Someone is definitely trying to hustle a product onto you, while someone else, conversely, is looking to grab your bag or wallet and run away. I will talk about this topic and my experiences in my next posts.
