NAPOLI!

 Quick visit to Napoli

Nick, one of the "sons we never had" along with his lovely wife Sara visited Italy last week. Zio flew up to Roma and hopped a high-speed train down to Napoli to meet them. We stayed at the Excelsior, the hotel used by Tony Soprano's crew when they visited...one of Zio's favorite episodes.

And unlike Tony and crew PIZZA was on our menu. Gino Sorbillo has a place just down the street!!!

The next day we walked around, stopping for cappuccino at Gambrinus. Sadly, the inside was closed for a private function but we did get to look around a bit before being seated outside.

And the cappuccino was still good.

But for the REAL espresso, it's MEXICO!

Followed by more walking around, including the historic center where "Harry & Leather" lived during her Fulbright program, including the bakery where Zio got his daily bread, a slice of what he called "Pac-Man" as you can see above.

There was also a stop at the MANN for culture of a non-edible variety, dinner at Umberto, even more pizza and a few sfogliatelle before we climbed on a high-speed train back to Rome where Zio got off to catch his flight back to Sicily while the "Ducatisti" continued on to Milano for their return flight the following morning.

Now Zio will start lobbying for their next tour of Italy, further south to Cilento, Basilicata, Puglia and maybe a pop over to Siracusa to visit Zio?

Arrivederci amici!

Roma, California, Napoli

 A Quick Trip!

Well, it started out well - we flew to LAX on this plane from Rome after flying there from Catania the day before. A museum visit with one of Heather's colleagues and some great porchetta sandwiches set us up for the 12+ hour flight the next morning.

We'll NEVER understand why/how the food on ITA Airways can be so awful!? Most people think Italian food is the world's best so how can they serve crap like this? The Italian tourist people should investigate!

We arrived at LAX, rented a car and enjoyed 4 days of festivities around a family wedding, including a Sunday BBQ. Thanks Bob! And congratulations Amanda & Scott!

We headed back from the land of "everything costs extra" on Monday. We paid $10 a day to park a car under the hotel, $8 extra each morning for someone to make us cappuccino (both were included in a stay Zio Lorenzo did earlier this year in another SoCal hotel, so perhaps it's just the Hyatt people that are so greedy?) This at a place where the (only) guy at the reception desk was dressed more like the janitor and had to be asked to put down the phone, stop swinging his keys around and check us in! I guess good help IS tough to find these days?

Then there were the ITA Airways folks at LAX check-in where the same small roll-aboard bags we came from Rome with + a small backpack somehow became too heavy (more than 10 kg total) to take onboard....unless...you guessed it...we coughed up more money! $140 to be exact AND we still had to check one of our roll-aboards. So we PAID for the opportunity to wait at baggage claim, wonder if our bag would get lost or if someone would open it and help themselves to the contents - all things that have happened to us in the past. This was NOTHING but a money-grab..no matter how many flimsy reasons the check-in folks came up with...and worse...the flight was far from full and we'd carried these same bags onto a (notoriously greedy) Ryanair flight from Catania as well as ITA from Rome. No issues or extra charges on either flight, nor with our return to Catania from Napoli with the same bags.

Next it was off to security where the LAX TSA staff seemed to have been trained by the Gestapo. They barked orders through megaphones and acted as if every passenger should be 100% familiar with their security procedures, no matter what they might have gone through elsewhere. A nice farewell from the USA...not!

Back (finally!) in Italy after more bad airplane food (created we assume in LA so maybe we shouldn't complain?) we took the nonstop train from the Rome airport to the central train station and then boarded a high-speed train to Napoli. Less than two hours later we had a "room with a view" as they say!

And a nice greeting when we checked-in to our Napoli hotel, staffed by smiling, friendly people in suits and ties - real pros who take pride in their work, though we DID have to pay room service ($7) to bring up some glasses and a corkscrew to the room so we could enjoy this nice gift.

Breakfast wasn't included with this one-night stay but with one of these just steps away, who cares? Our next stop was here to enjoy a real espresso and stock up on espresso to take home, then on to the MANN before pizza for lunch. Some walking around Spaccanapoli filled the time before we caught our flight back to Catania.

Needless to write - but we're glad to be back home!

Giro d'Italia rest day #1

 Giorno di Riposo

That's what they call a rest-day here in Italy. So let's catch up, OK?

First the news that Maglia Rosa Remco Evenepoel is out due to Covid-19. A real shame since the race was shaping up not to be the "Mow 'em down in the chrono, defend in the mountains" so many pundits predicted. Rigoberto Uran's out too, how many more will be sidelined before La Corsa Rosa gets to Rome?

Before all that we flew off to Napoli, rented a car and drove out to Atripalda to see the start of Stage 5. As you can see things were soggy, but that didn't stop the people from coming out! We could barely pass in-front of the Novi stand - the lure of free chocolate is pretty strong, even in the rain!

The race got started and we headed off to the finish in Salerno.

But first, PRANZO! Heather consulted our "bible" the Slowfood guide to Italy and after parking the car and some wandering the wet streets we soggily stumble into l'unico Taste of Italy. It was worth it! Sadly (for them) we were the only ones in the place as they thought the race would close access to their place by midday.

We enjoyed lots of fresh fish but since they figured on closing had nothing to offer us for dolci though they did treat us to limoncino along with a recommendation on where to go for caffe and sweets. Grazie Francesca!

Romolo was on the way back to the race finish, so off we went and were glad we did! They even served our favorite Napoli espresso so we bought a box of pods to take home.

Suitably fortified, we were ready for the race finish, still under gray skies with constant rain. But again, that didn't keep the people away!

Seemed like most headed home to dry out so we were able to get close to the presentations. Not close enough to get sprayed with prosecco but a guy behind us did catch one of the flying corks!

Post-race it was a drive along the Amalfi Coast to our night's lodging. We splurged on the best room on the place...it was just one night...and we didn't spend on dinner, just some drinks while we watched the nightly race recap on TV. Tomorrow the race would pass right by us and our plan was to escape right after so we could cut across and see 'em pass by one more time, then race off to the airport for our flight home.

The next day was better weather-wise though there were a few showers but we were able to walk down the now closed road to get pizza, which the kind hotel management (grazie Valeria!) let us enjoy while watching the race on TV.

The race came past but our "W Magro" banner didn't get on TV as the 'copter shot was too far out, but we did score some bottles as a few teams handed 'em out to their riders just before our hotel.

After quick goodbyes, we were on-the-road behind the race, but quickly stopped at the first intersection by the police. The delay made getting to the next place to see the race a tough chore and by the time we got there it was too late... so off to the airport we went....

...only to find out our flight was delayed! Grrrr! But an ice cream cone and watching the race coverage on Heather's phone made the wait not so bad and we were back home in Sicily by 11PM.

Wiener-mobile

 Wiener-mobile

Nothing to do with Oscar-Meyer here! A display at the Museum Shop in the Napoli airport. Our little house has a few things from there, including a 'fridge magnet flying phallus. These things were not only about fertility but also about warding-off evil spirits...for us so far, so good! Zio Lorenzo laughs when he thinks of the outrage a display like this might cause in some other airport or public space.

Anniversary

 33 Years Ago

Doesn't seem all that long ago, even though it was half-a-lifetime. Our wedding anniversary was yesterday so we took a little trip to Napoli to celebrate.

The view above will seem familiar to many, especially fans of the TV series The Soprano's, right? Zio's favorite episode shows it when Tony and the boys visit Napoli. Click HERE for a link to their arrival scene about 45 seconds in.

We stayed at Hotel Excelsior just like the "Commendatori" enjoying a wonderful Sunday lunch at Umberto 

Where we were pleased to discover 1/2 bottles (375 ml) on their wine list! That way we could enjoy some local bubbly with our antipasto followed by two local reds (chosen with help from the founder's granddaughter) to pair with our first and second plates, all without wasting a bunch of good vino or drinking too much. It was great to enjoy real Neapolitan food in a lively "Sunday lunch" atmosphere.

Our final day included pizza at our favorite place, Attanasio and a visit to our favorite museum. We might have to make this an annual ritual!!

Italian Espresso - nectar of the gods?

Espresso Italiano - the key to a long life?

Isn't it great when something you enjoy so much you'd drink it even if it was bad for you turns out to be good? Read more HERE.

Above: This little machine makes some pretty darn good espresso with KIMBO pods, called "cialde" here.

Pizza Napoletana in Sicily

Pizza snobs move to Sicily

We admit it - we've become insufferable snobs when it comes to pizza. Four months in the historic center of Napoli, just minutes from the most famous makers there will do that to you as regular blog readers know.

So now we've moved to Sicily with a house purchase in the works. Sicilian-style pizza is OK...just. But the stuff was supposedly invented in Napoli and nobody much argues they do it best. Now that we're down here, wouldn't it be nice to enjoy something similar now and then?

We saw the sign for this place awhile back but didn't pay much attention until we came back this week after having a truly awful pizza up north. We were sort of desperate but we were rewarded here - Anima e Core might have been near the back of the back in our Great Pizza Shootout, but they at least would be IN the pack!

That may sound like faint praise, but it's not. They even had Pino Daniele music playing, only letting us down when they didn't have a Neopolitan espresso to finish our meal.

Buon lavoro!!!

Great Pizza Shootout - and the winner is....

ATTANASIO

Complimenti ragazzi!

After almost 5 months of serious sampling, we gave the #1 to Pizzeria Attanasio. In our review, we originally called them "best of the rest" but as things progressed they moved higher on our list.

We finally had them and one other contender selected - so it came to a pizza to pizza direct comparison. Heather went off to Lombardi a Santa Chiara for a margherita to-go while Zio Lorenzo went off to Attanasio.

We came back to our apartment and held a true slice vs slice comparison to break the tie. That's how close it was!

In the end the crust of the Attanasio pizza just had a fresher and fuller taste which pushed them to the top of our list.

Come down and check 'em out for yourself and let us know what you think.

A special thanks goes to our neighbors at Pizzeria Petrucci - while you didn't win, you were there, just twenty steps away with a pizza margherita in a few minutes for less than 5 euros. Grazie mille!

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 13

                    Who Makes the World's Best Pizza
                                          Part 13

Our challenge continues, though time is getting short to declare a winner and present the prize before we leave Napoli.

This time it was Pizzeria Gorizia. This was a highly recommended place that we hiked up to in Vomero. The climb is a bazillion steps up, up, up so we think we earned our pizza this time!

More great pizza! Too soupy in the center for Zio Lorenzo who thought both of these very, very similar to Da Michele. 

This neighborhood's much more, uh, well, refined than the historic center and you pay for that with higher prices as Gorizia was the highest tab so far, but still under 30 euros for the two pizze and 2 birre.

We have one more famous place to try before we revisit the top contenders and declare a winner.

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 12

                Who Makes the World's Best Pizza
                                          Part 12

Damn! We thought we were getting a handle on this, but now we have another contender to add to our top contenders for the prize.

Ciro a Santa Brigida is another famous pizzeria we knew we had to try, but we sort of hoped it might be over-hyped and we could cross it off the list easily.

Not so fast! This was really, really good! They're not coasting on their fame here. Zio Lorenzo thought the crust might be the perfect combination of soft doughy-ness and crispness on the edges.

All the pizze come out of this oven.

Until this visit we really, really thought we had this down to two faves, but now it's back to three with a few more still to try before the award is handed out.

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 11

               Who Makes the World's Best Pizza 11

           

Another day, another pizza. This time it was Pizzeria Di Matteo, one of the famous places.

Sorry, no photo of the Marinara as we went off the rails a bit and ordered one with fresh tomatoes. Good, but not fair in the judging.

This is a throw-back place with decor (if you can call it that) like Da Michele, nothing much has happened here for decades, though their big claim-to-fame is/was a visit by Bill Clinton back-in-the-day.

But the pizza? Very good.The outer crust not super crispy but not super doughy either. Not too soggy in the center. Not good enough to push any of our current faves down the list, but still very good. Price-wise, they're not cashing in on their fame, our tab here was one of the lowest of the entire shootout.

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 10

            Who Makes the World's Best Pizza? 10 

Another day, another wonderful pizza! We know we're not going to generate any pity here, but this is really getting difficult!

Da' Attilio is one of the famous places so it was no surprise their pizze were just f---king great.

We'd hoped that it would a) be far above the rest or b) be far below the rest. But no dice - it was right up there with the best though maybe some points off for the tiny amount of fresh basil on their margherita?

We've got a few weeks left and a few more to try before we award the t-shirts with #1 on them.

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 9

Who Makes the World's Best Pizza Part 9

Our research continues, this time at a "Hmm, that place looks interesting. Perhaps we'll try it next?" place.

Lombardi a Santa Chiara was the place.

This is a place not even a block down the narrow street from us. One we've passed dozens of times during our stay here.

This zone is even a bit "touristy" but then again so is the street where Sorbillo's place is located. But at night it's rather quiet as most of the tourist-related shops have closed for the day.

If anything, these pizze reminded us of Sorbillo's. Yep, they were that good!  Zio Lorenzo thinks he might not be able to tell the difference in a blind taste test.

Choosing a winner in this shootout is going to be harder than we thought!