Napoli's piazzas, pizza, and pizzazz

The Fountain of Neptune in Piazza Municipo in Naples was built in 1601.
It was moved several times as the city expanded.

The city of Naples (Napoli) entices us to visit it twice during our two-week stay in Salerno. On the first day, we join a street food tour, giving us the chance to get the lay of the land, learn a bit of history, and taste some of the city's casual cuisine. 

Vibrant and bustling markets can be found throughout Naples.

Some residents of Napoli's Spanish Quarter live along
narrow passageways like this.

Our tour group is tiny, just the two of us, a young American who just moved to Prague, and our guide. As we head from Piazza Municipio to the street market, we wind through some narrow residential streets. Once at the market, we try a variety of street food, starting with tripe and ending with a glass of limoncello. 

Ken seems pleased with his fried pizza during our
street food tour in Naples.

After the tour, we head to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, one of the world's most important archeological museums. Its vast collections include Greek, Roman, and Renaissance works, and, in particular, artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum. Since we had just visited Pompeii, the model of the city is of particular interest to us.

The Naples National Archeological Museum houses the Farnese
Collection, a large exhibition of classical Greco-Roman sculptures 

Artifacts from the Vesuvian towns and Roman and Greek relics are
found in abundance at the Naples National Archeological Museum. 

A large model of the city of Pompeii is located in Naples
National Archaeological Museum

Our visit to the museum leaves us too exhausted to stick around Naples for dinner, so we decide to skip the meal and return to Salerno early.

 

Naples Cathedral, or Duomo, is also widely known as
Cattedrale di San Gennaro (Cathedral of Saint Januarius),
in honor of the city's patron saint.

A week later we're back in Naples. After all, eating authentic Neapolitan pizza is on my gotta-do list for our Italy trip. On our way to the Spanish Quarter where I hope to see all those street murals I've heard about, we pop into the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, known simply as the Duomo.

The ceiling of the Naples Duomo is quite fancy.

I don't find any street art, but we hit the jackpot for our pizza lunch in a small bistro tucked away on a side street in the Quartieri Spagnoli. In the weeks ahead, I'll eat a whole lot of amazing food here in Italy, but on this day, this pizza, is deliziosa e perfetta!

These kids and their clever mom are on their way to
a Carnivale parade in Naples.