Naples, encore

Hard as it may be to believe, we went out last night and ate a modest amount of very good food at Anema e Cozze, as I forecast.  We staggered home at midnight and I, at least, fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.  All this excellent seafood is giving me the habits of Inspector Montalbano.

We went to the Museo Archeologico today and spent over three hours admiring everything from the Hellenistic statues to the Pompeiian silver, glassware, frescoes and, above all, the stunning mosaics.  I almost feel as though a visitor should save himself the trouble of going to Pompei but spend a day or two half-days at the museum.  The best of Pompeii and Herculaneum are here.  Where they haven't been sold off to foreign collectors, of course.

I asked the museum information staff where we could eat near the museum.  I told them where we were staying and where we'd been feeding our faces.  They said, "All the best restaurants are in that area.  Just go back there.  They have the best seafood."

And coming to Naples and not having seafood is like going to Tuscany and not having steak.  It's just plain stupid. So, following their advice, at 2:45 we sat down to another masterful lunch of mozzarella and seafood at Gusto & Gusto.  With two bottles of wine, one of which was a falanghina by Feudi di San Gregorio.  Capped off by watermelon, cantaloupe and pineapple, all sensationally tasty... and of course the local liqueurs (lemon, melon and apple). 

We staggered, and I mean staggered, back to the hotel for a siesta.

This is dolce far niente, I'll tell you. 

If we eat at all tonight, it will be a gelato a couple of kilometers from here.

Before we came to Naples, I was losing weight in Italy, and a good thing too.  We were running around a lot, missing lunch, etc., etc.  Here we're completely otiose (had to use that word once in my life).  Life revolves around mealtimes as it never does at home.  I mean, look, a nice lunch takes 2-3 hours, ditto dinner, and there's not much to do after you've gawked at Roman artifacts for a few hours.  Everything in town is closed and, besides -- well, I've made my opinions very clear.

A Napoli si mangia bene ma...(requisite shrug).

Comments

[Giampiero alias Aristide]

"Dolce far niente": that's why our south of Italy is highly contagious...
Take care and stay well!
Cheers and ciaos from Normandie, France!

[Terry Hughes]

You are so right, mon vieux!

I hope you're having a great time in Normandy. Best to you both.

A bientot!

[David]

While there you need to Il Canzuncella. It was Aurelio Fierro's place before he died but was always fun!