Pizza and Calcio– What more do you need?
After this weekend I have truly experienced most of “must do” activities of Italy! On Saturday a group of friends and I woke up at the crack of dawn to catch an early train down to Naples for a day trip. Once there, we hopped on another train that took us out to the ancient roman city of Pompeii. So many of the ruins were in such amazing condition! There were still many frescos on the walls and it was very easy to picture what the town might have looked like back in the day before the famous explosion of Mt. Vesuvius. The weather was great; my only wish was that I knew more about what I was looking at! The best part of the whole experience was getting to hear one of the tour guides sing opera in the ancient theater. I would have been extremely bummed had I left Italy without seeing Pompeii!
In the afternoon we headed back to Naples. We knew very little about the city, we just knew we had to get pizza! Right off the bat, we headed over to L’antica Pizzeria da Michele to wait in line for the best-rated pizza in town. If you have ever seen Eat, Pray, Love staring Julia Roberts, this is the same place she ate at! Let me tell you, it was the best pizza I have EVER had. You wouldn’t think a simple margarita could taste so amazing, but every ingredient was spot on!
Naples is known for a variety of other foods and we sampled them throughout our day. They are the birthplace of espresso, so stayed well caffeinated with delicious cafes done in the Neapolitan style. We also had lemon granite that was SO GOOD. Granita is a slushy like dessert made of ice and flavoring. I don’t know exactly what it looks like in its traditional form but the modern day electronic slushy-maker style still tasted amazing to me!
Naples is a beautiful city! Since it can be a little sketchy at night the city has gotten somewhat of a bad name, especially at our Rome campus. We weren’t there for long but I enjoyed it enough to want to go back! I don’t think it is totally deserving of its bad reputation. The location is too beautiful, the food too good, and the culture of the buildings, churches, and everything else to unique, to pass up.
In addition to my excursion down to Naples, this weekend I attended my first AS Roma soccer game! Since soccer is such a big deal all across Italy, it is an important part of one’s Rome experience to cheer on our home team. I was not disappointed by the excitement of the fans! Everyone is so into the game, the excitement is entirely contagious! Big games, especially against they’re rival Lazio, can get really out of hand; Fortunately we won against Turin 3-0. All in all, I would definitely go again! I would love to go with some native Romans that can teach me all of the cheers that the crowd chants!