A tale of two cities

One is dirty, loud and anarchic; the other is epic, artistic and grand. One is the home of pizza; the other is the capital of the Catholic world.

Pizza pilgrimage

“iPad! You want iPad?” shouted the grinning man, with his thick Italian accent, through my passenger seat window. It took me a few seconds to understand what he was asking, in which time I called Florian over for back up.

“You want iPad?” repeated the man, now showing us (what we believe to be) a freshly stolen iPad (there was no case or box) that he had been clutching to his chest.

“No!” we both exclaimed in unison, each of us conjuring up images of the poor tourists who had just been mugged. Before we had a chance to react, the iPad-flogging thief had given us a final grin and a quick “ciao” – he was long gone.

We were in Naples, after all, a mafia hotspot and a city described in my guidebook as “a raucous hell-broth of a city”. Though we were only there for a few hours, it was clear that Naples is a living, breathing and heaving city – full of life, chaos and the obligatory dirt that comes with it. The streets were hectic, the floor was dirty, and there was a buzz in the air that grew louder and stronger the further into the city we got.

We were there on a mission: to eat pizza (after all, Naples is where pizza was created) and we went straight to a small, dark street called Via dei Tribunali notorious for its pizzerias.

The pizzeria we chose – Del Presidente – was recommended by our guidebook and by a friend. It was, from the outside, nothing special. But as we walked in, right past a giant oven with an enormous blazing fire, we knew that this was the real deal. We ordered a margherita and a tomato-less pizza with rocket and cheese. And the verdict? They were divine – the best we ever ate.

It turns out that this pizzeria is where British über-chef Heston Blumenthal came when researching pizza for his television series ‘In Search of Perfection’.

And, of course, in Blumenthal we trust.

When in Rome

Rome was so very different to Naples. It was still chaotic and buzzing, but not in the same way. The streets were full of tourists, fountains and over-priced gelatarias. We spent two days in Rome – the second was dedicated to Ancient Rome, whilst the first to almost everything else!

We went to Vatican City and in to St Peter’s Basilica – which was breathtaking – a true powerhouse of religion, it was hard not to feel the immensity of this rich and spectacular church. The Pantheon was striking, and its architectural significance of being the largest unreinforced concrete dome ever built was not wasted on us. The Spanish Steps were more a meeting place for lovers than a real tourist attraction, and the Trevi Fountain must contain the highest concentration of wishes and loose change in one place.

In the end, our experience of these two cities came full circle. In Naples, we were full of regret for not having been able to return the stolen iPad to its rightful owner, and in Rome we ourselves became the victims of petty theft. The damage was very little – just a stolen mobile phone (and that too a very old one) – but it was enough to push us right out of the city.

And now we find ourselves in Tuscany. There is no buzzing, no chaos. We are surrounded by gentle hills, the greenest of trees and the fresh cool breeze that September brings.