Naples Day 11 - Duomo Rooftop and Galleria Borbonica

Wandering the streets of Naples.

A large fresco at Duomo.

View of Naples from the rooftop tour of Duomo.

Vesuvius in the background.

The interior wooden roof of Duomo.

Some 17th century frescoes although I don't know who would have originally seen them as they are above the wooden ceiling.

Somewhat more artistic graffiti featuring Pulcinella.

Galleria Umberto 1st. Very similar to the one in Milan but more spacious.

Standing on the bull is supposed to bring good luck.

Piazza del Plebiscito 

Galleria Borbonica. More underground passages. Part of this was originally built as a secret escape tunnel for the Bourbon kings in the early to mid 19th century.

The passages were used to shelter from the bombs in WW2. Naples was very heavily bombed due to its prime port location. There was almost no privacy except for this room for women giving birth.

Some old beds from WW2. Adults who remember sheltering here hated it but people who were children at the time loved it as there were loads of children to play with and lots of places to explore.

They had 7 toilets for 3000 people.

This part of the tunnel (this is the Bourbon part, it extended a preexisting network) was on the same level as the outside so cars could make it down, mostly to sell cigarettes on the black market.

An upmarket toilet found in the tunnels - in the 50s, 60s and 70s people threw things they no longer wanted down a well which led down to the tunnels. It took archaeologists years to deal with all the rubbish from the well.

They were also selling some items found in the tunnels.

The feel of the Chiaia district is very different from Centro Storico. The former is spacious with elegant flats (below) whereas Centro Storico is narrow, cramped and loud.

Pizze D’autore - Maestro Pizzaiolo Gigi SORBILLO. This was the busiest restaurant we went to although that was likely due to the time being 1:30pm rather than our usual more English eating times.

This had braised beef ragu as well as meatballs. An interesting and tasty pizza.

This was really good and somewhat unusual. The only baked part was the base, the mozzarella and what tasted like a butter based sauce. Then fresh mortadella, pesto and pistachio nuts on top.

Looking over to Vesuvius from the Monte Echia viewpoint.

Walking back down via another steep hairpin street.

Castel O'vo in the distance.

Ice-cream desserts.

This one was wonderful. Tiny French meringue pieces, on top of a fior de latte ice-cream over a robust coffee gelato. The sweetness of the meringue and the slight tanginess of the cheese based ice-cream complemented the coffee gelato really well.

The hazelnut one lacked intensity (the nuts should have been toasted) and was a bit too cold. We left it to warm up a bit and the chocolate flavour came through a lot more.

On the waterfront.

Inside Palazzo Reale from where Naples was once ruled.

It had its own theatre.

The Italians of this period like to paint on masonry on the ceilings - this was a better example of it but it always looks a little fake.

The throne.

Possibly my favourite part of the palace - the door has a much better balance of light and shade in its use of gold. Many of the other items use too much gold such that it appears dull.

Inside the Pantheon-esque Basilica of San Francesco di Paola (this is inside the facade in Piazza del Plebiscito).

Castel Nuovo, near the port.

Limoncello mixed with lemon granita and a little meloncello on top. A very welcome cold drink on an energy sapping hot day.

At Re Ngiuluz for our final meal. This an Aglianco wine similar to the Taurasini. 

Lovely Al fresco dining.

Ravioli stuffed with Apulian burratina, Vesuvius cherry tomatoes, 

basil and seasoned caciocavallo, Southern Italian cheese. The pasta was nice and thin and overall quite tasty.

Neapolitan fusilli (fresh pasta) with ischitana rabbit ragout and parmesan sauce. This had a wonderful intense flavour although like many of the prima dishes, lacked textural variety.

Beef muscle, veal meatball, pork sausage, served with a seasonal side dish. This had a lot of flavour and the meat was very tender- the beef muscle was intense and worked well when eaten with some of the meat proper.

Espresso. Just what I needed close to bed time.

The last night was so hot in the evening Helen bought a lemon fan to go with her final gelato. We found a lemon and biscuit gelato which was really good from Valenti (the seller of the salted caramel gelato).

Step count - 21,732

Distance - 8.92 miles