Interrail throughout Italy

Milan - Padua - Verona - Venice - Florence - Saint Gimignano - Sienna - Pisa - Naples - Pompei - Amalfi Coast - Capri - Assisi - Rome - Tivoli - Monaco

Many people don't cross Rome towards the south during their travels, as many interesting spots are concentrated to the north. I would recommend go to the south for 3-4 days. First of all, visit Naples. Naples has a legal population of 2 million citizens, and it is said that other 2 million of illegal inhabitants. The number of vespas (kind of motorbike) exceeds several hundred of thousands. Entire families drive motorbikes. Enjoy the walks through the old town, the bay and the gardens with the Vesuvius at the background, as well as the palaces and castles coming from its royal past. The rest of the city is not too interesting, and there are even dangerous districts. This city is a smart starting point for marvellous excursions. I also suggest searching for accommodation in Sorrento instead, a lively summer village crowded with tourists. If I return to southern Italy, I would try first to find a room here, as the dusk is much more relaxing and cheerful than Naples.

Naples has centuries of complex history with hundreds of years of foreign occupation. All of these foreigners imposed to Naples their madness, their taxes, their cruelty, many battles and their tyranny on one side, but monuments, public works and benevolence in the other. Before so much unbalance Naples has always kept an independence feeling, that leaded to many rebellions against the power in numerous moments. I will summarise the complicated history to understand the visit afterwards.

I start in 1137, when the Normans took Naples. The Anjou 's dynasty chose it as the capital from 1266 to 1442. During this period the city flourished in all fields. Alfonso the Magnanimous conquered it and the Aragon 's domain began (1442-1504) and the town became a great empire as well as an artistic centre of first order. After Alfonso they came Fernando I, Fernando II and Frederick I. Fernando the Catholic, king of Castilla, invaded it and reigned, as well as his successors Carlos V and his son Philip II. In 1528 it suffered a terrible siege commanded by Francisco I of France and Henry VIII of England, who were defeated and gave Naples to Spain definitively. Despite Naples had certain autonomy and it acquired an international relevance, there were several rebellions because of the taxes or the Inquisition. In 1707 it belonged to Austria and in 1734 to the Spanish Bourbons, that enhanced the cultural activity. Afterwards it came the Napoleon invasion (1806-1815) that gave the throne to Napoleon's brother Jose and later to Murat. Despite the artistic and town-planning modernizations imported from the French Revolution the people fought for the Bourbons return until they got it in 1815. Murat was executed in 1815. In 1860 Garibaldi conquered it and it became a part of Italy. The Germans during the Second World War occupied it but the city revolted in 1943. Many Neapolitans died in a 4-day battle and in the subsequent reprisals.

Be ready for the stifling heat in summer. Everything you have heard about Naples is true: the Mafia, the way of driving and the chaos. First, the Mafia possesses a great power but it is not probable that this affect your travel. The Mafia gathers 5 different crime organizations. The most famous are the Sicilian Mafia and the Neapolitan Camorra. It is probable that you see in a wall some graffiti with a threat against one of the enemy "families" of the Camorra.

The contrast when compared to northern Italy is huge. We came from Florence . I can show you an example, our arrival to the train station. We hadn't got any booked accommodation, so we addressed to the tourist office. A man in front of the office approaches and tells us that he works in the tourist office. After a short while talking to us we realise that he is a man trying to rent his hotel or hovel. So we went towards the man inside the window. We guess that the tourist officer allowed the other men promoting their accommodations in exchange of a fee. When we were fed up with all this, we went to a telephone to search on our own with no success.

Finally we returned bad-tempered to the tourist office and surprisingly they gave us a list of hotels (that previously they didn't mention). Taking advantage of his "kindness" I asked him for a leaflet of monuments and timetables. He answered that everything was open always and some other stupidities. This bastard didn't feel like working much. We left him, we phoned and we founded a cheap decent hotel from the list near the main avenue, which attended us kindly.
When I describe it as decent I am talking about a medium room with a ventilator, some noise, there was no curtain in the shower and the bathroom tended to flood. One day we left all our belongings in one room before an excursion and we found them all in another room at night. They changed everything to another room when they saw the water in the bathroom, without asking us. And what's better, the bellboy, when he entered the room to make the bed (that we had left), he used to put all our things in perfect order. Very very weird.
The first day, when we were leaving the hotel to walk through Naples, the receptionist marked us some zones where we shouldn't stay since 20 h. He took the map and signed most of the city. However, the tourist part, that is located near the sea, is safe. "And don't even think about talking to anyone who address to you". I don't want to frighten you, because we followed the advice and we hadn't any problem at all. I know about some cases that tourists who paid attention to strangers were cheated, even with the police co-operation.

In Naples there is an important concentration of mad people. Also there are many foreigners, like in Milan.
A mistaken train timetables brochure (1 h. lost at the station) and an unemotional doorman that didn't allow us entering with 3 min. delay made us spend a whole afternoon trying to visit the Pompeii site. Along our disappointing way back to Naples I reminded the mum of the Naples tourist office man (other man different from the station). We had phoned him from Naples to ask about the timetables of Pompeii and he told us that it was open all the day.
After all this you may feel that Naples is not your favourite town. But this crazy chaos invading everything is one of the charms. You will get angry but afterwards you will remember it as an amusing anecdote. Go on reading to know about the marvels of the town.
On next day, after having some delicious typical cappuccinos and talking to the owner about the Real Madrid and the soccer player Zidane (all the Italians love soccer) we returned early in the morning to Pompeii, that I explain on next page.
We went back to Naples before noon and we walked to the tourist spots, that were located a bit far from the train station zone where we slept (30 min. on foot).

We started with the old town . Many people love it but in my opinion everything is dirty, untidy and with no attractive. Of course that it is lively because it reigns the mess, the hubbub and the Neapolitans shouting at other Neapolitans. There are no pedestrian streets and don't expect to guide by means of the tourist office map. The streets are one-way (the first-to-enter's way). We found the odd church of Old Jesus with its grey stone facade that resembles a palace because the church was built over a palace of 15th century and they didn't touch the frontal facade of the palace. The interior is majestic and Baroque.

When you reach the sea the first spot that calls your attention is the New Castle (Castel Nuovo) , an imposing bulk built from 1279 to 1282 by Charles I of Anjou as his residence. It has been modified in several moments, usually by the Spanish, throughout the ages. We contemplate a castle flanked with 5 big cylindrical towers of grey volcanic stone. At the entrance gate there is the arc of victory, dedicated to Alfonso I, who entered the town in 1443.

Nearby there us the monumental gallery dedicated the king Umberto I, built from 1887 to 1891. The facade is precious and the entire gallery is covered in glass. There are many shops and restaurants.
We didn't enter the outstanding theater of Saint Charles, built by Charles de Bourbon in 1737, later destroyed in a fire and reconstructed in 1816. It has been restored in successive restorations. It is the second in capacity, behind La Scala of Milan. It is very elegant, with 3000 seats, with 184 boxes in 6 levels. It is famous world-wide due to the perfect acoustics.

We reached the square of Plebiscite that is surrounded with two wonderful constructions, the Royal Palace and the Basilica of Saint Francisco of Paola. You may check in the tourist office if there is still the man who attended us. He seemed to be making a favour to us and kept his feet over the table all time. Perhaps he hasn't stood up since then. Apart from jokes, he gave us useful and abundant information.

The Royal Palace was completed from 1600 to 1602. It has been modified, enlarged and restored (after fires and bombings) throughout the next centuries.

Every king that stayed in Naples left his mark and we found sumptuous and luxurious rooms. There is even a theatre inside. As for this palace I have to add that the security during the visit is terrible, it approaches to the minimum. You can walk at every corner instead of the usual cordoned off paths displayed in European palaces.

On one side this freedom is nice but on the other you understand that anyone with bad intentions could cause an incalculable damage.
After the palace and the basilica you can enjoy the sea walk along the wonderful bay of Naples , with the volcano within sight.

You run into the Egg Castle , called like this due to the oval shape of its floor. It was erected in 1128 in the same spot than an ancient monastic settlement, and there are still some rests of it remaining. As everything in Naples, this castle has been transformed, rebuilt and even bombed in several occasions. The pleasant walk through it offers superb views of the bay, the town and the sea. Pay attention to a natural swimming pool close to the castle. I regretted not to wear swimming trunks, because the weather was brutally hot.

We were grateful for the walk across Villa Communal, nice and fresh gardens to recover the energy. Close to them there is the aquarium and the surroundings keep beautiful and colourful buildings.

There are many restaurants to have dinner along the maritime zone but the long distance to the hotel didn't allow us to enjoy the night here. We ate at some of the locals near the train station, either restaurants or fast food. The Neapolitan pizza is superb, many people says that this is the best around the world. It is quite different from the rest of Italy , but to be sincere I loved both sort of pizzas. From the rest of the town we didn't see other restaurants.
We missed a visit to the archaeological museum because it is isolated and far away from the rest of monuments. You can admire most objects founded in Pompeii or Herculaneum that have been conserved for centuries in a perfect state.
There are also some catacombs to visit, but we didn't go as we planned to see one of the Rome 's big catacombs.

A chapter apart is the driving across the city. There are no rules, no traffic lights (yes, there are some but they ignore them), no crosswalk, no signals. The motorbikes, without any helmet, circulate along the pavement and the cars make lane and direction changes in avenues with three lanes towards each way. The cars and motorbikes press the horn constantly to communicate to other drivers. The buses are crowded and it seems that the passengers are going to fly out to the road when the doors are opened. .

To cross the street is an impossible mission. You have to risk your life and walk praying that the cars stop. You have to be skilful. Try to cross at the same time than a Neapolitan, but keep some distance in case something goes wrong, and thus the Neapolitan would serve us a parapet. With the days you begin to feel confidence and you can cross on your own. You will get astonished, and take into account that I am from Spain and here we are supposed to drive badly. If you live in the North Europe be ready for the shock.

So you should estimate more than one day to visit Naples. There are many excursion options than could lengthen your stay: Ischia, Capri, Vesuvius, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Amalfi coastline, Sicily .....
Finally a pleasant final note. When you blow your nose at the end of the day the handkerchief gets black.the extreme pollution is another of the Neapolitan marvels.