The Tripperia

Nook of Naples: Most Neapolitans prefer to buy their groceries, shoes, clothing, and electronic equipment at the bevy of open markets around the city. The most famous is located along via Pignasecca where locals haggle for clothes or shoes and seafood vendors display their catch in huge shallow tins. Any day of the week, visitors can push through the throngs and experience the blessings of quintessential retail therapy.

But somewhere along the way, lunch is in order. What better place to stop than the Tripperia Trattoria that advertises fresh tripe in a glass case surrounded by lemons?

Mmmmmmm. I must admit that I've never tried this culinary delicacy myself, but I would love to hear about someone else's experience.

Getting There: Get out at the Montesanto Funicular, Circumvesuviana, or Metro Station and turn right. Otherwise, walk down Via Toledo and once you reach Piazza Carita, take a left onto via Pignasecca. The Tripperia is along this road on the left hand side.

Caffe Granita

The Espresso Break: Summer is here and it's already hot, hot, hot! But fear not. The Neapolitans have just the right beverage for this season. My children usually beg me to get the granita whenever we pass a street vendor. The drink comes in many flavors (their favorites are strawberry and lime). The granita is essentially a slushy with soft flakes of ice and sweet syrups mixed together in a special granita blender.


But the drink also comes in an adult version -- slushy ice mixed with espresso. Served in a glass or in a plastic espresso-shot cup da portare (to go), a granita is made by putting hot espresso in the freezer for a few hours until slushy, but not frozen.

I had the Caffe Granita at Arx Caffe, located along the road between Castel Sant'Elmo and the Certosa di San Martino. The beverage has a grainy texture, so it's usually drunk slowly in small sips.

The Arx Cafe also has tables and chairs upstairs where you can admire the stellar view of Naples.

The Siren with a hidden tomb: Parthenope

The Odious Women Tour: The origins of Naples trace back to an odious woman – the siren, Parthenope. Greek colonizers landed on the Campania shores around the eighth century B.C. and first founded the acropolis town of Cuma. From there, they ventured down to the Bay where they settled in a city they named Parthenope. Soon, they founded an additional city attached to Parthenope, which they called Neapolis or the New City.

From a purely mythological standpoint, Homer’s character Odysseus sailed through much of the boot of Italy, and perhaps sailed north, where he passed Parthenope along the island of Nisida. Of course, I'd like to claim this legend since I live in Naples.

Interestingly, the sirens were portrayed in Greek vases as birds with human faces. The Roman writer, Ovid, codified this idea when he wrote that the sirens were companions to Persephone. When she was abducted by Hades, the sirens couldn't find her and begged to have wings. Demeter granted their wish, giving them sticks for legs, wings, and yet let them retain their female faces and human voice.

But beyond the legends -- could Parthenope have been a real person? Strabo (63/64 B.C. – 24 A.D.), the traveling Greek historian and geographer, mentioned that the tomb of Parthenope existed near Neapolis and a torch race was held every year in her honor. Could this tomb still lie somewhere beneath the city?

Today, a sliver of the ancient Greek foundations can be visited in Piazza Bellini. Perhaps Parthenope lies close by:

Or perhaps she lies along the street Neapolitans named after her -- the Via Parthenope:

Or perhaps she lies beneath the Castel dell'Ovo and her ghost knows the location of Virgil's Egg. While the castle we see today was built by the Normans, the Greeks from Cuma settled first along this small island:

Interestingly, the Italian word ‘Sirena’ today does not mean siren or bird, but ‘mermaid’ – a creature of the sea.

The Roman Cistern

The Underground Tour: Piscina Mirabilis is the largest Roman Cistern still in existence today. Divided into five longitudinal sections supported by pillars, the Romans collected water brought by an aqueduct from the River Serino. Scholars disagree about who used this water tank. The cistern may have supplied water to the navy fleet stationed at Miseno about one kilometer away (See Misenum) or it might have provided water to nearby villas.

In order to visit, you must first call a number and make a reservation. Then go to the cistern at the appointed hour, walk down a nearby block, and ask the locals how to get in. They will point. Follow the fingers until you reach an apartment complex where a woman comes out with her toddler – and a key in hand.

The woman walks with you to the cistern and opens the doors. She refuses to go inside. Instead, she waits at the top while visitors explore by themselves, trekking down steep metal steps and into a mossy cavern.

Constructed during the Augustan period, the cistern measures 70 meters long, 25.5 meters wide, and 15 meters tall. Dug into the tufo, it has two entrances. The first is by way of metal stairs. The second is on the opposite end, but the tufo stairs currently only lead to dirt. The middle nave lies one meter below the rest of the structure and served as a decantation pool for periodic cleansing and emptying of the cistern. The walls of the cistern were once covered with a thick layer of waterproof cocciopesto (signinum). The water capacity could reach 12,600 cubic meters and the Romans created hydraulic machines on the roof terrace that pumped the water.

Twelve small rooms covered by barrel vaults were added to the cistern in the 1st through 2nd century A.D. in order to increase the power of the hydraulic system. These rooms can still be seen along the outside wall of the cistern.

Visiting these ruins, one wonders if they only tell a smidgeon of the tale – if Roman technology was this advanced, did they perhaps have even better developed technologies than we do today, but their knowledge is lost to time?

Getting There: Via Piscina Mirabile, Bacoli Call to make reservations at: 39 081 5233199