Un Fine Settimana Con La Mia Famiglia Napoletano

     The first weekend in December Katrina and I visited our Italian family in Naples. Although we have family in multiple cities in Italy, including Ravenna and Rome, most of our relatives live in Naples. When we visited Italy with our entire family two years ago, we spent a few days there and were able to enjoy a typical Italian feast with our Napoletano relatives. In all there were probably close to 50 of us and although there was a bit of a language barrier and us younger cousins were meeting many of them for the first time, we all had an absolutely wonderful time. So this time around Katrina and I were very excited to get to see everyone.


Flashback to family dinner in Naples, 2008. Only a tiny portion of everyone!

          We met up in Rome on Thursday night, and were driven down to Naples by our Uncle Tonino's brother in law (it was so nice of him to pick us up!). After driving for three hours through a huge thunderstorm we finally arrived at Tonino's house in Napoli at 1:00 in the morning. Tonino (short for Antonio) is one of our Italian relatives that we are very close to. He comes to visit our family in America every year and he joined us for much of our trip throughout Italy two years ago. When we arrived we were greeted with hugs and kisses and Tonino made us a little snack (even though we told him we weren't hungry!) of mozzarella, tomatoes, and some bread. He plopped a huge ball of mozzarella on each of our plates and of course we ate every bite.
     On Friday, we spent the entire day exploring the city of Napoli led by our wonderful tour guide, Tonino. The first two places we visited were the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, and Sansevero Chapel. The Museum had a huge collection of Greek and Roman antiquities (mostly statues), and the Sansevero Chapel contained many amazing sculptures including a very famous and extremely beautiful piece by Giuseppe Sanmartino named the Christo Velato (Veiled Christ). It was absolutely incredible. The sculpture of Jesus draped in a veil from head to toe was so perfect and life like that I couldn't believe it had been carved out of marble. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but here's what it looks like. The picture doesn't do it justice, so if you are ever in Naples I would highly recommend going to see it.

     After seeing the Veiled Christ we stopped for a little sweet bite at a famous pasticceria (pastry shop) called Scaturchio. Katrina and I each had one of Naples most famous pastries. It is called sfogliatella and is basically a flaky croissant with an orange flavored ricotta filling with powdered sugar sprinkled on top. It was yummy, but I'm not a huge fan of ricotta, thus the cannoli remained my favorite Italian pastry.

    

     Once we had finished our pastries and had dusted the powdered sugar from our coats we continued on our adventure through Naples. First we visited two famous streets: Spaccanopoli and Via San Gregorio Armeno. Spaccanapoli is the main street in Naples that seems to split the city in half. The name literally means "split Naples" and dates back to Greek and Roman times. Here are some pictures from down on the street and one from above.

Trina and I right outside of the pasticerria on Spaccanpoli



Vendor selling fruit on the street

Spaccanapoli is the street in the center of the picture leading to the tall buildings

     Next we visited Via San Gregorio Armeno: a street which is very famous for its "presepe" (nativity scenes). The entire street is lined with shops filled with hand made presepe, and accessories and figurines to decorate them with. They include people (including Joseph and Mary), animals, food, houses, trees, wells, and even waterfalls powered by an electric engine. The presepe are a big part of the tradition in Naples and almost every Napoletano has one to display in their homes during the Christmas season. It was really cool being able to visit the street during Christmas time because we were able to see it during the peak of it's season: the street was bustling with people and we even got to see some of the presepe being made!

Via San Gregorio Armeno

Baby presepe...

...Big presepe!
(A man was actually working behind it when we took this picture...
you can see his legs under the table lol)

Very famous presepe shop. Tonino said it was one of the best.

     After walking around for a few hours we were starving and decided that it was time for lunch. Being that Naples is home of the pizza, and is believed to have the best in the world, Katrina and I had decided before we even arrived in the city that we had to have pizza for one of our meals. Katrina did her homework and found a list of the 10 best pizzeria's in Naples. The one we chose to go to was "Pizzeria Da Michele". Maybe this sounds familiar to you? Well, it might be because this is the pizzeria Julia Roberts visited in her movie Eat, Pray, Love. When we got there, there was a line out the door and we had to take a number, but thankfully the wait wasn't too long and we were seated within 10 minutes.

Outside Da Michele waiting to be seated... Tonino is holding up our ticket lol

     Once we were inside the small, but packed restaurant we sat down at a table, ordered 3 Coke's and 3 Margherita pizza's and then waited excitedly for our food to arrive. One thing I love about Italy is that when you order a pizza, you order it for yourself. Unlike in the United States, pizza's in Italy are rarely shared. And although these "personal" pizza's are quite large, they are almost always completely devoured by the diner  with absolutely no regret. (And yes I speak from personal experience). Another thing I love about pizza in Italy is that it is so cheap! They usually range in price from 4-10 Euro (often depending on the toppings) and the one's we had at Da Michele were only 4 Euro each!

     After a short wait, our pizza's finally arrived. We took a few pictures, then grabbed a knife and fork and  dug in. The pizza was delicious! Unfortunately, once we got down to our last few bites we realized how stuffed we were and that there was no way anymore pizza would fit into our stomach's. Although we were sad we couldn't finish our pizza, we left Da Michele extremely satisfied with our choice.  

Mangia, Mangia!

So sad we couldn't finish our pizza!

Picture of the men of Da Michele with Julia Roberts when she came to film Eat, Pray, Love!

       After lunch we visited more of our Italian family. First we visited Luca (Tonino's son) and his family. Luca had just had ACL surgery so he was stuck in bed, but we got to chat with his wife and 3 kids which was very nice. Next we visited Zia Dora at work. She owns two clothing stores and we got to tour them. They were beautiful! Afterwards we went with Zia Dora to her son Simone's house to visit his wife Monica and their two children, Giordana and Samuele. It was my fist time meeting this part of the family and they were wonderful. Although Monica didn't speak very much English she was so nice, and Giordana who is only 5 years old was absolutely adorable. She loves the Disney princesses and had a big blanket with all of them on it. She was even wearing Sleeping Beauty's dress. She was so cute! And Samuele who was only a few months old, was precious as well.

Giordana and I
 Isn't she beautiful?!

     That night we went over to Zia Dora and her husband Aldo's apartment for dinner and were joined by    even more of our Italian family (in all there were 12 of us)! We had an assortment of meats and cheeses (my favorite!), some yummy cooked eggplant, and then for dessert we had an assortment of nuts and some lemon cake. The lemon cake was so good, Katrina and I took it home for breakfast the next day.

     The best part of the whole evening was getting to visit with our family. Although most of them do not speak English very well, and communication was difficult at times, I actually found myself focusing less on the words that were being said, and more on the feelings that I felt. My Mom always says "It's not what you say, but how you say it" ...and I feel like this quote perfectly described the night. Although I might not have been able to understand everything that was being said, I could tell that it was all coming from a place of love. Every word and face expression was filled with happiness, excitement, and love. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I was so happy the entire dinner and couldn't stop smiling!

Top Row (left to right): Zio Aldo, Zia Dora, Zia Ana Maria, Lina,
Zio Frank and Zia Carmela
Bottom Row: Zio Aeros, Katrina, Me, Alessandro and Claudia
(Tonino took the picture)

      

     The next day Tonino, Katrina and I were joined by our cousin Gianluca who drove down from Rome to visit for the day. Gianluca is an eccentric Italian man who always has a smile on his face, and is a little "pazzo" (crazy) but in a good way! He has visited America a few times and serves as one of our main connections between our family in Italy and America. Our first stop was Castel Sant'Elmo (Sant'Elmo Castle). Castel Sant'Elmo (which really looks more like a fortress than a castle) is located on top of a hill that overlooks all of Naples as well as the Mediterranean Sea. Although the castle wasn't anything exciting, the view was stunning!

Naples Harbor and Mt. Vesuvius in the background

Myself, Tonino and Katrina

Gianluca, myself, Tonino

     After visiting Castel Sant'Elmo we made our way down the hill and met up with Tonino's son, Marco, and his two year old daughter, Sofia. Marco is married to Brunella and they came to America for their honeymoon in 2006. It was the first time that all of us cousins met Marco and Brunella and we absolutely loved them. We thought they were the cutest couple ever and knew that they would have the most beautiful babies! So when they had Sofia we were all so excited. Up until our visit to Naples, Katrina and I had seen many gorgeous pictures of Sofia on Facebook, but we were so excited to finally meet her in person! Sofia is "bellissima" (SO beautiful). She has light brown hair, olive skin, and beautiful blue eyes! When you ask her "Come ti chiami" (What's you name?) she replies "Miomamo" because she can't pronounce her whole name which is Maria Sofia Monaco. It's the cutest thing!

Tonino and beautiful Sofia

     We greeted each other with many "baci e abbracci" (hugs and kisses) and then made our way to our second stop of the day: Palazzo Reale (The Royal Palace). But first we stopped for a snack. Another famous pastry in Naples is called "Baba". We had Baba' al Rum which is a sponge like sweet bread dipped in rum and a sugar syrup. Might sound good, but it was disgusting! The soggy/mush like consistency along with the overpowering taste of Rum made me want to gag. I was having a really hard time eating it, but I didn't want to be rude so I ate as much as I could. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore so I sneaked off and threw it in the trash.

     For lunch we met up with some of our family at "Da Ettore", a restaurant that is known for it's eggplant pizza. It was on Katrina's list of best pizzeria's in Naples and our family was nice enough to make us a reservation there. We enjoyed some meats and cheese for appetizers, and then Katrina and I split the eggplant pizza which was delicious! 



Marco (Gianluca's brother) and his girlfriend, Tonino and Sofia, Claudia and her son Alessandro,
Marco and his wife Brunella, Gianluca, Katrina, Me, and Brunella's mom after finishing our wonderful meal.



     After lunch we all grabbed a yummy cappucino, and then myself, Trina, Tonino, Gianluca, Marco, Sofia, Brunella and her mom headed to Castel dell'Ovo: a castle right on the coast of Naples. Sofia loves "il mare" so on our way we stopped at a harbor. While we were there this little kitten kept following Sofia and walking around and between her legs. She wasn't quite sure what to think of it and it was so funny to watch her reaction.

The kitten wouldn't leave Sofia alone! lol

Trina and I with Vesuvius in the background.

In the boat with Sofia!

I love this picture of Sofia and her daddy!

     Castel dell'Ovo (Egg Castle) was built in the 12th century. It's unique name comes from a legend that say that the Roman poet Virgil (who also had a reputation as a sorcerer) put a magical egg in the foundation of the castle in order to support it. When we first arrived the sky was very dark and ominous and by the time we left it was raining so hard that the men went out in the rain to find taxi's for us girls.

We kept trying to take a picture together, but it was too windy!

Even though it was dark and gloomy, I thought it was actually very beautiful

Me, Brunella and Katrina. It started raining when we
were taking this picture. We were getting soaked!

    That night for dinner Tonino, Gianluca, Katrina, and I had dinner at Zio Aeros and Zia Anna Maria's apartment. Their apartment was so cute. The table was nicely set, and they had a beautifully decorated Christmas tree which made me feel so at home. Before we ate Zia Anna Maria gave Katrina and I each a beautiful scarf, we loaded pictures I had taken thus far in Naples from my camera to the TV so we could all look at them, Gianluca brought out a bunch of old photos from when he visited America, some of which even had Katrina and I in them, Zia Anna Maria gave Trina a big warm snow coat so she could take it to Vienna with her (that was her next stop) and Tonino was even able to sneak in a little nap! 

Beautiful Christmas tree

Katrina in her new big snow coat! lol

Tonino was exhausted!

     For dinner we had a wonderful 4 course meal: meats and cheeses for appetizers, pasta with a yummy sauce, sausage and potatoes for the meat course, and then dessert. For dessert, Gianluca prepared us a special treat. If you remember my blog from Ravenna, my cousin Manuel introduced me to nutella bomboloni (basically a donut with nutella inside). I fell in love and ever since my trip to Ravenna I was in search of nutella bomboloni in Florence...but to no avail. So, when I went to Naples, I asked all of my family members if they had heard of it. Sadly, they had no idea what I was talking about... but, Gianluca being the amazing guy he his, bought sweet bread, and a type of chocolate/hazelnut spread (he said it was one of his favorites) and made us his own version of "bomboloni". It was so thoughtful and kind of him and they were actually really good! In addtion to our "bomboloni", we also had some cherry gelato, and opened a nice bottle of champagne which was delicious.

     I was so sad when it was time to leave, because I had had such a wonderful time. Between practicing my Italian with Zia Anna Maria, trying to help Gianluca's pronounce the word "milk" correctly (he kept pronouncing it "meelk" no matter how many times Katrina and I tried to help him! lol), eating the amazing food that Zia Anna Maria had prepared for us, and just enjoying the company of my family, I didn't want it to end. 

     On our last day in Naples, Katrina and I got up early and accompanied Tonino to the city of Baia Domizia. Baia Domizia is an hour north of Naples and is a popular summer beach town. Our Napoletano family owns a few condo's here and they visit often in the hot summer months. During our trip to Italy in 2008 Katrina and her sister Karisa stayed an extra week and got to spend a few days in Baia Domizia with the Italian family. Being that it was winter when Katrina and I visited with Tonino, it was completely deserted. The condo pools were drained, there were no cars and the only people there were the owner's of the condo complexes. It was so weird! Although I felt like I was in a ghost town the beach was beautiful and it was cool getting to see where my Italian family spends a lot of time in the summer. Hopefully one day I will get to enjoy a few summer days in Baia Domizia with my family!

Squalo Beach at Baia Domizia. Squalo Beach translates to "Shark Beach"... Let's just say I'm pretty sure I would never go to a beach named "Shark Beach" in the States...Those Italian are fearless!

After a weekend of being fed extremely well and practically having to be rolled out of every building after we ate, we coined the term "fat panda"

We also coined the term "energizer panda" (you can't tell from the picture, but it involves the panda ears while jumping up and down) in honor of Tonino who has an incredible amount of energy! He took us around all of Naples for the entire weekend and never slowed down! I think he had more energy than we did!  

When we were leaving the beach at Baia Domizia Katrina and were jumping up and down doing "energizer panda" and talking about how it perfectly described Tonino. Tonino, not understanding what we were saying, kept looking at us like we were crazy. We tried to explain to him that he was like the energizer bunny (lol it took us a while to translate "bunny") and eventually got him to do energizer panda for us. It was great.  

     The day before, Tonino had asked Trina and I what we wanted to make for lunch before we left for the train station. We decided to make Caprese sandwiches so on our way back from Baia Domizia we stopped to buy our ingredients. We bought tomatoes, bread, and fresh buffalo mozzarella produced in an area close to Naples. When we got back to Tonino's apartment we had about an hour before we had to leave so Trina, Tonino and I went straight to work on our sandwiches. We made four sandwiches, two for lunch, and two for our dinner when we got back to Florence and they were absolutely amazing! One of the best Caprese sandwiches I have ever had!

Cutting the mozzarella

Trina and Tonino adding a little olive oil

Our caprese sandwiches: tomatoes, fresh buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil, and a little olive oil

About to bite into my sandwich!

     After we devoured our sandwiches we hopped in Tonino's tiny car (tiny cars are all the rage in Italy-probably because the streets are so small!) and headed to the train station. Tonino was so nice. He walked us inside the station, helped us with our bags and even waited 15 minutes until our train left the platform!

     As we made our way North to Florence I couldn't help but reflect on our amazing weekend in Naples. Being able to spend time with my family, getting to know them better, and actually being able to converse with them (now that I can speak a little bit of Italian) was amazing. Everyone was so kind and welcoming (especially our amazing tour guide Tonino!) and I felt so at home. I can't wait to return so that I can spend more time with my wonderful Napoletano family!