Spoils of Napoli

[The Gooch]

Originally Posted by Manton

Right, you can tell that from one pic. Ah, Style Forum.

If they fit better than this, I would have chosen a better pic to post. just sayin'

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by The Gooch

If they fit better than this, I would have chosen a better pic to post. just sayin'
I don't have the time, money or inclination to hire a crew and pose like Vox, but thanks for the advice.

 

[The Gooch]

Originally Posted by Manton

I don't have the time, money or inclination to hire a crew and pose like Vox, but thanks for the advice.

Understood. I at least hope you've enjoyed your trip.

 

[forex]

Manton,
what are the prices of Solito jackets? Does solito make trousers at all or is it only jackets?

 

[Sam Hober]

Originally Posted by Manton

Beautiful suit and great ties - it looks like you had a wonderful vacation.

I looked at your suit photo several times and there is something classic about it that makes me think of Cary Grant.

The fit and finish looked like you would be comfortable in a boardroom or a dinner out.

And the color is perfect.

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by forex

Manton,
what are the prices of Solito jackets? Does solito make trousers at all or is it only jackets?

The US price is $2,100 for a coat, $1,800 if you bring the cloth. The Naples price may be cheaper, I don't know.

He does make trousers. The original arrangement he had with Ambrosi, however, was that for US customers ordering suits, Ambrosi would do the pants. But I saw many trousers in Solito's atelier.

 

[bullethead]

Manton,

did Luigi mention if/when he plans on returning to New York?

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by bullethead

Manton,

did Luigi mention if/when he plans on returning to New York?

December.

 

[bullethead]

thx

 

[aj_del]

Are the pants on these suits pleated or flat front ?

 

[greger]

Originally Posted by philosophe

Tall and lanky is a good look....

Not sure about tall, but the lanky is a good look. I'd much rather hear the skinny as rail than.....

 

[greger]

Originally Posted by Manton

The US price is $2,100 for a coat, $1,800 if you bring the cloth. The Naples price may be cheaper, I don't know.

I'm always amazed at the low price of custom suits. Seeing name brand suits priced at $7,000 and higher, and they are generic! Custom is so much better and at these low low prices something is wrong. Custom is a luxury above brand names, so bespoke should cost more! Perhaps the tables will turn in favor of the tailors. The price of $2,100 for a coat seems ridiculously low. No wonder why so many tailors went into the mtm business.

 

[Manton]

OK, general impressions.

The physical setting of the bay, the penninsulas, the islands, and the hills behind is spectacular. But the place is a mess. It's extremely dirty. Yes, there are piles of garbage everywhere, even in some of the ritziest areas. There is also loose garbage everwhere. Nobody cleans up after dogs. There are also a million strays. They seem to rule the town.

The graffiti problem is staggering. There seems to be no surface within reach of a human arm that is not tagged. Nothing is immune--public monuments, churches, Roman ruins, it's all defaced. The most amazing thing was that inside ancient buildings in Herculenaum -- these are buildings dating to ancient Rome -- people have graffitied. WTF? WTF?

There are some very lovely public spaces and streetscapes. Why they don't take better care of their town I cannot say.

The city is at once very foreign and very homogenous. Foreign in that there is no international feeling or presense at all. It's not like Rome or Milan (or Paris or London or New York). It's hard to find English language newspapers, even the FT, which I thought was ubiquitous throughout Europe. It does not feel like most of Europe, which is teeming with foreigners and Americans. In fact, it gets very few tourists and virtually no business travellers. A guide who took me around one day said that the tourist trade fell off a cliff decades ago and has never recovered. I know from reading that Naples used to be a major stop on the fabled "Grand Tour." English families would stay for weeks or longer, the principle attractions being the good weather and the Roman ruins. Not anymore. Cruise ships come into the harbor and take groups on tours to Pompeii but those are very tightly scripted. You just don't see tourists walking around as you would in any significant city from Rome north. You also see close to zero foreign-brand stores or restaurants.

I know Naples was founded by the Greeks has, historically, been ruled by French and Spanish dynasties but it's hard to see the traces today. The place is thoroughly, totally Italian. There are no immigrants. No one but hotel clerks and people in the most expensive shops speak English. There just is no need. I was able to get by with my book-learned pidgin Italian. It's not that hard.

I should say that one aspect of Spanish culture does remain: the town absolutely shuts down from 1 pm to 4 pm. Only the cafes and the the restaurants stay open. This is not really siesta time so much as time for everyone to go home for lunch. I gather it is a product of Naples' historic poverty. Families would go home to eat, even kids from school, because it's simply cheaper. So the long break not only allows for a long lunch but also travel time. The more affluent go to the restaurants.

Speaking of which. There is no Neapolitan equivalent of "fine dining" as one would find in NYC, London, Paris, Rome and the like. Nearly all of the places are, by our standards, absurdly cheap. They are also extremely similar. Mainstays are of course the famous pizzas, pasta, seafood, and simple preparations of veal and chicken, mostly pounded out flat, sauteed and served with a simple sauce. "Bistecca" will get you a thin-cut T-bone, quickly sauteed and served with drizzled oil, S&P and lemon juice. Quite different from the Bistecca Fiorentina.

I don't want to go on about the pizza, which has been the subject of much (some of it absurd) commentary here. Except to say that it was delicious, and not quite as radically different from NY-style pizza (which was invented by Neapolitan immigrants). Yes, it's different, but the idea that it's a wholly different food is overblown. The main differences are the cheese (it's not grated but rather thin slices of whole mozzarella), the tomatoes are much tastier (pureed whole, not sauce) and the dough is thinner, airier and chewier.

Because there are no tourists (at least few from outside Italy), there are no tourist restaurants. Anywhere you go is likely to be at least OK, and more or less authentic. I'm sure everyone has their "This is the best place, you must go here, OMG!!!" recs. I'm sure some of them are really good. But choosing most of my stops more or less at random, I never had a bad meal.

I noticed a great many small markets, butcher shops, pasta shops, wine shops, etc. Of course I had no kitchen so I had no way to cook and didn't buy anything, but the quality looked amazing. Prices were low.

I've mentioned earlier that its reputation for danger struck me as seriously overblown. I walked around everywhere, including in the Spanish Quarter and Spaccanapoli and never felt the least bit threatened. I don't think I am all that intimidating.

The streets are mostly very narrow. Many of them are mobbed with people and are, for all intents and purposes, pedestrian malls. Except they aren't. Cars go everywhere. Down streets you can't even see how they fit. Many streets that really ought to be one way are not. Many plazas are open to cars. They sometimes put up barriers, but if a car can fit around those, it will do it. The drivers are all nuts.

The streets in the Spanish Quarter are especially tight. I think if I stood in the middle on some of them my outstretched arms could touch the buildings on either side.

People really tend to live on the streets. That is, apart from the witching hour, when I was the only one out there. By 5 pm the streets are teeming again and they stay that way late. The place is mobbed with kids. Naples is unusual for Italy (which has a very low birthrate) in that the population is young. Lots of kids. Lots of toy stores and baby stores.

The kids are not punks. I would have to walk through waves of them after late dinners and never felt uncomfortable. They are not drunk, not fighting, not ill behaved at all. I saw much smaller crowds in Northampton by comparision that were really intimidating and that I tried to avoid.

It does appear that no one in Italy gets drunk, ever.

I was there to do some stuff with the Navy. I won't dwell on this point except to say [vox]that the Commander of the 6th Fleet's villa in Posillipo was really spectacular[/vox].

I will move onto the stuff that people really care about in the next post.

 

[Bhowie]

Thanks for the post Manton

 

[The Gooch]

Very interesting, thanks for posting.