Italy in May - Recommendations please

[mactire]

I've been to Naples twice this year, each time for a week, and never visited Sorrento (or even left the city). Naples is a great city, but if you're looking for a truly relaxing experience, Sorrento and such might be the better choice.

You can spend weeks in Naples seeing sights and having a good time. I'd recommend staying close to the university, around Piazzetta Nilo. No idea if there are upper class hotels, but there very likely are. Anyway, it's super central--but nonetheless you should expect to walk a fair bit in Naples; public transport usually doesn't make much sense and you're better off walking--, quite touristy of course, lively student life, great cafés, a lot of sights in close proximity. The better pizzerias are very close too, if you're into that. Streets are full and vibrant at night. If you need help with sights to see, I can help you. Regarding evening activities, I think you're looking for more "upper class" options. If you're looking for a down to earth activity with a beautiful sunset, let me know.

I'll be there in May, would love suggestions if you have any. A great café, good pastries, a market/brocante, bookshop or record shop if you'd care to share? As for down to earth, that'd be great too. The last time I was there I went to cafés and restaurants at random, or down streets from the Corso Umberto I.

 

[thecuff]

Have you thought about Positano at all? Stayed there for 5 nights and loved every second of it. Easy access to Capri, Naples and Sorrento if desired but if you enjoy the beach you probably won't want to leave. Some amazing restaurants and just a stunningly beautiful place overall. Have plenty of recommendations if you're interested.

www.thecuff.co/positano

 

[chobochobo]

I can recommend Sicily, nip over from Naples

 

[marcodalondra]



I'll be there in May, would love suggestions if you have any.  A great café, good pastries, a market/brocante, bookshop or record shop if you'd care to share?  As for down to earth, that'd be great too.  The last time I was there I went to cafés and restaurants at random, or down streets from the Corso Umberto I.

Must see if only for a few days in Naples:

- Cappella Sansevero with his Veiled Christ (a BBC recent program mentioned as a reason by itself to visit Naples)
- San Lorenzo church and the access to the Roman/Greek ruins under the church complex
-Pio Monte della Misericordia Chapel with a unique Caravaggio

Best Espresso in the City: Bar Mexico in Piazza Dante
Best location for a coffee Gambrinus

Bookshops in the near Via Port'Alba

Pastry shops:
Pintauro on Via toledo for the Traditional Sfogliatella
Scaturchio in Piazza San Domenico for general pastries

Best Pizza in the world: 50 Kalò - Piazza Sannazzaro
Second best pizza in the world, very traditional place: da Michele, Via Cesare Sersale

Great modern cuisine : Crudo Re e Napoli Mia, both not far from Marinella Boutique.

Always a good meal: Ristorante Umberto- Via Alabardieri.

Please note that in May, many museum are either free to visit or there are Palaces/Church that are normally close to visitors that open for that month only.

 

[b1os]



I'll be there in May, would love suggestions if you have any.  A great café, good pastries, a market/brocante, bookshop or record shop if you'd care to share?  As for down to earth, that'd be great too.  The last time I was there I went to cafés and restaurants at random, or down streets from the Corso Umberto I.

Ah, didn't see this. mracdalondra's recommendations are good, here's my take. You might've already seen/visited/done a lot of them last time, but anyway:

Take a look at these museums/attractions:

Cappella Sansevero and Pio Monte della Misericordia are a must
Castel Sant'Elmo is a must too for the views
If you like archaeology, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale is definitely worth a try
Sant'Anna dei Lombardi with a Vasari
Gesù Nuovo
The city gates, you'll see them by exploring the city
Purgatorio ad Arco (at least from the outside, you'll very likely walk past it at least once)
Cimitero delle Fontanelle is very impressive, but a little harder to reach. (we practically walked everywhere)
Metro stations: most of them were designed by various designers. The most notable ones are Università and Toledo.
The Palazzo Reale is also supposed to be nice, we never got around to see it.
There are a few supposedly impressive underground tours, we never tried them out.


Caffè:

All Bar Mexicos are pretty good. Generally, if the caffè is filled with locals, it probably won't be bad. And it only costs up to one € anyway. My personal favorite is a smal caffè in Via Pasquale Scura, close to Via Pignasecca. I'm not exactly sure what the name is, but it might be Il Baretto di Emilia Esposito in Via Scura Pasquale 12. The owners are a middleaged couple. It's on the left side of the street if you're walking towards Via Pignasecca. Pretty small and long, like 10x3m or so. Very friendly owners and good caffè. Also noteworthy: the Coppola bakery at Via Pignasecca (you'll walk right into it when you arrive via Via Scura Pasquale) is good. They also sell small salty pastry that are very nice, especially as a snack when you're enjoying the sunset. The one with prosciutto and herbs was my favorite:

20 meters or so to the right is "ragnani" (you'll see the Mozzarella DOP sign), they sell salami, prosciutto, porchetta etc and cheese. Their mozzarella di bufala is very good.

I'm not sure how accustomed you are to the caffè culture, but this is basically the process if you want to drink a caffè at the counter: you buy a "ticket" for your caffè (there's usually a dedicated register). You then give the ticket to the "barrista" (or rather lay it on the counter). Caffès are usually 70-90 cents, so you leave about 20 cents of tip with the ticket on the counter. Also, a word of caution: the cups are preheated in boiling water, so they're very hot. You'll get used to it. Also, caffè is drunk at practically all times. In the morning, before lunch, after lunch, before dinner, after dinner, at the end of the work day etc. Lovely culture. If you want to make sure you don't want sugar added to it, order it amaro. Sometimes, although rarely, they add sugar themselves.

I've never stayed in a caffè, only ever drank them at the counter, but Gambrinus is probably the most beautiful to stay at.

Bookshops can be found in Via Port'Alba, true. They're mostly old shops that sell used/antique books, iirc. One is also a bar (Libreria Berisio).

Pizza:

I'd stay clear of Sorbillo. The largest one, very modern, just doesn't feel right. Very much a "see and be seen" atmosphere, the pizza wasn't great either (too charred). Let me just say that to me, the degree of charring is very crucial. If needs to have charring, but it shouldn't taste predominantly like bitter ash--sadly, that happens quite often. Spots of bitterness are ok, but not if every single bite is bitter. Obviously, there's a good deal of variance involved, so it may be good one day and bad the next.
At Sorbillo's the pizza was too bitter. Their mozzarella di bufala pizza is also quite pricy. Generally, don't always choose the bufala one, fior di latte can be equally good, sometimes even better (da Michele only offers fior di latte, for example).

The pizzeria we went the most to is Di Matteo. The atmosphere is nice and authentic (it varies from room to room though, and upstairs is definitely better), the people are friendly and not plastic robots like at Sorbillo. The audience is a mix of tourists and locals. The pizza might not be the very #1, but it's definitely up there, and the charring is very consistent.

Da Michele's atmosphere is great too. Plus it's relatively relaxed as in they don't make you feel like you should leave asap after having eaten the pizza. The first time, the pizza was great. The second time, it was way too charred--bummer.

The best pizza we've had might have actually been at Pizzeria Starita. All around very good, their arancini etc were also the best. Not sure if it's the same quality in NYC. The lady at the entrance is also very friendly, the atmosphere inside wasn't good, sadly. It was the only place they were super hectic and we felt like we were on a clock. It was also the only place we've eaten dessert at, yet they still were pushy. The 2nd time we just took a margherita to go and ate it at the next bench (on our way to Cimitero delle Fontanelle, iirc).

We've tried one or two other pizzerias listed/reviewed among the best ones, none were as good as the ones above.

Try to stay clear of wine when eating pizza. It's usually not good.

Restaurants:

We've mainly eaten pizza. One recommendation I can make though: Antica Tripperia O'Russ. If you aren't completely turned off by tripes, and can make your way up there, try it out. Cheap and good.
Tandem Ragù is also not bad for some ragù napoletano. You might want to do some research for a restaurant that serves ziti alla Genovese if you're staying longer.

The best sunsets in the city:

Obviously, Castel Sant'Elmo is very much up there, however, they close too early in spring/Summer. When we were there in January, we could enjoy the complete sunset with a great view on Napoli and Vesuvio:

Nonetheless, you can visit it during the day and enjoy the view. You can hike up there but I wouldn't recommend it in May. There's a tram and such that get you close to the entry.

So in June, we had to improvise and find a new spot. We found a great one. It's basically the far end of one of the "docks"/protective barriers, at a lighthouse. You can see it on the above pictures in the top right. It's pretty easily reached:

At (1), there is a free-to-use elevator that takes you down to sea level. Otherwise you have to walk a bit further. We found the elevator after the 2nd time we were there. Then you just pass through the park and enter the marina, walk past the marina club and take the stairs onto the protective wall thingy. Walk to the lighthouse or so and enjoy. Mostly locals there. From there, you have a roundabout view of all things that side of the bay and vesuvio.

Here's a few crappy pictures (the smartphone camera is pretty ******), but at least you can get a bit of a feel of what it's like (there's a real path, as you can see on the 2nd picture--you don't have to climb over rocks) :

The problem with red wine in May/June is, obviously, that it can get too hot outside, so we chilled the wine at our airbnb flat, made ice cubes, put them in a ziplock and chilled the wine that way while we made our way to the dock. It's still a bit chilled then and doesn't warm up to too warm temperatures since the sun is setting. Gotta be prepared.

Some other recommendations:

Enoteca Dante at Piazza Dante. Large selection, good prices.

Cammarota Spritz. You should definitely check it out at least once. Aperol Spritz for 1 € a cup. Not the greatest you'll ever have, obviously, but it feels right. Even the mayor of Napoli visits this institution once and again. There's also a popular trattoria nearby, with singing/screaming waiters, I stayed clear of it though. Felt artificial.

For nightlife, if you just want to enjoy it out on the streets, stay close to the university. From, say, Piazza San Domenico Maggiore to Piazza Bellini the streets are filled with people--be it January or June. For a late night snack, check out Friggitoria Verace at Vico S. Pietro a Maiella, 13. They sell fried fish/seafood that was really good. (Frigittoria Vomero, fwiw, was utterly disappointing, but maybe we didn't buy the right things)

That's all I can think of for now. Anyway, enjoy your trip!

 

[mactire]

Thanks to all and especially b1os and Marco for taking the time to write such detailed recommendations. I shall have to reflect on them and see how much I can fit in.

 

[Marco Storari]

I grew up half in the United States but went to Italy every year as my entire family lives there

I do not have hotel suggestions for the reason above, but I do highly suggest to visit the following:

Cagliari - Absolutely breathtaking
Roma - You can "see" everything in 2 days for sure; I wouldn't spend more than 3 days there (Eat at Dar Poeta and get the bufala)
Amalfi Coast is literally just chilling, albeit beautiful chilling - Stay as long as you enjoy laying on the beach and eating at restaurants and resting
Napoli - I think 2 days is good here (Eat at La Figla del Presidente)
Milan - Never actually been; Am dying to go

 

[romafan]

Just a quick add-on for the Napoli-bound: I've recently discovered the Commissario Ricciardi series of detective stories by Maurizio de Giovanni set in pre-WWII Naples...recommended!

 

[marcodalondra]

I see you are looking for recommendation for gelato in the other thread. Two clear favourite:

Bilancione on Via Posillipo and Fantasia Gelati in Piazza Vanvitelli.

When I was a teenager I used to like Remy Gelo in mergellina who did cold Limoncello and Lemon Pastry cream filled Baba.... as well as nice ice creams.

La Scimmia n Piazza Carità was also historically good but the last few times I have been (with three young kids you get to ice cream places every time you are in town) was nothing remarkable .

 

[b1os]

Gay Odin's ice cream was decent too, iirc.

 

[size38r]

Well if any of you guys are around and wanna grab a drink sometime....

 

[EddyP]

I would recommend visiting the south of the country, especially Sicily...it is stunning.