Napoli keeps me waiting, and keeps me coming back. Buses can be late, the metro has unexpected emergency stops, but somehow equilibrium (if chaos has equilibrium) is restored.
In Napoli, shop employees are more likely to look up from their phones when you enter than in any other major city.
Sweets are sweeter, coffee is stronger, servings are larger, voices are louder.
By blind luck, I found a Strega store (Strega is a liqueur made in Benevento) at the underground mall at the train station, just below the ongoing construction in Piazza Garibaldi. My B&B (Sweet Sleep, about €45/single with breakfast) is a few blocks away, a walk through what many would describe as a gritty area. The B&B is an oasis, once you find .10€ for the elevator. More about that. The breakfast is immense, homemade sweets, eggs, wurstel, omelettes and veggie-filled phyllo pastries, portioned so you can sample many. Fresh fruit, yogurt, cereal, milk, juice, made-to-order coffee, bread and jam. Some specialties are rotated throughout the week, it's never exactly the same buffet twice. A metaphor for Napoli.
EDIT: pay elevators were common in residential buildings at least from the sixties, some still have them. Storekeepers are very understanding when you ask for your change to consist of as many .10€ pieces as they can spare, they know what it's for.
Rooms are spacious, with a/c and fridges. I usually turn off the a/c during the night and open the windows. The traffic rhythm puts me to sleep. On the opposite side of the rooftop breakfast room is a seating area with daybeds, chairs, a jacuzzi and a sauna. Yes, a sauna. On the roof. In Napoli. For less than €50.
Yesterday I went to Santa Chiara, San Domenico, and the Capella San Severo. The much-touted sculpture of the veiled Christ was underwhelming, more a sophisticated exercise in carving and polishing techniques. Still, there was a line of people gazing at it (including me), many clearly in awe (not me).
I smile to myself as I realize that I still haven't seen all of Napoli, and I have to return.