Finally, Part 3 - Italy on our own. We begin with our two full days in Lecce. This city is known for Baroque architecture and churches. Rightly so. Over the top, not necessarily elegant and rarely sublime. It was nice to slow down, enjoy the passeggiata, gelato, and relative lack of crowds. One highlight was the Museo Castromediano. Its archaeological section pulled a lot together. The amphorae (vessels transported by ship to trade or carry wine, olive oil, and pitch) were impressive, as were pottery, tools, funerary items, and sculpture from neolithic through Greek and Roman times. This was a very nice museum and echoed much of what we saw in the museum at Agrigento on our RS Sicily tour. While Agrigento may have had more artifacts, here we saw wonderful videos showing the marine archaeology and historical context for so much that we saw while cycling Puglia the previous week. The museum also had art from the 17th century that did nothing for us, as well as enchanting works by Puglian artists from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Next, we drove to the Cilento coast (southern Campania) via Matera and Basilicata. We had limited time in Matera, but enjoyed a lovely lunch with a view of the centro storico and we went through some of the sassi (particularly, San Nicola dei Greci), caves carved out stone a thousand years ago where people lived, prayed, pressed wine, and housed their animals until 1950. Onward! Shortly before sunset, we arrived at our lovely Hotel Marulivo on the Cilento coast overlooking the Mediterranean. My wife dubbed dinner at Osteria del Borgo as our best meal in Italy, yet. We had wonderfully fresh fish and linguine Limone.
We enjoyed another day in the Cilento, admiring both Palinuro and Castellabate, as the weather was too windy to simply spend the day in Palinuro for a boat ride to its blue grotto and around the point, Back in Pisciotta, we enjoyed another seafood dinner and tiramisu, again at Osteria del Borgo. We are pleased to have chosen the quieter Cilento coast, rather than the more spectacular, crowded Amalfi. The next day, we drove to Naples with several stops along the way. First, the Tenuta Vannulo buffalo cheese farm. Our host in Pisciotta had called it a spa for buffalo and he was right. We then saw the Greek and Roman ruins at Paestum. We even had a chance to drive a small piece of the Amalfi Coast between Vietri and Maiori, before we turned back to get to turn in the car at the Naples Airport. The final four km of the drive to Airport, to gas up and return the car, took well over an hour, and took the blush off an otherwise lovely day. We then spent four nights in Naples.
After we got to the hotel in the Centro Storico, we wandered along the Spacca Napoli and found a pizzeria for dinner. Ah, the graffiti and madness of Naples! The wine, bread and grilled vegetables outshined the pizza, but hey, at least we were back on vacation and driving near the airport was in the rear-view mirror.
Napoli. Teeming, Loud, Motorini, Locals, Tourists, Rainy, Narrow Streets, Anthropology Museo, Italians, Pasticcerie, Churches, Inefficient, Piazza, Pizzarie, Tired Feet, Statues, Crosses, Mosaics, Lively, Passegiate, Youthful, Decaying, Graffiti, Elegant, Dirty, Palazzo Reale, Street Vendors, Galleria, Fiore de Zucca, Pompeii (Guide Gaetano Manfredi brought Pompeii to life), 2000-year-old Frescoes, Sfogliatelli. Pazzo. Due giorni e quatro notte a Napoli.
For our last full day in Italy, the weather gods smiled on us; not a cloud in the sky and 72°. We got a ferry to Ischia and spent a lovely day walking through Ischia Porta and Ischia Ponte. Our lunch at Ristorante da Ciccio was one of our three best meals in Italy. Pasta with mussels and a little pecorino cheese, a beautiful grilled mixed seafood plate and a Caprese salad with arugula added to the mix. Tutta Bella.
