Our Life In Italia.....Beach, Boating, Downtown, Cooking, and More

​Life in Italy
 
This blog post is something I’ve been working on for over a month. There is truly so much that I want to tell you all about my experiences, but I also want to do the appropriate justice and not sugar coat my life here. See below, from the heart........
 
Home Sweet Home
 
It’s been 8 months since our feet touched down in Europe. Our new home has taken some getting used to, but now the pictures are hung; we have more stands for storage and such, our house feels like home.  The homes here are made of concrete and our home is an attached villa (townhouse), but we really never hear our neighbors because of the thickness of the walls. I’ve never lived in a concrete home before, so it took some getting used to.  For example, the home can begin to stink or the air can become stale if I do not open up the home every day or so for fresh air to come into the home and let the house ‘breathe.’  Not allowing the home to breathe can also cause mold to form.  Putting pictures on the walls was an ordeal....I actually hired a guy that hangs pictures for my military spouse friends.  He had to drill into the concrete wall, watching for plumbing and electrical lines.    

Home Sweet Home

Our front door view of the volcano, Campi Flegrei

Facts About Napoli

• A “bar” in Italy sells coffee, espresso, cappuccino, cigarettes, & liquor, as well as candies, gum, and pastries. Most Italians consume espresso shots and Macchiato throughout the day, when they do this it’s standing up at the bar. Anything from the coffee menu is also typically served with a glass of water.
• Coffee in Italy is made completely different than Starbucks in the U.S. For example, Cappuccino does not have nearly as much milk in Italy and Macchiato is a shot of espresso with a dash of milk.  Italians do not add flavors like hazelnut, vanilla, etc. They do, however, love to sift cocoa powder on top of a cappuccino. 
• A Vespa is a type of scooter in Italy.  These are everywhere. Drivers of Vespas scare me, at times, for my fear of their lives. They weave between cars, on sidewalks, and pass cars at breakneck speed while heading towards a head-on collision.  It’s just like the movies.  I just always give them the ‘right of way,’ that way their death is not on my hands.
• I would rather have my hair ripped out hair by hair than wait in a Neapolitan line.  I have to say, this is the one thing I truly dislike about Napoli!!  Elderly, children, and any other citizen imaginable have cut me in front of me in line. It’s every man for himself with no regard to personal space or respect of who was in line first.  I’ve had to learn to stand up for myself and not allow people to cut me off in line. Sometimes it can’t be helped, but when I can, I do step forward with a “NO” and retain my spot in line. This has garnered me more respect and also some nasty words.  I just let it roll of my back. This Pennsylvania, country girl is becoming a city slicker.

I love cappuccino and cappuccino loves me!

• Wine is usually cheaper than soda, and in some cases, water.  You read that right.  Also, I can buy a perfectly delicious bottle of red wine for what is equivalent to $5.00 or less in a local grocery store.
• Most restaurants in Italy charge a Coperto, a cover charge, for sitting at a restaurant. This can range from €0,50-€2,00 per person.  If we get charged a Coperto, we generally do not tip.
• Napoli is known for theft.  I can’t tell you how many people I know that have had their cars robbed, we’ve even met a few people whom have had their home robbed and car stolen while they were sleeping. People say that ‘regular street smarts’ will prevent you from getting robbed here, but I believe that this is incorrect.   In other cities, I’m not nearly as vigilant as I am in Naples or Rome.  I can’t bring my bags from one store to my trunk in the parking lot and then go to another.....my car will likely be robbed. I can’t leave anything in my car that is worth anything.  Nearly all women here wear a cross body purse and hold onto it in crowds (they’ve been known to cut off the purse from the strap).  To give the robbers credit, every case of robbery that I’ve experienced or heard of, the person being robbed was completely unaware.  So, no guns, knives, or violence. No confrontation. Just robbery without knowing it even happened...until after the fact.
• Due to the theft, paying for parking is something that is worth it, as it usually comes with a security guard.  Parking at grocery stores where there is a parking attendant is wise, as well.
• Naples has a lot of immigrants.  Locals call them ‘gypsies’ or ‘Roma.’  As a way of making money, they stand on the side of the road where cars are parked and watch over the cars.   We pay €0,50-€1,00 for this security.  They provide a service to us and we pay for it. They also sell tissue and wash windows on the main roads and are known throughout the entire country for pickpocketing, so it is advised to be extra careful. I, however, use the same caution in any big city.....pickpockets are in every country and every city and come from any background. 
• At times, they just start washing your windshield without permission or throw tissues inside your car and ask you to pay for them.....this part of Napoli breaks my heart. When I first moved here, this forcefulness bothered me, but now touches on my heartstrings. I can always use tissue and my windows are frequently dirty from road dirt, so I appreciate it and pay with the coins I have available.
• Vineyards & olive orchards are everywhere.  Most of the wine in Italy is only sold to local restaurants and stores, possibly to other countries in Europe. It’s just not sold on a big commercial scale to the U.S. like I thought. Most owners of wineries are perfectly happy to sell their wine on a smaller scale and can only produce so many bottles of wine per year......this means that the best Italian wine you’ll ever have will be in Italy and you can only buy it here.
• Vineyards normally have restaurants with incredible food and wine tastings. Wine tastings are generally offered at lunchtime.  
• We have been told not to drink the water in Naples for various reasons.  Most notably, it has been claimed that the mafia dumped hazardous waste on farmland outside of Naples and there is apparently some sort of strain of E. Coli present in the water that locals may be used to, but visitors are not. I don’t even boil pasta with it. There is more information on this here. 
• All throughout the country of Italy....many of the bathrooms do not have a toilet seat. I don’t know why and think it’s the silliest thing on earth, but it’s just the way it is.  I have perfected the hovercraft.
• Bacon in Europe is not the same as bacon in the U.S. If you visit here, just don’t order it. Haha! I mean it!  It either comes as the same cut of meat as in the U.S. and is soggy or is a crisp piece of ham.
• People are usually not on their phones here during meals.
• Neapolitans do not typically drink wine or soda with pizza, they drink beer with it. This blew my mind.  Also, the pizza is very light.  
• Travel is incredibly cheap in Europe. Our entire family of 5 can fly for around $225-250, round trip...total!
• I need to carry cash on a regular basis because many restaurants/stores do not take credit card.
• Most Neapolitans do not speak English. Our whole family has learned to order, get directions, say pleasantries, and find the bathroom in Italian.....and we learned all of that very quickly!!  I am taking private Italian lessons in order to immerse myself more fully in the culture and learn to socialize in Italian.
  
  

Driving in Naples
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To say that the driving took some getting used to is putting it lightly.  When I first moved here, I truly thought that Neapolitan drivers were going to kill me.  Hahaha! After traveling to Venice, Florence, Amalfi, Rome......I can tell you that Naples is absolutely different in regard to driving.  There are many more enforced laws and rules in the other parts of Italy, whereas Naples is more of a ‘free-for-all.’
 
They say “If you can’t beat’m, join’m.”  I sure did! Since there are very few rules, if any, if someone is slow, you can pass them at any time...whether it’s a passing zone or not. 2 lanes can become 4 lanes, as long as there is space for my car. Taking initiative is key.  Making eye contact means that the other driver can go in front of me, so I look straight ahead.  I’ve been backed into, slightly bumped from behind in traffic, and a car door next to me opened very hard and hit my door. This is normal here and people carry on without calling police or insurance or getting upset. That’s why we bought both of our vehicles for less than $3500.  We knew going in that each vehicle would experience its share of Naples kisses (aka dents & scratches).  
 
However, it took time for me to get to this place of comfort....I started by only driving near the base, then near our home in Pozzuoli, to the beach, and after about 3 months of living here I drove downtown.  Before this time, my husband did all the driving.   Downtown Napoli is the epicenter of insanity.  However insane it sounds, I’ve truly learned to love driving here.  Have you ever just wanted to go around someone slow, even if it meant driving on the curb?  Have you ever wanted to drive around a line of traffic and cut everyone off at the front? Have you ever wanted to stop on a main road, run into the pharmacy, and run back out without finding a parking spot? All of this is possible in Napoli. They do have a system for checking speeders called the Tutor system on the main highway (the Autostrade is the main toll highway in Napoli).  So, speed is checked electronically, but off of the main highway...I do know they do pull people over for speeding very occasionally in small towns, as I did see it once.  However, on the whole, this does not happen.
 
Having an older vehicle has some drawbacks, as well. For example, something happened to my horn and it started to randomly honk at any time.  This was VERY embarrassing, especially when my car honked at my landlord and she looked offended. I had to stop next to her and tell her I was sorry and show her that my horn honks on its own.  Also, after two dead batteries, I now remember to shut off my headlights, close the visors, etc. You don’t realize the features newer cars have until you go out to your car to find the battery dead! Bwahaha. Both vehicles also seem to have slow oil leaks and we have to add oil to our cars every few weeks.  I’ve gotten very good at checking oil and adding oil. 

Napoli

Recycling
 
I’m going to be brutally honest, recycling has never been very important to me. I know it’s terrible to hear. I must say that living in Europe has truly changed me in that regard. I would venture to guess that my carbon footprint is 75% less now than it was when I lived in the states.  At our last two stations, recycling wasn’t taken seriously. There was a bin for recycling and a bin for garbage and if you wanted to recycle you could, if you didn’t want to you didn’t have to.  I never felt judged for it, either.  
 
However, I now live where I have 4 different bins (paper materials, plastic/aluminum, compost/organic materials, and regular garbage) for the waste from my home. There are assorted pick-ups for each of these items throughout the week.
 
I’ve heard stories of Americans not recycling and putting everything in the garbage and the Italian waste management refusing to pick up their waste at all.  As you can imagine, this would be a nightmare.  We were so worried about it that we took our waste to the base after moving in because we had SO many boxes and odd garbage that we didn’t want to start out on the wrong foot.  I actually texted my neighbor random garbage questions so that I threw everything in the right bins, as well!!
 
Would you believe it if I told you that our recycling is 3x what our actual garbage is?  Our garbage bag is usually only half full at the end of a week, our recycling fills 2 large, clear garbage bags, and our compost fills a small biodegradable bag.  It’s unreal how much can be re-used!!  This has inspired me further!  I used to put everything in little plastic baggies in my kids lunches and feed my family for EVERY meal on paper plates so that I didn’t have to do as many dishes. I now have little containers for everything in my kids lunches and nearly always use our actual plates unless we’re having a BBQ or a party.

I know that many of you were already on the wagon for recycling, but I’m so much more aware of waste now than I have ever been. I even use the water from our dryer to water our plants.  The European clothes dryers work differently than American dryers.  They pull the moisture out of the clothes into a container and after each load the container is nearly full of water.  I have to dump the water after every load. The great part about this is watering the plants, but the negative part is that the dryer takes 2 hours to dry a load of clothes. My laundry never ends....
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Salt Life
 
If you’ve read my other blog posts, you know about our family’s affinity for the beach.  I am very excited to report that Napoli did not let us down in that regard.  However, going to the beach is much different here than in Florida. The first time I decided to go to the beach, I loaded up beach chairs, an umbrella, the boys, a cooler, and headed to the beach!  We went in an area called Bacoli, which is about a 20 minute drive from my house. Along the road where all the beaches are, there are a bunch of beach clubs.  In front of the beach clubs, loungers and umbrellas are up for rent and restaurants are scattered throughout.  
 
I figured that since we had our own chairs and umbrella, we could just go to the public beach. I was so wrong!! I drove to the public beach and it was full of garbage!!!  Really gross.  I then drove down the road and paid to park across from one of the beach clubs.  When I went up to the host, he explained that I could go to the beach there as long as I rented beach chairs. So, after paying for parking, 2 lounge chairs, & an umbrella with a table underneath....going to the beach for the day cost us what is equivalent to about $30.  However, this beach was spotlessly clean, bartenders and waiters walk around taking drink and food orders, and the water was crystal clear. The sand is brown, so on this particular beach the water has a brown color until you see it up close and see that it is clear.  We were allowed to bring our own cooler with food and drinks, even though the club sells food and drinks, which was a nice perk. I popped the cork on some prosecco and relaxed after the insanity of figuring out our beach day! 

Turistico Beach Park, Bacoli

​We had friends tell us about renting a rubber boat and boating around the nearby islands of Ischia and Procida, so when we had a friend visiting, we booked one of those boats to try it out!  I must tell you, after looking back; this is my absolute favorite thing to do in Napoli!!! We rented a boat out of a little port in a town Monte Di Procida, just past the beach town of Bacoli. They gave us a map, a list of things to avoid, and we were on our way!  The water around Napoli and the islands is CRYSTAL clear!!! Just as clear as Sardinia, but the waters are deeper in this particular area and there are giant rocks.  It’s truly beautiful. We spent the day boating around the islands, taking pictures of the picturesque villages, doing some cliff jumping, swimming in hot springs, floating in the water, and lounging on the boat.  We brought swim noodles and floaties because the water is deep, but every one of us had an amazing time. We even swam into a cave!!!  This area has so much history that the layers of rock formation around the islands truly mystified us.
 

Swimming around the island of Ischia

Just look at the beautiful layers of rock

One of the many caves

Cooking in Italy
 
After eating at many restaurants and taking about a dozen cooking classes, I think it’s safe to say that Italian cooking is INCREDIBLE!!!  The food is nearly always fresh...from the tomatoes to the vegetables to the freshly baked bread.  Many times, Italians even order cuts of meat straight from the butcher or cuts of fish straight from the fish market for a meal. 
 
Making noodles from scratch is hard work!  I bought a pasta-making machine that I hand-wind to pull the dough through and I’ve taught my boys how to make the noodles. That’s now their part in Italian cooking, when I’m working on the sauce.  However, once made, fresh noodles cook in seconds and have a better consistency than store bought noodles.  I take lessons as often as I can so that I can bring fabulous Italian cooking back to the states.  

A few things I learned:

• Italians do not use pre-made pasta sauce, unless they jar it themselves.  They make it right then using fresh tomatoes or jarred tomato sauce and adding in the desired flavors (Basil, oregano, etc).
• Olive oil is life.  Buying the right olive oil is a big deal. For example, there is a salad olive oil and a cooking olive oil.  The salad olive oil is lighter without as much flavor.  Olive oil is made here in Italy, so there is a large variety in every store here.
• Italians typically cook with onion OR garlic, but not normally with both.
• If you are ever invited over for an Italian meal, a lot of effort and love went into making your meal......appreciate it. 
• Cheese is bought fresh and age matters.  I have parmesan grated from a cheese shop and keep it in my fridge and it tastes SO good. Ricotta and Mozzerella are sold fresh daily in the stores here and it really does make a difference.
• Buffalo mozzarella cheese is VERY special. It’s mozzarella made from the milk of a buffalo. It is the moistest cheese I’ve ever tasted and SO delicious.  I make a Caprese salad, for everyone that comes to visit from the states, using buffalo mozzarella so that they experience it.  

Fresh Tagliatelle

Boscaiola

​Downtown
 
Downtown Napoli is full of hidden gems. If a visitor were to just look at graffiti on the buildings, the insanity of the driving, and garbage on the side of the road.....he/she would not appreciate Napoli.  However, venturing beyond and really seeing the city will reveal incredible beauty!! I’m in love!

• There is an alley in the city called Christmas Alley that sells hand carved figurines for nativity scenes and incredible souveniers for an incredible price. Often, a man is found singing in Italian on the balcony of one of the buildings on Christmas Alley.  Be still my heart.
• The Duomo where the blood and bones of San Gennaro are buried is a cathedral just as beautiful as those found in Rome, called Cathedral Santa Maria Assunta.
• Caffé Gambrinus is a famous, fancy café where you can order aperitivo, coffee, gelato, pastries, or lunch.  The waiters dress impressively in tuxedos, the décor inside is very old world elegance, and it’s truly an experience to order a drink and people watch here.
• Piazza de Plebiscito is a beautiful and monumental central part of the city
• The Presepe or live nativity in Naples is seen year round at the National Museum of San Martino on Vomero Hill.  This museum is very impressive and a must-see for any visitor and includes much more than the live nativity.
• Ovo, Nuovo, and St. Elmo castles are beautiful, historic castles in Napoli.
• There are random Roman ruins scattered throughout the city.
• There are several areas of ancient underground catacombs to tour.
• Overlook Mt. Vesuvius as often as you can.....Vesuvio can be seen from nearly everywhere in Napoli!

A hand made nativity in Christmas Alley

Piazza Del Plebiscito

Christmas Alley, open year round

The Presepe, A hand-made live nativity at the National Museum of San Martino

The National Museum of San Martino

Caffe Gambrinus

Gorgeous drink and view at Caffe Gambrinus

​In Conclusion
 
Although our experience has had its ups and downs, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. There are days that I miss my country and my old real estate career, for sure, but this is an experience that I will hold forever in my heart, for all of my days. I never expected Italy to be America and I embrace the unique beauty that this beautiful country holds. #labellaitalia #bellanapoli #ladolcevita #porratatribetravels