Naples, Italy – So much for the gorgeous Amalfi Coast and the Isle of Capri. We won’t be seeing them. There’s a hurricane hitting Italy at the moment, so we went inside. In Naples.
Actually, we went underground. Napoli Sottoterranea, or Naples Underground, is a tour of Ancient Greek and Roman aqueducts that have been excavated, 40 meters below the city. The underground spaces were also used as air raid shelters during World War II. The tour is candlelit, which was our guarantee that the twins would be into it.
What we didn’t know is that all of Italy had the day off today. So all of Italy decided to escape the hurricane by going underground. The tour was packed, which is never a good thing, but especially when you are touring a network of narrow underground passages. And although it was interesting to be underground, the tour itself was disappointing.
The best part about the Naples Underground tour was that it was just a block away from the Pizzeria Gino Sorbillo, a Naples landmark. Besides being a phenomenal pizzaiolo, Sorbillo is famous for standing up to the Camorra (and paying the price).
The restaurant is an unassuming place, and we foolishly thought we could show up and sit down and enjoy a pizza. Doesn’t happen, especially on a holiday. Lucky for us, we accidentally arrived 30 minutes before opening time. There was already a line forming on the street, so we joined it. And what good fortune, when the doors opened, we took the last table in the first seating for lunch. Service was swift and the pizza was phenomenal. Gino saves the day!
