20: Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice

Two weeks in Italy. Two weeks of recommendations.

Oct 23, 2024

*From the Museo Boncompagni Ludovisi in Rome*

On the 27th, Kaia and I left New York for London to spend three days with our dearest friend Ivy doing all of the finest things the city has to offer. (Pints in pubs, riding the tube, going to Gail’s, Boots, etc.) On Monday we left Ivy and took an extremely overpriced train to Stansted Airport, one of the strangest airports I’ve ever been to, and boarded a JetBlue flight to Naples – the first stop on our two-week tour of Italy.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of everything I recommend from our trip. For the sake of length, I didn’t include any of the many basilicas and cathedrals we went to, all of the streets we walked down, fountains we detoured for, or descriptions of the several bad meals we had. Italy has terrible food, too! Enjoy.

Naples

*From the Certosa e Museo di San Martino*

On our first full day in Naples, we took the funicular up the hill to the 13^th-century Castel Sant’Elmo and the monastery Certosa e Museo di San Martino next door. Both were lovely. They had terrible signage and very little information but they were a great way to overlook the city. The other monastery we went to, Complesso Monumentale di Santa Chiara had better signage and had an Artemisia Gentileschi that has just returned to Naples after 400 years!
Pescheria Azurra and orange wine at Indovino
For dinner on the second night, we went to Pescheria Azurra which Ivy recommended. It is both a fish market and an outdoor restaurant. I got spaghetti with pecorino and mussels which were swimming in an inch of butter and a large cold Peroni. Kaia got the cold marinated salmon which was unbelievable. I was so full at the end I thought I was going to keel over and die but I did the brave thing and persevered. We went to Indovino for a glass of wine and talked while we digested.

The one restaurant we desperately wanted to go to was Gino e Toto Sorbillo on Via dei Tribunali which absolutely lived up to the hype. We walked by this restaurant several times and every day and from open until close there was a line. On our third night, we braved the wait – it was extraordinary. On our first night in Naples, we were coerced into sitting down by another pizzeria a few doors down and we gave in because we were both desperately hungry. For 48 hours after that meal, I was convinced I didn’t actually like pizza until Gino e Toto Sorbillo changed my mind – it was the best pizza I have ever had.
On the third day, we took the train to Herculaneum which several of our friends recommended over Pompeii because it was smaller and better preserved. We took the wrong train and ended up being two hours later than we wanted but it was absolutely lovely and I enjoyed envisioning how vibrant and colorful it all once was from the glimpses of remaining tile and murals.
On our last day, we took refuge from the rain in Alimentaria Coscia, a tiny grocery store with a small selection of in-house sandwiches. We each ordered the Mt. Vesuvius which was filled with thick layers of pancetta, mozzarella, and something called friartella. It was delicious.
After sandwiches we went to the contemporary art museum, Madre, which had a beautiful exhibition on art production in Brazil since World War II and an okay permanent collection. (-10 for the heinous Jeff Koons room, sorry!)
Don’t listen to anyone who tells you to skip the Christmas Alley/Via San Gregorio Armeno. You will enjoy it even if everything is stupid because it’s all handmade in the shops in the alley. DO skip all of the very cheap (€2,5) Aperol spritzes because they are not enjoyable.
Two places I wish I had gone were the handmade shop Kiphy Saphony but it was never open because Italians run on their own time and Liberia Berisio, the cocktail bar in a bookshop on Via Port'Alba.

Rome

Neither Kaia nor I had any energy for a museum when we arrived so we dropped everything off at the hostel and walked to Monti for a peruse around the neighborhood. Fabio Piccioni was an adorable tiny vintage and antique jewelry store filled to the brim with treasures – so many it was too difficult to sift through but if I was dead set on buying a piece of jewelry I would’ve taken more time to carefully parse through it all.

By far the best store we stopped in was Celadon, a store full of beautiful, beautiful ceramics. The exceptionally chic woman behind the counter said she and her mother made everything in the shop and she had custom-designed all the shelves. The shop was exquisite. I was quite disappointed I couldn’t take anything home, but I didn’t want to risk crushing it in my backpack.
At 4:00 pm, we decided it was time for a drink and we wandered into Sacripante Gallery, a cocktail bar, gallery, and clothing store where three generations of women were sitting in chairs in front smoking cigarettes together. I got a Campari Spritz, Kaia got a glass of wine, I got another Campari Spritz, Kaia got an Aperol Spritz, I got a Cynar Spritz and Kaia got another Aperol Spritz. By the time we left 3 hours later, we had learned from the owner of the bar that it had been there for 10 years, she dealt with the bar and her mother made all the clothing in front. She wrote down three restaurants in my notes that she recommends: Trattoria Valentino, Ristorante Due Colonne Di D'Annunzio Angelo, and Fafiuché.
We went to Trattoria Valentino and drunkenly devoured the amatriciana pasta, artichokes, and cabbage salad before hobbling home.
Details from the Galleria Doria Pamphilj. My favorite was the peeling moire silk wallpaper.
On our second day in Rome, we went to the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, an old palace with an extensive art collection, and did the audio tour. THIS WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY TRIP! It was just wonderful. Both of us loved it.
We lost each other in the Gallery and met afterward for lunch at the wonderful L'Antica Birreria Peroni. I ordered a liter of Peroni and a bowl of carbonara. 1 Peroni, 2 Carbonara, 1 Acqua and 1 Caffe, €26,5.

Florence

*I didn’t write down the name of this one. I mostly took it for hair inspiration.*

On our first night in Florence, Kaia and I split the bottle of sparkling wine our AirBnb host left us in the fridge and walked down the Via Romana to Trattoria Boboli for dinner – delicious.
On our second day, we wandered slowly to the Uffizi Galleries. The museum is great but it was overwhelmingly busy. It is simply not spacious enough nor is the collection large enough to have as many people in the building as they do. We were stepping on heels and waiting in lines for the four hours that we were there and we left more drained than inspired.
Enoteca Spontanea and Magarachivio
On our second evening, we braved the rain and grabbed glasses of wine at the absolutely adorable Enoteca Spontanea before getting pizza at Gustapizza. Delicious.
On the third morning, our 30-minute walk to the Museo Novecento turned into a 2-hour one. We stopped into every little shop that caught our eye. There are endless fabulous little shops in Santo Spirito. I bought a handmade Sicilian 1920s ceramic quince mold at one of them but I don’t remember which. We stopped at S. Forno which might have been the best bakery we encountered on our trip. I enjoyed a slice of the ricotta cake and a chai milk but everything looked wonderful.
The Museo Novecento had a wonderful Louise Bourgeois exhibit that both Kaia and I enjoyed and a rather boring permanent collection. Before we left the area we stopped at Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella because I had to see it and the Giuno Odeon Bookshop-Cinema which was beautiful.
I really wanted to go to Vivoli for some gelato and espresso or whatever it is they serve there. To be honest, I was mostly interested in their graphic design but the line had at least 60 people in it and I don’t have that type of patience. I also missed the Musée Salvatore Ferragamo. Next time.

Venice

I arrived in Venice with 0 pins on my map and no ambitions. I kind of wanted to buy a pair of Venetian velvet slippers but I didn’t find a color I was in love with. My god, Venice is absolutely gorgeous but I have nothing to recommend besides taking the water bus, walking, and the Biennale.
We spent both of our full days in Venice at the Biennale which was absolutely one of the highlights of the trip for me. My favorite exhibits were Japan, Austria, Serbia, and the Puerto Rican archival project in the main pavilion. I probably wouldn’t return to Venice if the Biennale weren’t on because it was that good.

*Marzipan cherries in the window of a sweet shop in Venice*

We had a lovely time and I am so happy that I was able to accompany Kaia on her Italian fantasy. It was a pleasure.

I am back in New York now. You would not believe what I did to save money on the way back… I flew home to Brooklyn from Venice via Qatar so I spent 2 and a half hours in the Doha Airport before taking a 14-hour flight back across Europe to New York. (Hell) I’m oddly almost grateful that I did it because the airport was crazy, there was a forest inside of it, trains above you, gigantic art installations, and three (3!) Louis Vuitton stores in my terminal alone. I’ve never seen so many luxury watch stores in an airport nor a grander display of Zyn. It was awesome in the same way Vegas is awesome.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Talk soon.