ITALY: PIZZA DI NAPOLI

Everybody loves pizza. I like it more than anybody else. I am like a "pizza vulture", helping others to finish it. I'm still searching for the best recipe and brick oven-style is a big deal for me. I came as a student for the first time in Milano hoping I would try the pizza of my dreams but it was the worst pizza I had ever tried. Someone told me once that the best pizza is from Naples because it was invented there. 

An ancient brick oven in Pompeii

From the moment of entering Italy I knew I wouldn't wait in the line to see Colosseum neither to nock on the heaven's door of Vatican but I would wait in the line for the famous restaurant in Naples called L'Antica Pizzeria Da Michelle to try that special recipe that has made pizza so popular,  otherwise it would have simply stayed flat bread with marinara sauce for people who get nothing else on their table. 

This is also the place where Julia Roberts tried pizza when she came to Italy on her tour around the World in the movie "Eat, Pray, Love".

Pizza place Da Michelle is near the train station in Naples and if you ask locals for direction, everybody will tell you where it's located. To wait in the line is a must, probably part of the tradition. They left me waiting even if there were a few tables available. It may be Italian-style hosting but in New York, customers are not that patient. I didn't want to complain, I was just waiting for my turn to place an order starting to question the public opinion about this place. To my disappointment, there are only two traditional kinds of pizza: marinara, just with tomato sauce and oregano and margarita, marinara sauce again with basil and cheese. There are no other toppings such as: prosciutto, black olives, fresh mushrooms, anchovies- my favorite one. If you haven't tried pizza with anchovies yet, it's about time just make sure you have enough water to drink after the meal. I went with a flow and order both kinds. I was watching a chef placing the pies in the oven and keeping a watch on them. The pies were on the table very soon, I said a prayer and got down to work. One more disappointment: there was nothing special in that pizza. It was good because there's no bad pizza for me, but far from perfection. Maybe I had some high expectations but I know for better pizza. This place might be the best only in some movie. There are good pizzerias around the world, in the cosmopolitan city where I live, even in my home town. I can also say that I'm very proud of my tiny and crispy dough. I can give a lesson to that chef from Naples, it would be free of charge.

In this time of the year, all Italian cities are packed with tourists. Around Easter is almost impossible to get the last minute accommodation. I found it only because my friend Emina made some effort  to help me find one for the reasonable price. There are endless lines for all significant spots in Rome: Colosseo, Fontana di Trevi, Pantheon or any of beautiful squares. I didn't want to squeeze by all other tourist just to get the picture for Facebook.

If you walk down the streets of Naples, you can feel some "dolce vita" from 1960 but on the other side, there are so many people living not such a "dolce" life and begging for money. 

Holding a branch of olive leaves in hands as a symbol of peace, most of the people are heading to buy a stairway to heaven in Vatican which was important to me to get a new state on my list, only.

Beside pizza and ancient cities, there are other things Italians are famous for: giving a lot of compliments, not paying attention on pedestrians or traffic lights, shouting at the street. I almost ended up on the street in the middle of the night when I came to the hotel I had booked and payed for it in advance. My flight arrived after midnight which is unacceptable in Italy so the receptionist told me to come following day in the morning. He didn't want to give me the room neither my money back. I've been everywhere and something like this can happen only in Italy. It can be just a fuss about nothing but when in Italy do as the Italians do!!!