North and South of Naples Italy

Royal and Cultural Capitals Archeology Parks and Museums Caves and Volcanoes

Campania the ancient Romans called this region of Italy Campania Felix. Baia, Puteoli, Pompeii, Stabia and Capri were their favorite destinations. Then and now, Happy Campania is famed for its ancient ruins, coastal resorts and world renowned culinary traditions. A cultural and national capital for much of its nearly three thousand year history, Naples is home to art museums, the San Carlo opera house and a spectacular bay framed by Mt. Vesuvius, affectionately and fearfully referred to by the local inhabitants as The Monster.

Royal and Cultural Capitals

Caserta is best known for its 18^th century royal palace and gardens and the medieval borgo of Caserta Vecchia. Equally and historically important are the San Leucio silk works, a Unesco site,  and the Living Silk Museum with its original looms and machinery showing all the phases of silk productions.
 

Naples is best defined by the stratification of the various periods in the city’s history that can be viewed in the historic center, the oldest continuously inhabited urban community in the Western World. It corresponds to the ancient city founded by the Athenians around 450 B.C. as Neapolis, through Roman and Medieval times. It includes over 250 churches, palazzi from the 13^th through the 20^th century and countless art treasures.

Your exploration starts from the Forum, then under the Gothic Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore to view the ruins of the Roman streets and the Macellum, the food market. Then on to San Gregorio Armeno, where the world famous Neapolitan Crib art are made, and the Cappella Sansevero and the sculpture of the Veiled Christ. A few square miles with three castles, a royal palace, world class museums, the world’s second oldest university and bank. Also, an underground city with ancient aqueducts, caves, catacombs, myths, legends and a modern subway system whose stations are covered with art.
 

Salerno is renowned for its medieval historic center and the world’s first medical school. Under the rule of the Sanseverino family, it became a center of learning, culture and the arts. The city was also briefly the capital of Italy in 1943, following the Allied invasion of southern Italy.  Benevento occupies the site of the ancient Maleventum, the site of bad events, and a major defeat by the Roman army. It was supposedly founded by Diomedes after the Trojan War. Santa Sofia Church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, part of a group of seven historic buildings dating from the Longobard era – 558 to 774 ad. The historic center is an open air museum.

Experiential Tourism in Naples Italy with the Traveler as Protagonist

Experiences designed around multiple interests that ensure unique emotions; the traveler participates alongside local cooks, artists, craftsmen, and expert tour guides in activities:

o   rooted in the territory; it can happen only here, and

o   with uniquely local events, including food and wine tastings

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Archeological Parks and Museums

South of Naples the road and railway along the slopes of Mount Vesuvius that connects Naples with the Sorrento Peninsula and the Amalfi Coast is known as the Golden Mile and is replete with archeological parks and museums. Pompeii’s excavations, begun in the 18^th century, are still being carried out today. Strolling through some of the ancient streets, you can see baths, forums and villas built by the prosperous Romans in what was the empire’s second most important city. 

Poppea’s imperial villa in Oplonti features magnificent wall decorations and Stabia was home to luxury villas. The Boscoreale Museum is dedicated to Roman era daily life, including the excavation of a suburban factory. Also, the MAV - virtual archeological museum – with 3D videos of the Vesuvius eruption.
 

North of Naples the bays of Miseno, Baia and Pozzuoli were the home port of the Roman Navy, Baia’s Imperial Palace featured baths with waters of volcanic origin and the Flaegrean Fields Archeological Musem includes finds from Baia’s submerged city. In Pozzuoli, the Temple of Serapide, is famous for the cyclical sinking of its grounds and the Flavian Amphitheater was the third largest arena of the empire.

In Naples, the Botanical Gardens feature Living Roman Plants and seeds to bring back Pompeii’s plants. Charles of Bourbon put the largest art collection in Italy, the Farnese collection inherited by his mother Elisabeth, into the National Archeological Museum. Over the years, the largest archaeological collection of all time, relics from Pompeii and the villas buried under the ashes of Vesuvius in 79 BC, were brought here, including mosaics, paintings and jewelry.
 

The Cilento Coast is littered with hilltop medieval villages, olive groves and spectacular beaches. Paestum’s Museum and Archeological Park is a Unesco site and the heart of Magna Grecia. Further south, Velia and its famed pink door.

Caves and Volcanoes

Vesuvius itineraries feature a walking tour of the volcano’s crater, with a spectacular bird’s eye view of Naples bay, with a focus on the volcano’s last eruption in 1944 and night tours with electric torches. Choose between the Valley of Hell trail or a shorter and easier lava trail.
Solfatara is located in a park near Pozzuoli and features boiling mud lakes and fumarole.
Pertosa Grottoes a fascinating cave complex; you enter the grottoes with a boat.
Castelcivita Grottoes a surreal and geogolically active underground excursion.
Amalfi Windmill Valley the medieval maritime superpower’s paper mills powered by windmills.

Science

Solfatara Geo Lab interactive, multimedia geophysics and volcanology labs with the following programs: Vesuvius eruptions; shake like a leaf; yesterday, today and tomorrow; Flegrean Fields; a super volcano at Naples’ doorstep.
Portici Botanic Lab a unique educational workshop in the Portici Royal Palace; small plants kits are issued to children to transform their schools’ window sills and flower beds into mini botanic gardens.
 

Castelcivita Speleo Lab workshop and tour of Caving equipment and techniques, Carsius caves characteristics and Castlecivita Neanderthal.
Vesuvius Minerological Lab workshop, walking tour and souvenir mineral kit.
ENEA Research Center solar energy and environmental technology applications at Italy’s energy and Environment Institute.
Eolic Park San Marco dei Cavoti historic center tour and visit to one of Italy’s most important wind energy parks.

Food Traditions

Educational Workshops carried out by local small businesses specializing in the culinary traditions of Campania region includes: warm bread covered with hazelnut cream, mozzarella, black pig salame and cheese filled panini and panuozzo. The workshops follow five themes: the five senses of food; food chemistry and fraud; Campania and international recipes; insects and bio-agriculture; digesting food; fruits and vegetables.

Making Pasta in Gragnano, a town nestled between Pompeii and the Sorrento peninsula, it’s an ancient art form that involves history, culture, patience, secrets and traditions. The town’s main street was laid out to capture the mountain breeze mixed with sea air back when pasta makers hung spaghetti on drying rods. Today, it is dried with heaters at 122F for two days.

Making Pizza in a workshop by the slopes of the Vesuvius; practical and food tasting experience.

Theatre and the Divine Comedy

Hell Dante’s Inferno portrayed in the Castelcivita Caves; an underground itinerary filled with music, lights, multimedia reconstructions and 30 actors that bring alive Italy’s literary masterpiece.
Purgatory the journey continues in the gardens of the Padula Chartreuse where you meet Catone Uticense, Purgatory’s keeper.
 

Paradise the performance concludes in the enchanting settings of Salerno’s Arechi Castle and the Amalfi Coast, guided by Dante in person!

Gragnano Italy Pasta and Wine Traditions

Mountain and Sea Air Spring Water and Sunshine are Key to Pasta Quality

Gragnano is a hill town 30 Km south of Naples, overlooking Pompeii and Vesuvius, just outside Castellammare and it port in Naples Bay; it’s location halfway between Sorrento and Amalfi is ideal to visit Sorrento, Capri, the Amalfi Coast as well as the countryside of the Campania region of Italy.

Pasta Tradition making pasta in Gragnano is an ancient art form that involves history, culture, patience, secrets and traditions. The town’s main street was laid out expressly to capture the mountain breeze mixed with sea air back when pasta makers hung spaghetti on drying rods like laundry. Now, heaters are used to dry the pasta at 122 degrees Fahrenheit for two days, resulting in a nuttier aroma and a chewier feel.

A History of the Valley of the Mills

The Valley of the Mills is famous for its spontaneous springs and Gragnano’s water is important for its therapeutic and diuretic properties. It is also a favorite destination for tourists who sip delicious water in full contemplation of the area’s landscape while its artistic patrimony is reflected in the many centuries-old churches such as Corpus Domini, which houses one of the largest canvases in Europe - over 400 square meters.

Gragnano's Pasta Factories Contributed 10 Percent of Italy’s Production a Century Ago

The Gragnano Pasta Cooperative represents small producers in the area; it holds that the dough should be made solely from Italian wheat, be pushed through perforated bronze plates to mold it, and that the resulting strands, sheets and elegant shapes must be dried at temperatures no higher than 122 degrees. Higher temperatures burn the dough.

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Greco di Tufo is one of Campania’s finest whites and is perhaps the oldest wine in all of Italy. Greco refers to its Ancient Greek origins, after those who first brought the grape to Italy and cultivated it on the slopes of the Vesuvius. The first written account is found in a poem fragment from 6 BC in Pompeii. Written on a wall, it reads: You are cold, Bice, truly a piece of ice, if even the Greco wine could not warm your heart last night.

It is Cultivated in Tufo, Santa Paolina, Prato di Principato Ultra, Montefusco, Altavilla Irpina, Chianche, Petruro Irpino, and Torrioni. Only the hillsides of these areas are considered suitable for this wine as valleys and points of lower elevation are humid and lack the necessary sunlight and mountain breezes. To be considered Greco di Tufo, which has had DOC appellation since 1970 and DOCG since 2003, 85% must be of Greco di Tufo, with up to 15% coda di volpe. The wine can also be a sparkling spumante.

Greco di Tufo is not a mild-mannered wine. With zesty, fresh flavors of peaches, pear and herbs, coupled with restrained aromas of almond and apricot; a fully dry white wine with a sharp minerality. It is these distinct notes that place Greco di Tufo one step above the two-other great white Campania wines, Falanghina and Fiano di Avellino. Some believe that it complements mild dishes nicely, such as seafood, rice and pasta in butter or white sauces; others think that it pairs perfectly with strong dishes of veal, chicken, and cheeses.

Food Culture and the Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean Diet is not a specific dietary program but a compendium of the eating habits traditionally followed by those that live in this part of the world. So, let's see what it consists of and its beneficial effects on its practitioners.

The eating habits of the 16 nations along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea vary depending on culture, ethnic traditions and religion. There are, however, some characteristics that are similar to all:

• High consumption of fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, bread and cereals
• Use of olive oil to cook and as a condiment
• Moderate quantities of fish, little meat
• Small/moderate quantities of rich cheese and whole yogurt
• Moderate wine consumption, usually with meals
• Use of local, seasonal and fresh products 
• An active lifestyle

The Ingredients of the Mediterranean Diet

Olive Oil is especially important as an alternative to butter, margarine and other fats. It is a valuable source of mono unsaturated fats that protect against heart disease, as well as a source of antioxidants such as Vitamin E. It is used to prepare vegetables, tomato sauce, salads and to fried fish.

History The Phoenicians planted the first olive trees around the XVI century BC, first on the island of Cyprus then in Asia Minor. Its greatest success was achieved in Greece where the myth was that the goddess Athena, in competition with the other gods, was declared the winner of a contest by Zeus by creating the olive tree. Historians have determined that the first olive tree “Plato's Olive Tree” was planted near Athens some 2500 years ago.

The species was prevalent in Italy since the days of the Roman Republic, especially in the southern part of the country. Today, it is cultivated everywhere in the country with many DOP and IGP denominations. As one of the pillars of the Mediterranean Diet, extra-virgin olive oil is present in virtually all food recipes. Among its benefits is the lack of physical and chemical manipulations as it is simply extracted by pressing the olives.

the only oil produced by a fruit as opposed to a seed

 

Olive oil should be the only fat in cooking as it is the only one that is not subject to degrading when exposed to heat. Culturally speaking, olive oil represents the Southern crudeness as opposed to butter cooked foods prevalent in Northern foods.

Therapeutic Aspects the “liquid gold” referred to by Homer has over time had a therapeutic function as well; it reduces the impact of heat while at the same time acting as a blood “cleanser”. It is both a nutrient and a medicine. Dishes containing olive oil are easier to digest, with an excellent gastric and intestinal tolerance as well as a protecting effect on the arteries, stomach and liver.

Fruits and Vegetables a high consumption of fruits and vegetables leads to protective action to prevent cancer and heart disease, probably because of the antioxidants present in these food items. This is especially true of tomatoes, an important source of antioxidants particularly when heated to make a tomato sauce.

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Fish such as sardines with its omega 3 polyunsaturated fats have a healthy fat content. Fish consumption is also important for its anti inflammatory properties in preventing heart disease and regulating blood circulation.

Wine first a clarification: there is no such thing as biological wine, only biological grapes. By its very nature, wine is the opposite of an industrial product that never varies; grapes vary from area to area depending on climactic conditions. They also evolve, mature and decline over time. In all Mediterranean countries wine is consumed in moderation, usually with meals. For men this implies two glasses a day and one for women. Red wine in particular contains a number of vegetable composts with beneficial properties. Also, powerful antioxidants such as poly phenols protect against oxidation.

Legumes during the middle ages, all of Europe risked high mortality rates due to a series of epidemics. Unable to procure high protein foods such as meat, the poorer classes were especially malnourished. Legumes were introduced only from the 10th Century, thereby making a gradual contribution to the welfare of the population, increasing resistance to disease and aiding in the re population of the continent. Later, with the discovery of the Americas and the importation of agricultural products, beans emerged as a basic staple without which the population could not have doubled in size in just a few centuries.

 
They may be consumed fresh or dry, with the former having a higher water content (60-90% versus 10-13%) hence, given the same weight, a lower caloric, protein and glycine content.

legumes are richest in protein, and protein quality, among all vegetables

In Italy, beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas and fava beans are the most common staples. Some are canned and are therefore available off season and in areas where they are not cultivated. Both fresh and dry, they are a key component of Italian cuisine in general and the “cucina povera” in particular. Studies confirm a high energy content, a high vitamin B content, as well as iron and calcium. The protein value is 6-7% in fresh and 20-25% in dry legumes.

Especially in dry form, legume seeds contain a respectable quantity of phosphorus, calcium and iron. They should be cooked at length as they contain anti-digestive elements in its crude form. The heat from cooking eliminates these negative characteristics. Dry legumes should be left over night in water before cooking. Lentils do not require this treatment.

Beans have been known since antiquity. Originally from the Americas, they have been found in pre-Inca Peru and were also a favorite with the Romans; known as the “poor man's meat”, there are over 300 varieties of beans; of these, 60 are edible. There are red, black, multicolor, small, large, round and flat ones. They range from the Mexican bean (small, black and round) to the Spanish one (large, white and flat). Given the large qualities available, beans are cooked in a variety of ways (soups, minestrone, salads and condiments). They are digested slowly and are rather filling.

Lentils were among the first foods to be cultivated and consumed by man; traces have been found in Turkey in ruins dating back to 5500 BC as well as in Egyptian tombs from 2500 BC There are large seeds (6-9 mm), yellow or green, cultivated mostly in the Americas, and a smaller variety (2-6 mm), orange, red or brown in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and India. They are cooked as soup and as a side dish to meat and other dishes. It is a well wisher during the New Year's celebrations all over the world.

Peas along with lentils, peas are the legumes of which we have the most information from antiquity. Probably originating in Asia, they may date back to the stone-age. Modern techniques allow for availability year round, canned or frozen, fresh or dry.

Chick Peas originally from the Orient, the name derives from the Latin word “aries” which refers to the shape of the seed. A major staple in the Middle East and in India, they are cooked with pasta, as soup and as a side dish.

Fava Beans this ancient plant, originating from Persia and Northern Africa, may have been known in the bronze and iron ages. Possibly the first legume to be consumed by humans as they do not require cooking.

In some parts of Southern Italy, they are eaten as a fruit or in dry form with pasta or greens. Heavy consumption of fresh fava beans may cause anemia in genetically predisposed populations in the Mediterranean basin.

 

Truffles the black truffle has found a perfect habitat in the beech woods in harmony with oak, birch and hazel trees as well as black pine. It can be found in different areas of central and southern Italy. It has had its place for nearly two thousand years in the more culturally sophisticated cuisine, and is appreciated for its unique aroma. Found in sizes approaching that of a grapefruit, it acts as an environmental guard as it refuses to grow in polluted terrain. Composed of water, fibers and minerals its function is uniquely “aromatic” in this type of cuisine; the small quantities utilized contain limited nutritional value. Nevertheless, it has its place in a variety of preparations associated with appetizers, first and second dishes especially if accompanied by olive oil.

 

Pasta the Romans where among the first to mention lagane (from which lasagne derive). Previously, Horatio and Cicero consumed this light pasta made with flour and water. However there is no further historical data on pasta from 200 AD. It is believed that maccheroni originated in Sicily. The term is from the Greek “macar” which means happy or food of the blessed ones. Pasta was seasoned with sugar and honey besides cheese and butter. The first recipe with tomatoes dates from the year 1839. And the first apparition of the word spaghetti appears in a Neapolitan cook book from 1824.

Bread the history of bread begins with that of man with barley and millet the preferred ingredients as they were ideal from a nutritional standpoint; they were eventually replaced by cereal. The invention of bread can be attributed to the Egyptians nearly 3000 years ago. They also developed the first ovens and, it is believed that the workers of the pyramids were paid in bread. Thereafter the Greeks developed at least 72 varieties of bread whereas the Romans improved on certain technical features such as windmills. There were at least 400 ovens in Imperial Rome with the first public oven dating back to 168 BC. Only with the start of the 20th Century bread production reaches an industrial scale.

Mozzarella the domestic water buffalo originates from India and was also found in Persia, brought over by migrant workers or armies. Later, Islamic soldiers brought it to Syria and Egypt. It arrived in Italy in the year 596 during the reign of the Longobard king Aginulfo. It thrives in warm, swampy areas rich in water such as the Nile Delta. In Europe it has found fertile ground in Puglia, Campania and the low lands along the Danube River. Mozzarella was offered and received with great pleasure by the nobility passing through while on the Grand Tour to Pompeii and Paestum. The word mozzarella comes from “mozzata” or cutting. The denomination “Mozzarella di Bufala” was nationally recognized in 1993 with a D.O.C. label and a D.O.P. label at the Europe level in 1996.

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