The authentic Italian experience

So last night, I just had to revisit Vesi pizzeria, just to make sure that the perfect pizza wasn't a fluke. And I had to order a different one just to make sure that they didn't only do one good pizza. Being a little too eager, I got there before the place even opened but the girls remembered me. "eet's the guy from lasta night". And indeed it was. Let me in girls, i'm starving.

The pizza i decided on was a Ripieno di Forna. And when it arrived i got a bit of a shock. It came in the shape of a cornish pasty, or calzone to most people I know. Only, flatter than the ones i'm used to in England. Lightly brushed with tomato on top with a sprig of basil, it was filled with mozzerella, ricotta cheese and salami. My word. Beautiful. Proving conclusively that last night wasn't a fluke. The search is officially over.



Now that i am off duty, i decided it was time to let my hair down and have a few beers. This is how I found myself in Piazza Bellini, which turns out to be the headquarters of Napoli's version of the infamous Ultras, the Napoli Mastiffs. The hardcore Napoli football fans. What an incongruous place for a bunch of hardcore hooligans to get together. A beautiful little square that surrounds the exposed ruins of some 4th century Greek walls. And what better night to be there. Live football as Napoli played out a 2:2 draw with Bari. What an authentic Italian experience. If there is one thing Italian men love more than their mothers then it's football. I even passed this shrine in the wall to Diego Maradona. Many, many years since he wore the blue of Napoli and dragged them to the Serie A title.



Walking home before the end of the match, I was walking past one bar that had brought the only TV they had outside and propped it up on crates. Imagine my surprise, as I walked past it, WITHOUT TOUCHING it, to see it, in slow motion start toppling off the crates. Yeah, fully off and onto the floor, smashing! It wasn't me guv!

Needless to say, I beat a hasty retreat and called in for a late night espresso and a Napoli favourite, Sfogliati. You trying saying that wthout getting laughed at, ha ha.



Buono sera folks!