https://www.visitnaples.eu/en Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

See Naples and fly

9th June 20259th June 2025 funtime65

And not just because of Scotland footballer McMaradona but because of Aer Lingus’s summer sale we want to see Naples and fly.

Vidi what we’ve done there playing with the aphorism ‘See Naples and die’.

Said to have been coined by the German renaissance writer Goethe to mark the southern Italian city’s beauty.

Naples, of course, is renowned too as the home of pizza.

And, of course, the Neapolitans’ dish is as far removed from a Domino’s as two dishes with the same name can be.

Pizza napulitana

Only there’s the rub Neapolitans call their delicacy pizza napoletana or in the vernacular pizza napulitana.

Now true pizza lovers will recognise their napulitana by its soft, thin dough with high edges.

And it’s pomodorini del Piennolo del Vesuvio, tomatoes fresh off the volcanic plains to the south of Mount Vesuvius.

While the cheese traditionally must be mozzarella di bufala campana.

Apizza variation on a theme

Now as is the way pizza the Neapolitan diaspora took their food habits with them to the New World.

And you can enjoy as many varieties as there is food although the Neapolitans who settled down on the east coast will beg to differ.

Particularly the enclave in New Haven, Connecticut who preserved the old tradition of Apizza (pronounced Ah Beats).

With Sally’s Apizza the upper crust of pizza in New Haven and I (and Frank Sinatra) can testify to that!

Of course, you might say that travelling from Britain to New England is the long way round for Neapolitan pizza.

All roads lead to Naples

And you’d be right but who says you can’t do both.

Particularly with Aer Lingus to Boston, the capital of New England, a well-trodden path.

But, of course, Naples while not exactly on our doorstep is only three and a half hours airport to airport.

From where you can put all thoughts of home Domino’s behind you with a pan (our collective noun) of pizza parlours.

While you can eat on the go by ordering a pezzo (a slice of pizza) out of any outlet which is what the Italians do.

Set sale

The Aer Lingus offer is up to 20% off fares & bags to destinations across Europe and the UK.

It is a limited time sale until June 17, for travel from August 1 to October 22.

So get a slice of the action… well the airline did pick Pizza City out for special mention.

And you’re welcome for offering you the tagline See Naples and Fly.

Africa, America, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, Food, Ireland

Pie are squared and round

23rd January 202223rd January 2022 funtime65

Excuse the grammar but the gag doesn’t work otherwise so on today’s National Pie Day let’s say Pie are squared and round.

And we’ll pick out six pies from around the world.

All because we’re an island here of pie lovers in Britain, and Scots up and down the country have grown up on Scotch pies and beans.

Then long before American fast food pork pies were the go-to snack in England, and not just for ploughmen.

Mr American Pie

Eat your heart out Prue Leith: In Colorado

Apple Pie: National Pie Day was started in the mid-1970s by a nuclear engineer, brewer and teacher (talented man) Charlie Papazian.

It was then that he declared his own birthday, January 23, to be National Pie Day and it took on.

So now fast forward to a Can’t Bake, Won’t Bake visitor to Ginger & Bake in nearby Fort Collins under the watchful eye of the ever-patient Deb.

Say it loud and say it stout

More please: Jamie Oliver’s Steak & Guinness Pie

Beef and Guinness Pie: If you’re like me (and the Irish) and feel that drink is the food of life then read on.

You see this variation on the British steak and ale pie in Ireland naturally is enriched with Guinness and bacon and onions.

And it s on every bar menu in Ireland… and inevitably in the ubiquitous Jamie Oliver’s cookbook.

Custard with that?

Bobotie pie: It’s a different world in the one-track town of Cradock in the Eastern Cape In South Africa.

That’s where the owner of the Die Tuishuise & Victoria Manor has put on a buffet of Karoo food that fuses easy.

So let me give you Bobotie pie, a curried raisin-infused Shepherd’s Pie with a savoury custard topping.

Pie Irie

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby: Cooking and baking in Barbados

Macaroni pie: And something from the Old World embraced by the new in the Caribbean.

It is known there just as pie or Bajan Pie in Barbados this is island comfort food.

This tubed pasta with creamy cheese sauce is served either as a main dish in Bim.

Or more likely to the side of their favourite chicken and fish. Irie?

Pizza and understanding

Pizza pie: So when we first got a taste for the Italian staple on this island we would call it pizza pie.

The best pizzas which we know are in Pizza City, Naples.

But a tip here for those who might otherwise be stung dining out near the Spanish Steps or Pantheon in Rome.

Instead pick up the long miniature pezzos from stores scattered through the Eternal City.

Sweet pie

Key Lime Pie: Now just as many pies are sweet as are savoury.

And in the land of American pie there are as many variations as there are numbers after 3.14.

But as it’s darn tasty and the Florida Keys are on the radar.

For a long rescheduled road trip it’s Lime Key Pie for me.

And so whatever your pick it’s good to know pie are squared and round and make the world go round.

Countries, Culture, Europe

Italy’s history written on the walls

4th August 20214th August 2021 funtime65

It’s often called a living museum and as we shake down the new UNESCO sites and celebrate Il Bel Paese’s pre-eminence.. Italy’s history written on the walls.

The addition of Bologna’s porticoes and Padova’s frescoes makes Italy numero uno with 58 recognised sites.

Arches of triumph

Donata McGlynn (she married an Italian) would tear her luscious brown hair out teaching me Italian of a morning.

We would do whistle-stop visits around her homeland in the exercises she set to test nostra lingua.

And we, of course, passed through Bologna’s porticoes which gave us plenty of practise our directions.

The porticoes date back to the 12th century and span over 39 miles with most found in the city.

Made of wood, stone, brick, or reinforced concrete they serve as entrances to arcades and workshops.

And naturally have become hubs for Italians to chatter, or chiacchiera, a beautiful onomatopoeic word.

Of course all with the hands, or parlare con le mani.

Padova’s frescoes

Of course, Renaissance Italy all started out with… Giotto in Padova.

Long before Michelangelo got to work on his Sistine Chapel Giotto was setting the template in Padova.

His showpiece the Scrovegni Chapel.

All of which you can learn about by googling. But much more fun coming with me on my Padova journey

UNESCO didn’t just stop there although you could easily while away an afternoon… and I did.

There are eight religious and secular building complexes which make up Padova’s 14th century fresco cycle.

So why not start your UNESCO Historic Sites of Italy in Padova.

Where its Botanical Gardens are already rightfully on the list.

And take a gentle boat ride to Venice.

Sites for sore eyes

Italy is, of course, an ancient land of regions and cities.

And it is only right that UNESCO should celebrate le citte as a whole.

And La Citta Eterna stands foremost of them, although, of course it’s a high bar.

So you should dwell a while in Florence, Sienna, Naples and Verona.

And Ferrara which bills itself as the City of Renaissance although Giotto and Padova might have something to say about that!

So check it all out… Italy’s history written on the walls.

Countries, Culture, Music

Forza Italia

24th May 202124th May 2021 funtime65

Forza Italia. And in celebration of Italy’s Eurovision success, here’s Rainy Days and Songdays’ five Italian stompers.

Reach for the skies

Venice: And let’s catch a gondola back to Padova

Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu, Domenico Mondugno: And it must have been a helluva year at Eurovision in 1958 for this one not to have won.

Modugno’s song went onto win two Grammies but on this occasion had to play second (in fact third) fiddle to Andre Claveau’s Dors, mon amour for France.

Apparently it was penned while composer Franco Migliacci who was inspired by Marc Chagalli’s art. O

For us it’s always the sound of St Mark’s Square in Venice… oh, oh, oh, oh.

No one sleeps

Nessun Dorma Luciano Pavarotti: And this became the anthem for football’s World Cup, Italia 90.

All of which gives us the chance to give a shout-out to his home town Modena in Emilia-Romagna where he was born, lived and died.

And composer Giacomo Puccini and his town Lucca in Tuscany.

Mio, duo, Luciano, Bryano

O Sole Mio, Luciano Pavarotti and Bryan Adams: And that man again, this time not mio but duo with the Groover from Vancouver himself, Bryan Adams.

And as we all know is the backdrop for Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding and It’s Now Or Never.

O Sole Mio is a Neapolitan staple written by Alfredo Mazzucchi in the late 19th century..

When, when, when

Quando Quando Quando, Tony Renis: And again another which didn’t win its competition, fourth in the Sanremo Festival

Elio Cesari, for that is he is Milanese is the original but when, when, when The Bublé and Nelly Furtado get hold of it it sounds like this.

Without a woman

Senza Una Donna, Zucchero & Paul Young: And this means ‘without a woman’ which heartthrob Paul never was.

And dare I say the more grizzly Zucchero, at least in Italy where Adelmo, or Sugar (Zucchero) is a bit of a sweetheart too.

Time to say goodbye

Con Te Partiro Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman: And with everything Italiano it’s all about the crescendo, the climax.

And for Pisan Andrea it’s about his home town as it is Luccan composer Giacomo Puccini

FORZA ITALIA