Naples to Sorrento...

 These are all pictures from Trianon Pizzeria in Naples, Italy. It was, my own mother's pizza notwithstanding (sorry, Mama), the best pizza I have ever tasted. Of course, they've been making it since 1923, in the city where pizza was born. YUM.


And below begins a project I've been brewing up for a while. The following is an excerpt from my travel journal in Italy. So much life goes on all the time, but I seem to notice more bits and pieces of it when I'm on the road... Hope you enjoy some of my impressions...


February 21, 2010 (or 21/02/2010 as it's written in Europe -they switch the day and month)
On a train from Napes to Sorrento, Italy

We didn't see much of smiling grubby Naples, but I am a little charmed by it all: by the quadruple-deckered pizzeria with the busy bossy staff who melt into helpfulness and smiles when you, the American tourist, ask to take their picture, by the pizza maker who gives dough to curious Italian bambinos, and again by a friendly female behind the espresso counter. You have to figure she's collected a few stories of her own, working in the train station district, her little caffe filled with a swarm of over-the-hill Neapolitan gents.

Then there’s the achingly young couple on the metro: genial dad and bone-tired mom, a laughing, rosy dark baby. The Indian student in the next seat is completely captivated by this baby: "Belissimo!" He takes the small family's photo, strikes up a conversation. He speaks a mixture of Italian, Spanish, and French peppered with English and Hindi exclamations. The train car's small population shares a moment. Everyone delights in baby's laughter. A rainbow graces the grey grubby city as our graffiti-clad train heads toward Sorrento...