1,000 Places to See Before You Die
Page 30
Hop onto the motorboat for a 10-minute ride to the outdoor Da Adolfo for lunch of fresh grilled mozzarella di bufala and spaghetti with plump baby clams, then pull up a beach chair on the tiny beach and sleep it off.
The hazy outline of Mount Vesuvius dominates the view from cliff-top Sorrento, favored among 19th-century British travelers for its mild winters. At the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria, marble staircases, elaborate Art Nouveau frescoes, and white-gloved service ensure that guests feel as enveloped in luxury as in that golden age. Save one evening for the 15-minute drive to Sant’Agata, where Alfonso and Livia Iaccarino’s acclaimed hillside restaurant, Don Alfonso 1890, promises a magical evening.
The view of the Amalfi coast from Ravello, one of the most exquisite in Italy, has inspired artists from Turner to Miró.
WHERE: Amalfi is 38 miles/61 km southeast of Naples. HOTEL SANTA CATERINA: Tel 39/089-871-012; www.hotelsantacaterina.it. Cost: from $415 (off-peak), from $610 (peak). PALAZZO SASSO: Tel 39/089-818181; in the U.S., 800-323-7500; www.palazzosasso.com. Cost: from $330 (off-peak), from $460 (peak). When: Apr–mid-Oct. HOTEL CARUSO: Tel 39/089-858801; in the U.S., 800-237-1236; www.hotelcaruso.com. Cost: from $700 (off-peak), from $1,085 (peak). When: closed Nov-Mar. CUMPÁ COSIMO: Tel 39/089-857156. Cost: dinner $40. HOTEL LE SIRENUSE: Tel 39/089-875066; www.sirenuse.it. Cost: from $500 (off-peak), from $725 (peak). When: Nov-Mar. SAN PIETRO: Tel 39/089-875455; in the U.S., 800-735-2478; www.ilsanpietro.it. Cost: from $600 (off-peak), from $770 (peak). When: closed Nov–Mar. HOTEL CASA ALBERTINA: Tel 39/089-875143; www.hotelcasaalbertina.com. Cost: from $170 (off-peak), from $260 (peak). DA ADOLFO: Tel 39/089875022; www.daadolfo.com. Cost: lunch $35. GRAND HOTEL EXCELSIOR VITTORIA: Tel 39/081-877-7111; in the U.S., 800-223-6800; www.exvitt.it. Cost: from $330 (off-peak), from $500 (peak). DON ALFONSO 1890: Tel 39/081-878-0026; www.donalfonso.com. Cost: from $400 (off-peak), from $640 (peak); dinner $200. When: Nov–Mar. BEST TIMES: May and Sep for mild weather and fewer crowds; Apr–Oct for Wagner Festival in Ravello; Jun 27 and Nov 30 for celebrating Amalfi’s patron Sant’Andrea.
Playground of Roman Emperors and Modern-Day Sybarites
CAPRI AND ISCHIA
Campania, Italy
Capri has been a favored summer playground since the Roman emperor Tiberius made the Villa Jovis—now an evocative cliff-top ruin with breathtaking views—his ruling seat in A.D. 26. Today, artists, designers, movie stars, divas, politicians, writers, royals, and financiers make regular appearances in the Piazzetta, described by -837-0433; www.lunahotel.com. Cost: from $300 (off-peak), from $420 (peak). When: closed mid-Oct-mid-Apr. LA FONTELINA: Tel 39/081-837-0845. Cost: lunch $35. When: closed Nov-mid-Apr. DA PAOLINO: Tel 39/081-837-6102; www.paolinocapri.com. Cost: dinner $65. When: closed Nov-Feb or Mar. GRANDE ALBERGO MEZZATORRE: Tel 39/081-986111; www.mezzatorre.it. Cost: from $460 (off-peak), from $660 (peak). When: closed mid-Oct-late Apr. BEST TIMES: May and Sep for mild weather and fewer crowds.
Twenty-Five Centuries of Culture, Neapolitan Style
NAPLES
Campania, Italy
More than two millennia of history stokes the vitality and energy of this modern-day port city famous for its high-spirited, chaotic everyday life. Naples was the seat of a powerful, independent kingdom for more than 500 years, and drew Europe’s finest architects and artists.
Explore its many historic overlays in the colorful Spaccanapoli, at the heart of the old city. Once an enclave of monumental palazzos and magnificent churches, Spaccanapoli now bustles against a backdrop of time-battered tenements and workshops; laundry hangs across narrow alleys; and Vespa-filled streets thrum with local vendors who hawk everything from contraband DVDs to gelato.
Stroll to the massive, brooding Duomo, the Cathedral of San Gennaro, whose richly filigreed interior invites you to linger, or visit the National Museum of Archaeology, which holds priceless antiquities from nearby Pompeii (see next page). A veritable oasis in the city’s center is Costantinopoli 104, the former home of a 19th-century marchesa, transformed into an elegant boutique hotel. The palm-shaded terrace surrounds a small pool, and the rooms reflect a classic yet contemporary aesthetic.
The bay-fronting Castel Nuovo, a massive fortification with ominous towers, moats, and dungeons that dates from the 13th century, is now home to Naples’s civic museum. It’s not far to the Palazzo Reale, the art-jammed 17th-century palace that was home to Naples’s monarchs, and the famed Teatro di San Carlo opera house, one of Europe’s largest and most splendid. Music courses through the veins of the napoletani: Enrico Caruso was born here and kept an apartment in the historic waterfront Grand Hotel Vesuvio, still one of the city’s best addresses for old-world luxury and breathtaking views from the rooftop Ristorante Caruso. Not far from the Teatro San Carlo, the Chiaja Hotel de Charme has an elegant atmosphere and an interesting past as a high-end brothel.
Neapolitans insist that they invented pizza—it certainly was perfected here. The no-frills Da Michele, established in 1870, is considered by many the “sacred temple of pizza.” Pizzeria Brandi, 100 years older, claims to have originated the Margherita pizza, first made for Italy’s Queen Margherita with plump tomatoes, local mozzarella di bufala, and fresh basil—its colors echoing the Italian flag.
Food is a top priority in this city on the bay—said to be the birthplace of pizza—where small family-owned food shops line the backstreets.
WHERE: 117 miles/189 km south of Rome. COSTANTINOPOLI 104: Tel 39/081-557-1035; www.costantinopoli104.com. Cost: from $200 (off-peak), from $315 (peak). GRAND HOTEL VESUVIO: Tel 39/081-764-0044; in the U.S., 800-223-6800; www.vesuvio.it. Cost: from $350. CHIAJA HOTEL DE CHARME: Tel 39/081-415555; www.hotelchiaia.it. Cost: from $145. DA MICHELE: Tel 39/081-553-9204; www.damichele.net. Cost: pizza $13. PIZZERIA BRANDI: Tel 39/081-416-928; www.brandi.it. Cost: pizza $13. BEST TIMES: Apr–Jun and Sep–Nov for fairest weather; 1st Sun in May and Sep 19 for celebrations of the city’s patron, San Gennaro.
Treasures of Vanished Civilizations
NAPLES’S ANTIQUITIES
Campania, Italy
Looming over the storied Gulf of Naples is Mount Vesuvius, the still-active 4,193-foot volcano that on Aug 24, A.D. 79, erupted with incredible force, spewing volcanic ash and mud over nearby cities and preserving them almost intact. Pompeii was the largest of the buried cities: It slumbered under 20 feet of ash for more than 1,500 years before its discovery and excavation, which continues today.
The Pompeiian homes, wine shops, public baths, and bordellos are windows on the life that flourished in this thriving port city during the days of the Caesars. The villas of the Casa del Fauno (House of the Faun), the elegant Casa dei Vettii, and the Villa dei Misteri (House of Mysteries) are worth visiting for their mosaics and frescoes. Once the center of daily life, the Stabian Baths survived—with rather explicit frescoes suggesting that something more than bathing went on here. Though the visible ruins of Pompeii are extensive, about two thirds (some 60 acres) remain buried. More than 2.5 million tourists visit yearly, but Pompeii is large enough to provide quiet corners and elusive enough to require a guide.
The town of Herculaneum (Ercolano) was also destroyed by Vesuvius, whose fast-moving waves of volcanic ash and mud served to preserve wooden structures, textiles, and, at the Villa dei Papiri, some 1,800 papyrus scrolls. Herculaneum is less thronged than Pompeii and gives fascinating insights into the lifestyles of the Roman elite, particularly at the House of the Stags and at the public baths of the House of Neptune and Amphitrite.
Most of the precious sculpture, murals, and mosaics excavated from Pompeii and Herculaneum can be found at Naples’s National Museum of Archaeology, one of the world’s richest treasure troves of Greco-Roman antiquities. The Gabinetto Segreto (Secret Gallery) contains more than 200 sexually explicit artworks on view only since 2000.
Not all of Naples’s ruins date from Roman times: The Greek temple complex at Paestum, on the Sorrentine Peninsula, is one of the best preserved and the oldest; the so-called Basilica is the 6th
-century B.C. Doric temple to Hera. Guests of the nearby Tenuta Seliano can enjoy warm hospitality at the agriturismo farm and inn of the Baronessa Cecilia Bellelli Baratta, whose herd of water buffalo supplies Italy with some of its finest mozzarella di bufala.
WHERE: Pompeii is 15 miles/24 km southeast of Naples. POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM: Tel 390/81-857-5347; www.pompeiisites.org. NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY: Tel 39/081-292823; http://museoarcheologiconazionale.campaniabeniculturali.it. PAESTUM: Tel 39/082-881-1016; www.infopaestum.it. TENUTA SELIANO: Tel 39/082-872-3634; www.agriturismoseliano.it. Cost: from $130. When: closed Nov–mid-Mar. BEST TIMES: May–Jun and Sep–Oct for fine weather.
Where Food Is a Magnificent Obsession
THE QUADRILATERO
Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Being the preeminent culinary center of a food-conscious country is an imposing role that “Bologna la Grassa” (Bologna the Fat One) has shouldered proudly and insouciantly for centuries. Those who come to this handsome medieval city solely for gastronomic pleasures never leave disappointed.
The Quadrilatero, the city’s well-known food district, is just east of Piazza Maggiore, where sturdy brick palazzos and the massive Basilica di San Petronio surround an enormous fountain of Neptune. Step into this medieval labyrinth, the city’s oldest and best-preserved quarter, and follow narrow streets named for guilds and lined with family-run shops and the stalls of the food markets. Window displays are piled high with fish, cheeses, wild mushrooms, cured meats, and Bologna’s own inventions: mortadella sausage (the distant granddaddy of American bologna), tortellini hand-stuffed with meat and cheese, and the exquisitely chunky ragú alla bolognese. Everyone winds up at the legendary Tamburini, Italy’s most lavish food emporium. A visit here is more about cultural enhancement than shopping, but no one leaves the store empty-handed. If you come at lunchtime, you can sample from the mouth-watering array of dishes at VeloCibò, the store’s self-service bistro.
The city’s chefs transform fresh market offerings into seasonal-based favorites at such eateries as Drogheria della Rosa, northeast of the Quadrilatero near the 11th-century university, the oldest in the Western world. A meal here and at other atmospheric trattorias lends credence to the old Italian saying that the two best places to eat are your mother’s house and Bologna. You can also sleep well in Bologna, amid the plush luxury of the Grand Hotel Majestic or beneath medieval beams at the Corona d’Oro 1890, a chic inn occupying an aristocratic 14th-century palace in the shadow of the Due Torri, the city’s famously leaning twin towers.
WHERE: 66 miles/106 km north of Florence. TAMBURINI: Tel 39/051-234726; www.tamburini.com. DROGHERIA DELLA ROSA: Tel 39/051-222529; www.drogheriadellarosa.it. Cost: dinner $35. GRAND HOTEL MAJESTIC: Tel 39/051-225445; http://grandhotelmajestic.duetorrihotels.com/en. Cost: from $275. HOTEL CORONA D’ORO 1890: Tel 39/051-236456; www.bolognarthotels.it. Cost: from $285.
A City of Great Art and Refinement
PIAZZA DEL DUOMO
Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Parma is known as the home of Arturo Toscanini and Giuseppe Verdi and for such culinary delights as parmigiano cheese and prosciutto. This elegant little city offers much more, as you’ll determine the moment you set foot in the Piazza del Duomo, one of the loveliest in Italy. The octagonal Battistero (Baptistery), perhaps the finest example of Romanesque architecture in northern Italy, is clad in pink Verona marble and festooned with reliefs by the local sculptor and architect Benedetto Antelami. A high point, quite literally, of the 12th-century Duomo next door is looking up toward the restored cupola at Antonio Correggio’s famous Assumption of the Virgin (1522-1530). The “divine” Correggio was a great master of the High Renaissance, although the concentric circles of figures were described as a “mess of frogs’ legs” by the bishop who commissioned the piece. You can get your fill of the Piazza del Duomo views from one of the large, antiques-filled guest rooms at the family-run Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati.
Parma exudes a sense of well-being that harks back to its days of splendor as capital of the Farnese dukes from the mid-16th to the early 18th century and later as the duchy of Marie-Louise, widow of Napoleon. Marie-Louise filled the ducal palace, now the Gallerõa Nazionale, with art and left the city the Teatro Reggio, one of the world’s finest opera houses. A meal based on the city’s legendary ham and hard, pungent cheese at any number of excellent trattorias is usually a memorable performance as well. Sample the regional specialties at the acclaimed La Greppia, helmed by artistic chef Paola Cavazzini. Explore Parma’s culinary traditions of cheese, prosciutto, and tomatoes in museums that are located in and around the city and together comprise the Musei del Cibo (Food Museums).
Work on the Battistero began in 1196 and took over 100 years to complete.
WHERE: 60 miles/97 km northwest of Bologna. PALAZZO DALLA ROSA PRATI: Tel 39/0521-386429; www.palazzodallarosaprati.it. Cost: from $195. LA GREPPIA: Tel 39/0521233686; www.ristoranteparmalagreppia.com. Cost: dinner $80. MUSEI DEL CIBO: www.museidelcibo.it. HOW: Food Valley Travel offers food and culture tours. Tel 39/0521-798515; www.foodvalleytravel.com. BEST TIMES: mid-Sep for Festival del Prosciutto di Parma; last weekend in Sep for medieval races of Palio di Parma; Oct for Verdi festival.
Dazzling Mosaics in a Former Capital of the Byzantine Empire
RAVENNA
Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Ravenna’s mosaics—among the most important in Western art—evoke the city’s storied past as the last capital of the Western Roman Empire after the fall of Rome in the 5th century. Today Ravenna is sleepy, unpretentious, and—a blessing for art lovers—rarely crowded. The city’s solid redbrick buildings contrast with the brilliance and refinement of the mosaics that cover the interiors of churches and mausoleums with designs of epic proportion and detail. There are six places to see these tapestries of mosaics, commissioned by the Byzantine rulers in their attempt to have Ravenna outdo rival cities. Most visited are the 6th-century Tomb of Gallia Placidia, who ran the Western Empire for 20 years as regent to her son, and the adjacent, octagonal Basilica di San Vitale, a tribute to the Emperor Justinian and held by many to be the crowning achievement of Byzantine art in the world.
Among Ravenna’s other monuments is the simple tomb of Dante Alighieri. The early Renaissance thinker and author of the Divine Comedy was banished from his hometown of Florence and died in Ravenna in 1321.
WHERE: 46 miles/74 km east of Bologna. VISITOR INFO: www.ravennamosaici.it. WHERE TO STAY: Albergo Cappello offers contemporary style in a frescoed, 14th-century palazzo. Tel 39/0544-219813; www.albergocappello.it. Cost: from $185 (off-peak), from $260 (peak). BEST TIME: Jun–Jul for Ravenna Festival of opera and classical music.
Crossroads of the North
FRIULI
Friuli–Venezia Giulia, Italy
Tucked away into Italy’s northeast corner, just south of Austria and snug against the border of Slovenia, Friuli is where Italians escape on gastronomic holidays. From the Adriatic coast and the regional capital of Trieste northward to the Julian Alps, Friuli is a landscape rich with mountain meadows, rolling hillsides, and fertile plains. It is a small region with a big reputation for sweet pro-sciutto hams from the village of San Daniele, robust artisanal cheeses, and what many consider Italy’s best white wines from the Friulano grape. As befits the crossroads of Latin, Germanic, and Slavic cultures, the cucina friulana features hearty sausages, goulash, and polenta alongside cjalsons (sweet-and-savory ravioli), wafers of fried Montasio cheese called frico, and delicate herb sauces on pasta.
The stately medieval city of Udine, with its handsome Renaissance buildings by Andrea Palladio and wealth of luminous paintings by Tiepolo, stands at the center of it all. Chef Emanuele Scarello runs Agli Amici, his family’s trattoria, which dates from 1887. His inventive cooking calls on the region’s Austrian, Slovenian, and Italian traditions. Keepers of the flame of local cuisine, the Del Fabbro family operates Trattorìa Al Grop, a venerable inn in Tavagnacco, famed for its vast repertoire of recipes fe
aturing the celebrated local asparagus. A few minutes’ drive east of Udine, the medieval village of Cividale del Friuli is the hub of the wine trade in the Colli Orientali growing district. Locanda al Castello offers 16 atmospheric rooms in a vine-covered brick castle, originally a Jesuit monastery. Its dining room is noted for the local recipes made famous in the U.S. by chef, author, and TV personality Lidia Bastianich. She and son Joseph operate the nearby winery Azienda Agricola Bastianich, in Gagliano. The crowning glory of their operation is the single-vineyard selection of Friulano, the local grape that makes an intense, complex white wine.
WHERE: Udine is 79 miles/127 km northeast of Venice. TRATTORIA AGLI AMICI: Tel 39/0432-565411; www.agliamici.it. Cost: dinner $75. AL GROP: Tel 39/0432-660240; www.algrop.net. Cost: $160; dinner $60. LOCANDA AL CASTELLO: Tel 39/0432-733242; www.alcastello.net. Cost: $215; dinner $60. AZIENDA AGRICOLA BASTIANICH: Tel 39/0462-700943; www.bastianich.com. BEST TIMES: Mar–Apr for asparagus season; late Jun for San Daniele prosciutto festival; and Sep–Oct for wine harvest.
“If there was no Rome, I would dream of her.”—SIR LAURENCE OLIVIER IN SPARTACUS
ROME
Lazio, Italy
Take in the swirling traffic and exuberance of life in the Italian capital and it’s easy to believe that all roads lead to Rome. The city can overwhelm its visitors with millennia of history, unrivaled art collections, neighborhoods that feel like small villages, and an enviable marriage of carpe diem and la dolce vita. See the sights, embrace the vitality, and do as the Romans do: Linger awhile with an espresso or aperitivo while watching unfold the amazing spectacle that is Rome, caput mundi.