Naples, Italy

Italy!!!

How my heart has yearned to travel to Italy. The land of mouth-watering pasta, pizza, gelato, and beauty around every turn. Steven and I try to take one trip without the kiddos per year because it’s important to take time for our marriage too…and it’s fun!

We found a great flight deal to Naples using Going (formerly known as Scott’s Cheap Flights) last year and used our Chase Sapphire points to book the flight with the end goal of 10 days around the Amalfi Coast. With the whirlwind of the move and being busy parents of two, we decided to forgo planning the trip and just go with the flow! We planned everything literally the night or a few nights before.

When we landed in Naples on Sunday night, it was rainy & dreary so we decided to spend the night on our very own pizza tour since Naples is the birthplace of the ‘za!

First stop: Le Figlie di Iorio by Teresa Iorio, the first female international pizza competition winner! We ordered a delicious brocolli rabe & Italian sausage pizza, which was absolutely incredible.

We walked around the city, exploring the Galleria I Umberto, Teatro di San Carlo, and Piazza del Plebiscito. There wasn’t too much going on, but it was nice to stroll!

Second pizza stop: Pizzeria 400 Gradi. We got a regular pizza an a fried pizza, which was more than 2x the size of my hand!!! Oh my goodness. It was surprisingly fluffy and light, not greasy at all. I’m shocked how unbelievable every single pizza has been in Naples. Chef’s kiss!!

In the morning, our Airbnb provided breakfast at the cafe next door. I’m starting to appreciate the beauties of a simple espresso or cappuccino more XD

Fast forward to the very end of our trip where we enjoyed one final pizza encounter at Gino e Toto Sorbillo on the very lively Via dei Tribunali. There were flags hanging everywhere celebrating the Napoli soccer team making it to a finals match. The energy was palpable, with excitement and happy banter in the air.

Whereas the first two pizza joints felt like very local hole in the wall gems (only €6 or €8 euros!), Gino was well known, had a long line of many tourists, and ranged from €6-14. We ended up getting into the restaurant with another American couple from California and bonded.

This pizza…was also chef’s kiss. Napoli does pizza right!!!

Our final stop in Naples was a random cute cafe called Caffè Ciorfito where I got a “pistachino” (pistachio cappucino) because I love all things pistachio and Steven got a cappuccino. They even provided two delicious almond cookies!

Alas, the cafes in Europe are not for wifi, but actually talking and relaxing. Imagine that!

Overall, Naples definitely had the best value food and my favorite pizza out of all the places we visited. Because it’s not as popular of a tourist spot, it felt much more low-key and less like you were there to be sold to which I appreciated. It doesn’t have the most sights, but some highlights that we didn’t get to see include Castel Sant’Elmo and Underground Naples.

Would we return to Naples? Absolutely. Anything for the pizza ;)