Our third trip to Naples

Third Napoli

Today we walked to the Archaeological Museum of Napoli. The museum is fantastic, with a lot of artifacts from Pompeii, incredible art from the height of the Roman Empire, and imposing marble statues of your favorite Greek gods and goddesses. I, however, have a preternatural gift for bypassing all of the stuff you want to see in a museum and instead spend my time in the rooms containing all of the boring stuff. My forty-five minutes in their Amber Exhibit was no exception.

The museum also has a “Secret Room” containing its erotic art collection. You have to sign up to go in, and no one under fourteen is permitted without an adult, so I was really expecting it to be the best thing ever. Instead, it’s a room decorated with lots of large-phallused statues and tasteful depictions of satyr-nymph love. I found myself stuck behind a mother trying to model a healthy attitude towards sexuality for her two pre-teenaged children. I think she was on safe ground until her kids collapsed in a giggle fit in front of a painting of a lusty fisherman getting more than he bargained for after an encounter with Hermaphroditus.

After lunch we walked to Spaca Napoli, a neighborhood Brian had frequented last year. His friend Enzo (who I will have to write about in a later entry) had recommended a restaurant here last week, and we spent another afternoon eating a meal of a lifetime. The restaurant might have been called Pizzeria de Presidente (Clinton ate here at one point, and they have the pictures to prove it), or Pizzeria Trattoria, or Pizza Place, there was no clear signage. I split a Pizza Tarantina (anchovies, capers, and olives) with Jenny and it was delicious. The owner told us he was opening a location in San Diego soon, so look for it.