Rome, Naples and Amalfi

Join us as we visit Rome, Naples and Amalfi Italy in April. We explore the Colosseum, Neapolitan pizza and the Path of the Gods. From street food to Michelin stars, and the beach to the mountains. Peer inside a volcano and taste the best this region has to offer!

Millions of people visit Rome each year, and chance favors the prepared in terms of bookable events and experiences. Nowhere is this more true than visiting the Colosseum. Thousands show up each day looking for last-minute entry, and the vast majority are funneled through the general admission levels. Only one agency issues tickets for the colosseum, and all visitors including tour groups must purchase through Parco Archeologico del Colosseo (PARCO). Tickets are made available for sale exactly 30 days to the time of entry and the premium experiences sell out in seconds. These include the Underground and Attico entries. You can book through a tour group, but know that they often sell to their customers prior to securing the actual tickets. You will pay 5-10x the actual ticket price (with some extra perks) but with some risk of last minute date/time changes or cancellations. We practiced purchasing through PARCO and were able to secure tickets for both the Underground and Attico experiences. We recommend the Attico experience which is quiet, peaceful, personal and extraordinarily beautiful.

Rome is known for two types of Pizza - al Taglio and Tonda. Unless you happen to see a fresh length of al Taglio being pulled from the oven at one of the local bakeries go for the fried Suppli rissoto balls instead and save room for Tonda in the evening. There are a lot of pizzerias serving Tonda with pools of liquid in the center. Emma pizzeria manages this aspect of the ingredients properly delivering a thin and crispy pie to your table. Topped with spicy salami it is fantastic. You must call to reserve.

People say a trip to Rome isn't complete without trying the classic Roman pastas: Cacio e Pepe, Gricia, Carbonara and Amatriciana. Almost every restaurant you find will serve one or all of these. Romans get pretty serious about the ingredients of these dishes from an authenticity standpoint. If you see a restaurant serving pasta in a thick creamy sauce out of a cheese wheel keep walking. Once you have tried these pastas there are even more options such as Pasta Al Sugo Di Coda from Trattoria Da Enzo al 29. No reservations accepted, and people start lining up an hour before the doors open. Stick to the antipastis and primis.

To reach Naples we used the high speed Frecciarossa trains with Trenitalia. Use the website or mobile app in advance to secure tickets and avoid the crowded kiosks in Termini train station. Prices will be substantially lower if you book ahead. Be sure to arrive early and look for your train, time and platform on the big black electronic boards. If they go blank with a big error and people swirl in a panic just look for the red trains on the far platforms and check with the staff. Enjoy the 150+mph ride to Napoli.

There is an art to crossing the street in Naples. First, always use a marked crossing. Next, walk towards the street with an upright posture and confidence looking towards the oncoming traffic. Make eye contact and step into the street committing towards the action and listen for the brake squeal. If instead you hear tire screeching take a quick step back and wait for a few cars to go by. Naples is rough, dirty, lovely and tasty.

There are a lot of famous pizza joints in Naples, but even more spots that are not. Ignoring lists and rankings, our favorite pizzeria from the trip was Antonio Sorbillo which was simple, unpretentious, and delicious. The classic margherita was perfect. First come first served. Pizza is relatively inexpensive and there are enough good places that if you have a bad experience just walk down the street and try the next place.

Naples is more than pizza, and our list of regional foods to try included Parmigiana di Melanzane (Eggplant Parmigiana) and Neapolitan Ragu. The former is a family favorite, and the latter is the inspiration for the Italian American Sunday Gravy. La Locanda Gesu Vecchio is located in Centro Storico the historic center of Naples. They serve up classic Neapolitan foods in a casual atmosphere at a good price. You will need reservations in advance since La Locanda has made the Michelin Guide's Bib Gourmand value list. They have a second location down the street to help satisfy demand.

Rather than rush between sites in a fatigue-building march, we chose one major activity for each day. When it came to the greater Naples region this meant we were going to visit either Pompeii, Herculaneum or Mount Vesuvius. After complete immersion in the architecture of Rome we were ready for some adventure and decided on Vesuvius. Public access roads switch back and forth about 90% to the top, but you need to decide on transportation. Unfortunately no public transport exists that will take you direct non-stop so a self-organized trip requires changes in trains/busses and battling for seats. We opted to join a small group tour that included pick up and drop off at our Hotel in Naples. There was also a bonus stop at a vineyard on the slopes for a light lunch and wine tasting. The hike itself is short and steep on a gravel road. A small kiosk at the top sells snacks and €2 cups of wine. Be warned that extreme winds sometimes close the trail which happened shortly after we finished our experience. These safety decisions are made by the park service and are outside the control of tour operators.

Naples has so much good food that you may leave feeling like you missed out. After sampling Pizza and some classic Neapolitan dishes we dined at Michelin starred Aria for some exposure to the new. When visiting the Old World it is easy to get caught up in tradition and not look to how the place is evolving through contemporary efforts. The spot is on a side-street with a nondescript entrance. It was a fun series of dishes that explored new ingredient combinations through both traditional and non-traditional lenses. It wasn't the best fancy-pants stop on our trip, but we're glad we explored beyond pizza and ragu.

Our €90 (three people + luggage) ferry from Naples to Amalfi was canceled inside 12 hours of departure due to weather so we scrambled to find alternative transport. The first-come first-served SITA busses are notorius for being late-arrival vomit comets that people throw elbows to secure seats on. In the grand scheme of things a one-way private car wasn't going to break the bank so we forked over €200 and enjoyed a ride in a Mercedes wagon up over the mountains and down to the taxi drop-off in Amalfi. The SITA bus stops along the Amalfi coast were overflowing into the streets even in April. Choose a central location on the coast where you want to spend most of your time and stay there. Then either walk, take a ferry or fork out the dough for taxis on a limited basis for key experiences. Don't spend hours of your precious time fighting to sit in a wet bus seat.

The little towns tucked into the cliffs of the coast are beautiful and change with the light of the day. After a few hours they are more enjoyable viewed from a distance where the souvenir shops and masses of people blend in with one another. Many of the visitors are day-trippers, so staying overnight awards you relatively peaceful mornings and evenings. Still, the best way to enjoy the towns is viewing them from the water or the mountains. Sentiero Degli Dei, or Path of the Gods stretches from Bomerano high in the mountains above Amalfi to Nocelle, a small town near Positano. Starting in Bomerano is the easier direction. It was a highlight of our trip and not to be missed. Again, skip the SITA busses and bite the bullet with a €100 taxi trip to Bomerano. From Nocelle, you will have 1800 stairs down to Positano which will burn off some of the pasta. The total hike is around 5 miles. There are sections along cliffs with large drops, but the path itself is wide enough that you shouldn't feel unsafe. I wouldn't bring small children or people who are unsure of their footing.

After a good hike and length of time outdoors food just plain tastes better. At the Nocelle terminus of the Path of the Gods is a small sit-down restaurant called Il Chiosco del Sentiero Degli Dei that serves up simple foods, cold drinks and granita. It might be the best bruschetta and spritz you ever have. The tomato and mozzarella panini was also very good. Fun music and great views.

The average water temperature in Amalfi in late April is the same as the average water temperature in Southern Maine in summer. Italian locals and most tourists still consider it too cold to swim, but there are always some - especially those normalized to cooler climates (like us) who do. Real estate is at a premium, and the beaches are quite small. Only short stretches are reserved for public use, as private hotels and clubs rope-off their sections for customers and members. There is no fine-white sand trucked in, only rocks and black grit that in many places can be unpleasant to walk on. Make sure to at least dip your feet in!

One of the best restaurant experiences of the entire trip was at Michelin starred Sensi Restaurant in Amalfi. They have multiple recommended tasting menus that they allow you to mix dishes between to build a custom experience. We pulled the La Nerano and Il Limone dishes into the six-course menu replacing the pasta and dessert. A distinct advantage, perhaps even value of a meal like this is that you will often get to taste a full spectrum of ingredients from the region. If you don't have an extra half day to visit Cetara and taste colatura, you can experience it as one element of one dish (in this case an amazing risotto). Highly recommended meal at a beautiful location just off the main square.

Rome, Naples and Amalfi are a trio that make sense to visit together when arriving from abroad. They are geographically close to one another, but distinct in their identities and the experiences that they offer. Transportation options are well established allowing movement without a rental. We made this the first half of a two-week trip to Southern Italy. Join us next time as we hop a ferry to Salerno, pick up a rental and head south-east to Matera in Basilicata. From there we will visit Bari on the Adriatic coast before heading up into the hills and mountains of Abruzzo outside Rome. Thanks for joining us!