13 RETURNING TO ITALY: BASILICATA & CAMPANIA
After the nightmare that was our ferry from Greece to Bari, we were now back in Italy. Wanting to leave the trauma that was Bari as soon as humanly possible, we headed straight towards the motorway, refusing to look back.
Now, having been back in Italy over a week, I think I must’ve repressed the memory of how grotty it is in regards to the sheer amount of rubbish and fly-tipping strewn across the place. Admittedly, I don’t think northern Italy was as bad and the UK is certainly far from perfect, but my god, sourthern Italy is a disgrace. Some lay-bys had so much crap (from dirty mattresses to old toilet bowls to plastic bottles) thrown into them, it would be impossible to park your car. It wasn’t just motorways, it was everywhere: towns, villages, on the beaches. I’m not sure what their local councils are working on, but as a very irrelevant and unimportant tourist, I would highly suggest they find some solutions to the problem because the way it’s going down here, you may aswell not have a bin at home when you could just chuck it out the car window on your way to work. Anyway… rant over.
We reached the coast and pulled up to a ‘sosta camper’ - the same concept to the French aire-du-camping where it’s basically a campsite but less established so it’s cheaper - in the town of Perone. Cam and I were both knackered after the ferry so we spent the day napping and had a quick beach stop, before making dinner and getting an early night.
The following morning, we spent a couple of hours on Spiaggia di Saturo, which was quite possibly the busiest beach I’ve ever seen. Every inch was covered in beach umbrella or towel. As a result, we left fairly quickly and headed to the city of Matera. Matera itself has two districts recognised as UNESCO world heritage sights due to their ancient cave dwellings that date back to at least 7000BC. It is therefore widely accepted that Matera is the oldest continually inhabited place in the world.
I am so grateful that we visited. It was one of the most amazing places and certainly the best city we’ve visited in Italy so far. Due to the density of ancient buildings, it was difficult to concentrate on one thing because the view was so busy with limestone walls, wooden windows and doors of various colours. It was really beautiful. We visited a couple of churches and generally explored the old town before eating at a restaurant (that I do not remember the name of) where I had a tasty spaghetti ragu thing and Cam had quote: “the best lasagna I’ve ever had.”
We then left Matera and headed to the evenings camp spot which was once again, potentially one of our favourite spots of the trip. The view from Bert overlooked the pretty mountainous village of Castelmezzano, which appeared glued to the enormous boulders forming the peak of the mountain. It was incredible - unfortunately pictures don’t quite do it justice.
After a great nights sleep, we made our way to a place called Meta, a town wedged between Sorrento and Pompeii. It was all very exciting because Cam’s parents, Neil and Jenny and his brother Fraser were coming to visit and had booked an apartment for the next four days. To celebrate their arrival later that evening, we headed to a local restaurant - Tavernetta Cinquantotto - which was nice, but perhaps if more energy was exerted into making good food rather than having pretty garden furniture, it would’ve gained more positive reviews from us. My tagliatelle dish was really tasty, but it seems that everyone else’s dishes were a little underwhelming - Cam was even served raw scampi which resulted in an upset stomach the following morning. Regardless, it was lovely to see Cam’s family and we had a very wholesome evening !
Over the next few days, we did some touristy activities around the area. As well as spending some time on Meta beach, we visited Sorrento one evening for dinner. We ate at Ristorante Pizzeria S.Antonino which was delicious, and had a general snoop around Sorrento which, despite the tourists, was a beautiful town.
As a side note, I just want to put it out there that being an Italian waiter/waitress looks like the best job in the world (no wonder some look ancient). It seems that there’s no rush to their service and no consequence from managers for poor/slow attendance. Perhaps it’s because we’re tourists and specifically British, but it never fails to make me smile when we have, for example, requested the bill at least twice, and I can see the staff huddled in a corner laughing and giggling. Having been a waitress back in Britain, I have no doubt that I would’ve received multiple negative Trip Advisor reviews and consequently made unemployed very quickly. Do they ever get shouted at? Do they ever get complaints?
Anyhow… we also visited Pompeii and Naples. Pompeii was fascinating and the guided tour was well worth it - especially given that shamefully, I didn’t really know what Pompeii was famous for. I know this may sound a little dopey or unintelligent, but I am always amazed at how old some things are.
Naples was a bit of a dump but we were only really visiting to do a pasta-making class which was brilliant! Along with some Americans and a French lady, we made ricotta and parmigiana ravioli and some tagliatelle. Our supervisor was an old Italian man who possessed two traits that I’ve decided to be imperative for working with tourists: a good - preferably dry - sense of humour, and the patience of a saint. He made the activity all the more fun and I would highly recommend doing it whilst in Italy generally. Oh yes, and the pasta turned out great and seeing as my diet for that day had consisted of a plum and a scoop of nutella ice-cream, it was all the tastier.
The following day we relaxed at the apartment and visited the beach in Meta which was crowded but the clear sea made it worth it. In the evening, upon the recommendation of the airbnb lady (probably due to a family/friend connection), we ate dinner at a local restaurant specialising in steak and meat generally. After a long discussion with the waiter, we finally ordered and I had a hearty steak with potatoes and grilled veggies. It was perfectly medium-rare - just what I asked for. This was followed by a panna cotta covered in a rich chocolate sauce. Can’t beat it.
On Sunday, Neil, Jenny and Fraser left early to catch their flight home, whilst Cam and I packed the van and headed an hour north of Naples towards a town called Gaeta. It was one of the only decent Park4Nights in the Naples area which was quite frustrating. We relaxed on the very busy beach and had sandwiches for dinner.
SUMMARY
What a great week ! It was really nice having Cam’s family over and I felt we did so much in such a small time-frame. It was also a week of eating well - I had some delicious and very memorable pasta dishes, lets hope that continues! I gained two new skills this week: I can recite (poorly and likely inaccurately) the history of Pompeii and I am an expert in making fresh pasta !
Join me next week when Cam sadly leaves the trip to go to Zimbabwe with some friends, and my very good friend Hannah arrives to continue roadtripping Italy by my side !
