What you see is what you get with Naples – vibrantly rough and ready, ostentatiously chic, resolutely pragmatic. In their new book, photographer CARLA COULSON and writer LISA CLIFFORD reveal a shared passion for the sprawling southern Italian city lying in the shade of slumbering Mount Vesuvius.

napoli ever after

Decaying splendour on the Bay of Naples

Flight✈ 44 SOUTHERN ITALY / NAPLES✈ 52 ASPEN & JAPAN / SNOW BUSINESS✈ 65 JORDAN / ANCIENT HISTORY✈ 75 BRAZIL / RENOVATING RIO✈ 86 SYDNEY / 20 REASONS TO VISIT ✈ 101 QUEENSLAND / HERBERTON ✈ 106 LIGHTNING RIDGE / OPALESCENCE✈ 111 KIDS’ CONCIERGE / LONDON✈ 114 CHECK-IN / HOTELS✈ 116 ONE PERFECT DAY / VANCOUVER

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NAPLES LOVE

NAPLES IS A CITY where it’s never too late. In this raw, authentic southern Italian town you may have to pop 20 cents into a slot to get a lift to work. You might see a Fiat 500 chained by its bumper bar to a pole with do-it-yourself security ingenuity. Or a baker kneading dough with his hands rather than an industrial mixer. You will see women on their knees praying to the skulls of the unknown and buckets lowered from balconies to save delivery trips up steep flights of stairs. There is no artifice in Naples; no fake, one-dimensional picture-postcard representation of age-old traditions specially crafted for tourists on the hunt for the real Italy.

Naples is the real Italy. From the peeling facades of its dilapidated mediaeval, Renaissance and baroque architecture to the practised customs of long-gone generations, to hand-me-down recipes and family values, Naples is not a tourist trap. Here you can still catch the genuine heart and soul of Italy. In this city, you’re still on time.

Naples is the capital of the region of Campania and lies between two volcanic areas: Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, in the Gulf of Naples on the west coast of Italy. It is home to about one million people and was founded as a Greek colony, Parthenope, in about the ninth century BC. Later, its name was changed to Neapolis, which means “new city” in Greek. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, a World Heritage site, and lays claim to having the largest historical centre of any city in Europe. It is near to the Roman ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum and fronted by an archipelago of three gorgeous islands: Ischia, Capri and Procida in the Gulf of Naples.

While you mingle and merge, try to learn the Neapolitan art of how to arrangiarsi. The word has many translations, but in all of Italy it’s the Neapolitans who know best how to do it. It means being resourceful, using your imagination and making the best of it,❯

Ceiling of the Sansevero Chapel (above); traditional wooden boats (opposite)

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CITY UPDATE

inventing one’s own living, getting by with whatever you have, turning your hand to anything. Their ability to arrangiarsi means Neapolitan housewives can cook something sublime out of very few ingredients. They have invented some of the world’s most loved gastronomic gems such as pizza and pasta (or as the Neapolitans say in dialect, maccarune) with a fresh tomato and basil sauce. There are countless (someone said about 652, but it’s impossible to confirm) pasta shapes in Naples and most of Italy’s 180 pasta companies are based in the province of Campania.

Much of the pasta finds itself mixed with seafood. “Anchovies, mussels, clams, octopus, squid, cuttlefish and bluefish – anything

Clockwise from left: coffee is a serious business; San Martino Monastery; Vittorio the Vespa mechanic; fishing boats on shore leave

people could catch themselves has made our seafood cuisine what it is today,” said one chef. “These were the poor people’s fish because we needed to arrangiarsi. Only the wealthy could afford a fat roast fish with good meat on its bones.”

Cucina povera, or poor man’s food, is the basis of Neapolitan cooking. The foundation of every dish is fresh food with simple-to-grow and easy-

to-find ingredients. There was never much meat or chicken around, perhaps a little lamb or pork, but rarely ever beef.

Historically, few had the money for beef. So cheeses such as buffalo mozzarella and burrino, sweet or spicy provolone, pecorino and scamorza often took its place.

Nowadays, of course, many of the varied and fabulous ingredients available throughout Campania, such as lemons, artichokes, figs and rabbit, are found on Neapolitan tables. Great ragù, or beef sauces, are available everywhere. As one cook said, “A Neapolitan sauce must boil with a slow rhythm. Bubbles should rise with a slow, easy tempo. Blop, blop, blop. Piano, piano, piano.” And once you’ve had your ❯

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fill of savoury foods, dozens of varieties of pastries and cakes are available all day if you need a sugar hit.

The mandolin and romantic guitar were created in Naples, along with some of the most romantic songs on earth. Neapolitan songs are passionate and sexy, just like its people.

Naples is a complicated culture. Contrasts, con-flicts and paradoxes make up this unique city. Naples

is everything Italian, only magnified, condensed and more intense. Even the Italians say, “Don’t try to understand the Neapolitans, it’ll only confuse you.”

It’s a city of contradictions. It’s tough, yet soft. It’s brutal, but loving. It’s impossible to be indifferent about Naples because it’s about family, traditions, food, emotions, fighting for survival, arrangiarsi. It’s a way of life. Naples is a way of love. �

Edited extract from Naples: A Way of Love, by Carla Coulson & Lisa Clifford (Lantern, $50)

Clockwise from left: Salvatore Russo’s salumeria, Pignasecca Market; traditional Neapolitan pizza; the perfect espresso; street art near Piazza Dante