The Platforms of Italy

27/02/2024

Another Metro trip to Napoli and Villa Floridiana, entrance to which is a short walk from the Vanvitelli Metro station, a pleasant and reasonably small park compared to other of the city. The villa itself houses the National Museum of Ceramics Duca di Martini and well worth the visit.

01/02/2024

Our new starting point Aversa (Carinaro) Campania: Looking at the history of our new area and read that the houses of Carinaro were built in the style of the Roman domus houses (Roman style not Roman era). A house of two (or more) levels usually with one large entrance leading into a courtyard surrounded by other buildings or high walls. The lower floor usually kept for farm implements, livestock, slaves, workshop/shop. The second floor (day floor) with lofty ceilings and open plan, where rooms would have been created by wooden shutters, while the top floor would have lower ceilings built directly into the roof, which would only have a slight pitch to accommodate a reasonable headroom all around. Examples of the house can be seen at Pompeii or Herculaneum where even remnants of the wooden shutter walls can still be seen. Our new home has been built to this design, and although the plans show the house as open-plan, we do have rooms built with plasterboard and studding, the modern-day equivalent of wooden shutters.
We thought that our house was reasonably new, but it is extensive frontage renovations over the years that has given it the straight walls etc, so now believe the domus houses of our street to be at least 200 years old. A house at the beginning of the street is being renovated and at present the concrete render has been removed showing that the window was once a large arch that at some time in its life was bricked up, even this brickwork shows it to be of age, however as this house is in the part of the road which is in the Aversa district this could be of the Norman era. Aversa is known as the Norman town, with its football team nicknamed “the Normans.”

29/01/2024

15 minutes walk from the house to Aversa station, 19 minutes on the train to Caserta, 10 minute walk from the station to the palace, hence two annual tickets at 40 euro each, daily admission 14 euros. Been here so many times and never tire of the place, saw parts today we'd not seen before, there's going to be a lot more visits this year!

05/01/2024

A chefs dream is a Neapolitan market, this one just minutes away from Napoli Centrale😋

28/12/2023

May just POP! there next time we're in Naples😂❤

16/11/2023

Cassino is a two hour rail journey north from Naples. One of the bloodiest single battles of WWII was fought around the abbey in 1944 as the allies pushed north to take Rome. The Polish lost the largest percentage of its free army here, while the British commonwealth lost more troops in this battle than any of its allies or foe. After a battle lasting four months in which 55,000 allied troops as appose to 20,000 from the Axis powers lost their lives a rather hollow victory was won, it should also be told that 2,000 innocent civilians from the city and surrounding areas also lost their lives here. It was the first time Italian soldiers after their capitulation the previous year were allowed to fight alongside the allies while other Italians still fought here for the axis powers. The abbey dating from 529 was totally destroyed by American bombers during the battle, but rebuilt in the 1950's using the original Benedictine building plans.

16/11/2023

Monte Cassino before its destruction during the war and the rebuilt monastery, well worth a visit.

11/11/2023

Our apologise for not posting recently but we are busying ourselves in preparation to move north into Campania. The main reason for the move is to make the middle and north of Italy more accessible by centralising ourselves in the middle of the country. We estimate it will be early December before we are settled and have given the page a full make over and ready to travel again. Thank you all for your patience.

15/09/2023

Natures Festival lights

13/09/2023

Love Autumn, so much fresh produce. “Deans dinner” tonight, to make us droll it’s pasta fazool, that’s amore!

11/09/2023

From our album LOCAL TOWNS.

09/09/2023

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS ......😎😉

Homemade limoncello

08/09/2023

The importance of always carrying ID in Italy: Only the second time it has happened to us in seventeen years, yesterday at Cancello railway station we were asked for ID and reason for being there by patrolling police, not only us but everyone on the station. Unlike some other countries it is obligatory here in Italy to give this information, and to not produce ID can result in detention or a fine.

03/09/2023

Autumn is coming (2)😋

Broad beans in Marsala, cooked in tomato paste for a fortifying taste.

03/09/2023

Autumn is coming (1) ..... can't wait!😋

Broad bean risotto with spring onion, the raw onion is put in on completion of the dish to give this winter warmer a taste of spring.

02/09/2023

Next week brings the second and final Madonna festival of the year, here the lady was photographed from our terrace as she was taken on her tour of the town.

31/08/2023

The Temple of Serapis Pozzuoli. Thought to be a temple after a statue of the Egyptian god Serapis was found during the excavations. It has since been proven to only be the ancient Roman marketplace of the town, yet still one of the best-preserved Roman market area of the era.
Although Sophia Loren was born in Rome, Pozzuoli was her childhood town, The town was heavily bombed by the allies during the war and during one of the raids Sophia was hit by shrapnel, motivating the family to move to nearby Naples.

26/08/2023

24/08/2023

23/08/2023

Villa Arianna with Vesuvius in the back ground

22/08/2023

❤️Italy, when there is space for a table there's room for a party!❤️

21/08/2023

The two villa's of Stabia are remarkably well preserved, being close to Pompeii and Herculaneum are bypassed by many tourists so much so that entry is free in the hope of encouraging more visitors. On the day of our visit we only saw one other couple exploring these fantastic reminders of a bygone age.

17/08/2023

Paestum is north of Scalea in Campania about a 2 hour drive or as we do a comfortable train ride up the coastal line. The site surrounded by Greek walls contains 3 Greek temples and the remains of both Greek and Roman towns, the on-site modern museum contains finds from both era's and more.

Back again, always make a yearly pilgrimage to this place but today a special day as we finally had a chance to walk through the inside of the temples

16/08/2023

Here you will find many of the relics retrieved from such places as Pompeii and Herculaneum, although in the centre of Naples it has never been busy the times we have visited. A must place to go for anyone interested in the ancient past of this area.

13/08/2023

The tastes of Calabria are unique and our cooking will show you there is more to Italian cuisine than Pizza & Pasta.