Our ninth and final day in Italy was one that Noah had been looking forward to throughout our entire trip. We’d looked at a variety of potential itineraries for the day but planned stops included Herculaneum, a well-preserved ancient Roman town that was buried under volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius, and Naples, the birthplace of pizza.
After a long day 8 in Rome, we decided to book a later train south and start our day in Naples, where we knew we wanted to try Neapolitan pizza. We considered a number of places for lunch including one that was recommended during our pasta-making class but landed on L’antica Pizzeria da Michele, which was well-reviewed in Rick Steves, Google, the Michelin guide, and pretty much everywhere.
Noah posed outside Rome’s main Termini train station, where we arrived from the airport, left for Venice, returned from Lucca, and were departing from to go to Naples. Amanda had taken a similar photo in 2005.
On the final few minutes of the train ride, I reread through a few key pages of the Rick Steves guidebook on Naples, including warnings about the potential for pickpocketing around the train station and on the small Circumvesuviana trains we would later be taking to Herculaneum. We all kept a closer eye on our belongings and surroundings as we made the 15-minute walk from the train station to the pizza place but ultimately felt perfectly safe and comfortable navigating the city.
We arrived at L’antica Pizzeria da Michele to a large crowd gathered outside the entrance. We were told to get a ticket if we wanted table service, or we could join a line for takeaway. It seemed like trying to eat pizza to go on a street corner wouldn’t quite be the full experience, so I took a number and we began an hour-long wait for a table inside the restaurant.
Waiting for our table at L’antica Pizzeria da Michele.
We had number 89. When we arrived, they were seating number 44.
The wait was worth it, and the pizzas were the best we had in Italy and arguably the best we’d had in our lives. They only have four kinds — Margherita (with cheese), marinara (without cheese), Marita (half with cheese), and cosacca, which subbed mozzarella for grated pecorino cheese. Amanda went with Margherita while Noah and I tried Marita. Each pizza was only €5.50, pretty much a bargain, and we accompanied our pies with a round of ice-cold glass bottles of Coke Zero.
We left lunch full and happy, bought some cheap train tickets, and took the 20-minute ride south of Naples via the aforementioned Circumvesuviana train to Herculaneum. Exiting the train station, we made a 10-minute walk to the Archeological Park of Herculaneum, where we bought tickets and entered the large area of ruins, which were open to exploring at our own pace. While less famous than the nearby Pompeii site, Herculaneum was said to be small enough to tackle in an afternoon and home to more well-preserved ruins.
Noah poses with the remains of a thermopolium that would have sold food and drink in Herculaneum.
I think a tour guide would have provided some valuable context to our time in Herculaneum, but we made the most of PDFs on our cell phones that included explanations of the key buildings within the historic city. As we left, we saw skeletal remains from the boat houses that were once along the Mediterranean Sea, thought to be bodies of people who were unable to escape the volcanic ash. Unfortunately, we saw them from a distance as we were exiting and realized we’d missed a decent section of the ruins.
We considered a number of dinner options, including venturing further into Naples for a different pizza place or returning to Rome and eating at one of the places our Airbnb host had recommended. We landed on revisiting the same spot we’d had for lunch, knowing we liked the pizza, the prices were right, and we now knew how the process worked to get a ticket and an inside seat.
I wanted to document the train station nearest to Herculaneum, where we waited a few minutes for our ride back to Naples.
The crowd was considerably smaller when we arrived around 6:00, likely ahead of the largest dinnertime crowds. Our wait was less than 15 minutes, so we weren’t quite as hungry as we’d anticipated. Amanda and I split a Margherita pizza this time around, while Noah was able to finish most of the one he ordered. I attempted to stop at a well-reviewed pastry place on our way out of town but it had its own line and it wasn’t worth risking missing our return train.
Noah went with all-cheese for his second pizza of the day.
Noah and I did some final walking around Rome, venturing to the Spanish Steps and tracking down a couple of last-minute gifts to take back to friends in Iowa. We cheated a bit with our walk by ordering an Uber in each direction saving our legs a bit after a long day of walking. Just after midnight, we’d packed most of our bags in anticipation of tomorrow’s flight back to Chicago.
Amanda and I (and Noah) had gelato one final time in Rome.
At one of Rome’s grocery stores, I found “Gusto Limone” Coke Zero, a perfectly-pleasant lemon-flavored variant that I do not believe exists in the United States.