Naples, Positano, & Rome

After Florence we traveled south on a route that Lonely Planet dubbed the classic "gentleman's tour."

First we stopped in Naples for a day. We walked around the city, and our first impression was that it wasn't as clean or romantic as the northern cities. Then we went home with our CouchSurfing host. He lived about 40 miles outside the city in Caserta, and it was incredible to stay with him and his mom. When you think classic Italian man and mother, they should come to mind. The host was around 40 and lived with his widowed mother to help care for her and the house, but from what we could tell she did most of the nurturing. She made us spaghetti with clams. She talked to us like we were her long lost italian children, and by the time we left we sort of wanted to be.

In Caserta there is a beautifully ornate palace that was constructed in the 18th century for the Bourbon kings of Naples. The grounds were sprawling, the rooms were opulent, and the architecture spared no expense.

We took a train from Caserta down to Positano. Positano is like the lesser known, slightly uglier cousin of Amalfi, but we LOVED it. We stayed with an old sea captain we found on Airbnb. He spoke very little English, but every night he bought home fresh mozzarella that he insisted we eat, and on our last day he brought us clothes from his ex-wife's shop. Positano is a very relaxed town, and we used it as a jumping point to visit Amalfi, do some hiking, and visit Pompei.

Our last stop in Italy was Rome. Rome, Rome Rome. We LOVED. Rome. I thought Rome would be a disappointing, over-hyped tourist city, but I could not be more wrong. It deserves all the hype. We couldn't find an Airbnb host in Rome, but we did find a friend who gave us a tour of the city and talked to us about life as an Italian. My favorite part of Rome was watching the sunsets over the grand architecture.