For the spring break I went to the south of Italy to visit my friend Fabrizia, whom I met in China. I didn’t plan much, I just bought plane tickets and booked GoOpti to get me to the Trieste airport. So I was happy to just hang out and see a bit of the area. I arrived to Napoli airport and Fabrizia picked me up and took me to Caserta, where she lives.
She lives with two roommates who were both really nice and funny, and not at all bothered that I was sleeping in their room. I also love how their place is set up. I think it’s a converted garage or something, but the ceilings are really high and arched, and it’s basically just two huge rooms.
They have quirky knick-knacks, signs and post-it notes all over the place. I especially loved the post-it note one of the roommates has next to her headboard, which says: “Non mi parlare. Bounanotte”. With my limited Italian I translated this to: “Don’t talk to me. Good night”, and I think it’s a stellar example of inter-roommate communication.
The kitchen’s glass door lead literally on to a road. Exactly one step is what separates you from an untimely death by Italian car driver (who are way too fast and I could go on about it for a while …). Why don’t these road have any pavements at all?! If you want to survive better stay in the car and don’t show any weakness (I told you I could go on …).
In light of these circumstances I thought it would be best if I just let the natives take me places, with a car, of course. So we went to Benevento (and other places, but I will leave that for other posts) with Fabrizia and one of her roommates, Edda.
The Fiat above was the second car we attempted the trip with (we first took a Corsa, which had a problem about 5km in, so we went back and switched the cars), but this one also wasn’t too cooperative. There was a gear switching problem, so we stopped at a gas station and managed to fix it – I didn’t help at all, I just took photos.
The way from Caserta to Benevento takes about an hour, and since Benevento is located in a much hillier area, the road gets really nice and winding towards the second half.
First thing in the town we went to get some coffee to this café with American drinks and foods, because Edda’s friend is the owner. Except I don’t drink coffee, much to the despair of all Italians around me, so I had a chocolate/hazelnut milkshake. Delicious!
After that we went to the park on the picture above, which is a really interesting park that has multiple levels vertically. This was the park Fabrizia went to practically all the time when she was in high school, so I got a run down of designated spots for different groups and which benches were appropriate for kissing and what not.
The park is right next to Rocca dei Rettori, a castle which is one of the main historical sites of the city. We went to a museum nearby that had free entry, and then we walked across the historical center to the Arco di Traiano (yes, they even have an arc!). On the way we went inside Chiesa di Santa Sofia, a small church, which is shaped like a star, which I thought was very avant-garde for a church built in 760. Near the church, however, is a small area that has a bunch of old timey narrow streets and many statues. I think it was my favourite part.
As it was getting kind of dark, we finally reached Arco di Traiano. From there we walk back to the car. On the way out of the city we also stopped at Ponte Leproso, which is an ancient bridge from the third century.
I encourage any of you visiting Napoli or Amalfi Coast (which I didn’t go to on this trip, but maybe the next one?) to take a few hours to venture further inland and see not so famous places, such as Benevento.
Yo! This is a funny and super realistic article about our crazy day in Benevento! Thanks to get my mind back to that lovely moments spent together 🙂 waiting for the next one (article and meeting!) Xxx