How to Spend a Day in Naples (From Cruise Port)

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Naples, the largest city in Southern Italy, has quite the reputation.. and not always the most positive one. Yes, it is the birthplace of pizza and full of history, but you can also find a lot circulating online about the high crime, trashy streets, and overall chaos.

Honestly, when we found it as a port of call on our recent Mediterranean cruise we weren't sure if we should escape to the nearby Amalfi Coast or take an excursion to Pompeii as many people do.

However, when I found a small group authentic pizza making class, I knew we had to stay in Naples. Pizza class in the place where pizza was invented? Sign me up!

The class started at 11am, so we decided to walk to Galleria Umberto I, a beautiful glass domed shopping center, ahead of time. Thankfully the cruise port is located right in the heart of Naples, making it an easy 15 minute walk.

(Shop my outfit here)

The meet up spot for the pizza class, Mammina Napoli Santa Brigida, happened to be located conveniently on the other side of Galleria Umberto I. When we walked up, it looked like a classic pizza place from the outside, but once we walked in, we realized it was more. The building had a massive stage and a history behind it. It turns out it used to be a theater that Queen Margherita used to frequent and they named the pizza Margherita after her (don't ask me if it's a legit story..I'm just regurgitating what they told me).

We walked down the stairs and met our charming Italian chef, Anthony, who pointed us to the restroom to wash our hands first, and then led us to a classic red and white checkered table where he took our drink order for later. You can order either wine or a soft drink included in the class. Once the whole group arrived, we put on our aprons and moved to our work table.

All the ingredients for the dough were put out in front of us and Anthony guided us through the process to make a dough ball.

Once the dough was made we let it sit for a while and made our way back to the table to enjoy our wine and some appetizers. They served us Neapolitan classics family style: zeppole di pasta cresciuta and bruschetta. Both SO fresh and delicious. The zeppole di pasta crescuita was similar to a munchkin donut in texture (shout out Dunkin), but savory taste of almost a pizza dough. The tomatoes on the bruschetta popped with flavor unlike the store bought grocery store ones.

Now that we got a little taste of goodness in our belly, back to the main event! We used a special Neapolitan technique that Anthony taught us to separate the dough into two pieces and stretch it enough to make two pizzas. Then we put the sauce on in a circular motion and added the best part: the cheese! (and some basil)

Then we carried our pizza up the stairs to the pizza oven. Praise the Lord my clumsy ass didn't trip and fall and ruin all my hard work. I would have cried. It only took 2 minutes to cook and we were handed our completed masterpieces. Time to dig in!

Even though the pizza was the size of my head, the crust was thinner and doesn't leave you feeling disgustingly full like it would in the USA... or so I told myself as I devoured the whole thing. No regrets! We even got a cheesy (pun intended) certificate for completed the course.

Once done with our class, we hit the streets.

It was a bit chaotic and overwhelming out in these streets with narrow alleyways every which way you turn selling soccer jerseys and other knick knacks that I didn't really care for. You have to really be careful when walking in the alleys too because they are NOT pedestrian only, despire looking like it. Cars will come barreling down. Mooovvvee bitch, get out the way.

One Naples tradition I loved trying from a little stand on the street was 'limonata a cosce aperte', aka open legs lemonade. I promise I am not a hoe, but you'll need to spread them to drink this fun lemon digestif. Basically they put lemon and sparkling water in a cup then quickly add baking soda, stir it up, and hand it to you so it explodes as you try to sip. Hence the opening legs to crouch over and not get it all over you. Drink up!

After walking around a bit more, we made our way back to the cruise ship to relax.