Culinary traditions between myth, memory and everyday wonder

Pizza, of course. The Sunday ragù. The sfogliatella — riccia or frolla — with its double soul. The babà, which allows no distractions. The cuoppo, fried and crunchy like a belly laugh. These are global icons, yet in Naples they remain familiar gestures, almost emotional, part of a culture that places hospitality and pleasure at its heart.

Eating in Naples is both sacred and profane: it is sharing, joy, slowness, and improvisation. Neapolitan cuisine is made of simple ingredients, treated with utmost respect. Tomatoes that taste of sun. Bread that tells the story of the oven. Oil that speaks of hills and hands.

Alongside the most famous dishes, there’s a world of “lesser-known” flavours — lesser only in name. Pasta and potatoes with smoked cheese, genovese sauce, meatballs in tomato sauce, tripe, minestra maritata, pasta with cauliflower, zucchini alla scapece: these are true Neapolitan comfort foods, dishes that comfort, that embrace, that evoke the feeling of home even miles away.

The strength of Neapolitan cuisine lies not only in its dishes, but in its ability to evolve without losing its soul. In the markets, people experiment; in the alleys, they invent; in the restaurants, they reinterpret. Some still fry with copper pots, others serve street food with a gourmet twist. Tradition and innovation coexist here like nowhere else.

Discovering Naples through its food means connecting with the real city — the one told at the table, at the deli counter, in line for a hot graffa, or in front of a pizza still burning from the oven. In Naples, you don’t eat only with your mouth: you eat with your heart.