National Geographic Traveller - Italy

IMAGE: GETTY NEIGHBOURHOOD

MEXICO CITY

If you know where to go, Mexico City has never had more allure, from the haute
cocktail bars and rejuvenated veteran theatre scene of Colonia Juárez to the

buzzing food and flower markets of Jamaica. Words: Michael Parker-Stainback

Mexico City is now on everyone’s wishlist. Smog, traffic and chaos be damned, after
decades of bad press Mexico’s notorious capital is enjoying a visitor boom. And it’s
a boom that’s surely sustainable. Mexico has a longstanding tradition of receiving
foreigners, and the sunny welcome, even in the frenetic capital, is extraordinary.
The charms of the city’s showplace precincts — particularly Condesa and Roma,

the Centro and posh Polanco — are often self-evident, but shouldn’t be missed.
However, be sure to poke around in other, lesser-known, less-polished barrios: the
city’s secret cool. Those who stray from the beaten path will discover welcomes just

as warm and revel in the authentic urban adventures they reveal.

Sept/Oct 2020 61

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Colonia Juárez there. “You can live a traditional Mexican FROM TOP LEFT: The Soumaya Museum, IMAGES: LINDSAY LAUCKNER GUNDLOCK; ALAMY
and hipster life here,” says resident Mirelle one of the city’s most iconic buildings;
“They haven’t been able to completely Leider. “It has a kind of a small-town feel interior of Amaya, a restaurant located
gentrify it,” says local art historian Aldo where everybody knows everybody.” in Colonia Juárez; market vendors
Solano, over black coffee at Café La Habana. unload piles of of marigold flowers
The circa-1954 diner, all but unchanged since The tiny, diamond-shaped quarter is ahead of Day of the Dead festivities;
it opened, gained fame as a hangout for local set between nondescript Centro and the enmolada tortilla de hoja santa from the
journalists and is where, they say, exiles Fidel flashy trashy Zona Rosa. Benign neglect has taco bar at fine-dining restaurant Pujol
Castro and Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara planned conserved numerous fin de siècle mansions in the swanky Polanco neighbourhood
the Cuban Revolution. and apartment houses topped with turrets
and mansard roofs, plus eclectic local PREVIOUS PAGE: Browsing the offerings
Formerly one of Mexico City’s most touches like blue talavera tile and marvellous at a colourful stall in Mercado Jamaica
exclusive districts, post-Second World War double-doored balconies that invite Mexico
‘progress’ saw the wealthy leave Juárez for City’s temperate, sunny weather into high-
newer, more suburban tracts, leaving grand ceilinged, belle époch parlours. Uncut by
old buildings to languish in subsequent major thoroughfares, its streets are quieter,
decades; auto parts suppliers and other pleasantly shaded by trees.
downmarket retail moved into once-genteel
ground floors. In recent years, booming Plop down at Parker & Lenox, a vintage-
property prices in Condesa and Roma look luncheonette, then slip, speakeasy style,
pushed arty youth to Juárez in search of through a back door into a dusky, nostalgic
still-affordable vintage digs. These creative jazz cabaret famed for excellent haute
newcomers brought on buzzy dining rooms coctelerie (fancy cocktails) and live music.
and sleek cafes; the vibe injected new life Notable dining rooms, like industrial-chic
into a veteran theatre scene. Amaya or the informal but delicious Lucio,
draw smart crowds from all over the city.
“There are still people who’ve lived on And at much-loved, hard-to-reserve Havre
the same street all their lives,” says Aldo. 77, acclaimed chef Lalo García and his team
Unpretentious joints — like dumpy-but- prepare scrumptious French-bistro classics
loveable Gabi’s Café, for no-nonsense coffee with impeccable local ingredients.
and newspaper perusal — are hanging in

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NEIGHBOURHOOD

Jamaica preferred cuts (lean or fatty, organs, entrails, When in Mexico City
tongue, a nip of skin). You cut the spice with
“These darlings were running around the a sweet, tea-like brew called tepache, lightly TACO OMAKASE
yard this morning,” declares Rufina Yáñez, fermented and served at room temperature. Five-star restaurant Pujol is
owner of Mercado Jamaica’s Pollos Yáñez Neophytes start with one dainty glass; I’ve on every gastronome’s list.
poultry stand, as she lifts a dead bird from come to love it in half-litre doses. Celebrity chef Enrique Olvera
a cooler. Her cold-storage system is in fact applies Nipponese perfection to
two defunct refrigerators, lying sideways on Duck behind the produce sections to reach a dazzling array of flavours and
an irregular pile of junk. “We kill them early, Jamaica’s mind-boggling flower market.
then bring them in, every day,” she says. The Dodging carts and avoiding puddles, explore sensations. pujol.com.mx
stand is spartan — an oilcloth over a table, two aisles jammed with gorgeous, multihued
chicken viscera galore, comically oversized roses, daisies, sunflowers, gerberas, birds RIDING HIGH
scissors. Satisfied customer Araceli Piña tells of paradise, chrysanthemums, irises, lilies Despite the city’s infernal traffic,
me they’re the freshest birds anywhere in — and that’s before you’ve even got to the local cyclists rejoice at the bike
this enormous, working class market. “Come houseplants. You’ll see everyone from trendy
early, they sell out,” she advises. design types to septuagenarian church ladies lanes, which are increasing in
and just regular joes loading up on blossoms. number. Best of all are riding
The small colonia (neighbourhood) known Spring for a cheap-but-cheerful vase and Sundays (strolling, skating, dog
as Jamaica (pronounced ‘ha-MY-ca’, which brighten your hotel room. walking) from 8am to 2pm on
means ‘hibiscus flower’), just under two stately Paseo de la Reforma.
miles southeast of downtown, barely extends Last stop: avocadoes. Next door to a busy
beyond the hundreds of stalls that make stand serving up delicious squash blossom RIVERA REDISCOVERED
up its market. Visitors who love the exotic quesadillas (they’re well worth the wait), lies Don’t miss Diego Rivera’s colossal
food at Mercado San Juan in the historic Viviana Quiroz Hernández’s avocado stand.
centre or the homestyle comforts at Mercado Somewhere in the centre of this labyrinthine sculpture of Tlaloc, the Aztec
Medellín in Roma will fall all the more for market (after numerous visits I still get rain god, at Chapultepec Park’s
Jamaica. This vast food forum offers fruit lost), her table is spread with hundreds Cárcamo de Dolores, a newly
and vegetables, meats so fresh they’re not of gorgeous, ripe avocadoes. Daughter restored and dazzling mid-century
refrigerated, cheeses rustic and fine, seafood Lourdes splits open a sampler for potential structure that’s both temple and
and practically everything else in between. customers, tossing out the pit and pinching municipal waterworks. Avenida
the fruit. Move in for a bite of luscious, Rodolfo Neri Vela, Chapultepec
The hungry should head to Carnitas Paty, a creamy flesh; don’t forget the salt. “This is a
local landmark for fried-in-lard pork carnitas. market unlike any other,” says Lourdes. “It’s Park (second section)
They’re served taco-style with onions and a place where generations have built their
coriander or wrapped in butcher paper to lives; I grew up among these stalls. I like the STREET FOOD
go. An army of garrison-capped waiters solidarity and the tradition.” Keep your eyes peeled for stands
hustles all day long, fetching customers’ that attract a crush of passers-by.

The selection is vast: unending
taco varieties, torta-style grilled
sandwiches, seafood cocktails,
chicken stews and churros both

solid and sweet-injected.

DESERT DASH
Desierto de los Leones National
Park, 20 miles southwest of the

city centre, is a reserve that
surrounds the remains of a
colonial-era Discalced Carmelite
monastery. Explore the ruins or
hike into cool highland glades.
Parque Nacional Desierto de los
Leones; Delegación Álvaro Obregón

Sept/Oct 2020 63

NEIGHBOURHOOD

LEFT: People gather at the Kiosco
Morisco, a beautifully intricate structure
located in the centre of the main park in
Santa María La Ribera

Santa María La Ribera The neighbourhood’s most popular MORE INFO IMAGE: LINDSAY LAUCKNER GUNDLOCK
cantina, Salón París, is a glorified proletarian
My friend, Mexico City native Jesús lunchroom. Here, tables are abuzz with Café La Habana. Morelos 62,
Chairez, and I take a Sunday stroll along the every slice of local life. Part of the attraction Colonia Juárez
Alameda, the tree-lined plaza at the centre may be the kitchen’s selection of botanas, Gabi’s Café. Liverpool at Nápoles,
of raffish but irresistible Colonia Santa surprisingly substantial ‘snacks’ — including Colonia Juárez
María la Ribera. A mile or so northwest of Thursday’s succulent chamorro roast pork Parker and Lenox.
downtown, the neighbourhood’s streets are shank — thrown in for the price of your beer. facebook.com/parkerandlenox
lined with a combination of down-at-heel Amaya. amayamexico.com
mansions alongside art deco and modernist The Santa María arts scene is burgeoning Lucio. facebook.com/doctorlucio1027
apartment blocks. Jesús points out the at places like the National University’s El Havre 77. Calle Havre 77 Zona Rosa,
plaza’s famed Kiosco Morisco, a jewel-hued Chopo museum, on the district’s eastern Colonia Juárez
Moorish gazebo that represented Mexico at edge, a prestigious showcase for the edgiest Mercado Jamaica.
long-forgotten world’s fairs. No dead relic, vanguards. Another standout is Acapulco facebook.com/jamaicavive
today it hosts everything from ballroom 62, in the ground floor of a mansion right on Kolobok. kolobok.com.mx
dancing and rock gigs to political rallies, rap the plaza, a new gallery for contemporary Museo de Geología.
poetry slams and courting couples. Along painting and photography. geologia.unam.mx/igl/museo
the plaza’s edge, crowded sidewalks lead to Salón París. Jaime Torres Bodet 151,
hipster restaurants plus old standbys, like The plaza beckons once more, as the sun Colonia Santa María la Ribera
much-loved Kolobok and its house speciality sets. Children shriek and scamper, old folks Museo Universitario El Chopo.
Russian empanadas. On the western edge gossip, teenagers flirt or just hang out; an chopo.unam.mx
of the plaza stands the venerable Museo imposing flock of squawking birds roosts for Acapulco 62. facebook.com/acapulco62
de Geología, home to dinosaur skeletons, the night in the surrounding trees. No one is Visit Mexico City. cdmxtravel.com/en
fossils and other curiosities, all displayed in in a rush for Monday to come. “I love it here,” Mexico Tourism. visitmexico.com
beautiful old-fashioned wood vitrines. says Jesús. “Night or day, seven days a week,
there’s always something fabulous to see.” JOURNEY LATIN AMERICA offers six
days in Mexico City starting from £1,636
per person based on two sharing,
including five nights at Hotel Geneve,
B&B; a city tour with a visit to the
Teotihuacan pyramids; and direct flights
from London. journeylatinamerica.co.uk

64 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel



SLEEP IMAGES: GETTY; ORMOND GROUP

KUALA LUMPUR

With its buzzing neighbourhoods and glittering skyline, Malaysia’s
ever-changing capital is home to some of the most affordable
five-star stays in the world. Words: Lee Cobaj

Kuala Lumpur is a city on the up. Along with spectacular architecture, it has top
shopping, world-class museums and a food scene to rival any of its Asian

neighbours. The same could be said of its ever-increasing number of interesting
hotels, too. These range from gorgeous heritage houses to stylish modern sky pads

and cool co-living spaces, all with pleasingly low rates. Staying in KLCC, the
buzzing downtown hub that surrounds the Petronas Towers, might seem like the

obvious choice for first-timers, but this busy city is packed with a web of
fascinating neighbourhoods: foodies flock to Jalan Alor in search of the perfect
noodle dish; Bangsar’s lifestyle stores and coffeeshops attract a fashionable crowd;

grittier KL Sentral and Chow Kit are brilliant if you’re on a budget; while the
colonial district around Merdaka Square has a Golden Age of Travel aesthetic. And

the monorails, free tourist buses and cheap taxis make it easy to get around.

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Best for bargain hunters

MOMO’S

With a colour-pop paint job, a great in-house
Mexican bar and diner (think cauliflower
tostada, chunky beef tacos, chilli sugar
churros, jugs of margaritas), and clever
attention to detail, MoMo’s is breaking away
from Kuala Lumpur’s typically dreary hostel
mould. Smart, environmentally aware and
located in the grittier west of the city, you
can book compact private rooms from just
£10 per person per night. Choose from bunks,
doubles or twins, all with comfy mattresses,
TVs, wi-fi, hairdryers and en suite shower
rooms stocked with fluffy towels and organic
shampoo and shower gel.
ROOMS: Doubles from £20, B&B.
stayatmomos.com

Sept/Oct 2020 67

SLEEP

Best for design buffs
THE RUMA

An oasis of calm on the edge of buzzy Bukit
Bintang, KL’s entertainment district packed
with malls, bars and restaurants, the RuMa
is set in a soaring tower, where stand-out
design cleverly blends old and new Malaysia
to beautiful effect. Guest rooms feature
blond and hard woods, elegant rattan
chaises longues, and pretty copper pendant
lamps. Elsewhere, there’s a cantilevered
swimming pool, a secluded spa, and an all-
day restaurant.
ROOMS: From £95, B&B. theruma.com

Best for high-rise living

BANYAN TREE

Expect your ears to pop as the high-speed
elevator fires you up to the 52nd floor of
this 59-storey skyscraper in the heart of the
Golden Triangle. Family break, romantic
getaway shopping, wellness or business
— you name it, the Banyan Tree can
accommodate it. Even the entry-level rooms
are huge, with calming decor and ultra-
modern bathrooms featuring egg-shaped
tubs, LED colour-changing showers and
Japanese electronic toilets. The pool is on
the rooftop, alongside the fabulous Vertigo
Bar, and the spa offers traditional Malaysian
healing treatments. The location is tip-
top, too, circled by the Golden Triangle’s
multitude of shops, malls, and restaurants.
ROOMS: Doubles from £150, B&B.
banyantree.com

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SLEEP

hBiedsetafowraay romantic

VILLA SAMADHI

You can order breakfast any time of day at
this sybaritic retreat on the leafy edges of
the city centre. Fitting the urban resort bill
brilliantly, a series of 21 rooms and suites are
housed in a Malay-style mansion set around
a large lagoon-shaped swimming pool. Each
has teak floors, carved panelling, antique
furniture and beautiful big bathrooms. The
poolside restaurant is only open to hotel
guests, and serves modern Malaysian dishes
such as dory fish curry in coconut milk and
chilli prawn spaghetti.
ROOMS: From £115, B&B. villasamadhi.com

Best for city chic

FOUR SEASONS
KUALA LUMPUR

This airy hotel next to the Petronas Towers
overlooks KLCC Park. It exudes the kind of
smooth vibes one might expect from the
Four Seasons brand: there’s a sleek marble
lobby, a clutch of swish bars and restaurants,
and first-class service. Facilities include a
rooftop swimming pool and a serene spa.
Rooms and suites — 209 in total — are
stylish and generously proportioned.
ROOMS: From £145, room only.
fourseasons.com

Sept/Oct 2020 69

tastic Villas.

Where Moroccan heritage meets Oriental charm.

Route du Golf Royal, 40 000 Marrakech, Morocco. For reservations, visit mandarinoriental.com or call +212 5 24 29 88 88  

SLEEP

Best for party animals

W KUALA LUMPUR

The W is the cool kid on the block,
rocking the sexiest look in the city.
There’s a fun vibe, from the pink-and-
purple lobby, to the sparkly spa, and the
ring-shaped rooftop pool with views of
the Petronas Towers. The bedrooms are
equally glitzy: batik-on-acrylic panels
above the beds, hot pink sofas, rugs
which look like they’ve been pixelated.
Asymmetric bathrooms come with big
bathtubs and Bliss amenities. Eleventh
floor restaurant Yen serves up modern
Chinese cuisine that’s best followed
with cocktails on the Woo Bar deck
overlooking the city.
ROOMS: From £130, B&B. marriott.com

IMAGE: RALF TOOTEN Best for style gurus Best for history buffs Best for luxury lovers

ALILA BANGSAR HOTEL MAJESTIC MANDARIN ORIENTAL, KUALA LUMPUR

A lone slab of black glass towering over hip Bangsar, Architecture buffs will adore this historic hotel in Kuala At this grand hotel, you can do laps of the swimming
the Alila has show-stopping views of the city, suburbs Lumpur’s colonial district. Spread over two wings (the pool while gazing out at one of Asia’s most
and distant Cameron Highlands. Up top, casual French original 1930s-built Majestic wing and the Tower wing,
restaurant Entier serves first-rate food at affordable spectacular skylines. The teal-and-taupe rooms are
built in 2012), guests can flit between atmospheric spacious and comfortable, with superb big beds
prices, next door to noir-ish cocktail bar Pacific afternoon teas on the lawn, the rainbow-hued Orchid
Standard. Downstairs, there’s Botanica + Co, a breezy and sylish black marble bathrooms. From the ample
Conservatory, and the Cigar Room for late-night breakfast spread to candle-lit dinners at the Mandarin
cafe dishing up health foods and Asian favourites. cognacs. Rooms in the Majestic wing channel a
Rooms are smart, modern and spacious, and the hotel traditional aesthetic, while Tower wing rooms have an Grill, the food is consistently excellent here. Guests
art deco feel. There’s also an outdoor pool and a spa. can also make sure they get a thorough pampering at
even runs free shuttle buses to Bangsar Village.
ROOMS: From £65, B&B. alilahotels.com ROOMS: From £95, B&B. majestickl.com the best spa in the city.
ROOMS: From £129, room only. mandarinoriental.com

Sept/Oct 2020 71

SLEEP

Best for affordable luxe IMAGES: ORMOND GROUP
THE CHOW KIT

After five-star style at three-star prices?
The brains behind the newly opened Chow
Kit have stripped back such frills as hair
conditioner, body lotion and in-room
kettles to focus on a luxurious look and feel
while at the same time keeping prices low.
Interiors hit just the right note between
modern and homey, with a welcoming lobby
dotted with interesting Malay artworks,
vintage furniture and elegant lanterns.
Over six floors, there are 113 stylish rooms
ranging from downright dinky dens to
spacious corner suites (tea, coffee and extra
amenities are available from stations in
the corridor). The Kitchen serves moreish
Malaysian food and a set breakfast, which
includes a fresh juice, a hot drink and an a la
carte dish (eggs benedict, nasi goreng) costs
just £6. There’s also rooftop yoga and free
neighbourhood tours.
ROOMS: From £45, B&B. thechowkit.com

72 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel



Italy

74 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel

Off the beaten track

There’s never been a better time to
explore Italy’s quieter corners. From a
classic Neapolitan neighbourhood to
Lazio’s archaeological sites, a road trip
in Puglia with epic views all to yourself,
and the best aperitivo spots in Turin
and Trieste, we bring you the lowdown
on the lesser-known — including the
most indulgent places for a remote
retreat, a quiet beach break and more

WORDS & INTERVIEWS
JULIA BUCKLEY

PHOTOGRAPHS
FRANCESCO LASTRUCCI

Sept/Oct 2020 75

ITALY

76 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel

ITALY

Artisans

Le Marche

MAKE IT LIKE A MARCHIGIANO

For artisan skill, there’s nowhere in Italy like Le Marche, a central region populated with
family businesses that handcraft paper from hemp, weave basket bags for Italy’s biggest
fashion houses, and stitch the leather balls used in an ancient, tennis-like sport

FROM LEFT: Daniele Rango I’m peering in through the window of Renzo with help from his mum and daughter. Tiny
Castellani’s barbershop in Treia when he it may be but the Nardis produce bags for the
making a bracciale ball in his rushes out. “You’re not from here, are you?” he likes of Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and Fendi,
workshop, in the village of says, ushering me in to talk about his beloved overseen by their pet parrot and a photo of the
Treia; street scene in Treia town. Renzo is in his 61st year of barbering Pope. Their work — I watch Morena weave a
PREVIOUS PAGES, — and he wants passersby to know it. Louis Vuitton bag in 90 minutes — is a high-
speed blend of dexterity and artistry. Pride,
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Welcome to small-town life in Le Marche, too. “Everyone in Mogliano used to do this,”
just across the Apennines from Tuscany and says Tonino. “It was born from necessity
Fried crab claws, prawns, Umbria. The Renaissance hill town — all — peasants wove their own baskets.”
squid rings and bread dough elegant terracotta buildings, narrow streets,
and a jewellery box of a theatre — reminds me Now there are only four such artisans left in
outside a seafood cafe near of Montepulciano, in Tuscany. Only instead the village. Eight years ago, the Nardis didn’t
Castro Marina harbour, of touristy wine shops, there’s a queue at the think they could keep going either, then
butchers for herby porchetta, diners crowding Prada called and changed their lives. “Before,
Puglia; Pescoluse Beach, on out the vaulted-roofed, frescoed cafe, with its you were almost embarrassed to say you
Puglia’s west coast; Luigi stucco Jesus outside. And Renzo. were a weaver,” says Tonino. “Now it’s being
Mecella with freshly made rediscovered, I’m proud. It’s art — and it links
paper in his countryside Le Marche is often touted as an alternative our culture to the area.” Dino breaks off from
workshop near Fabriano, to Tuscany — it has the same billowing hills weaving to take me to a nearby 16th-century
Le Marche; cyclist in Santa and medieval streets minus the selfie sticks church, for which the family are keyholders.
Cesarea Terme, Puglia; and souvenir shops. But it also lives its history It’s just the two of us by the frescoed altar, a
— not least through its artisans. Here in Treia, chorus of birds serenading us as we walk in.
street scene in the Sanità you’ll find such curiosities as bracciale — a
district of Naples tennis-like game played with spiked wooden An hour west of Treia is the town of
‘fists’ that look like torture instruments. Fabriano, renowned for its paper since the
Dating back to the Renaissance, it’s largely 1400s. At the Paper and Watermark Museum
died out in Italy, but here in Treia, on the first Fabriano, guide Claudia Crocetti takes me
Sunday in August, locals transform a car park around the workshop, where papermaker
into a court where a tournament is played. Roberto dips moulds into a cotton-water
Each ball costs €100 (£90), says cobbler and solution and lays the barely formed sheets
ball-maker Daniele Rango, whom I find in onto wool to dry off. Upstairs, artist-in-
his workshop hand-stitching strips of leather residence Stefano Luciano is busy making
onto grapefruit-sized balls. “It’s hard work — it startlingly modern prints, when master
ruins your shoulders,” he shrugs, as if to say: papermaker Luigi Mecella bursts in. “Have you
this is Treia’s history, so it must be done. tried my paper yet?” he asks. Stefano hasn’t.

Inspired by Daniele, I’m keen to hear more And so it is that the next morning we all
of the story of this central part of Le Marche, pile into Luigi’s workshop to watch him
as told by its artisans. Thirty minutes later, transform 800-litre tubs of homegrown
having weaved around walled medieval hemp into paper, while his colleague
towns and through a landscape as rumpled Emiliano Scattolini binds the sheets and
as an unmade bed, I reach the hilltop hamlet adds leather covers. It’s a process that’s been
of Mogliano. I eat the porchetta panino I’d carried out here in the outskirts of medieval
bought in Treia while admiring the view of Fabriano for over 600 years. The Marchigiani
snow-capped mountains, and beyond them doing what they do best: living their history.
fields, forests, olive groves and necklaces of
terracotta villages cresting grassy peaks. Sawday’s has double rooms at La Casa degli Amori,
Treia, from €85 (£73), B&B. sawdays.com
At the foot of the hill, Tonino Nardi Ryanair flies from Stansted to Ancona from £50 return.
welcomes me into his garage. “It’s just a tiny ryanair.com MORE INFO: Visits to the artisans all by
business,” he blushes. He, his wife Morena and direct appointment. prolocotreia.it
his brother Dino weave wicker and leather,

Sept/Oct 2020 77

ITALY

Cities

Naples

A TA S TE OF THE S TREE TS

Explore the revitalised district of Sanità to find authentic pizza restaurants, unique
pastry, washing line-strung streets and a cathedral-sized ossuary carved into the rock

It should be a quiet Tuesday lunchtime in the watching tattooed arms stretching dough, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:
Sanità, but Via Vergini is full of life. Little girls hurling on toppings, and slinging pizzas into
in fancy dress — a Chiquita banana girl, Elsa the oven. Pizza is quick in Naples — the menu Seafront near Chiaia, with
from Frozen — strut about with their parents. even lists how many seconds each takes to Posillipo in the background;
An elderly man races over the cobbles in a cart cook. My San Marzano (a margherita reliant the pastry counter at
pulled by a skewbald pony. Passersby inspect on its namesake tomato for its sauce) takes a Pasticceria Poppella; shrine
the shop displays: garish pleather bags, couple of minutes to arrive, the waiter ripping in a fish shop on bustling Via
vegetables stacked impossibly high, fresh leaves off a basil plant and flinging them on Vergini, Sanità district; pizza
fish from the Bay of Naples. It’s so noisy here, my pizza as soon he sets the plate down. chef outside Concettina ai
outside Pasticceria Poppella, I can barely hear
Ciro Scognamillo speak. “I got a tattoo,” he The deeper I go into the Sanità, the more Tre Santi pizzeria with a tray
says, rolling up his sleeve to reveal an icicle- Neapolitan it gets; I pass flaked-paint palazzos of dough; garnishing a San
hung snowball on his forearm, with ‘fiocco di with laundry strung from every balcony, Marzano pizza with fresh
neve’ (‘snowflake’) inked above it. “I tattooed it and elaborate shrines to saints — Padre Pio, basil, Concettina ai Tre Santi
because this changed my life,” he adds. Saint Vincenzo Ferreri, the Madonna. Totò,
the early-20th-century actor, aka ‘the prince
Ten years ago, Ciro was a struggling third- of laughter’, was born here, his former home
generation baker in the Sanità — which marked by a mural of the great man, complete
was, he admits, not a great area. “It was a with his trademark top hat and sardonic
bit abandoned by everyone,” he says. “No expression, although I can barely make it out,
one came here.” Struggling to make a living thanks to the washing lines.
alongside his father, he decided to invent a
pastry that would bring all of Naples to their Further into the district, the streets get
door. Ciro tried over and over again — “I was quieter (it’s siesta time). I walk past a furniture
desperate” — but nothing happened. Until stall — its owner lolling on one of the couches
one day in 2014, he came up with the fiocco di — and butcher’s shop windows filled with
neve: a profiterole filled with chilled sheep’s tripe and cornicellos, Naples’ ubiquitous,
ricotta and fresh cream. horn-shaped lucky charms. A 20-minute walk
takes me to the Cimitero delle Fontanelle, a
“From one day to the next, people were cathedral-sized space hollowed out from an
here,” he says proudly. In 2017, buoyed by the outcrop of soft tufa rock. This vast paupers’
success of his snowflakes, he opened a fancy grave is where the bodies of thousands of
pasticceria on Via della Sanità. My fiocco Neapolitans were placed over the centuries,
di neve is chilled, the sweet-but-not-too- their skeletons artfully stacked and topped by
sweet filling melting on my tongue as I bask layers of skulls.
in the Naples sun, attended to by a smart,
black-gloved waiter. Ciro’s success has paid Naples is a fiercely religious city, which
dividends for the neighbourhood — his 37 explains why every surface here is covered
staff are “ragazzi del quartiere”: local lads, with lovingly placed tokens: train tickets,
employed so that they “don’t grow up wrong”. pencils, a sachet of a face cream. Candles
All thanks to his snowflake. flicker in the gloaming as pop music blares
from a nearby house and dogs howl in the
These days, the Sanità is buzzing. Up the distance. It’s pure Naples — and pure Sanità.
street, a man with a clipboard is policing
entry to Concettina ai Tre Santi, a 68-year-old Citalia has three nights at Naples’ Hotel Paradiso from
Naples institution. After a 40-minute wait, I’m £449 a night, B&B, including flights from Gatwick and
ushered through heavy, scarlet curtains to the private transfers, with add-ons available to the nearby
brand new semi-secret kitchen area, where we Amalfi Coast. citalia.com
sit at high tables around a wood-fired oven, MORE INFO: pasticceriapoppella.com pizzeriaoliva.it

78 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel

ITALY

ITALY Road trips

80 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel Puglia

HISTORY ON THE HEEL

The Salento peninsula offers a road trip packed with
sandy beaches, clifftop cave dwellings, dolmens and
towns studded with elaborate, baroque palazzi

The lights are off but everyone’s home in Gallipoli. It’s
Sunday lunchtime, and they’ve gone from church to table.
At least, that’s according to the clinking of cutlery through
open windows. Outside, it’s a ghost town, the summer heat
sitting heavily on the cream-stoned palazzi.

Gallipoli is already a fairytale of a place — a fishing village
teetering on a rock in the Ionian Sea, tethered to the mainland
by a sandy wedge. But the stillness makes it more special.
Even in summer, when tourists flock to the sugar-sanded bay,
life continues at a rhythm established over hundreds of years.

History is inescapable here on the Salento peninsula, the
southernmost tip of Italy’s heel. It’s here in the prehistoric
dolmens; here in the angels smiling down from baroque
buildings. It goes still further back at Porto Selvaggio, to the
north of Gallipoli, whose cliffside caves were, 45,000 years
ago, home to Europe’s first documented Homo sapiens.

Those early humans, who’d travelled up from Africa, were
the first of Puglia’s many immigrants. Some had fled here
(like the Basilian monks, escaping Jerusalem in the eighth
century, sculpting underground churches whose frescoes
survive to this day). Others chose to settle here (the Greeks
founded towns like Calimera). Other arrived with conquest
in mind: the Normans, Lombards and Saracens all left their
mark on Salento architecture; the watchtowers — valiant
attempts to ward them off — dot the clifftop as I head south
on my road trip around the Salento coast.

Salento may be just 25 miles across at its widest point,
but its east and west coasts are starkly different. The flatter,
western side is known for its beaches. Earlier, I’d stopped at
Punta Prosciutto, where dunes melt into thick sand. South
of Gallipoli, there’s a beach every five minutes — some with
a platform of spiky rock sheering into the sea; others, more
idyllic, like Pescoluse, nicknamed Puglia’s Maldives.

Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy’s most southeasterly point, is
where the Ionian and Adriatic coasts slide into each other.
From Leuca, the coast gets more spectacular, the road roller
coastering up and down sharp cliffs, past teeny fishing
villages below a headland speckled with myrtle and carob
bushes. At the Grotta Zinzulusa, a local guide shimmies me
deep into the cliffside to an enormous, bat-filled cave. In the
town of Otranto, I see the cathedral’s 12th-century mosaic
‘carpet’, complete with cameos from an elephant and a
buxom mermaid. Just above it, from the Aragonese castle,
I look back along the coast: it’s a carbon copy of the Amalfi
shoreline — but without the traffic, crowds or high prices.

Citalia has five nights at Masseria Montelauro in Salento, including flights
from Gatwick to Brindisi and car hire, from £699 per person. citalia.com
MORE INFO: grottazinzulusa.it

ITALY

CLOCKWISE FROM BELOW: Countryside
around the Capannelle Pass en route
to Campo Imperatore, Gran Sasso and
Laga Mountains National Park; cliffside
entrance to Grotta Zinzulusa; beachside
dining at Punta Prosciutto; Spiaggia della
Purità, Gallipoli

The roads less
travelled

CAPO VATICANO //
CALABRIA
The coastal road between Pizzo
and Reggio Calabria passes
pretty villages and apocalyptic
views of two active volcanoes:
Stromboli, smoking offshore
to the east, and Etna, puffing
away in Sicily, across the water.
Stop at Tropea, where palazzi
teeter against the blue, and
finish at Reggio’s Lungomare
walkway, with Sicily brooding
across the Straits of Messina.

GR AN SASSO NATIONAL
PARK // ABRUZ ZO
This mountainous region is
home to bears, clifftop villages
and twisting roads. The Grand
Highway winds through the
best of it, cleaving through
mountains and rolling through
the altipiano between L’Aquila
and Teramo provinces.

SULCIS COA ST // SARDINIA
Sardinia’s southwest coast
is less manicured than the
Costa Smeralda, but no
less spectacular (its hairpin
clifftop roads aren’t for
the fainthearted). From
Fontanamare, wiggle round the
old mining coast, stopping at
Porto Flavia, home to a mining
tunnel that looks out on the
cobalt sea. Finish inland at
Carbonia’s mining museum.

Sept/Oct 2020 81



ITALY

Cities

Trieste

ONE PERFECT DAY

Historic Bagno Ausonia, a popular
swimming spot close to Il Pedocin

LEFT: Coffee with sachertorte at
Caffè Tommaseo

From your first cappuccino in a Viennese-style cafe to a nightcap of Friulano wine in a
folksy osteria, we map out the perfect day in Italy’s easternmost border city

8AM 5,000 people, largely political prisoners, are haunting, while the cottage-style grounds
thought to have been murdered at the Risiera — overlooking a marine reserve — are superb.
BREAKFAST AT CAFFÈ TOMMASEO di San Sabba, a factory-turned-concentration miramare. beniculturali.it
One look at its Viennese-style coffee houses camp. Today a museum accompanies the
will show you that Trieste used to be part sobering buildings. risierasansabba.it 4PM
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Caffè
Tommaseo is one of the finest — drenched 1PM HAVE A BATH
in more stucco than an opera house, with Triestini love their city beaches. You’ll find
musical instrument-playing cherub carvings ALFRESCO LUNCH them rolling out their towels on the shoreline
serenading you over your cappuccino and Taverna Sapori Greci’s fairy-lit bower all the way from Miramare back into town.
croissant. caffetommaseo.it brightens up its surroundings (the area was But it’s more fun to head to the old-school La
knocked down while excavating the adjacent Lanterna or Il Pedocin — the latter a pebbly
9AM Roman amphitheatre). Sure, it’s a Greek beach near the marina with ‘male’ and
restaurant, but there’s no better place to sun- ‘female’ areas separated by a concrete wall.
KING OF THE CASTLE soak and try Trieste’s outstanding seafood.
San Giusto Castle looms over the city, with facebook.com/tavernasaporigreci 6PM
views from its battlements across the Gulf of
Trieste and down the coast to Slovenia and 2PM GULF-SIDE SUNDOWNER
Croatia. Nip into the Lapidarium, a museum Piazza Unità d’Italia is one of Europe’s most
housing Roman remains, for geometric ROOMS WITH A VIEW captivating squares. See the sun set over the
mosaics and lifelike funereal sculptures. Miramare Castle, the city’s most famous water from the outdoor tables at Caffè degli
castellodisangiustotrieste.it site, is five miles away — whisked straight Specchi, a belle époque coffeehouse, with
out of a Disney film and plonked on the Gulf a local Friulano wine, then have dinner at
11AM of Trieste. Built in 1856 by Maximilian I, nearby Osteria da Marino, a tavern with 700
Archduke of Austria, its story is tinged with types of wine that specialises in Trieste’s
PAY YOUR RESPECTS tragedy: following Maximilian’s execution Balkans-influenced cuisine. caffespecchi.it
Its border-territory location means Trieste is in Mexico, wife Charlotte had a breakdown osteriadamarino.com
no stranger to dark times, but the nadir was she never recovered from. The rooms are MORE INFO: discover-trieste.it
the 1943-5 Nazi occupation. Around 3,000-

Sept/Oct 2020 83

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ITALY

Cities Walled garden at Castello di
Ugento, Puglia
AFTER DARK
Remote getaways
Turin
Escape to the country
It’s a rare Italian city that
indulges in the aperitivo Seeking a standout Italian hotel? These rustic-chic stays deliver showstopping
hour as much as Turin, views and service with style
where drinks are served
IMAGE: SUSAN WRIGHT with ‘snacks’ so substantial Sextantio Santo Stefano di Sessanio, Castello di Ugento, Puglia
you won’t need a meal Abruzzo
On the far-western tip of Italy’s heel is this
BEST FOR ATMOSPHERE // This is one of Italy’s more remote ‘scattered honey-stoned 17th-century castle, whose
FLORIS HOUSE hotels’ (a concept that sees guest rooms spread nine rooms and suites are filled with designer
Comprising a restaurant, bar across buildings throughout town) — and Italian fittings. There’s also an excellent
and perfume shop, Floris one of the cushiest. It occupies a hamlet in restaurant and cookery school on site.
House is an elegant spot for an Abruzzo, with plush digs in old cottages. Doubles from €430 (£387), B&B, minimum
aperitivo. Order a drink amid Doubles from €130 (£117), B&B. sextantio.it stay of two nights. castellodiugento.com
the many palms and potted
plants and you’ll soon find Su Gologone, Sardinia Forestis, South Tyrol
yourself being served tiered
stands of chef-made snacks. This mountainside hotel offers an immersion This hideway offers a plum view of the
floris-profumi.it into Sardinian culture, from the meat Dolomites — including from the suites, all
smouldering on a spit to the farming of which face the peaks with floor-to-ceiling
BEST FOR SUMMER // EDIT equipment strung up on the walls. The windows. Leisure options include yoga and
On sunny evenings, grab a whitewashed rooms feature colourful skiing, but you’ll also want to leave time for the
seat in the garden of this bar accessories, and there are daybeds outside. spa, with its pine, spruce and larch treatments.
and restaurant. There’s a hint Doubles from €197 (£177), B&B. sugologone.it Doubles from €320 (£288), B&B. forestis.it
of a Budapest ruin bar to the
courtyard, which is dotted with
food trucks and fairy lights, and
a lot of Milan in the tapas-style
sharing plates and lengthy
cocktail list. edit-to.com

BEST FOR FREE FOOD //
BEERBA
If you want to make a dinner
out of your aperitivo buffet,
look no further than this
San Salvario bar, famous
for its buffet dinners. Like
the area itself, it’s geared
to a younger crowd. Grab
a beanbag and settle in
— there’s a lot of eating to
be done. facebook.com/
beerba.frytobegood

Villa Paola, Calabria Eremito, Umbria

Located close to the pretty coastal village In a forest north of Orvieto lies this newbuild
of Tropea, this candy-coloured villa was ‘hermitage’, where dinner is eaten in silence,
originally a convent. The views are the rooms have a monastic aesthetic and there’s
main draw here — in an Executive room, little to do except soak up the solitude.
you’ll be woken by the sun glinting on Eremito was designed with solo travellers in
the Med. Doubles from €212 (£191), B&B. mind, so be ready to mingle (quietly). Doubles
villapaolatropea.it from €230 (£207), all-inclusive. eremito.com

Sept/Oct 2020 85

ITALY

Remote getaways

Secret weekend escapes

With so many lakes, mountains and UNESCO-listed sites, Italy has no shortage of stunning
locations to while away a few days. These oft-overlooked spots promise a unique break

The lake: Iseo The island: Ischia The unique wonder: Matera
It appears almost as a mirage: thousands of
Often overshadowed by its higher-profile It shares the same glittering sea and glorious houses carved out of the caves and cliffs, piled
siblings, Garda, Como and Maggiore, Lake Iseo Vesuvius views as Capri, but Ischia remains higgledy-piggledy on top of each other. The
is where the Milanese retreat to. This is fishing very much an island for Italians, rather than southern Italian city was once considered a
territory, and on Monte Isola (the island in the for the jet set. Its thermal waters have been national embarrassment, with its population
middle of the lake, accessible by ferry) lies the popular for thousands of years, and you can living in dire poverty until they were evicted
hamlet of Peschiera Maraglio, where villagers still take a dip today. Relax in the natural on public health grounds in the 1950s. But
make their living either by hauling in the daily pools of Cavascura, as the Romans did, or, for today, Matera is fresh off its stint as 2019
catch or manufacturing the nets. something a little fancier, gently stew as you European Capital Of Culture and its sassi
dangle over the Med at the Aphrodite Apollon (‘rocks’) are slowly being reinhabited. There
You’ll find fish on menus all around the lake, thermal park. There are dinky villages (like are excellent small museums including Casa
often paired with hyper-local wine from the Sant’Angelo, a hamlet with almost more beach Noha, a clutch of chic galleries and shops
Franciacorta region, whose sparkling whites than pavement) and glorious beaches, too and artisans’ workshops. Don’t miss the
bear more of a resemblance to Champagne — don’t miss Maronti, a long strip of sand on rock-hewn churches or the Cripta del Peccato
than Prosecco. Don’t miss the 40-mile Strada the south of the island, made famous by Elena Originale (‘crypt of original sin’), a 20-minute
del Vino Franciacorta wine trail, which Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels. cavascura.it drive from town. criptadelpeccatooriginale.it
whisks you from one vineyard to the next. miramaresearesort.it/aphrodite fondoambiente.it/luoghi/casa-noha
WHERE TO EAT: Ristorante Le Margherite WHERE TO EAT: Ristorante Neptunus WHERE TO EAT: Osteria al Casale

Tinca al forno (a baked carp-like fish, stuffed Frequented by many a celebrity over the At this swish trattoria in a former cave,
with grated bread, cheese and spices) is years, this is the go-to spot for perfectly the only link to the past is the traditional
the speciality of lakeside Clusane, and this grilled, caught-this-morning fish. Basilicata dishes on the menu. osterialcasale.it
restaurant is one of the best places to try it. ristoranteneptunus.com/en WHERE TO STAY: Sextantio Le Grotte
ristorantelemargherite.it WHERE TO STAY: Botania Relais & Spa
WHERE TO STAY: Castello Oldofredi della Civita
Get back to nature at this adults-only retreat,
This porticoed, towered castle dominates where villas and rooms are dotted around This ‘scattered hotel’ comprises 18 cave houses
Peschiera Maraglio, offering top-notch views the richly planted grounds. Doubles from converted into honey-hued, candlelit rooms.
of the lake. Doubles from €79 (£70), room €150 (£135), B&B. botaniarelais.com Doubles from €153 (£128), B&B. sextantio.it
only. oldofrediresidence.it

86 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel

IMAGES: FRANCESCO LASTRUCCI; GETTY CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Maronti beach, ITALY
on the island of Ischia; pasta con le
sarde, a traditional Sicilian dish of pasta Sept/Oct 2020 87
with sardines; a fresh harvest of Sicilian
round aubergines; olive tree in Sicily

Cuisine

A taste of Sicily

Food is done a little differently on Italy’s largest island.
Sicilian olive oil producer Giuseppe Trapani explains the
principal flavours, and shares the restaurants not to miss

Sicilian food is a pot pourri of
Mediterranean cultures — we have
flavours and products that mainland
Italy doesn’t. It’s been influenced by
the cultures that have come here: the
ancient Greeks brought the olive tree;
the Arabs brought aubergines, oranges
and lemons; and the Spanish brought things from the
Americas like chocolate and prickly pears (originally from
Mexico but now o en associated with Sicily). Recently, there’s
been a Tunisian influence, too, thanks to the exchange of
fishing in Mazara del Vallo, on the southwest coast.
We use a lot of aubergine and artichokes in Sicily; Cerda,
near Palermo, is famous for the latter. Couscous is popular
as well, and every September there’s a dedicated festival
held in San Vito Lo Capo, near Trapani. Sicilian oranges
are very intense and the olives here are big — we have a
lot of autochthonous varieties, like the nocellara I grow in
Poggioreale. Pistachios from Bronte, near Catania, are also
famous. Then there are the islands: we have capers from
Pantelleria, tuna from Favignana and salt from Mozia.
We tend to use our ingredients very differently from the
rest of Italy. Our national dish, pasta con le sarde, combines
wild fennel, sultanas, pine nuts, toasted breadcrumbs and
sardines; it’s a very special flavour. We’re also famous for
our street food, like arancini (rice balls), which can be filled
with ragu, butter, prosciutto or even fish. There’s also panelle
(chickpea fritters), sfincione (like a spongy pizza — but don’t
call it that, or you’ll cause offence) and pani câ meusa (rolls
filled with deep-fried offal and topped with cheese).
As for my favourite restaurants? Antiche Scale in
Castellammare del Golfo is run by a fishing family — I love
their pasta with sea urchins. In Scopello, Bar Nettuno serves
traditional food with a fancy twist. Then there’s Le Gole in
Calatafimi, where they make ragu with maialino nero (a local
breed of pig). It’s incredible — and there are no tourists.

Giuseppe, the owner of Ogglio, produces organic olive oil to sell in the
UK, where he now lives. ogglio.org MORE INFO: anticafocacceria.it
facebook.com/antichescale facebook.com/legoleristorante

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virginwines.co.uk/italy-offer

ITALY

IMAGE: THILO WEIMAR; FRANCESCO LASTRUCCI Cuisine TOMMASO CHIARLI DISCUSSES LAMBRUSCO

Learn to cook A sparkling resurgence
like an Italian
If the idea of Lambrusco fills you with “But Lambrusco is a fantastic grape. It has
PIZZA IN NAPLES images of over-sweetened, bubble-heavy a lot of sugar, but also a lot of acidity. Even
The Associazione Verace Pizza Eighties wine, then think again. When the sweetest wine can be good — the acidity
Napoletana exists to promote drunk on its home turf of Emilia-Romagna, means you can enjoy it.”
and protect ‘real’ Neapolitan Lambrusco is a different thing entirely:
pizza. As well as training red wine with a hint of fizz that cuts Tommaso is the fifth generation of his
professionals, it also offers four- through the fat from the cured meats and family’s wine-making business, which was
hour courses for amateurs. Make cheeses typical of the region. And the started in 1860 by Cleto Chiarli. “He was the
the perfect pizza, then eat your reason? UK law. Between 1958 and 1965, first to understand Lambrusco’s potential
handiwork. €84 per person (£73). tax on low-alcohol sparkling wine was cut and to commercialise it — he was like Dom
pizzanapoletana.org by around five times as much as that on Pérignon,” says Tommaso.
normal wine.
STREET FOOD IN GENOA By encouraging this revival of Lambrusco’s
Genoa is the home of street “So, by the end of the 1960s, everyone reputation, Cleto Chiarli hopes to secure a
food favourites like focaccia was sending light Lambrusco (essentially, place for itself at the forefront of the industry.
and farinata (chickpea pancake), partially fermented grape must) to the UK,” “There are still very few wine tours in Emilia
which you’ll learn how to explains Tommaso Chiarli, export manager Romagna compared to Tuscany, but last year
make at food blogger Enrica’s at Cleto Chiarli, Emilia-Romagna’s oldest we had 5,000 visitors,” Tommaso says. With
immersive market-to-table winery. “Even we did it; we used to sell 13 Lambrusco’s standing on the rise, it’s safe to
class. From €110 per person million bottles a year. From there, we got say he’ll be seeing a lot more in the future.
(£100), minimum two people. into a vicious circle. People now realise they
asmallkitcheningenoa.com were drinking rubbish that didn’t respect the The Cleto Chiarli winery has 150 hectares across
traditional characteristics of Lambrusco. the Emilia-Romagna region and produces 15 wines.
FISH IN VENICE chiarli.it
Take a private class with
Venetian chef Marco Scarpa,
who’ll walk you through
creating a seafood feast,
including cicchetti (traditional
bar snacks) and mains such as
squid ink risotto. €300 (£273)
per group (max 4). experience.
veneziaautentica.com

SPICE IN CALABRIA
Calabria is known for its chilli-
infused cooking. At Cantina
Masicei, you’ll be taught how to
make dishes including Tropea’s
famous red onions in sweet-and-
sour sauce, courgette blossom
fritters and frittata with nduja.
From €69 per person (£63).
calabriacongusto.co.uk

Sept/Oct 2020 89

ITALY

History The fortress in the ancient Etruscan
city of Populonia, Tuscany, looking
Before the Colosseum
out towards the Gulf of Baratti
Elisabetta Govi, an archaeology professor at the University of Bologna, discusses
Italy’s ancient Etruscan civilisation and its most impressive remaining sites Lesser-visited
ancient sites
If I had to pick anywhere area, but the Etruscans were also found in IMAGE: GETTY
to visit, it’d be Cerveteri the north, around the Po river, the Adriatic BARUMINI, SARDINIA
and Tarquinia in coast and Bologna, and in the south, around Sardinia’s Iron Age people
Lazio, both known for the Gulf of Salerno. Most Etruscan cities littered the island with
their necropolises. At were built over by the Romans. nuraghi (conical towers). At
Cerveteri, there are Su Nuraxi di Barumini, tours
underground chambers For an idea of what an Etruscan city would take you up internal stairways
that show you how aristocratic houses must have been like in its entirety, try Marzabotto, and across the ramparts.
have looked. Walking through is incredibly near Bologna, where I’ve worked for years. fondazionebarumini.it
moving. And the tombs in Tarquinia have Sadly, only the foundations remain, but as
extraordinary frescoed walls, with still- there was never a successive occupation, HERCULANEUM,
bright colours. The dead are brought back you can walk on streets built by Etruscans, CAMPANIA
to life in the paintings, mainly in banquet see their urban planning and view the Pompeii’s neighbouring town
scenes where they’re eating and drinking foundations of houses, temples and tombs. was also wiped out in the
with dancers and musicians. I’d also AD 79 Vesuvius eruption.
recommend Populonia on the Tuscan Our exhibition in Bologna, which brings Its ruins are more complete
coast, which has spectacular views from the together 1,400 Etruscan objects from across and better preserved,
acropolis in the archaeological park. Italy, was due to end in May, but has happily from doors and frescoes to
The Etruscans lived in various areas of been extended into the winter. upper floors of buildings.
the Italian peninsula from around 900 BC ercolano.beniculturali.it
to AD 100 (what we call the ‘Romanisation’ ‘Etruscans: Journey Through the Lands of the Rasna’ is
phase, as the Romans progressively at the Archaeological Civic Museum of Bologna until SEGE STA , SICILY
conquered them). Modern Tuscany and 29 November 2020. This breathtaking Greek
northern Lazio make up the best-known MORE INFO: etruschibologna.it necropoliditarquinia.it temple stands in a field an
archeobologna.beniculturali.it/marzabotto hour’s west of Palermo.
cerveteri-tarquinia-sitiunesco.beniculturali.it It’s perfectly preserved,
with Doric columns dating
back to around 420BC.
segestawelcome.com

90 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel

A MOUNTAIN-TOP RETREAT

THAT’S YOUR GATEWAY TO THE DOLOMITES

Situated at over 9,000ft in the Cortina 4.5-mile Armentarola ski run. At Rifugio Lagazuoi,
d’Ampezzo mountains, Rifugio Lagazuoi is a cosy private rooms, and dormitories are on offer,
traditional, family-run refuge. Open in summer along with a restaurant serving hearty Ladin
and winter, it’s on the Alta Via 1, a trekking trail cuisine. Elsewhere, visitors can relax in the highest
that combines nature, history and gastronomy. sauna in the Dolomites. Built in the Finnish
The Lagazuoi Open Air Museum is found here style from larch, it offers stunning alpine views.
— complete with First World War trenches. Skiers Accessible by cable-car, the mountain summit can
and snowboarders will want to tackle the area’s be reached by people with reduced mobility.

PHOTOGRAPH: STEFANO ZARDINI

TO FIND OUT MORE, VISIT RIFUGIOLAGAZUOI.COM

AWAKENING

LEGENDS ON
THE

CELTIC COAST

92 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel

Snaking down the western coast of Wales from the windblown Llŷn Peninsula
in the north to the city of St Davids in the south, follow a path of Arthurian myth
and Bronze Age mystery along the Coastal Way, a 180-mile road trip taking in
ancient standing stones, deep slate caverns and petrified prehistoric trees

WORDS JULIA BUCKLE Y PHOTOGR APHS RICHARD JAMES TAYLOR

Sept/Oct 2020 93

WALES

CLOCKWISE: Sheep graze
near Port Simdde at the
very tip of the Peninsula,
Bardsey Island in the
distance; wild flowers at
Port Simdde; signpost
on the Wales Coast Path,
Llŷn Peninsula
PREVIOUS PAGES: The
ancient remains of
the Ynyslas forest in
Cardigan Bay

THEY STAND LIKE SEALS ON
THE BEACH AT YNYSLAS, AS I
PULL OVER, READY TO WITNESS
A 5,000-YEAR-OLD STANDOFF.

I see their dark shapes squaring off against exist somewhere beneath Cardigan Bay? Or a
the sea, heads curling attentively into the slightly more run-of-the-mill archaeological
sky, long bodies spilling behind them. There discovery? Here on Wales’ myth-steeped west
are hundreds lined up along the sand like coast it’s hard to untangle fact from fancy.
soldiers. Tensed for action, waiting patiently
for the enemy to arrive. Coastal lore is in my blood. I grew up in
Cornwall, amid megalith-wreathed moorland
And so, it does. I hear it coming before and clifftops thrumming with Arthurian
I see it. It’s the wind that gives it away legend. So, it’s no surprise that my five-day
— pulling on the waves as they bend back Welsh road trip along the Coastal Way
and forth, playing with the dark specks — snaking 180 miles along the entire length
like a cat with a mouse. To start with, it’s of Cardigan Bay, from the Llŷn Peninsula in
far off, the noise a gentle swooshing. But as the north to St Davids on the southern tip
I watch, it gets hungrier, the waves surge a — still somehow feels familiar.
little faster, pound a little heavier on the dark
shapes, slurp a little louder as they circle Actually, I’d come for prettiness: genteel
round them. The tide is on its way, and once Portmeirion, with its artsy houses stacked
it comes, these seals, these soldiers, these down the cliffside; Aberdyfi and Aberaeron,
amorphous dark shapes will be no more. their teeny harbours laced with pastel
cottages, a far cry from the rough-and-ready
Five thousand years ago, this wasn’t fishing villages I grew up around. But while
a beach. In the Bronze Age, the village searching for the twee, it’s the wilderness
of Ynyslas was a forest, thick with oak, that’s captivating me: the ragged green
birch and pine trees. But then something coastline abloom with wildflowers, medieval
happened. Maybe it was rising sea levels; castles crumbling into the landscape, and
maybe, legend says, it was the day a local the tree stumps of Ynyslas, waiting stoically
priestess allowed a fairy well to overflow. for the tide to bury them each night. With
Either way, the forest was swallowed by its tales of mythical Welsh fighters and fairy
the sea. It reappeared in 2014, when winter wells, this foreign land, where they speak
storms stripped the sands from Cardigan a language I don’t understand, feels like
Bay, unearthing phantom trunks that had coming home.
been slumbering for thousands of years.
BEAUTY & THE BEAST
Close up, they swim into focus. No longer “Oh, poor you!” says the woman on the
sleek seals, these are real trees, their trunks clifftop at Porth Simdde, outside Aberdaron.
whorled with age (I can even count the
rings); their roots like octopus tentacles, It’s not the usual reaction I get to revealing
finding purchase in the sand. Some are my roots — normally, any mention of
wreathed in seaweed, others have been Cornwall provokes melty eyes. But not here
scoured clean by the sea. All have their on the Llŷn — a very Cornish-looking claw
trunks lopped off at knee-height, as if a giant reaching out 30 miles to sea on Wales’s
had scythed through them before drowning northwest tip.
them in the bay.
“We have the same coast, but you get all
Is this, as some say, part of Cantre’r the tourists,” she says, leaving me alone on
Gwaelod, the mythical Welsh Atlantis said to the headland, drizzled with neon foxgloves

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and coconut-scented gorse. In the sun, the cliffs. At Nefyn, I walk onto a sheer-sided
Irish Sea flashes mackerel-silver, and the promontory, the track squeezing through
coastline stalks into the distance: green-iced waist-height undergrowth. Winding round to
rocks with emerald, mustard and mole- the ‘mainland’ — Cardigan Bay’s stretched-
brown fields etched on top. croissant of coast unfurling into the Irish
Sea — things get more refined. At least,
Right now, the weather is deceptively they do on the surface, but the wilderness
perfect. Across the teal sea is Bardsey Island, is never far away. Portmeirion — the art
where monks lived and the sick sought deco, pseudo-Italian fishing village, an hour
healing in medieval times. east from Aberdaron — is tweely gorgeous.
But 20 minutes inland, in the mountains of
But only a few hours ago, things were Snowdonia, is Blaenau Ffestiniog, a former
different. I’d woken up to find the wind slate-mining town where the hillsides
ripping across the bay, and my boat to Bardsey bristle with friable stone. At Llechwedd
cancelled. I could see why: the night before, Slate Caverns, 650ft underground, the air
I’d arrived in Aberdaron to a squall so bad that hangs heavy with damp as guide Freya
the staff at my hotel were shepherding a flock shows us how the men worked, feeling their
of ducklings blown off the beach. I’d spent the way around the mountain’s bowels in the
evening warming up with seaweed-flavoured dark. Up above, Brian — or ‘Rat’, as he calls
local gin (Dà Mhìle’s organic seaweed gin — it himself, as a former quarry worker — drives
had a tang of the sea); the only English-speaker me into the quarry, which closed in 1978. “I
in the bar. Bardsey was known to medieval spent 10 years under there,” he says, pointing
pilgrims as ‘the Rome of Britain’, and the at the rock, voice echoing in the hollows.
journey to get there was just as treacherous as
any quest to the Italian capital. Up here, the mountainside looks stripped
to the muscle, great chunks gouged from
Like Cornwall, the Llŷn is a wild land
of billowing jade hills and path-riddled

FROM LEFT: View across
the Italianate-style
village of Portmeirion on
the North Wales coast;
Brian, a former mine
worker who now leads
quarry tours in
The Slate Caverns,
Blaenau Ffestiniog

Sept/Oct 2020 97

WALES

its flesh over the decades. Standing on a “We’re waiting for him to lead the Welsh
25-ton rock, Brian points out the chambers into independence.” I can almost feel the
where they worked — some huge clefts in expectation humming in the air.
the rock, others narrow slashes looking
barely big enough for a real rat. Viewed Glyndŵr chose Machynlleth, on the River
from above, the quarry’s peaks make a mini Dyfi, as the town was traditionally considered
Snowdonia. On a clear day, you can see as far the boundary between North and South
as Harlech’s skeletal medieval castle, but not Wales. It’s here he was crowned Prince
in today’s mist. of Wales, and the building in which we’re
standing is the late 15th-century rebuild of his
The next day, I’m heading into the original. It’s a forbidding, thick-walled barn of
real thing — an hour-long drive through a place with low-slung windows and a soaring
Snowdonia National Park on my way to roof, crisscrossed with hulking beams.
Machynlleth. The road cleaves through
moss-coloured foothills, low-hanging slate- But what’s more fascinating is the
grey clouds swallowing the peaks around exhibition on Glyndŵr — “Wales’s David
Tal-y-llyn, a glassy ribbon of glacial lake versus England’s Goliath,” says Rhiain,
in the south of Snowdonia. Not that there’s proudly — and Rhiain herself. A former
time to stop — I’ve an appointment with university Welsh tutor, she plays the Welsh
Owain Glyndŵr. triple harp and runs drop-in language
sessions for Machynlleth’s ever-growing
The last Welsh Prince of Wales, who population of non-Welsh-speakers, which,
rose up against the English in 1400 and for today at least, includes me. Rhiain
disappeared nine years later when his last makes me feel at home by whipping out
stronghold, Harlech, was captured, is the a vocabulary list to prove that Welsh and
stuff of both historical fact and legend. Cornish are similar. “Welsh is phonetic,
Glyndŵr’s guerrilla-style tactics brought so once you’ve learned how to pronounce
him victories — at one point, he controlled the sounds, you can speak it,” she says,
most of Wales. And his disappearance (his encouragingly, and within a few minutes
wife and children were captured in 1409, she’s transformed what two nights ago
but he was never found) only burnished in Aberdaron was an alien language into
his legend. “We say he’ll come back,” says an approachable one. I learn the subtle
Rhiain Bebb, on the spot where Glyndŵr difference between ‘ch’ (the sound produced
held his parliament in Machynlleth. at the back of my throat) and ‘ll’ (pushed out

98 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel

WALES

FROM LEFT: Sarah with from the side of my mouth), and suddenly properties, and, at most, to be the Holy Grail
her Great Dane ‘Raven’ I can pronounce ‘Machynlleth’. We count itself (science dates it more prosaically to
at Spellbound Herbals; from one to 10. By the time I leave, not only the medieval period). Today, barely half of it
the hanging ram of can I say ‘diolch a hwyl fawr’ (‘thank you and remains — the result of generations of sick
Portmeirion, designed goodbye’) but Rhiain’s given me a whole new believers gnawing away at it in search of a
by Susan William-Ellis, respect for my roots. miracle. Even so, the deep age rings inside,
adorns the Toll House blackened with centuries of healing potions,
at the entrance to the Whether or not Owain is still slumbering, are powerful to behold. No wonder I’m away
Italianate-style village; there’s a mystical feel to this part of Wales. with the fairies by the time I reach Ynyslas,
locals prepare for a Near Owain Glyndŵr’s Parliament House, and those prehistoric trees, halfway down
day’s fishing in New the deep-fried pizza and window-wide the Welsh coast.
Quay harbour bara brith fruit bread draws me into Blasau
Delicatessen, a tea room run by Sabrina, an MERLIN & MEGALITHS
Italian who swapped Venice for Machynlleth The lower half of Cardigan Bay, south of
because she’d nurtured “a passion for British Aberystwyth, feels more peopled, but even
myth — King Arthur and the green man here among the fish and chip shops, there’s
— ever since I was little”. Up the road, at the an edge. At New Quay, as tourists cram into
Corris Craft Centre, is Spellbound Herbals, the sandy harbour to go dolphin-watching
where — between a candle shop and a gin (Cardigan Bay is one of the top places in
distillery — owner Sarah infuses soaps and Europe for spotting them), I climb the
creams with medicinal herbs. They smell roller coaster hill to the Black Lion, Dylan
so richly of the outdoors that back home, Thomas’s favourite boozer. The Welsh poet
hungry for Wales during lockdown, I email and writer lived in the town from 1944 to
her to order more. 1945 — the sleepy town of Llareggub (read
it backwards) in Thomas’s 1954 radio drama
West of Machynlleth, towards coastal Under Milk Wood is said to be based on New
Aberdyfi, is Llyn Barfog, a moorland- Quay. From the beer garden, I watch paunchy
wrapped lake where King Arthur is said green hills rolling down to the sea, and boats
to have slain a dreaded monster. And at swivelling in the lapis water, circling round
Aberystwyth’s National Library of Wales, flecks that could be either waves or dolphins.
I find the Nanteos Cup, a wooden bowl
that’s said, at the very least, to have healing

Sept/Oct 2020 99

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