The next country we visited on our cruise was Italy. We had been to Italy before, but all the scheduled stops were new places for us. We ended up with one stop cancelled due to weather, so instead we stayed overnight in the next port, allowing a little more time there for exploration.
Genoa/Genova
Our first stop was the city of Genoa, a city of just over 500,000, the capital of the region of Liguria and the 6th largest city in Italy. It is the busiest port in Italy. It is also home to the University of Genoa with roots in the 15th century.
The city is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, since the fourth or fifth millennium BC, and it has a fascinating history, including as a significant world and maritime power during various times.
We were there on Easter so we were not sure what would be open, but it turns out that there were no issues at all with filling our day.
To explore some of that history, we started our day in the maritime museum, not far from where our ship was docked. There were exhibits dedicated to Christopher Columbus (born in Genoa), early maritime exploration and shipbuilding based in Genoa, the development of maritime technology in Genoa, Italian migration and immigration over the years, and many other things.
After the museum, we wandered around the historic center and eventually found lunch at Osteria Pandemonio. It was filled with a mix of locals and tourists, but we only had to wait 10 minutes or so for a table. Italians eat their main meal of the day at lunch, and we would not possibly be able to eat all of the courses offered. There was a little cultural and language barrier (even though our waiter spoke okay English) in ordering, but eventually we settled on some appetizers, a salad, and most importantly pasta with pesto, which originated in Genoa. Without question it was the best pesto I have had, and I love pesto!
After our leisurely and large (for us) lunch we waddled back to the ship.
Civitavecchia
Due to weather conditions, the captain announced that would be bypassing our scheduled stop in Livorno and heading directly to Civitavecchia, the port nearest to Rome (approximately 2 hours away by bus or train). We arrived in Civitavecchia in the afternoon a day earlier than originally scheduled; we took a walk that day exploring the immediate area near where the ship was docked. We were docked near the remains of what was an important Roman port during the 2nd century. Today it is used primarily for cruise ships, ferries, a fishing fleet, and pleasure craft.
After spending the night docked in Civitavecchia, we took the port-provided bus into town the next day to explore the city. We walked around the waterfront area and meandered the city center, before deciding on lunch at the Trattoria Alla Piazzetta de Nino. There were a few tourists there with us initially, but eventually it became clear that many local regular customers arrived. We improved our ordering slightly from the prior day, splitting some dishes; it was still a lot of food. We succeeded in having a very leisurely lunch and didn’t leave until only the family that owned the restaurant, some employees, and a few local customers remained.
Naples/Napoli
Our 3rd Italian stop was Naples, a city of nearly 1 million. It is a large city with a lot of traffic but is near to several historic sights and is the birthplace of pizza, two things we chose to explore.
Many people take organized tours when on cruise ships. We rarely do. We had a few scheduled for the trip, but most of the stops where we were planning tours were cancelled due to our major itinerary change resulting from the situation in the Suez Canal. The only tour we did on the cruise was out of Naples, with a visit to the historic site of Pompeii.
Pompeii was an ancient wealthy Roman city of 10,000 – 20,000 people when it was buried in volcanic ash (along with several other nearby towns and cities) during the eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. because it was buried it was largely preserved under the ash. The volcano is still active today; one of the many interesting things our excellent guide shared on the way to Pompeii was a description of the different zones at different distances from the volcano today and the general evacuation plan for each zone.
After our tour, it was time to find pizza for lunch! We used what is a typical method for us, looking at Google Maps and reading reviews. There was a place near the ship that we decided to try, Risorante Pizzeria Festa & C. We split a pizza, a salad, and we each ordered beverages. It was a local place, extremely inexpensive, and the pizza was great!
After lunch, we walked around the city a bit, found a place to do some updates on our Kindles, and had a final drink on shore (too expensive) before heading back to the ship.
Catania, Sicily
Our final Italian stop was Catania on the island of Sicily, a city of just over 300,000. It is the 2nd largest city on the island of Sicily, and sits at the foot of the active volcano, Mount Etna.
We walked around the city doing some shopping and looking at various sites and plazas.
We had a great lunch at Trattoria de Patrizia, including squid ink pasta, one of my favorite foods! Our waiter was impressed that we both managed to eat it without getting squid ink on our clothes. By this time we were getting better at ordering, and we split several dishes. A great finale to our time in Italy.
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