There are two things that are synonymous with Easter in Napoli – Pastiera – the ricotta and wheat based pie that is like a cheesecake on steroids and its equally indulgent antithesis – the rustic and savoury Casatiello Napoletano. Think of them as the yin and the yang or the Adam and Eve of the Neapolitan Easter table.
A type of rustico, or a rustic bread, Casatiello is hardy, filling, and oh so satisfying. Something I would think of more as a comfort food for the cold, wet days of winter, here it is nevertheless a symbol of spring. Made only for the Easter holiday, its brother Tòrtano however is made year round.
Two breads cut from the same dough, the only difference between them – hard-boiled eggs. Perhaps symbolic of creation, I can only guess the addition of eggs to Casatiello render it suitable only for the Easter holiday. Made in a round pan similar to an American bundt pan, the shape is said to symbolize the crown of thorns.
The recipe dates to at least the 1600s and they say, the Napoletani that is, that it is not Casatiello without sugna (or strutto in Italian) – pork fat/lard. Served as part of the antipasti on Easter day, it tastes even better the next day, Pasquetta – Easter Monday.
The first step in any good Casatiello? The ingredients.
Flour, lievito – fresh yeast sold in little cubes, water, salt, pepper, and most importantly, sugna for the dough. Hard boiled eggs and an assortment of salumi and cheese inside.
To make Casatiello with 1 kg flour we recommended “un mezzo chilo di misto,” – a 1/2 kg of assorted salumi and cheese. For our Casatiello we chopped up some ciccioli, capicollo, salame napoletano, and pancetta coppata. Pecorino cheese is typically used but this time we are using a Caciotta di Avellino.
Ingredients
For the dough 1 kg flour plus extra for rolling the dough. 300 ml Water. 1 cake (.6 oz) fresh yeast or one package or 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast. Warm water. Salt and pepper. About 4 tbsp of lard for the dough plus more for coating the dough.
For the filling 1/2 kg assorted salumi and cheese. 6 hard-boiled eggs.
Cooking Method
Pour flour onto a work surface. Mix in salt and a very generous amount of pepper. Add yeast (if you are using active dry yeast you will need to dissolve it in about 1/2 cup warm water first). Add water a little bit at a time, working it in until a soft dough begins to form. Add the lard and work it completely into the dough. Continue working the dough, adding water as needed until the dough is just slightly damp and very elastic. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise 2 hr or more.
The Casatiello dough after the first rise
Meanwhile chop the salumi and cheese Boil and chop the eggs and add them to the salumi mixture
After the dough has risen one hour, flour the work surface and roll it out into a large rectangular form.
Spread the salumi mixture across the length of the dough starting near the bottom of the dough.
Roll the dough up like a cigar, pinch the edges and coat them with lard.
Roll up the Casatiello
Bring the ends together to form a circular shape.
Grease the Casatiello pan with lard, work the dough into the pan and generously coat the top of the dough with lard.
Cover and let rise 3 hours.
Casatiello after the second rise
Bake at 180º C for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Fancy a few hours in the National Archaeological Museum, a stroll round the Caserta palace or catching the view from the Certosa di San Martino? Next week you can visit them all for free.
Scores of state-owned attractions across Italy will waive their entry fees from March 5-10th as part of an initiative to make the country’s most precious heritage available for free on 20 days each year.
Culture Minister Alberto Bonisoli has declared next Tuesday to Sunday “Museum Week”, meaning that locals and tourists alike have six days to visit some of Italy’s most famous museums, galleries and archaeological sites without paying a cent.
Some of the best-known attractions participating include the Museo e Real bosco di Capodimonte and Palazzo Reale, the ruins of Herculaneum – as well as its treasures in Naples’ Archeological Museum – the Complesso dei Girolamini and all the various villas of the ruins of Pompeii. Find a full list here.
The initiative replaces Italy’s “free museum Sundays”, the scheme that saw museums open for free every first Sunday of the month. Under a new decree that takes effect this week, Italian state museums will instead offer six free Sundays between October and March, eight free days of their choice and six during Museum Week.
Culture Minister Alberto Bonisoli says the new system should help reduce the long queues and oppressive crowds that typically gather at Italy’s most popular attractions every first Sunday of the month. Sites might choose to offer free entry on a weekday afternoon instead of at the weekend, for instance, to help them manage visitor numbers.
In addition, people aged 18-25 will be able to visit state-owned attractions at any time they choose for the reduced price of just €2.
Bonisoli has said that he wants to add even more free days in future, hinting that there could be two Museum Weeks a year from 2020.
Discovered at Pompeii on December 29, 1837, in the presence of King Ferdinand II, the Blue Vase is regarded by many to be the Naples National Archaeological Museum‘s most prized possession.
The Blue Vase is said to have been found in the House of the Mosaic Columns during a Royal inspection. Some have suggested it was planted to impress the noble visitors. Apparently, it was not uncommon for excavators to inhume their finds and wait for an opportune time to unearth the treasure in order to keep their patrons excited and the funds coming in.
Extremely fragile, Imperial Roman cameo glass vases are terrifically rare; only a handful survive. Perhaps the most famous specimen is the so-called Portland Vase in the British Museum.
They were made by fusing different colored sheets of glass together in a furnace. After cooling, the top layer was etched away, creating designs that stand out from the contrasting background. As with the Blue Vase, the most common color combination was the use of an opaque white over a translucent cobalt blue.
Beneath each handle of the Blue Vase the iconography depicts a group of pudgy putti gaily harvesting grapes for winemaking and playing musical instruments. Separating the two scenes are highly elaborate grape vines bearing clusters of fruit and some birds. The vines appear to be springing like antlers from the head of Silenus, the trusty companion of Dionysus, the god of wine. Circling the vessel’s base are flora and fauna from the Mediterranean. Fittingly, the glass vessel is shaped like a wine amphora.
Undoubtably the work of master craftsmen, this priceless masterpiece was truly a wonder to behold.
National Archaeological Museum is away only a few minutes walk from our apartment!
We like to describe Naples as chaos incarnate. It has a life of its own, that seems to head in every direction at once, but then comes together into a sort of untouchable harmony that energizes your soul. And because I would love to let you know more about the city, we collected together our favorite quotes about Napoli.
In the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius, Naples has inspired writers and artists for centuries.
To recognize this unique city, here are the best quotes about Naples:
Rome is stately and impressive, Florence is all beauty and enchantment, Genoa is picturesque, Venice is a dream city, but Naples is simply — fascinating. – Lilian Whiting
Naples is curiously chaotic and, if I’m honest, a bit dilapidated. It certainly has a ‘lived-in’ look. It’s alive, it’s vibrant, it’s a little bit dirty, it’s busy, and I loved it. – Paul Hollywood
I won’t say another word about the beauties of the city and its situation, which have been described and praised often. As they say here, “Vedi Napoli e poi muori! See Naples and die!” One can’t blame the Neapolitan for never wanting to leave his city, nor its poets singing its praises in lofty hyperboles: it would be wonderful even if a few more Vesuviuses were to rise in the neighbourhood. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Here we are at last. The Italian proverb says “See Naples and die” but I say, see Naples and live; for there seems a great deal worth living for. – Arthur John Strutt
Naples is the flower of paradise. The last adventure of my life. – Alexandre Dumas
I have a concept of Naples that is not so much of a city per se but rather an ingredient of the human spirit that I detect in everyone, Neapolitan or not. The idea that ‘Neapolitanism’ and mass ignorance are somehow indissolubly linked is one that I am prepared to fight with all the strength I have. Quite simply, I refuse to believe that the living conditions of a population can only be improved at the cost of annihilating everything human in their way of life. Indeed, there are times when I think that Naples represents the last remaining hope for the human race. – Luciano De Crescenzo
I exist only because inside of me and above all else I am only and above all a Neapolitan. Naples exists inside of me, and always will. Fortunately for me there is this treasure that I have inside of me and, when I need it, then I pull it out. – Sophia Loren
…the city of Naples was like this: wonderful from a distance, but when seen close up, it was fragmentary, indefinable, and coarse… – Franco Di Mare
Naples sitteth by the sea, keystone of an arch of azure, Crowned by consenting nations peerless queen of gayety: She laugheth at the wrath of Ocean, she mocketh the fury of Vesuvius, She spurneth disease, and misery, and famine, that crowd her sunny streets. – Martin Farquhar Tupper
He who doesn’t love Naples, has yet to learn how to love life. – Anonymous
Naples is a paradise: in it every one lives in a sort of intoxicated self-forgetfulness. It is even so with me: I scarcely know myself; I seem to myself quite an altered man. Yesterday I said to myself, “Either you have always been mad, or you are so now.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Are there any other quotes about Naples that you love?
We are in December. December means Christmas, holidays, presents and sitting under the tree. But these aren’t the only things to do in December. Let’s find out some of the best events for this month.
HERE SOME EXHIBITIONS YOU CAN’T MISS IN DECEMBER
LONDON SHADOW. LA RIVOLUZIONE INGLESE DA GILBERT & GEORGE A DAMIEN HIRST
19/10/18 – 20/01/19. The London Shadow exhibition recounts, through twenty-three works, the spirit of artistic renewal that began in Great Britain (YBA, Young British Artists) in the late eighties and early nineties. At the end of the decade, these young artists finally glimpsed the possibility of breaking with the “old” generation imposing signs, messages and new expressive codes. Leader of the movement is Damien Hirst.
14/07/18 – 15/01/19. Expanded Interiors explores ancient Roman wall paintings and Roman artefacts through fine-art practice at the two UNESCO World Heritage sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The project will develop site-specific fine art installations within two distinct architectural contexts: the House of the Cryptoporticus, in Pompeii, and the House of the Beautiful Courtyard, in Herculaneum. Expanded Interiors is planned by Newcastle University and brings together an experienced team from contemporary art, archaeology and digital technology.
13/10/18 – 29/12/18. The retrospective exhibition dedicated to the Sicilian futurist and photographer Olimpio Greco, also called Grecolio. The exhibition, curated by Viktor Grobheiten, will present photos taken between 1919 and 1925. As Grobheiten says: maybe it’s time to shed light on Italian futurism artists, who didn’t have the visibility and the success they deserved. And it is certainly the case of Grecolio, a great interpreter of photodynamism.
18/10/18 – 11/01/19. The Mapils Gallery presents Bianchi i giorni che sovrastano le notti, from Jean Loup Champion. Jean-Loup offers an unpublished production realized in the last few years. The trauma caused by three consecutive liver transplants, made him discover, and then express, another body and another world, white and three – dimensional. In 2017, Jean-Loup Champion worked on a new series of works entitled Monumenti. These works refer to the Baroque funerary monuments of Naples and the Cy Twombly white sculptures. Made in wood and various materials, they are always painted in white.
19/10/18 – 17/02/19. Works by Boccioni, Balla, Carrà, Severini. Sixty-four masterpieces take us to the first and most important vanguard European Futurism of the early 1900s.
20/10/18 – 03/02/19. Klimt Experience is an immersive and multimedia journey dedicated to the life and works of Gustav Klimt. The main purpose is to thrill and fascinate the spectators, inviting them to deepen the knowledge of the man and artist and the understanding of his works. A multimedia jump in Klimt’s art and history. The exhibition includes the biography told by the monitors of the visual room, a magical kaleidoscope with signs and images projected on walls and ceilings in the hall of mirrors; virtual reality with the Oculus VR. A different way to approach art, a dreamlike journey.
13/12/18 – 21/02/19. Peppe Esposito on show with his personal Presenze Assenze 1978 – 2018. 50 images between black and white photos and color portraits on display at the Private Baker Fideuram offices. A visual tale of Napoli, an ideal metropolis immortalized by the photographic eye of Esposito that conquers bodies and spaces, revealing the city’s many identities and its transformations, from 1978 to today.
8/11/18 – 24/04/19. Thanks to unpublished material, letters, photos, videos, costumes, posters, manuscripts and typescripts, this exhibition shows up like a some kind of dialogue between the De Filippo family and the public. People will meet Eduardo through the movies, through the poems, through the songs, will live his strength, his rigor, the importance that the theatre and the audience had for him and that took him not to stop even when life was terribly tough with him.
01/11/18 – 22/04/19. Palazzo delle Arti di Napoli will house the works of Maurits Cornelis Escher, one of the world’s most famous graphic artists. There will also be a large section dedicated to the influence that his work have had on subsequent generations: discs, comics, advertising, movies. A big journey through 200 works, from Escher to the present day.
DINOSAURI IN CARNE E OSSA (DINOSAURS IN FLESH AND BLOOD)
12/11/18 – 09/03/19. Dinosaurs are back, and they and they have established themselves at the. Astroni Crater, an extinct volcano just 5 km from Naples. It is a unique experience that helps us to reflect on a question: can you survive a mass extinction? A small group of survivors gave life to different species of animals, that have dominated the earth. Extinction is part of evolution, but over the past 350 years, our actions have placed the planet at risk of a new mass extinction. The exhibition tells the history of life, from Paleozoic till the present day.
BRIKMANIA, UN MONDO DI MATTONCINI (A WORLD OF BRICKS)
13/10/18 – 27/01/19. The world’s biggest exhibition of Lego is here. 2 million of bricks, with vintage cars, pirate galleons and the Star Wars saga and an area with a pool full of bricks where children can play.
24/10/18 – 05/05/19. Taijiquan is a Chinese fighting technique suitable for everyone and is based on a harmonious balance between body and mind, restoring the energy flow and psychophysical well-being.
NATALE AL CASTELLO DI LETTERE (CHRISTMAS AT LETTERE CASTLE)
10/11/18 – 06/01/19. In the wonderful Archaeological park in Castello di Lettere, it will take place Natale al Castello. The Castle will be set up according to a traditional Christmas Market. The event, is the favourite destination for adults and children who spend a very special moment during the holidays, between tradition, games and typical tastings. With kiosks in which artisans, masters of the Neapolitan manger, producers and farms, will propose their creations.
MERCATINI AL CASTELLO DI OTTAVIANO (MARKETS AT THE OTTAVIANO CASTLE)
01/12/18 – 16/12/18. More than 100 exhibitors at the Mediceo Castle, organized in typical wooden houses, will offer a wide range of products. Christmas lights, artists, concerts, choirs and shows are the perfect setting for this typical Christmas atmosphere.
02/12/18 – 21/12/18. The National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa will be transformed into the city of the Christmas, giving visitors unforgettable emotions. If you visit the markets you can freely access and visit the National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa. Children can visit the house of Santa Claus, view the locomotives of the Polar Express, meeting characters from fairy tales and listening tales like Snow White, Pinocchio and The Pied Piper.
10/12/18 – 24/12/18. For 14 days Borgo Martucci will turn into a historical road. Take a leap into the past and experience history in an original way. Ladies, knights, jugglers and minstrels, let yourself be guided towards the magic.
HERE SOME THEATRICAL SHOWS YOU CAN’T MISS IN DECEMBER
MADE IN CHINA POSTCARDS FROM VAN GOGH
04/12/18 – 09/12/18. An original comparison between Van Gogh, the artistic genius, and China, the serial reproduction for commercial purposes. A very original show in which the reference made in China, suggests food for thought on contemporary society.
07/12/18 – 09/12/18. A restaurant, the owner, his son, two waiters and the cook. Every Sunday after the closing, they go to the basement of the club to play poker all the night. This routine is broken by the arrival on the scene of a mysterious character. A character that brings to the life of the protagonists imbalance and curiosity, adding suspense to the developments of the story and, above all, to the game that will be played.
07/12/18 – 16/12/18. In a near future, the water is privatized and the rivers are guarded by the government guards. In an abandoned parking lot there is a homeless community, frayed by anger and conflict. Aldo and Nina, a rebellious and unpredictable girl, who will prove to be the biggest of their problems and, at the same time, the key to a social redemption, will be part of the community.
AVEVO UN BEL PALLONE ROSSO (I HAD A BEAUTIFUL RED BALLOON)
11/12/18 – 16/12/18. Margherita is a young Catholic girl who, after moving to Milan, in a few years becomes “Mara”, leader of the Red Brigades. The show, through the conversations between her and her father, tells the story of Margherita and outlines the intimate and dramatic relationship between father and daughter, which mixes with the history of Italy.
12/12/18 – 16/12/18. A wrong e-mail address, triggers a spark between 2 strangers. Based on the book by Daniel Glattauer, with millions of copies sold all over the world, the show describes the birth of an intense and virtual bond. Can a relationship of this kind survive to a real meeting?
14/12/18 – 16/12/18. In 2007, with Magic People Show, Giuseppe Montesano told the global consumer, the average human being, the slave of the advertising, and then, national economy healers, air to breathe sellers, souls sellers and buyers. Ten years later a new version of the show, which mixes opera buffs and drama, made up of ridiculous monsters drugged by the dream of money, of deluded prisoners of being free and people who have buried passion and love. A new tragicomic chapter of the sick Italy.
09/11/18 – 30/12/18. Do you believe in paranormal activities? With this tour, the De Rebus Neapolis, which represents the Paranormal Research and Analysis Center in Naples, will explore the results of a surprising survey in the alleys of the ancient center of Naples. This tour will provide some precious knowledge to all those who want to approach to the paranormal. The purpose is to make contact with the occult.
ANGELI E DEMONI. A TOUR IN THE MOST MYSTERIOUS CHURCHES IN NAPLES
16/11/18 – 28/12/18. The history, the anecdotes, the curiosities about the three churches of mystery: Church of Gesù Nuovo, Basilica of San Domenico Maggiore and the Basilica of Santa Chiara. Ghosts, angels and other entities, a walk that will tell the miracles, the mysteries and the paranormal. Every corner and every facade of these churches carries a hidden history.
08/12/18 – 29/12/18. In the wonderful Filangieri museum, a work inspired by the concert La traviata, from Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras and Placido Domingo. Between the great Italian opera and the Neapolitan tradition, and speaking of Neapolitan tradition, O’ Sole mio and Torna a Surriento, are just a couple of the songs in which the tenors protagonists of this evening will challenge themselves.
A tiny, Italian-made, eight-sided wonder, the Moka pot has been with us through our fair share of postage-stamp-sized kitchens and far-flung journeys. It’s experiencing a resurgence lately, which is no doubt due to its ability to produce a viscous, appropriately dense espresso with no electricity or fancy equipment. We’re also charmed by the little gurgle it makes as it works its magic on the stovetop.
Step 1
Grind about 20-22 grams of coffee, about as finely as you would for each shot of espresso.
Step 2
Fill the bottom half of your Moka pot with water.
Step 3
Fill the pot’s filter basket with the ground coffee, and give it a shake (don’t press) to settle the grounds evenly. Now place it into the bottom compartment.
Step 4
Screw on the Moka pot’s spouted top.
Step 5
Place the pot on a stove set to medium heat.
Step 6
When the water in the bottom chamber approaches a boil, the pressure will push a stream of coffee slowly and methodically through the upper chamber. If it explodes upward, your water’s too hot, if it burbles lethargically, turn up your flame. You know it’s done when you hear a hissing, bubbling sound.
Step 7
Enjoy.
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