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This diary was prepared in 2020 from the original 1962 notes from our trip. Besides our activities, those notes included many of our expenditures, and some of them are included here. You undoubtedly will find them incredibly low. Please keep in mind, though, that it was almost 60 years ago, and our monthly income at the time was about $400. The exchange rate then was L.620 to the dollar.) Introduction. We had been stationed in Verona, Italy, for nearly three years. Normslly we would have been getting ready to return to the U.S. by this time, but we had been involuntarily extended when the East Germans suddenly built the Berlin Wall in August 1961. Really ,though, we were happy to spend more time in Italy. We had already traveled extensively in Europe, but never south of Rome. Our close friends, Roy and Lucy Brown, were sailing from Naples back to the U.S. in June, and we decided to see them off and see the Naples area at the same time. Wednesday 20 June. Leaving our fours sons with Rosa, our super-nanny, we left Verona around 8:00 a.m. and drove south all morning. We arrived in Empoli around noon. Since the 14th century, Empoli has rivaled Murano (Venice) as a maker of fine glass, though its designs are generally cleaner and less ornate. Although it was a little out of the way, we wanted to shop for some Empoli glass.
It turned out to be harder to locate the
factories than we had expected. Most of them
only had samples on display for buyers of large
lots. They did not have much to sell to casual
customers. We finally bought three very nice
large pieces (total L.2,000 or $3.20). [Sixty
years later we see the same items, now described
as "mid-century classics," selling on artsy websites for hundreds of dollars each.]
It was about 3:00 p.m. by the time we left Empoli. We did not take the main road but went due south from Poggibonsi to the Via Aurelia, the coastal highway. Traffic was light, but the Esso stations (where we could use our NATO gas coupons) were few. We just made it without running out of gas. We stopped for the night at an AGIP motel in Grosseto. (AGIP was a major chain of gas stations that often had other amenities.) We reached Naples about 2:30 PM and, as usual for us in large European cities, we could not find the U.S. facilities. Finally we found the U.S. Navy-operated President Hotel, but we could not get in. We took a room in an old pensione near the east end of the Riviera de Chiaia, close to the U.S. Consulate. Santa Lucia lay at the west end of the Riviera. It was an excellent location, near the center of the old City. There was a nice view out over the Bay of Naples,, too, but the sea breeze we hoped for just was not there. (By this time a terrific heat wave had begun, and it and continued until the day we got back to Verona. After unpacking the car, we drove along the Bay to Piazza Municipio to see Castelnuovo (1279), a royal seat for Kings of Naples, Aragon and Spain until 1815. Then we took a quick familiarization drive through the historic part of the city where we would be going in the morning. Back at the pensione, we got in touch with the Browns (Roy & Lucy), who already were in Naples. We took them to dinner at La Quercia (Oak Tree) on Via Monzni about a mile from our pensione and was recommended by our host. It also had a star from Michelin and a favorable write-up in National Geographic Magazine. It was very small and had no sign outside. When we finally found the entrance, we had to go through the kitchen to get to the dining area. The restaurant was surprisinggly inexpensive (Our dinner for four was $10.) The food was outstanding, but the restaurant was unbelievably hot inside. Darrell and Roy had both worn suits, as required by the ridiculous USAREUR dress code, but they quickly shed their coats and ties, notwithstanding the rules. After dinner,, we exchanged goodbyes with the Browns, called it a night and went back to our respective quarters. |
