We arrived in Salerno at around 9:30 in the morning on the 24th of July. With our night train from Salerno to Milan leaving at 8:30 at night, we had almost a full day of time in Salerno. Despite that, we were pretty tired from all the traveling and didn’t really want to do too much. So instead, we sat down in the waterfront park in Salerno, once again called the Lungomare. The waterfront park is beautiful and in much better shape than the one in Naples. For that matter, everything was in better shape in Salerno than in Naples. I’m still not sure why. Did the Camorra let more investment happen here? There definitely was more investment in Salerno (more highrises, beachfront buildings under construction, etc.). I’m not in the position to know that information, and I’m glad I’m not.
But Chiara and I definitely know the Camorra are active in Salerno. While sitting in the park in Salerno, two men sat down a few meters away to the left of us. They seemed perfectly normal. The park was well-traveled by all ages. There were tourists, locals, the elderly, and kids playing in the grass. It was a perfectly normal midday on the Lungomare. The two men acted like friends, joking with each other and talking with a friend of theirs who stopped by.
I only took notice of them when they asked Chiara for the time. This was odd, I thought because most people have cell phones now or at least a watch. She mentioned the time was 11. About half an hour later, they asked again. This time, Chiara told them it was 11:30. However, they misheard her and thought it was 12:30- at which point one of the men almost had a panic attack. Chiara had to reassure them that it was 11:30, not 12:30. About 10 minutes later, Chiara and I watched as one of the men pulled out a stack of 100 Euro bills, still shrink-wrapped in plastic, along with another stack of 50s. Probably over 5,000-10,000 Euros worth. A few minutes later, not to draw suspicion, I said, “Well, I think we should check out the old town.” To which Chiara enthusiastically agreed. After leaving the park, we put the pieces together. 12:30 must be the drop-off time. The large amount of bills meant it was probably cocaine (or something of high value). Why they didn’t have a watch is still beyond either of us. Since the Camorra controls almost all drug smuggling in Campania, it was highly likely the men were at least affiliated, if not part of the Mafia.
After walking away from the park, we actually did visit the old town of Salerno. The Centro Storico of Salerno is smaller than the one in Naples but cleaner and less busy. It has plenty of renovated buildings and seems like a desirable place to live. The Duomo is particularly stunning. It's amazing observing the reuse of ancient Roman materials throughout its design.
The Normans were the people who built the Duomo after their conquests of Sicily and southern Italy. The Normans came all the way from northern Europe (Normandy) and were essentially Vikings. The most famous Norman was Willian the Conqueror (the conqueror of England). They loved to reuse Roman artifacts to tie their rule back to the Roman Empire, and it was also a lot cheaper than building new stuff! The Duomo in Salerno is a phenomenal example of looting by the Normans, as most of its columns are Ancient Roman, and Roman sarcophagi line the entry courtyard. Even the marble and porphyry tiles on the walls are from the Roman city of Salerno.
Salerno’s old town is particularly cool for this reason. It is so easy to spot random Roman columns supporting buildings or an ancient tombstone used as a building block.
To kill time, we visited some of Salerno’s free local museums. Chiara and I were surprised that Salerno had so many free amenities. Most of the museums were oddly unvisited, though. I think many tourists pass up Salerno, and I’m unsure why. It’s a spectacular city and more relaxing than the more hectic Naples to the north. It’s also very clean (WAY cleaner than Naples) and has numerous gorgeous renovated buildings. In both the museums we visited, the visitor logs for the day had less than 50 people (you had to put your name and where you were from on a sheet of paper at the entrance).
The archaeological museum was especially interesting. It exhibited hundreds of ancient Roman and Greek artifacts from various towns across the Salerno province. There were entire sections of Greek, Bronze Age, and Roman finds from around Oliveto Citra. Based on what we saw from the museum, there has been a settlement around Oliveto Citra for around 3,000 years. Incredibly, Chiara and I were the only people in the entire museum (save for the security guard).
After spending time at the museums, Chiara and I traveled to a grocery store to pick up some food to eat before the train. We both lacked fresh fruit during our journeys and decided to pick up some precut melon to eat and some crackers, Pistachio Crème (this stuff was fire), and Prosciutto (once again). We sat down on a bench on the main boulevard Vittorio Emanuele to watch the crowds of shoppers and evening strollers go by. It would have been perfect if we had only read the label on the melon beforehand. Turns out we had bought a precut container of pumpkin. Raw pumpkin, that is. Raw pumpkin is entirely edible and healthier for you! But also very disgusting. I wouldn’t recommend. 4/10 rating.
At 8 PM we boarded our train to Milan, and I was disappointed to find the nicest sleeping compartment I’d traveled in. I had bet Chiara days before that this sleeping compartment wouldn’t have air-conditioning. I thought that the Italian trains must be worst than the Austrian ones. I was wrong. It was better and far cheaper (only 25 euros for an overnight trip back to Milan!). There goes five euros. . .
The following day we arrived in Milan and took the metro to Chiara’s Nonna’s house. Chiara’s Nonna is one of the nicest and most generous people I’ve met on my travels. The minute we arrived, she insisted on feeding us homemade pasta with ragu sauce. Easily. Hands-down. No questions asked. The single best pasta meal I’ve ever had. Gas. Fire. Perfection. As Chiara warned me, I needed to keep going in for more until I felt like I'd explode. Otherwise, her Nonna would get offended, and I’d be on her bad side (you didn’t want to get on Nonna’s bad side). To my horror, she piled on the first helping like a literal mound of food. Twice that of Chiara’s and probably 2/3 that of her brother, Kabir. Even so, I forged ahead and got three separate helpings (exponentially decreasing portions each time). Nonna was very happy.
Full from lunch, we rested a bit, and then Kabir and Chiara took me around Milan for a bit. We walked through Parco Sempione and sat beside the Castello for a while. People watching as per usual. Neither Chiara nor I really wanted to do much, and that was ok with Kabir too. We just sat and enjoyed the day, tired after a week and a half of busy travel.
Sadly we didn’t get too much sleep. That night Milan was slammed by the worst storm in its history. It hit like a freight train. One second, the night was calm, and the next, the doors began slamming against each other. Chiara’s Nonna screamed as one of the doors almost shattered into pieces (they had glass in them). Everyone rushed out of bed to close the windows and shutters of the apartment. Chiara said later that she could feel water seeping under the shutters. The storm lasted for well over an hour. We woke up the next morning to unbelievable scenes. A huge tree that once stood in the courtyard of the building had split in half.
The three of us, Chiara, Kabir, and I decided to walk around the city and see what had changed. It was unbelievable. Power lines were down everywhere, including dozens of street lights cracked at their base. Tram lines were down. Scaffolding had fallen off buildings. Trees ripped out from their roots. Some were snapped in half. Parco Sempione was unrecognizable from the day before. It literally looked like a tornado had ripped through it (and maybe one did?).
The storm even damaged the Castello. It tore off roof tiles and smashed them down on the interior courtyard. The storm quickly went from an “it might take them a few days to clean up” to a “this is going to take them weeks if not months to fix.” In Parco Sempione alone, there were probably a few hundred, if not more than a thousand, trees that needed to be cut down and replanted. Most of the fish in its lake were dead after they had been washed out of it by flood waters. A brave group of locals and tourists were busy scooping up the remaining large fish by hand in their small pond of flood water and throwing them (literally) back into the main lake. The rest lay dead, belly up in the pond.
Nonna herself, a resident of Milan for her entire life (except for WWII- when she stayed in the suburbs to avoid allied bombing), had never seen anything like it. Absolutely nuts.
Later that evening, we checked out the “Venice of Milan” called the Navigli district. It's a fun, hip area around a series of canals, many designed under the guidance of the genius Leonardo da Vinci. He helped to create the series of locks and waterways connecting Milan to Lake Como to the north. Once we got back to Nonna’s place, she treated us to another incredible meal. Fresh-made meatballs and Risotto on the side. The meatballs- incredible. I seriously need to ask for the recipe.
The following day I said goodbye to Chiara, Kabir, and their Nonna and made my way to the train station to take the night train to Vienna. I can’t thank Chiara’s Nonna enough for her generosity and the unreal cooking I enjoyed while there. I also can't thank Chiara enough for the amazing adventure we had. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip that I'll never forget.
The train was the final long-distance train of my time in Europe and not one of the best. It wasn’t nearly as good as the Italian sleeper and had only one functioning toilet on the train. Yes, one. Awful.
I liked your day in Salerno minus the mafia drug drop that almost was.... Nonna's pasta sounds amazing but you know Mom makes the best U.S. meatballs right... That storm did some serious damage based on the pics. Again what amazing hospitality from Chiara, Kabir, and their Nonna - such special people!
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