During my first visit to Milan, I had the great privilege of locals taking me under their wing, which is always a game-changer when exploring a new place. Dropping into communities that already exist and riding the coattails of their intuitive understanding of their home really gives you a feel for what life in a place is really like—but it also relieves you of having to think about where exactly you are in the city at any given moment. As a result, you’ll walk away with a strong emotional bond to a city, but not much concrete information about it. That was my challenge in returning to Milan. So I did the legwork of sifting through exactly where I was during my first visit to Milan, and came up withe two neighborhoods that made the biggest impression on me. They were Brera and Navigli. Let’s jump in.
Off the Sorrento Peninsula, in the Bay of Naples and the Tyrrhenian Sea, sits the tiny, beautiful island of Capri It may seem like the conversion of places into ~tourist destinations~ is something of a recent phenomenon—like in the last 70 years or so—but there are some places in this world that have attracted tourists for much, MUCH longer.
Capri is one of those places.
In fact, it was functioning as a vacation destination as far back as the ROMAN EMPIRE, likely before the birth of Christ. We actually don’t even know the origin of the name “Capri.” This idyllic isle just is. It’s eternal; immortal. And it’s also one of the rare places in the world where tourism cannot possibly cheapen the destination; it IS the destination.
Catania is the second largest city in Sicily. The population of Catania proper is about 320,000, but there are a combined 1.1 million people who live in the metro area. In Italy overall, Catania is the 10th biggest city, and the 7th largest metro area. This is a major population center for Sicily, second only to Palermo, which will be our last stop on this trip. Catania is not the most well-known place, but it's definitely not small either. It's actually really big, especially by Sicilian standards. But Catania's burgeoning population should be surprising. This isn't exactly prime real estate.
Why? Because of Mount Etna.
