In Italy’s home of pizza, there’s another type of food that’s a must

It’s day one aboard Norwegian Viva and I’ve worked my way through the ship’s dessert bar before we arrive at our first port of call, Naples.

I’m on a sugar high and there’s likely more to come. Although they are overshadowed by Neapolitan pizza and pasta sauce, I’ve heard about the city’s famous pastries and I’m keen to seek out the city’s best.

Having disembarked the ship during rush hour, I join the throngs in Spaccanapoli, a vibrant thoroughfare that famously “splits” the historic centre.

Workers juggle their morning cigarette and espressos at small coffee bars, as the loud metallic din of opening store shutters adds to the city’s noisy “orchestra”.

I follow the narrow street lined with pastel-coloured buildings to Piazza del Gesu where, fortuitously, there’s a tourist booth. Incorrectly anticipating that I’m after formal sights, the on-duty gentleman, Signore Enzo, runs through the offerings in a tone of someone who does this hundreds of times a day. But when I ask him about the top Neapolitan pastries, his enthusiasm blooms.

He grabs my pad and feverishly jots down a list of treats and where to try them. Then, struck with an idea, he beckons me outside and across the plaza. Confused, I follow him into a casual food outlet. Arranged behind a glass counter is a pile of fried rings. I’m so taken aback, I miss the shop’s name.

“Graffe!” he says to describe these doughnuts (the singular is “graffa”), a blend of flour and potatoes that are fried and smothered with sugar crystals. Believed to have originated in Vienna, they were adopted by Neapolitans in the 19th century.

Signore orders one but ignores my efforts to pay. The first bite is a warm, pillow-like treat and the perfect start for what’s to come.

Setting off with Signore’s list in hand, I approach the bar at Bar Scaturchio, a gorgeous sliver of a place that occupies an historic pasticceria. Over an espresso, I devour a sfogliatella frolla, a thick, shortcrust pastry shell that’s filled with a sweet lemon-flavoured ricotta and candied orange.

According to legend, a nun from the Santa Rosa Monastery in Salerno first whipped up this pastry in the 17th century. It’s a religious experience indeed: not long out of the oven, mine is warm, sweet and intoxicating.

The second version, the sfogliatella riccia, has the same filling, but the pastry differs: flaky layers of concentric rings. Although it is sold here, I nonetheless follow the map to the recommended spot, Cuori di Sofliatella on Via Toledo, where I join a long line of cheerful locals. It’s worth the wait: more of the same soft, citrus-infused cheese filling, this time in a crispy case. (Unfortunately, I accidentally bypass La Sfogliatella Mary opposite; this is the place for a rum baba, a deliciously sweet, mushroom-shaped dough that’s soaked in rum syrup).

But I can’t miss Gran Caffe Gambrinus, a traditional grand cafe that opened in 1860. Here, bow-tied waiters serve diners seated at cloth-covered tables framed by statues and elaborate gilt cornices.

The cafe claims to have invented the matilda, a cone-shaped sweet comprising pastry of the sfogliatella riccia but filled with chantilly cream and strawberries. It was a tribute to Matilda Serao, a journalist who, with her husband, founded Naples’ daily newspaper, Il Mattino, in 1892. By now, having hit my limits, I buy one to enjoy later.

Before returning to the ship, however, I race back to the tourist office to repay Signore Enzo’s kindness with a fresh sfogliatella frolla. After accepting my gift, he jumps up from his desk and gesticulates for me to follow him, this time into the square outside. He disappears briefly and emerges with a plastic cup. At the plaza’s centuries-old public tap, he fills the cup and mimes a washing motion.

I touch my chin; sugar is plastered across my chin and cheeks. My graffa experience was hours ago, so since then, I’ve been traipsing across Naples resembling a sugar skull from Mexico’s Day of the Dead.

“It’s normal when eating graffe,” he says to assuage my embarrassment.

Neapolitan sweets indeed.

THE DETAILS

CRUISE
A nine-day Greek Isles To Rome tour is a same-class Mediterranean cruise that costs from $5417 a person for the Free at Sea package (includes beverages, Wi-Fi and shore excursion credits). See ncl.com

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visitnaples.eu

The writer was a guest of Norwegian Cruise Line.