Naples With Kids, Day One: Overnight Flight and a Pizza Class

We pushed back from Atlanta at 3:30pm and Arlo fell asleep in his new sleep nest almost immediately, which made the whole purchase feel worth it before we'd even left the ground. He then stayed awake for the rest of the flight somehow, despite it being past 2am our time when we landed. Remi got a solid seven-hour stretch and was the best off of any of us through our whole first day, what a pro.

A selfie on the tarmac in Naples with the plane behind us, Remi in a red shirt with her backpack on and Arlo asleep in the stroller — Off the plane in Naples, running on almost no sleep and somehow all still smiling.

We managed an early check-in at our rental in Chiaia (Napoliday Chiaia), so we got settled and had a rest. Arlo finally crashed, and Remi somehow stayed up and is still going at 8pm as I write this.

Booking something on purpose for day one

Around 1 we took a taxi out to a pizza and gelato cooking class we'd booked before we left. We had limited time in Naples and wanted to make the most of it, and I booked it for what a fixed plan does to a first day.

Having a destination that's already decided and already paid for keeps you from napping too long and puts you on a schedule when your body has no idea what time it is. It still took some pushing to get out the door (for me, anyway — the rest of them did amazing).

The class

Chef Daniele started us on gelato, which turned out to be milk, sugar, butter and a pinch of salt whisked together and left to cool. I don't know why I assumed it would be harder.

Remi in a paper chef hat whisking the gelato base in an orange bowl at the cooking class — Paper chef hat on, entirely in charge of the gelato.

While the gelato cooled we made pizza dough from scratch so we could learn the steps, then switched to dough that had been rising for 24 hours — the Neapolitan standard, which I didn't know. Arlo got properly into the kneading!

Arlo standing at the floured steel counter with both hands pressed into a ball of pizza dough, grinning at the camera — Two years old and already more confident with dough than I am.

The walk home

We braved the walk and the train back instead of another taxi, mostly to add one more small excursion to already tired legs. The narrow streets and cobblestone alleys are the perfect launchpad for Europe, and even the grungy buildings looked beautiful at golden hour.

A narrow Naples alley of worn stone buildings with laundry strung overhead, the stroller being pushed down the cobblestones — Wide enough for a stroller and one scooter, which is apparently the design brief.

An empty cobblestone alley in the Naples historic center, balconies and laundry above and late sun running down the middle of the street — No people, no scooters, just the light coming all the way down the middle.

The carved stone facade of the Duomo di Napoli rising against a deep blue sky, photographed looking up from the steps — You turn a corner here and there is just a cathedral, casually.

We stopped at a grocery store on the way, another one of our day-one orientation musts. It gets us snacks and breakfast for the inevitable jet-lag hungry mornings, and it's how we start to feel oriented and connected to the neighborhood.

A finished margherita pizza with a blistered, leopard-spotted crust on a red and white plate — The 24-hour dough coming out the way it's supposed to, spots and all.

Then we got in, finished the leftover pizza, and put everyone to bed early. Pompeii tomorrow, on the tour built for kids so Remi gets the history without four hours of adult-paced ruins, and I'll write that one up too.