italiafile

Carnival is in full swing, as testified by the number of Little Bo'Peeps, Spidermen and Spanish Senoritas walking the streets with their parents, chucking confetti at all and sundry. Obviously, being Naples, there is food associated with such an event. Biscuits called chiacchiere.. (chats) are the staple diet, almost like English biscuits but saltier. But the expensive and luscious choice is sanguinaccio. As the name suggests it used to be made with pig's blood, until European health directives changed the ingredients. Nowadays it is chocolate, cocoa, cream and something vaguely piquant that I can't put my finger on. It is certainly rich, a hugely calorific chocolate mousse, that's not very moussey.

Eager to get out of Naples for a day I went off to Benevento, an hour and a half on the train up into the mountains, where the snow still lies and the air is crisp, clear and bleedin' cold. The first thing I noticed was how clean the town is. Compared to Naples it is pristine, not just no rubbish in the streets, but not one piece of graffiti - which must make it an exception in most of Europe. Dotted about the place are bits of history, - a Roman arch in fantastic condition, various columns from the 1st century AD, and a rose granite statue of a bull from a Temple of Isis (1st century BC) Anywhere else they would be covered in various colours of felt tip pen, but here they stand quite happy on the pavements.
Whatever the town's secret is, I wish it would pass it on to every other town in Italy. Italian youth has an overweaning need to write it's name on any ancient monument it can find. I'm tempted to campaign for a return of branding as a punishment.