I slept like a maiale again and left Perugia early at 10am and caught the no.9 bus to the stazione in time for the 11.18am treno to Napoli C.LE (freaking' 43E!), switching to an Eurostar at Roma Termini. Avevo moltissssimo fame e fortunatamente ho avuto di 20mins di comprare un tramezzino (sandwich) to munch on untill 3.55pm arrival time. I always love train rides and for the first time on this trip, I could truly kick back in style (Eurostar is un po' caro ma it's the best money could buy) and savour the dusty plains and majestic mountains as we pulled away from Lazio to Campania. The treno was like a gentle roller coaster sailing in air lulling everyone to sleep in their deep cushy seats. I was deep in thoughts singing to Tiziano Ferro while reflecting on the last 2 weeks. Si, some things had not turned out the way as planned but the adventures were best taken with a pinch of salt and a huge dose of humour. And the faith I had in most of my italian amici was strengthened, plus I had rediscovered the joys of travelling da sola. Si, it's all coming back to me now. Anyway I couldn't wait for the next leg of my journey as I'd be staying with Luigi's 2 zie (aunts) and his whole famiglia was waiting for me to show up at Pozzuoli, just outside of Napoli citta.
At the stazione, Piazza Garibaldi was still in a chaos and there was a public scuffle which broke out between a screaming lady and a short man among curious onlookers. Benvenuta a Napoli! Nothing had changed even after 2 years. My first impression of this 3rd largest citta in Italia was initially of shock and doubt but it grew on me quickly, its caos and energy made one constantly on the edge. Luigi found me easily - I didn't think it was that difficile to find a short Asian ragazza with a backpack. It was good to see him finally, amazingly we had managed to stay in touch all this time and he was a dearer friend than ever. 
We took the treno to Pozzuoli, a charming seaside town, where the first stop was at his casa and the first people I met were his sweet parents Melina and Raffaele, 22-year old sorella Linda and Michela, the 9-month old baby girl of his cousin, also named Linda (whose brother was named Luigi too!). Soon zia Teresa arrived and we hopped over to her place where I'd be staying over and met her elder sorella, zia Adele who welcomed me with a tray of dolci (yum) and was giving English tuition to a rather reluctant 15 year-old Felice (Michela's oldest brother). Fortunatamente she's a dottore in English so she'd definitely make my life less stressata.
Then we hopped over to his mamma's famiglia where his 78-year old nonna, aunts, uncles and cousins were waiting for us too. It seemed that word of my arrival had spread and Luigi seemed more nervous than me, warning me of a possibile Inquisition - possibly worse than il controllo (customs). I laughed it off; nothing unfazed the PR queen since my job required adept social skills, handy for meeting strangers. Nonna and 2 zie were already waiting at the open doorway as we stepped out of the tiny lift and were thrown into a living room full of curious relatives.
The questions came fast and furious, they wanted to know everything - 'Come ti chiami? Di dove sei? Spore รจ vicino Cina o Giappone? Quanti anni hai? Che fai? Che parli a Spore? Che bei capelli!' - as the youngest zia Silvana fed me with the dolci of torta caprese and mini cupcakes she made for the San Gennaro festa (he's the patron saint of Napoli) and another zio opened a bottiglia of his homemade vino bianco. Nonna sat there beaming amid a flurry of new faces, names and handshakes, as I ate and drank to the insistent 'Mangia! Mangia!' (Eat! Eat!). They watched a home video of their latest vacanza in Sardegna and soon the kids and nonna were on their feet dancing to the tune of some pop hits. 
Outside on the balcone, it was fresco and tranquillo as the aunts chatted with me some more in full view of the Anfiteatro across the road, incidentally the 2nd (or 3rd?) largest in Italia. Si, che incredibile! We hurried back to his folks where his mamma made yummilicious pasta with pesce, followed by more prawns and fish, cheese and olives and vino. I stuffed my face as if I hadn't eaten in years. I think I had just about regained my buon appetito :P - burp. After dinner, we walked to the porto to meet his cousin Luigi (lets call him Gino) and amico Gennaro (auguri!), and later rode back on their moto. Such fun!
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