Naples lived up to southern Italy's reputation for us, seeming like a town in decay. The areas we visited were quite run-down. We were quite amazed to see how much poorer the south of Italy really is compared to the north.

We happened to be in the Naples area at the same time as an important soccer match in the Italian league was being played between Naples and Fiorentino. The entire neighbourhood seemed to be watching this game on TV as major celebrations including firecrackers could be heard all over the neighbourhood when Naples scored. After Naples won, the honking of cars and firecrackers could be heard all night by the celebrating fans. They're certainly passionate about their soccer.

We really made the journey south just to try the pizza, which certainly didn't disappoint and made the journey worth our time. We also visited Pompei and Sorrento so, while our time in the south was short, we felt like we saw everything we would have wanted to and we got a feel for the area. We were unfortunate to have terrible weather while we were there and we had a hell of a time with the public transport which probably didn't help our opinion of the area.