We are sitting in a café outside the Herculaneum in Ercolano, perhaps appropriately named Herculaneum Café. Ercolano is situated in the outskirts of Naples and we came to this part of Campania today from Naples to visit Mount Vesuvius, a volcano much described in history and much talked about even today. Vesuvius last experienced an eruption in 1944, and since then has been dormant. The only sign of activity it has is some fumes emanating from its fringes. It has become a popular tourist attraction since, and that has meant ever-increasing accessibility and ease of climb. With buses and cars, it is possible to go up to a thousand metres of its total 1200m or so elevation, leaving the last 200m to be covered on foot.
Meanwhile back at Herculaneum, I am busy with the last sips of my Café Freddo. It is an ice coffee every bit as tasty as it has been refreshing. My friends meanwhile, are having a large cappuccino and a Crèma del Nonno respectively. The Nonno is a stunning creation, ice coffee with chocolate and milk foam, sprinkled with chocolate chips on top. While I write this, they write postcards to their friends and family describing their month-long stay across Sicily before we met in Naples. Postcard enthusiasts as all 3 of us are, we have been generally disappointed with the postcards on offer in Naples, but the ones at the Herculaneum museum shop catch our fancy and we buy several.
It is late evening calm. We peep into the next table, and the aperitif on offer catches our fancy. The coffees are quickly dispensed with, and there is a seamless transition to alcohol. The aperatif is ordered – wine for them and an Aperol Spritz for me. The evening continues.
Immediate Environments 