The gourmet's guide to Europe

than any other, he should go out on a moonlight night a couple of miles to the Antica Trattoria dello Scoglio di Frisio, or to the less aristocratic Trattoria del Figlio di Pietro in the Strada Nuova del Posilipo. Of the macaroni I have already written. The splendid tomatoes grown in Naples, which are cooked with it, give it its particular excellence. It is also seasoned with cheese. Spagetti alle Vongolc is the macaroni seasoned with the little shell-fish of the place. Zuppa di Vongole is a clear soup of bread and Vongole. Polpi alia Luciana are small octopi stewed in an earthen pot with oil, tomatoes, chillies, and red wine. Between the pot and the lid a sheet of oiled paper is placed, to prevent the steam from escaping. The Spigola, the most delicate of fishes of the Mediterranean, is at its best between 1 and 1½ lbs. in weight. It is either boiled or baked, and is served with a sauce of oil, lemon juice, and chopped parsley. A steak alia Pizzaiola is baked in an oven with potatoes, garlic, and thyme ; and Pizza alia Pizzaiola is a kind of Yorkshire pudding eaten either with cheese or anchovies and tomatoes flavoured with thyme. Mozzarelle in carozza is a slice of bread soaked in milk and a slice of Provola cheese, the whole plunged in beaten eggs and then fried. There is an excellent Neapolitan method of treating eggplants, fried in oil, cut in slices, sandwiched with cheese and tomatoes, and then baked. Provola and Cacio Cavallo are the Neapolitan cheeses. Vesuvio, Capri, Gragnano, Lacrima Christa are a few of the wines grown along the bays. The walnuts of Sorrento are the best in Central Italy. A gala night at San Carlo is worth taking some trouble, and paying a high price, to see. When a 270 The Gourmets Guide to Europe Neapolitan audience becomes excited its enthusiasm is boundless. I have generally found some star actor or actress playing at the Sannazaro, and the stalls at that theatre are less uncomfortable than they generally are in Italian theatres. The Puncinello theatres, if open, are amusing. The Salone Margherita is a fine large variety hall Palermo The restaurant of the Villa Igeia gave me excellent French cookery during a stay I made in Palermo. Many of the artists who have stayed at the Hotel de France in the centre of the town have a very good word to say as to its kitchen ; and the Hotel des Palmes, which was in the builders’ hands for extension and redecoration when I saw it, has a reputation for feeding its guests yvell. I wanted, however, to try the Sicilian cuisine, and I persisted in my wish irf spite of warnings from everybody, from the manager of the Igeia down to a tramcar conductor. The only concession I made, out of compliment to my mentors, was to lunch and not to dine at a real Sicilian restaurant. The oil which is used in Sicilian cookery is, I was told, very difficult to digest, and I was warned that oil and tomatoes are the two great stand-bys of a Sicilian cook. I chose the Restaurant Umberto, which is in Umberto the Via Maqueda, close to the Piazza 292 Via ’ Marina, for my experiment, for it Maqueda looked, and was, very clean. The