Shopping hours tend to be Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and then from 4 or 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Shops usually close in the afternoon, but shopping centers generally stay open and may also be open on Sundays. You will find some shops open on Sunday mornings in busy shopping areas such as Vomero, but shops are rarely open after lunchtime on Sundays and many close for the entire day.
Money Exchange There are various places to change money both on and off base. You can use two types of facilities: banks and exchange bureaus (“cambio”). Here are some options: Capodichino: • Community Bank (Admin I): Euro sales/check cashing. • Navy Exchange cashier: Euro or dollar sales. Rates are close to the daily rate. • Banco di Napoli (Admin II): A pizzaiolo puts a pizza in a wood burning stove at “La Vera” Pizzeria. for your dollar at a cambio downtown, but if you are only chanEuro, dollars and other major currency sales, if you have an ging a couple of hundred dollars or less, the inconvenience of account. Outside of Admin II, there are also three ATMs going to the cambio probably will outweigh the advantage in rate. available: one dispenses only Euro, one dispenses U.S. curAlso, recently more and more local banks will accept the Naval rency, and one gives both. Federal Credit Union ATM card; look for the “Plus” sign (ask for Support Site: the “Bancomat”). • Navy Exchange cashier: euro or dollar sales. Rates are close to the daily rate. • ATMs: There is an Italian ATM that dispenses euro inside the Navy Lodge across from the elevators. There is an American Dining out in Italy can be a pleasurable experience. This will ATM outside the Navy Exchange near the main doors by the probably be one of the first aspects of Italian culture you movie theater. encounter here, especially if you are accompanied and are living Joint Forces Command: in a hotel for the first few weeks after you arrive. Your sponsor • Banco di Napoli: euro, dollar and other major currency sales. will almost certainly take you to his or her favorite spot. If they Off Base: don’t, ask them to do so. Shop around for the best deal, and balance convenience with Although authentic Italian cooking can be found in more and advantageous rates. For example, you may get a few more euros more places in the United States nowadays, you will find that what you get here is not what you get at most Italian restaurants in America. You will also find that there really is no such thing as “Italian food.” Instead, there is a great variety of regional styles — cooking in Milan is different, in general, from that of Bologna, Rome, Naples or Sicily. Many Americans think that Neapolitan cooking is some of the best Italy has to offer, and of course any Neapolitan will swear it is true. In general, the cooking of the Naples and Gaeta regions features tomato-based sauces flavored with basil or oregano and the ever-present garlic, and like many other parts of Italy, seafood is a featured part of the cuisine. And, yes, there are several McDonald’s restaurants in Naples.
Dining Out
Types of Eating Places There are several, distinctive types of places to eat in Naples, but the distinctions are blurring as U.S.-based lifestyles permea-
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Newcomer’s Guide to Naples - Shopping & Dining Out