Staying at Marcella's apartment was a wonderful experience for us. She and her husband, Lucio, welcomed us and insisted on driving behind us back to the drop off point for our rental car, so that they could personally drive us back to the apartment once we had left our car. Then, they took us for a quick tour in their car, including at stop for coffee at Gambrinus, the city's elegant cafe.

The fourth floor apartment is reached via elevator (ten cents), and it is sunny, clean and quiet, with two terraces for a classic view over a Neapolitan working class neighborhood, full of street markets and vendors of every kind. The bedrooms are ample and air conditioned. There is a second bathroom on the second level of the apartment, and the kitchen is fully functional and fun to cook in. Marcella and Lucio made sure that there was a supply of cold bottled water, and cooking extras, such as butter, oil, and seasonings. There were plenty of clean towels and linens, and the washing machine helped us catch up on our dirty laundry. The wi-fi was very good, and we were provided two sets of keys. The great Archeological Museum is a ten minute walk and the nearest metro stop is five minutes. Pompeii is a half hour by train from the central station, and the central station is one stop from the nearby metro at Piazza Cavour.

Naples is Europe's most densely populated city, and it juxtaposes splendid palaces with poverty, astonishing museums, lively, cafe filled squares, and churches with overflowing street markets, noises, and smells of every kind, both delicious and otherwise. Don't attempt to drive in it unless you've done it for ten or twenty years. If you like exploring on foot and meeting the Neapolitans, it's a fascinating and rewarding city and this apartment really allowed us to enjoy what one Neapolitan told us was "La vera Napoli", " the real Naples".