'Parlo solo un po' d'italiano!' A Coventry boy in Italy

The first time I saw Pompeii my jaw hit the floor. Ok, so it wasn’t exactly an instant reaction – the entrance to the ruins aren’t overly spectacular. But when you begin to navigate the ancient streets no amount of adult sanity can stop imagination completing this grey stone world, and I certainly couldn’t help but fall in love with the adventure.

When people had mentioned how incredible Pompeii was I suppose I had shrugged them off. It’s not that I didn’t believe them, but when you have seen your 100th Italian church even Il Duomo di Firenze, the stunning gothic cathedral in the centre of Florence, begins to look like a terraced house in Coventry. After spending hours perusing books as I explored the ruins in Rome. The blinding dominance of the Coliseum that despite recent developments still revels in the grandeur of another time. Or the magical atmosphere of the Forum, with all the details of a Disney Land set but with historical facts to boot. I really couldn’t imagine Pompeii being any better… How wrong I was.

The weekend before my trip to Pompeii was spent in the busy dockland city of Naples. An intriguing city filled with winding side streets, piles of rubbish and pizza. Once again the curse of people exaggerating the astonishment of the pizza had left me in disbelief. I had tried pizza in almost every region of Italy. Yes, there had been some nice ones, yes, occasionally there were some not-so-nice ones, but really the gap between the two extremes was never as cavernous as some foodies may insist. How nice could a pizza really be? Well that was my first serendipitous slap on the face.

I tried my first Neapolitan Pizza at Da Michele, a small rustic looking restaurant that didn’t look far removed from a school cafeteria – but it came highly recommended. Not only from fellow travellers and Italian guides but also the film version of Eat Pray Love, which sees star Julia Robert’s tucking in to a cheesy slice herself.

The pizza was sensational. I was overwhelmed at how something so simple, something I had eaten many times, could taste so different. With its thin, soft base, delicately cooked to create a perfect balance of crisp edges and supple centre. Loaded with some of the best local ingredients, a solid example of how using good ingredients can transform a simple dish into something complex.

So with my taste buds transformed, belly full and mind blown I was able to explore the rest of the city and be open-minded about the potential of Pompeii.