The Frozen side of Naples

On the 21 November 2007, in Naples, the world's first permanent museum of ice sculptures, the Ice Art Gallery was born.

Sponsored by Municipality of Naples in association with Erbavoglio association, the museum is an idea and a project of Amelio Mazzarella, the president of the "Associazione Italiana Scultori Ghiaccio", who has carried out the concept of "Made in Naples" by using as raw material water coming exclusively from Serino.
The gallery covers an area of 120mq, with two floors encompassed by a great refrigerator
room, which allows the ice sculpture artists from all the world to create either ice landscapes or objects and show their creations.

The average temperature in the museum is about 3 degrees below zero, warm and comfortable fur coats will be available on the superior floor.

The Ice Art Gallery is a "dynamic" lab, as well, and every season will show a new face: for its first year of life the use of 300 tons of ice is foreseen so it will be possible to change the issue of the art exhibition many times a year.

The visitors will be able to enjoy a cocktail during the visit and sit on an ice sofa while they are
playing chess on an ice chessboard.

Ice Art Gallery, Padre Francesco Denza n.6 street

No smoking in the park

From 19/11/2007 on, in Naples it'll be avoid smoking in the public park in the presence of pregnant women and children whose age is below twelve, all parks are interested (Floridiana, Capodimonte and so on).
Naples is the first city in whole Italy which applies this ban.

The first Neapolitans' impressions can be summarized with these two answers
for the question: "What do you think about the ban?"
A young girl: We are smoking outdoor, it can't be dangerous!
An old woman: When I'm near a child I'm not used to smoking!
Some other citizens complain that there aren't any no-smoking signs at the moment so they keep on smoking!

Delicacies from Naples

There are a few sweets in the world which are as delicious as the Neapolitan ones. When you come here, of course, you would like to taste the Neapolitan delicacies and fortunately there is a large variety of sweets to eat, some of them belong to the ancient Neapolitan pastry market like Baba.
Baba is very soft and tasty with its gold color and belly shape it is the king of the sweets and when you give it the first bite, little rum drops will wet your tongue.

Baba is also a home made sweet, as well, its recipe is very easy to put in action and all the ingredients are natural, indeed you need flour, baking powder, eggs, butter, sugar and rum (for cooking) to make it.
It's good to eat after either lunch or dinner or you can eat it during a relaxing walk in the historical centre of Naples.
It is said that the Polish King Stanislao Leszczynsky, who was a gastronome, wet a "kugelop", an originally Austrian sweet, with rum and he named it Ali Baba in honor of his favorite reading The Arabian Nights.
The Neapolitan version of Baba came at the end of the '700 and it was reviewed by applying some changes.

Where can you buy it ? is it expensive ?
You can find it at bars or pasty stores. In Naples every bar sells it and with about 1.50€ you will take a great pleasure in eating it. I honestly suggest to you to eat a Baba made by the old pastry store Scaturchio
Trust me it's worth eating!

PS
Baba because of his sweetness is also a word used in Neapolitan lingo, it's common to say:
Si doce comm' nu Baba (You are sweet like a Baba)

Thank Zsòfia for her correction