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Campania
Appears in
By Fred Plotkin
Published 1989
Beyond Gaeta, we leave Latium for Campania, a small region with the highest population density in Italy. Upon entering Campania there is no question that we are in southern Italy, the land of the Greeks. This region was part of Magna Graecia (Greater Greece) before becoming a playground for the Romans. Many Neapolitans (Campania’s capital is Naples) are Greek descendants.
Much of the rich soil in Campania is of volcanic origin, and it yields fruit and vegetables of high quality. These foods, along with fish from the sea, go on or into the staple of the Campanian diet: pasta. The town of Gragnano, near Naples, is credited with devising the process of drying and storing pasta. Whereas pasta in Bologna is usually fresh, in Naples it is dry. The most popular type, of course, is spaghetti.