Intrigue In Naples

Jane’s Garden Cafe

There is something intriguing about Naples. It definitely isn’t the nightlife, which dies at 10:00. It isn’t the expensive drinks, although the food is divine, and it isn’t the 80 year old eye candy walking down the beach… which left me thinking. What is it that keeps a young couple like Peter and I coming back to this winter retreat?

I pondered this question while taking in the scene at Jane’s Garden Cafe, a cozy squeeze of rod iron beneath a sky of coral umbrellas. Stucco walls, equally as coral, hid us from 3rd Street and reflected off my white mocha. The frothy art glowed like a real poinsettia in true beautiful Naples fashion. Everything in Naples is beautiful.

…A man stared at me from behind the stone fountain next to our table. His face was partially hidden behind a garden plant, similar to how some men in Naples hide behind their Ferraris and flashy Rolexes. I wondered about his story, and the success he made in life to end up in this extravagant town. What struggles did he face on his journey to riches? Which of the mansions on Gulf Shore did he reside, and with a lover? Maybe 2 or 3… I asked myself the same questions watching the woman at the hostess stand in her designer heals, and at the boy on his tablet while his parents talked about hiring a new gardener or what not. Everyone seemed to be in their own fiction novel…

Naples is a town of history, beautiful things, and intrigue. I believe it is the intrigue that keeps me coming back. The intrigue of what the future could hold if we are ever lucky enough to live in a place so beautiful.