Sorry for this delirium of mine that has been following me for a while now and which needed to take shape…
I am originally from and currently live in Southern Italy (not in Naples, but very close) and I imagined that no place better than Naples could be so inclusive and an incredibly intense learning ground for young heroes, and their teachers!
I'd also like to talk about all the Italian traditions and contradictions that not everyone knows about, beyond the usual stereotypes! My idea is to culturally adapt the characters, not just move them around! Who knows, maybe something interesting and entertaining will come out of it…
This is just a "clip", but expect more!
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The Café tradition in Naples
The naples UA will certainly also have an internal café where professors can enjoy themselves during their work breaks, as often happens in large offices, but very often colleagues meet at a café on the street (or just outside the office) to have breakfast together before actually starting work.
In any Italian city, there are countless bars serving espresso, cappuccino, croissants, sandwiches, pizzas… whatever you want to eat or drink. It's a bit difficult to find an international translation for "Italian bar," because our establishments also serve alcohol, unlike the rest of the world. In this case, I'll use the term "café."
They have tables inside, or even outside on the sidewalk, sometimes even in the middle of the street (whether this is legal or not depends…).
Traditionally, however, coffee is ordered at the counter.
Going from central Italy to the north, the custom at the café is to pay for your drink and then go to the counter to ask for it. In the south, it's a little different. You find space at the counter, order everything, consume it, and then pay at the cashier. It's different if you're with someone… because once you've ordered something, there's a competition to see who pays, and then offers it to others. Tipping at the counter is optional (often people leave cents or a small amount in a bowl at the counter, but it's not mandatory).
Café are also often places where you can also find a tobacconist, where you can buy cigarettes and other products, a counter to play lottery tickets, and buy scratch cards.
In Naples, there are historic café that are marvels of architecture and decoration (like the famous Bar Gambrinus), or incredibly shady dives in the dark alleys of less frequented neighborhoods.
Choosing your favorite café is often a matter of luck or proximity. All café serve more or less the same things, but the differentiating factor could be a friendly barista, a preferred brand of coffee (there are plenty in Italy!), maybe it's a quieter place, maybe it's a nicer place… let's just say that every bar tries to specialize in something or attract a certain type of customer. Of course, even if a city like Naples is full of café, it's unlikely they'll truly compete, even if they open just a few meters from each other!
Speaking of our professors now…
The first one I think is a regular café frequenter is, obviously, Aizawa. He can't exist without his unsweetened espresso (I'll dedicate a separate post to Aizawa on espresso etiquette!). Since he's certainly picky about the taste of his coffee (freshly roasted Kimbo brand), he's found a café where they serve it perfectly, just the way he likes it. A quiet spot, close to school, a small, discreet place, where he can start his morning in peace without the risk of bumping into the students gorging on drinks at the café before heading to school…
This happened the first few weeks of school, until Kayama and Yamada decided to investigate why he never arrived early to do "PR" with the other teachers.
They discovered his café, and from that day on, they've been waiting for him to have breakfast with them, whether Aizawa wants it or not.
Nemuri and Hizashi are those people who are super social even in the early morning, even with three hours of sleep each. They love talking, catching up, and gossiping (it's a must in Naples), things that Shouta obviously has to passively endure every morning…
Except he hasn't yet found another place where they make coffee as good as that café fairly close to school, so for now he has to put up with them…
Every morning they always order the same things:
Kayama has a soy cappuccino, with a vegan honey croissant (if they don't have one, he has no problem ordering anything else)
Aizawa has his black coffee, without sugar, with a curly sfogliatella (a typical Neapolitan breakfast pastry with a crispy puff pastry exterior and a cream and candied fruit interior)
Yamada, on the other hand, opts for a savory breakfast, gorges on a ham and cheese sandwich and a long American coffee.
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Sorry for the long post! I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm hoping for comments from Italians and non-Italians about this silly idea! I'm glad I shared it with you!
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Bonus Pic! La Sfogliatella Napoletana!
When I was little I didn't like it, but now every time I go to Naples I ask for my sfogliatella! <3
Working on a new post focusing on Aizawa, the Neapolitan coffee tradition, and the suspended coffee...
This is for my Neapolitan UA, or as they tagged #MHAItalianUA (love it, thanks! <3)
We Italians are very strange when you look at us from outside… Sorry, not sorry!
