A day of eating in Naples, hour by hour

In Naples, food is not a break from sightseeing. It is the sightseeing. Here is how a day of eating might go, the way Neapolitans do it.

8:00Coffee, standing up

Start where the city starts: at the bar, on your feet, elbow to elbow. Neapolitan coffee is short, strong and often already sweetened, served in a hot cup with a small glass of water. Drink the water first to clear your palate.

Ask Ines about the caffè sospeso, the "suspended coffee". The old custom is to pay for two and drink one, leaving the second for someone who can't afford it. It says a lot about this city.

8:15The sfogliatella question

With your coffee, a sfogliatella: a pastry filled with ricotta, semolina and a hint of candied orange. The great debate is which kind. Riccia is crisp, with dozens of thin layers fanned out like a shell. Frolla is smooth and soft, made with shortcrust. Neapolitans have strong opinions. You will soon have one too.

10:30To the market

Walk it off at the Pignasecca, one of the city's oldest street markets. Fishmongers shout their prices, lemons the size of your fist pile up beside bunches of bitter friarielli, and someone will always try to sell you something you didn't know you needed. Ines translates, haggles a little and knows which stall is which.

13:00Pizza, the real one

Neapolitan pizza is soft, not crisp. A puffy, blistered rim, a thin and tender centre, a minute or so in a blazing wood oven. Fold it, cut it, eat it with your hands: nobody minds.

The classic is the margherita: tomato, mozzarella and basil, the colours of the Italian flag. The story goes that it was named after Queen Margherita on a visit to Naples in the nineteenth century. Whether every detail is true matters less than the pizza in front of you.

In a hurry? Try a pizza a portafoglio, a "wallet" pizza folded into four and eaten as you walk.

Ines doesn't have one favourite pizzeria. She has one for every mood, and she will pick the right one for yours.

16:00Something fried

Mid-afternoon belongs to the friggitoria. Order a cuoppo, a paper cone of fried bites: potato croquettes, little rice balls, dough fritters and slices of fried pasta frittata. Or go all in with a pizza fritta, folded and deep-fried until it puffs up like a pillow.

17:30A babà

A small, golden sponge soaked in rum syrup, the babà came to Naples from far away and never left. Locals use the word to describe something or someone sweet: "sei nu babà".

20:30Dinner, slowly

Dinner in Naples starts late and lasts a long time. Look out for:

• Pasta e patate con la provola: pasta and potatoes made creamy with smoked cheese. Humble and glorious.
• La Genovese: onions and meat cooked down for hours into a sweet, rich sauce. Despite the name, it is pure Naples.
• Spaghetti alle vongole: clams, garlic, olive oil, parsley. The taste of the bay.
• Salsiccia e friarielli: sausage with those bitter greens from the market.

Finish with a limoncello, or another coffee. Neapolitans see no contradiction in drinking an espresso at midnight.

Eating with Ines

Food is where Ines's three languages come into their own. She reads the handwritten menu, chats with the owner in Neapolitan and makes sure you end up with what the regulars are eating. She'll fit the eating around everything else you want to see, so the day flows, and you never have to choose between culture and lunch.