A thousand shades of Luci d’Artista and of “purpetta e Mammà” flavours: a weekend in Salerno

The story

Fairy-tale lights flood the historic centre during the Christmas season, made all the more tempting by the delicious creations of the city's first artisanal meatball shop. A dream that continues at the Dimora del Principe.

"Another picture was born this evening from the windows of Salerno, and it will spare me any description of a delightful land": so wrote Goethe at the sight of the Salerno panorama, and we can be sure that, if he had found himself in the city during the Christmas season, he would once again have used similar, poetic words to describe the Luci d'Artista. From November until the end of January, Salerno dresses itself in an endless array of colours and lights, turning into a fairy-tale city that every year draws thousands of visitors and enchants young and old alike. This year, for the tenth edition of the event, our stroll starts from Piazza Flavio Gioia, where the dominant theme of the Luci d'Artista is the Forest.

Along Corso Vittorio Emanuele the Northern Lights return, while the Villa Comunale is transformed into an Enchanted Garden peopled by some of children's best-loved fairy-tale characters: Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland. The light show follows a fascinating themed route that passes through Myth, Dream and Time to arrive at Christmas. So we can admire a regatta, magic lanterns and the mosaic by Enrica Borghi, before meeting, on Via Duomo, angels, luminous spheres, planets and shooting stars. Time appears with its crystal face in Antarctica, then leads us into a Renaissance spring and finally into the colours of autumn. And so we reach Christmas with Eduardo Giannattasio's work, the Madonna and Child, but we can also admire the Stylised Tree and Santa's sleigh.

After such a magical itinerary, what else could we ask Santa for but to let us taste something delicious and unique? And soon our wish is granted: for a greedy stop we call at A' Purpetta e Mammà, Salerno's first artisanal meatball shop. A tasty novelty of this year, greeted with great enthusiasm by everyone, and soon an unmissable stop for tourists visiting the city. "We use only zero-mile ingredients; our mum Raffaella selects the best meat and fresh garden vegetables, and we make our meatballs with organic eggs, bread made with sourdough, a pinch of salt and a lot of passion," the young owners Carmen and Lina tell us as we begin to study the tempting menu, which aims at tradition but looks to the future. From mum's kitchen to Street Food Smart, to show that good cooking makes it easy to get past the "who knows what's inside" barrier.

Inside there is the goodness of genuine produce, combined with the culinary skill of Mrs Raffaella, for a result that enchants every palate. Among the menu's many delicious offerings we taste the traditional meatball, of Podolica beef from the Alburni with organic eggs and pecorino romano, but we're immediately won over by the Special meatball too, the traditional one cooked in San Marzano tomato sauce. We can't resist the Mulignana either, a cone of aubergine meatballs, or the Pastenaca Gourmet, a delicious carrot meatball. There's also the Montanara a Modo Nostro, a fried pizza with meatball in sauce, and the meatballs in sauce with a tomato sauce flavoured with pork rind and fatty sausage are a great success too. Some of our friends go for full-on style, even enjoying a gourmet sandwich with Podolica beef meatballs in sauce, flakes of Parmigiano Reggiano D.O.P. and basil pesto.

After this fairy-tale day, the night is no less so: we stay at the B&B La Dimora del Principe, just a few steps from the Cathedral and from the Luci d'Artista route. Breathtaking beauty accompanies us here too, not only thanks to the wonderful view opening onto the Gulf of the Amalfi Coast but also through the many works by local artists adorning the walls of the property, a veritable atelier of modern art. Immersed in beauty, our rest is sweet too, and the world of dreams welcomes us with the lines of Alfonso Gatto: "Salerno, rhyme of winter, O sweetest winter. Salerno, rhyme of eternity." Lines that seem to speak of us, sensing that from now on Salerno will remain forever in our hearts, bringing us back here many more times in the future.