Italy Fermata 06: Procida
Burgers for the hangry of Procida
Monday. 4pm. You find yourself on Procida. And you are hungry. You arrived here a few hours ago by ferry. By the time you got to your accommodation in the centre of the island, lunch was done. The last thing you ate before the ferry was a sfogliatella on the mainland. But now it is the tail end of nap time - no place that makes food is open during this 2 to 5 pm slot. Maybe you can wait to get an aperitif from 5pm and satiate yourself on the snacks that come with your Aperol. But you want a proper meal, you are in Italy after all.
Procida is Bo-Kaap by the sea, with each house having a different splash of paint. It does look like however, that the sea has had its way, and de-saturated the colour palette. The apocryphal story is still circulated - that the houses were different colours so that the fisherman could find their way home easily (ie my house is the mauve one between the pink and violet). The narrow roads that spaghetti through the island, on which there are no sidewalks, are full of cars, buses, scooters and people jostling towards their own house or the beach. The beach sand is a treacle brown - as if it is millions of Oreos had been crumbed. Meanwhile the sea changes colour, forever in conversation with the sky.
The sun is now setting. You thought you could wait till dinner at 7. But when you check the internet, most restaurants only open again on Tuesday. Monday is like a Sunday for the restaurants. You are not hungry anymore. You are hangry. And in Italy. You are now roaming the streets, dodging the cars, the busses, the scooters. You look enviously upon the clutter of stray cats that have had food put out for them and are now feasting and side-eyeing. It is getting dark, there are no street lights. But just when you think all hope is lost, you see lights and a sign. It is the @morsoburgerprocida. Burgers, sandwiches, and chicken wings. It is food, it is fast. An oasis on a summer’s Monday night on the island of Procida.
