one of the joys of living in bella napoli is that you are able to experience the products particular to italy with all of the napolitano superstitions thrown in. my good friend neil (the groover) hammond was cohabiting with a napolitana (yes that is female) and per her instructions we decided to make nocillo in 1998. now, you must know that it is essential to do things utilizing the correct procedure when you live in napoli. therefore, there was a specific day on which you could make the enchanted liquor and a certain manner (you must be relaxed, happy and full of love.) therefore, we all took the day off, slept late, (i think neil and francesca took care of the full of love thang), and we set out around 11:00 to gather the walnuts. as luck would have it, there was a tree directly across the road from neil's house and the nuts were at the correct stage (a bit green.) with the help of sydney and perth (neil's dogs and my dates for the day) we set out to procure some nuts. after we procured the precise amount, we returned to the house to relax and prepare for the event. we had a quick lunch (complete with a relaxing bottle of wine) and then set about cutting up the noci. to the horror of both neil and myself, we found out from francesca that actually we should have gone out at midnight of the night before to gather the 100 herbs from the forest that would be used. luckily francesca had bought some at the store but already our nocillo was doomed to be of inferior quality in the eyes of any self-respecting napolitano. we cut the nuts into quarters and then concocted the mixture with: grain alcohol, the nuts, the herbs, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and white wine. once finished, the mixture was stored in a dark cool place and was stirred (in one direction only) daily.

we thought it came out quite well but we found out from various napolitani friends that we had erred in numerous ways (they always drank it though.) better luck next time.