Well, in Naples a dish that is respected has its own curious history and also the mussel soup has a really surprising one. It is said, in fact, that the Neapolitan people began to eat this tasty dish following a "whim" of King Ferdinand I of Bourbon. The Spanish monarch was so fond of mussels that he loved to fish them himself in the clear waters of Mergellina. One day, just in the proximity of the Easter recurrence, the Dominican Father Gregorio Maria Rocco warned him of being too greedy and suggested him to do some penance, at least for the Easter period.
Cleverly, however, Ferdinand I of Bourbon, who could not do without mussels even in the name of divine penance, simply asked his cooks to prepare the mussels in a less sumptuous way and so they prepared them: simply sprinkling them with a tasty "salusulella" made with chilli pepper.
