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CONTACT: JEFF MATTHEWS


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NAPLES: LIFE, DEATH & MIRACLES - A PERSONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

Dedicated to the memory of my wife, Luciana
God grant me to find what once I had / And know what once I have
known.-W.B.Yeats



  main items updated Sept 13, 2022                 
  Lampedusa/refugee crisis updated June.6, 2022            
             


Most recent Changes

>    Since March 14, 2020, I've had a lot of email. I have no funny stories
> about the current crisis,  so this photo will have to do. It was taken by
> Danilo Volpe, one of the persons who runs La Briocheria coffee bar the day
> before they had to shut down. I hope to see them open again in the near
> future. I thank all of you for your messages of concern and good will. I can't
> answer them all. I'm understaffed ( just me), but thank you.
> 
>   I couldn't do this without the IT magic of a server and ISP. Talk about
> understaffed: Vincenzo and Marco (that's all) of Shift-Left, inc. They keep
> this thing going, and I don't know how they do it. I thank them, as well.
>   Stop worrying! Hang in there. I'll do the same.
>   p.s. Go wash your hands. 

Sept 13 I'm not sure why we need another copy
Sept 11
more stolen bits of antiquity come home
Sept 9
Neapolitan Nursery Rhymes
Sept 7
Two more from Adrian Borda - hard to explain
Sept 5
Mystical Violincellos -Adrian Borda
Sept 4
Jeffmatt's Only Theorem
Aug 31 add Nan Wynn to women vocalist film dubbers
Aug 30
Careful! Red-dot traffic!
Aug 29 Return with us to those thrilling days of Yestersurf!
Aug 28 proverbs- a bird in the hand takes two to tango
Aug 27 Drought reveals ancient artifacts
Aug 26 megaliths and Donald Duck don't wear pants
Running log — refugee crisis Lampedusa- Sept 14 - June 6



                                    

for earlier dates see go-back list directly below


Chronological go-back list of entries from present back to June 10, 2015
continues here.

                                           


 This site used to be the Around Naples Encyclopedia. See the "Welcome" link,
(above).

   There are now 88 Miscellany pages with many shorter items not always in this
general index. They run from May 2007 to the present and start here; the current
page (88) is here. (There is an Early Miscellania page for  items before 2007.) 
For more, see "Other articles".


   As of Mar. 14, 2020, many entries have to do with the current corona virus
crisis.  These "still here" entries run from 14 March, 2020 and continue here
below and then back to the main table on the left. (For items before Mar.14,
2020, see this go-back list.)

There are 88 Miscellany pages on this site. The latest one (#88) is here.




MAR 15: the door-mouse
MAR 17: guess who's here!
MAR 18: aid from China
MAR 19: spring  fa-la-la
MAR  20: much a-doo-doo
MAR  21: Bright spots
MAR 22:  Things that don't work
MAR 23:  Goat under arrest
MAR 24:  Are we giddy yet?
MAR 25:  "Earthrise" ?
MAR 26:   IMMAGINARIA 2020
MAR 27:   Irony & S. Corona
MAR 28:   Human interest & not
MAR 29:   Stir Crazy
MAR 30:   Don't think about this
MAR 31:   Siren, Volcano, Bay
Apr.1:     Garden of Neap Quar.
Apr. 2:     Will Comply
Apr. 3:     Citizens of Earth!
Apr. 4:     What's in a name? 
Apr. 5:     Saving art 
Apr. 6:     Bad and Good 
Apr. 7:     Security Blanket

LETTERS:   A — B — C — D — E —  F — G — H — I — J — K — L — M — N — O — P — Q —
R — S — T — U — V — W —X,Y, Z

All from A-Z        This is one long single scroll for browsing through all
entries. Use the lettered links, above, to avoid scrolling.



A

Click on image for a sample article from letter A

A (name of yacht) (2) A (another yacht) abandoned railways A Bell for Adano
Abravanel(Benvenida, Samuel) Abruzzo National Park
Abubacer Abu Tabela Academy of Fine Arts AcademiaSecretorum (3 parts) Academies
in the Middle Ages accabadora Acerra Acciaroli Achenbach,Oswald Acton Actors
Studio Acropolis, Recovering the advertising (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) ads &
English Aeclanum Aenaria
Aeneid, the Aeolus aerobatics
Afragola(rapid train station) Agnano (lake) Agnano thermal baths(1) (2) (3) (4)
agri-archaeology agriturismo Agro Picentino(museum) Agropoli A.I.A.P.
(presepeassociation) Air Force Academy airport (complaints) airports airports
(secondary) al-Asaad, Khaled Albacini, Carlo Albanians in south Italy(1)   (2)
Albergo-Poveri (1)  (2)  (3) Alberobello Alburni (Letters from, 2013) Alburni
Mountains Alburni, towns of the Alexiad,The Alifana railway Al-Kindi Allegro ma
non troppo (series) All thy Conquests Alnwick (William of) Altair III (yacht)
Altamura (bread, Man, cathedral) Altamura, Saverio Altavilla, Pasquale Alvino,
Errico Amalfi (1) (2) (3) (4) Amalfi Coast, Hiking above
Amalfi Drive (Beauty & the Beast) Amalfi Maritime Code
Amalfi Maritime Museum Amendola, G.B. America's Cup (1)   (2)   (3)   (4)
Amerigo Vespucci (ship)
Amina/Picentia (Etruscan) Amerigo Vespucci (ship)(1) (2) (3) Amodio, Pasquale
Amore,Nicola amphitheater,Roman Naples amphitheater(Flavian), Pozzuoli Anacapri
Anacapri (Engl. forts)(1)  (2) Anacapri (Letter from, 2011) anasyrma ancient
Naples collection ancient peoples of the South ancient ruins (rebuild?)
Anderson, Maxwell
Andreani, Fedele Andreozzi,Gaetano Angelini, Tito Angel's Flight (Basilicata)
Angevin Fortress Angevin Naples(1)  (2) Angevin Naples (simplified!) Annese,
Gennaro Annius of Viterbo Anniversary Waltz Annunziata, Church Antece (rock
sculpture) anthems (even of Naples!) anthropology Anticaglia, via Antiniana, via
anti-Popes anti-Risorgimento anti-seismic construction Antonino stadium Apennine
Sibyl Aperti per Voi Aponte,Gianliugi apotropaic magic (1)  (2) April Fool's Day
Aquara (Alburni) aquarium (Dohrn) aqueduct (Apulian) aqueduct (Carmignano)
aqueduct (Carolino) aqueduct (Roman)(1)  (2) aqueduct (Serino) Aquinas, Thomas
Arab influence on Renaissance Aragon, Crown of (1)  (2)  (3) Aragonese Naples
Arata, Giulio Ulisse Arborea, Eleonora (of) Archangel Michael (church)
Archbishop's Palace archeology(1)  (2)  (3)  (4)  (5) archeological tourism
Archeomar Archiflegrean caldera Archimedes architecture (1)  (2) architecture of
Fascism archives, state Arcimboldi, Giuseppe Arco Felice Armenian monument
"arsenale" of Naples art (contemp. religious) art gallery (Napoli Underground)
Art Gallery, National Artemis (statue) art, modern (1)  (2) art, modern (PAN
museum)  (2) art nouveau (1)  (2)  (3) art, restoration(1)  (2) art theft Arthur
(King) Ascarelli, Giorgio, Ascarelli, Roberta
Ascensione a Chiaia Aselmeyer Castle Ashkenaz Aspromonte Astroni, the astronomy
Atella-Comedy Central(1)  (2) Atella (archaeology museum) Atena Lucana Athena
(yacht)(1)  (2) Atherstone, Edwin Atlantic (yacht)
Atlas (Farnese) Auberjonois, Rene Augustus' villa near Nola Auschwitz Oratorium
Austrian Naples Avella Avena, Adolfo (1)  (2) Averno, lake (main entry) Averroes
(Ibn-Rushid) Aversa Avicenna (Ibn Sin) Avicenna (Canon of Medicine) Avigliano
(Madonna of)
Avignon Papacy Avitabile, Paolo (general) Avvocata, l' A Walk in the Sun

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B

Click on image for a sample article from letter B

Baboccio (da Piperno), A. Bacoli (town)
Bach, J.S. Badlands, the Bagnoli (page:13 items) bagpipes,Neapolitan (1) Baia
Thermal Baths Baia (castle & museum) Baia, Imperial Port Baia, Temple of Venus
Baia, underwater guide Bakunin, Marussia Balfe, Michael ballet in Naples (1) 
(2) "baloney" Balsorano (Palazzo) Balvano (train disaster)
Bamonte, Giuseppe Bandello, Matteo bandits Banca Intesa (art gallery) Bank of
Naples (archives) Bank of Naples (treasures) bank robbers baptistery S. Giovanni
in fonte Barbaia, Domenico (1)  (2) Barbati, Gaetano (priest) Barbaro (Mt.)
Barbella, Emanuele Barber of Seville Barcelona (cruise stop) Barenboim, Daniel
Bari (air-raid, 1943)
Barletta(Challenge of) Barnabites in Naples Barons' Revolt (Capaccio) Baroque
(Back to the, 2010) Baroque (Lecce) Baroque, Neapolitan (painters) Barra,
Giuseppe Barzini, L. Italians in Argentina Basile, Giambattista baths, thermal
(Roman)(1) (2) (3) (4) Battistello (G.B. Caracciolo) Baubo Baum, L. Frank
Bayard, the (1st train)
Bazzico, Alfonso Bazzini, Antonio Bay of Naples (Renoir) Bearded Lady (painting)
Befana (1)  (2)  (3)  (4)  (5)  (6) Befana cumulative (2022)
Beffi (Master, triptych, of)
Belforte Bellini (piazza) Bellini Theater Bellini, Vincenzo belfry, oldest
Belliazzi, Raffaele bells (Marinelli) Belvedere 'lama' (Puglia) Belvedere
(villa) beneath Naples beneath oldest basilica Benevento (Duchy of) Benevento,
Witches of Benjamin, Walter Berard, Jean (Center) Bernari, Carlo Beverello, molo
(pier) Bianchi (Institute) Bianchi, Pietro (architect) bicycle path bird
symbolism Bixio, C.A. Black Death, the (1656) black market blackout Blackwood of
London (yacht) blankpage
Blue Grotto, the Boats of the Bay(2014) ('15)  ('16) ('17) ('18) ('19)  ('20) 
('21-5 items)
Boccaccio, Giovanni bombing of Naples, WW2 bombs (unexplod.) (1)   (2)
Bonaparte, Caroline bonfires of Sant'Antuono Boniface V (pope) Boniface VIII
(pope) Boniface IX (pope) books on Naples (1) (2) (3) (4) bookshops
Borgo Marinaro Borsa (Piazza della) Bossi, Marco Enrico Botanical Garden Bourbon
Coffee (ad) Bourbon (coat of arms) Bourbon 'royal sites' (list) Bourbons (1) (2)
(3) (4) Bourbons in Exile, the Bourbons, Last Stand Bourbons miscellany Bourbons
(origins) Bourbons (public health) Bourbon troops/US Civil War Bourbon Tunnel
Bovio, Libero Bozzutto, Giuseppe (Dr.) Brandi (1)  (2)  (3) brides, child bridge
(oldest) Brindisi & the Bronzes Bristol (Hotel) Brit naval exped. (1742) Brogi,
Carlo "Bronze-Age Venice" Brown, Harry Bruni, Sergio Bruno, Giordano Brutalist
(architecture) Buchner, Giorgio Buffalo Bill buffaloes building, illegal (1) 
(2) bull fighting in Naples Buonanno, Alessandra
bunkers from WWII bureaucracy Burney, Charles Burns, John Horne Burton, Richard,
Sir
Bussento caves busses & bus drivers busses & trams (early) Butler, Samuel
bynames of kings

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C

Click on image for a sample article from letter C

cabin-lift (Posillipo) cable-cars (1) (2) (3) (4) cable-cars (map) Caccaviole,
le gole di Caesar Augustus (villa) "Caffarelli" (castrato) cafe chantant Cafe
Express (film) Cafone Caggiano, Emanuele Calabria, Notes on Calabria quake
(1783) Calabritto, Palazzo calanchi Calasanzio, G. Cala Ulloa, Pietro Calderai,
the (society) calendar (lunar) Cales (ancient) Cali, Antonio Caligula Calitri
Callanish
Calore river (Benevento) Calore river (Campania) Calvi Camaldoli (1)  (2)  (3)
Camaldoli (di Visciano) Camaldoli Urban Park Camerota Caves Cammarano, Salvatore
Cammarano, Vincenzo Campagna (town)
Campolattaro (lake) camels Camillus de Lellis (saint) camorra (1)  (2)  (3)  (4)
(5) camorra (on-line library) Campanella, Tommaso Campania Felix (poems)
Campania (historical geog. names) Campania (regional parks) Campeva (Etruscan)
Campi Flegrei Campi Flegrei (museum) Campolieto, villa Canova, Antonio
cantastorie Capaccio (castle, plot) Capasso, Michele Capitanata & Gargano Capece
Minutolo, Antonio Capodichino airport (history)
Capodimonte Cappella-Roman fleet necropolis Capri (5 parts) Capri, Battle of
(1)  (2) Capri Revisited (J.MacKowen) capsule hotels Capua Capua - Amphitheater
Capua (provincial museum) Capuana, Porta, Castle Capurro, Giovanni (1)  (2-bio)
Caracciolo, Fran. (admiral) Caracciolo, Francis (Saint) Caracciolo,
G.("Battistello") Caracciolo, Pier Antonio Caracciolo (via) Carafa di Belvedere
Carafa di Roccella (palazzo) Carafa, Oliviero Carasale, Angelo Caravaggio
(comics) Caravaggio Exhibit in Naples Caravaggio on loan? Caravaggio, the last
Carbonari Carbone, Riccardo
Cardarelli, A. (hospital) Carditello (Bourbon lodge) Cardito-Carditello Carlo,
Prince of Capua Carmelite (ancient order) Carmelite (Discalced) Order Carmina
Burana Carminiello ai Mannesi Carmine Church (1)  (2) Carnevale (5 items)
Caroline (Queen of Naples) Caroline, queen Caro mio ben cars Carus, C.G. Caruso,
Enrico(1)  (2) Carosone, Renato
casa baraccata Casacalenda (Palazzo) Casa del Turista (Brindisi) Casanova in
Naples Casa Rossa (Anacapri) Caserta Palace & San Leucio Caserta Palace as film
set Cascio Ferro, Vito Casina pompeiana
Casina Vanvitelliana Castel Capuano
Castelcivita Castelcivita cave Castellammare (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Castel
dell'Ovo Castel del Monte (Puglia)(1)(2) Castelgrande Observatory Castelnuovo al
Volturno (WWII) castles, old castles & towers & forts castrati (1)  (2)  (3)
catacombs (1)  (2) catacombs, Jewish (1)  (2) Catalan Atlas Catalan expansion
catastrophes Cathedral Catherine de'Medici
Cattolica, la (Calabria) Caudine Forks (battle) Cavagna, Gian Battista
Cavallini, Pietro (1) (2) Cavallino, Bernardo cave art (really!)
cave-churches(1)   (2)  (3)  (4)  (5) cave-ins, sink-holes, etc. cave markings
caves(1)   (2) caves (Coastal)(1)  (2) caves "for a song" caves (prehistoric)
Cavone hill, the Celanapoli Assoc. Celano, Carlo Celestine V (Pope) Celestre,
Roberto Cellamare (Palazzo) cell phones Celts Cemetery-366 Trenches cemetery,
non-Catholic (Capri) Center of Ancient Music center/Naples, hist. (map) Centola
Project centro direzionale "centurionization" Cerami (Battle of) ceramics museum
Cerberus Cerignola(Battle) Cerulli, Enrico Cervantes in Naples Cesine (le), WWF
Oasis Championnet (General) Chanowitz, H. (1)  (2)  (3)  (4)
charity(1)(2) Charles II ('Little King') Charles III Charles V Cheetah the chimp
chess: pieces & boards chestnut crisis (1)  (2) Chiaiese, Leonardo Chiaromonte,
F. Chiatamone, (water of) child labor Children's Hour, The
Chinese in Naples (1)  (2) Chinese restaurants choir, university choreography
choreomania Christ of Maratea (statue) Christ Church Christianity, early
Christian symbolism (1)  (2) Christie, Agatha Christmas (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
(7) (8) (9) (10) (11) Christmas Already? Christmas Eve Christmas (Greek
Orthodox) Christmas Pieces, Four Christological monogram Church (Marian, Pompei)
Church of the Cenacolo Church of the 33 churches, misc.(starts here) Cicala
castle (Nola) Cicerone (tour guide) Cilea, Francesco Cilento (Alburni) Cilento,
hill towns Cilento, national park Cimarosa, D. Cimaruta Cimbrone, Villa
(Ravello) Cimmerians Ciociaria Circello Civita d'Ogliara Civitella di Tronto
Circumvesuviana railway Cirillo, Domenico Cirò (Carafa castle in)

Citta-Partenope (on-line) City Hall circus Cities and Virgins city walls Civil
War (U.S., Italians in) Clanio (river) clochard Clodt v. Jurgensburg,P. Coat of
Arms, Bourbon coastal flooding
Cocceius, Lucius Auctus Cocchiara, Giuseppe Coleman, Charles C. Collana, Arturo
Collecini, Francesco (1)  (2) Collepardo (grotto) Colletta, Pietro Colombaia
Foundation (Visconti) Colombo, Giacomo Colonna, Vittoria colors (of houses) Come
back to Sorrento Comencini, Giovan Battista Comic Opera comic books Commedia
dell'Arte composers, obscure composers (other) Conca della Campania Conca
(Palazzo) Conca, Sebastiano Concezione al Chiatamone Concistoriali, the
(society) concrete, Roman
Confederate flag Confed. States of America Conforto, G. (1)  (2)  (3)
Congregation of the Oratory Congregazioni (palace of the) Congress (Italian
Scientists-1845) Conradin (execution) conservatory, music conservatories,
orignal Constantine of Carthage Constantine (Edict of) construction construction
(to resist quakes) Conte, Luisa Controne Contucci, Andrea convents, aristocratic
Cook's (Thomas) Railway Coppola, Carlo Coppola, Laura Coppola, villaggio cops,
undercover copyright (1) (2) (3) Corenzio, Belisario (1)  (2) coriander &
confetti Corigliano (Palazzo) Corleto Monforte Corradino (1)  (2) Coroglio (1) 
(2) Corte dei Leoni (villa) Cortese, Giulio Cesare Cosenza, Luigi (architect)
counterfeits Counter Reformation, Naples Craco (ghost town) Craven, Elizabeth
(1)  (2) Craven (Villa) Crawford, Marion (article) cremation Crescere Insieme
Crispi, Francesco Cristoforo Colombo (ship) Croce, B.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Croce di Lucca (church) Cronaca di Partenope
Crocodile Story, the Crotone & Pythagoras Crown of Aragon, the Cruise, the
cryptic inscriptions Cuccagna,il Paese di Cuccagna, Cucciniello, Michele
Culturavventura Culture Forum (2013)(2) culture, Neapolitan (1)(2)(3)(4) Cuma
(consolidated)
Cuma (Jewish catacombs?) Cuma (lunar calendars) Cuma (Roman tunnel) Cumana
railway Cuoco, Vincenzo Curcio, Maria
currency (archaic units) customs, new, old Cutolo, Anna Cyclopean walls (1) (2)
(3) (4) cypress grove

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D

Click on image for a sample article from letter D

D'Acquisto, S. da Camaino, Tino d'Alagno, Lucrezia Dalbono, Carlo T.
da Lentini, Giacomo Damecuta, villa (1)(2) D'Angelo, Francesco d'Angri, Palazzo
Daniele, Pino (1)(2. R.I.P.) da Nola, Giovanni Dante Alighieri Dante, Piazza
Dante (statue) da Panicale, Masolino D'Arcos (viceroy) Dark Ages in Naples (1)  
(2) d'Avalos (Palazzo) (Procida) death, culture of de Alcubierre, Rocco De
Angelis, Edoardo
De balneis puteolanis De Blasio, Bill De Crescenzo, Luciano De Curtis, G.B. De
Filippo, Eduardo(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) De Filippo, E. (popularity abroad) De
Filippo, E. (The Tempest) De Filippo, Luca De Filippo, Peppino de Gasparis,
Annibale Dehnhardt, Friedrich de Jorio, Andrea d'Elboeuf, villa de' Liguori,
Alfonso Maria della Porta, Giambattista delle Colonne, Guido
dell'Orefice, Giuseppe De Luca, Ferdinando de Mari (Poggio dei Mari)
De Marinis, Fulvio(1)  (2)  (3)  (4) de Matteis, Paolo demographics De Muto,
Salvatore d'Enghien, Maria de Paganis, (H)ugo De Principe (Pontano) de Ribera,
Giuseppe der Kater Hiddigeigei de Rosa, Loise De Sanctis, Francesco De Sica,
Vittorio De Simone, R. de Toledo, Pedro (Don) De Veroli, Carlo Devil's
Footprints De Vulagari Eloquentia dialect (Neapolitan) (1)   (2) dialect lit. in
Neapolitan dialect theater diaspora,Neapolitan Diaz, Armando di Capua, Eduardo
Dickens, Charles di Fausto, Florestano Di Giacomo, S. Diomede Carafa (Palazzo)
Diomedes Don't Get No Respect Dionysius(of Sicily) diplo. relations, US/Naples
di Sangro, Raimondo di Spigna, Alfonso
d'Ognate (viceroy) Dog, Grotto of the dog museum dog waste dog racing
dog-sitting Dohrn, Anton doll hospital Doll's House, A dolmen Dolomites, Small
(region. park) Domenichino Donadio, Giovanni Donizetti, G. Donn'Anna, villa
Doria, Andrea Doria d'Angri, Palazzo Doria d'Angri, Villa Dorian Invasion
D'Orsi, Achille Douglas, Norman Doyle, Arthur Conan Dracula dreams driving in
Naples drones over Naples(1)   (2) Dove sta Zaza (song) dubbing, film Duca
d'Aosta (piazzetta) Duchesca (Villa) Duchess of Malfi, The Dumas, Alexander
Durante, Francesco dynasties (time-line)

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E

Click on image for a sample article from letter E

Early humans in S. Italy Early Miscellania Early Netherlandish Painting
earthquake(Calabria, 1783) earthquake (Ischia, 1883) earthquake (Messina, 1908)
  (2) earthquake(1857)   (1930)   (1980) earthquakes Easter Monday
EAZA(eur.assoc.zoos&aquar.) Ebe (villa) Eboli Echia, Mt. ecomonsters economics
Eden (Hotel)-ex Edenlandia (park)(1)   (2)   (3) Egg Castle "Eleonora"(Fonseca
Pimentel) Elea/Velia
Elena e Maria, villa Elicantropo (theater) Emerald Grotto EMERGENCY! (refugee
crisis)
emigration exhibit emigration/immigration emigration museum? English cemetery
(-ex) English forts, Capri (1) (2) English usage Enotrians (ancient people) Eos
(yacht) (2) Epiphany Equians (ancient people) erotic art (ancient) Escher, M.C.
Esoteric Naples Esposito, Lello Etna (Mt.) (on UNESCO list) Etruscans in
Campania(1) (2) Etruscan language
Etruscan museums Eunostidi (Greek Naples) EUR
Eureka!--museum exhibit Eurispes European Capital of Culture Euro,the (1) (2)
Evangelista,Elsa Everything is related to Naples: series. Evil Eye
extracomunitari Exultet rolls of S. Italy

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F

Click on image for a sample article from letter F

Fabre, Jan FAI - environmental fund Faito, Monte (Mt.) Falciano-Mondragone
Falcone, Andrea Falcone, Aniello Fanzago, Cosimo Farelli, Giacomo Farinelli
Farnese Collection Farnese, Palazzo (Rome) fascio littorio (Fascist symbol)
Fascist architecture Fascist plot against Croce fast-food fast-food (ancient)
(1)   (2) Favorita, Villa Fazzini, Gaetano FEDERPARCHI
femminiello Ferdinand II, "la bomba" Ferdinand IV (a sidelight) Ferdinandea(1)
(2.different) Ferdinando & Carolina (film) Fermariello (Villa) Ferragosto
Ferrante of Aragon Ferrara, Rosa ("Rosina")
Ferriere (Valley of the) Ferrigno, Giuseppe Fersen (villa, on Capri) FERT
Fescina, the Festa, Farina e Forca Fibonacci, Leonardo Fieramosca, Ettore
fig (hand gesture) Filangieri, Gaetano Filangieri museum film noir films set in
Naples Filomarino, A. (archbishop) Filomarino, Palazzo Finelli. Giuliano
Fiorentini,dei (theater) Fiorenza, Rosario Fiorelli, Giuseppe Fiorillo, Silvio
fireworks(1)   (2) Fireworks in Naples (painting) Firrao, Palazzo Fischetti,
Fedele Fiuggi "Fjord" of Furore Flegrean Fields Flegrean islands (marine
reserve) Floridiana, Villa Florimo, Francesco "flower people" Foce Volturno Park
FOQUS Foggia (city)
Foggia, Michele food, slow Fonseca Pimentel, E. Fontana, Domenico Fontanelle
cemetery football (soccer), early Fortunato, Giustino
fortune tellers Forty-Hour devotion (altar) Fossataro, Marcello fountain, Serino
fountains, (monument) Four Days of Naples (1)  (2)  (3) Fracanzano, Cesare Fra
Diavolo Fra Nuvolo Franceschi, Emilio Franceschi, Giulia Civita
Franchetti, Alberto Francis (pope) in Campania(1)  (2) Frankenstein Franklin,
Benjamin fratria (Greek Naples) Frederick II (1)  (2)  (3)  (4) Freight Village
(Nola) Fresnel lenses Friday the 17th! Frozen in Time Fruit of Christmas, The
Fucik, Julius Fuga, Ferdinando Funiculi Funicula funicolari (cable cars) (map)
funicolare (Montesanto) funicolare (MS: new station) funivia (Posillipo) furbone
Fusaro, Lake Futurismo


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G

Click on image for a sample article from letter G

Gabinetto segreto Gaeta (1)(2) Mt. Orlando Park Gaiola(2002)(2015) Galante,
Gennaro Galdieri, Rocco and Michele Galilei, Vincenzo Galleria Principe di
Napoli Gallery, The (novel) Galleria Umberto(1) (2) Galuppi, Baldassarre
Gambrinus Caffe Gandolfi, Riccardo garbage and beauty Gargano, the Gargano
(coastal caves) Gargano National Park Gargiulo, D. (1)    (2) Garibaldi,
Giuseppe Garibaldi (US reaction 1) Garigliano river Garzya, Giac.(1) (2) (3)
(4)  (5) (6) (7) (8)  (9)  (10)  (11)
Gate of Heaven, the (film) Gaudi, Antonio Gaudo culture Gauro, Mt. Gay Odin
Gazzaniga, Giuseppe Gazzola, Felice Gelbison. Mt. (sanctuary) Gemito,
Vincenzo(1)  (2)  (3) Genoa (cruise stop) Genoino, Giulio Genovesi, Antonio
Genovese, Gaetano Gentile, Giovanni
Gentileschi, Artemisia geology(main)-(1)  (2)  (3)  (4)  (5) geophysics observ.
Ischia
geo-paleo park & lab Gestur (navigation company) gestures, hand (1)    (2)
gestures & A. de Jorio Gesualdo, Carlo Gesu delle monache (church) Gesu Nuovo,
church & square Ges.Nuovo, music on facade Gesu Vecchio (church) getting by
Ghetti, Bart. & Pietro ghost towns Giaquinto, Corrado Giammusso, Hugo Giannetti,
Giovanni "Giant," the (fountain) Gigante, Giacinto Gigante, Marcello gigli (of
Nola) Gioconda, la Gioia, Flavio Giordani, Giuseppe Giordano, Luca (1)  (2)
Giov. Maria Trabaci (assoc.) Girolamini (book theft) Girolamini (church, monas.)
Girolamini (pipe organ) Gisolfo, Orazio Gladstone's pamphlet/Naples Gleijeses,
Vittorio Giusso, Lorenzo
Göbekli Tepe
Goethe, J.W.v.(1)(2) goigs (Sard. religious chants) Golden Mile Golden Pool, On
Google archives (old Naples) goats (on Capri)
Gonzaga, Giulia Goodyear Blimp Gothic Wars Gradola, villa (Anacapri)
Grande,Antonio graffiti (1)(2) Grand Hotel (1880) Grand Hotel Londres Grand
Tour, the Granary, the old Royal Gravina, Palazzo Grazzanise (airport)(1)   (2)
Great Race of 1908 Great White Fleet Greeks in Naples Greek churches in Calabria
Greek language (in Italy) Greek Naples
Greek Orthodox Church Greek tombs Greene, Graham Gregorian calendar Gregory VII
(Pope) "Green lungs" of Naples Green Schooner Grimaldi, Aldo (GNV ships)
Grimaldi, Francesco (1)  (2) Grossatesta, Gaetano grottoes (marine) of Posillipo
Gualtieri, Nicola Guarracino,lo Guglielmelli, Arcangelo Guglielmi,Pietro
Guiscard, Robert Guise (Duke of) guitar in Naples, the   gypsies (1) (2) (3)

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H

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Haas (villa) haggis pizza hagiotoponomy Haitian revolution & Naples
halloween Hamilton, William (Sir) Hamilton,Emma Hammett, A. Hannibal hate-speech
haunted houses Hauteville, Robert (of) Haussmann, G-E. Hayes, Alfred health care
Hebrew inscriptions (alleged) Hebrides (Outer)
Hellman, Fred (WWII oral history) Hemingway, Ernest Hera (temple) Hercules, rock
of Herculaneum (1)    (2)
Herculaneum (papyri) Herc. (Ercolano) Virtual Museum Herman (1) (2) (3) (4)
(R.I.P.) Hersey, John Hesselblad, Mary Elizabeth Hindenburg (airship) Hipparchus
Hirpinia Historical Studies (Institute) historic center, Naples (map) Hitler in
Naples Hollow Earth Holmes, Sherlock Holocaust Studies in Naples Holy Apostles
(church) Homo Erectus (Aeserniensis) Homer hooligans (soccer) Horn, Rebecca
horse breeding (Persano) horse's head Horse Tamers, The (statues) hospital del
mare hospital (First Polyclinic) hospital for the "Incurable" hospital, military
(ex)convent "hospital section" of Naples Hospital, USA 17th General Howells,
William Dean humans (early modern)

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I

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Iapigi (ancient people) Ibn Khaldun ice-skating in Naples I dreamt that I dwellt
in marble halls Ieranto (Jeranto)(Bay) Ig Nobel prizes Incoronata, church(1)  
(2) industrial archaeology Industrial Arts museum(1)   (2) Immacolatella
immigration/emigration Impossible Exhibit, the (2014) incubation (the other one)
infiorata (flower petal art) Innocenti, Bruno Inquisition (Medieval) Inquisition
(Spanish) Insanguine, Giacomo inscriptions, Latin
installation art Inst. Historical Studies Inst. Philosoph. Studies Int. Cont.
Drill. Program intarsio internoA14 (association) inverted high-rises
iPhone app for touring Naples Iqbal's Carpet (social circus) iSanGennaro, the
(!) Ischia(1)    (2)    (3) Ischia & Agartha Ischia (ancient/Pithecusa) Ischia
(earthquake 1883) Ischia (grottoes) Ischia (letter from) Ischia (lighthouse)
Islam (Muslim colony, Lucera) Islam, early (in Italy) Islam in Naples  (1)   (2)
  (3)   (4) islands (small) Isolympic Games (Neapolis) Isouard, Nicolo Italian
naval flag Italian Wars (1500s) Italic Confederation Italic peoples Italsider
(Ilva) "Italy" (etymology) "Italy" (first use of) iTourNA Iuvara, Martino

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J

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jai alai (1)    (2) Jason Jefferson, Thomas Jerace (Ierace), Francesco Jeranto
(Bay of) & poem (2) Jessel, Leon Jesuits in Naples Jewish community Jewish
catacombs Jewish history exhibit Jewish quarter Jews (early in Italy) Jews of
San Nicandro JFK in Naples Joanna I  & Joanna II Jodice,  Mimmo John of Austria
Joli, Antonio Jolly Hotel Jommelli, Niccolo Jones, Thomas journals & newspapers,
old Journey to Parnassus Judith (Book of) Jung, C.G.

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K

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K666. Fra Mozart e Napoli (novelle) Kagoshima, Japan Kapoor, Anish(1) karst &
caving in S. Italy karst (geology) Kathleen Mavourneen Kennedy(JFK) f in Naples
Kerbaker, Michele Keys, Ancel Khedive (the, in Naples) Kircher, Athanasius
Kociejowski, Marius (all pages from here)
Knights Templar Krupp, Alfred Krupp (via) (Capri) Kurgan Hypothesis


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L

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L-59 (WWI airship) Lablache, Luigi
Lafrery,Antoine Lago (di) Patria La Guardia, Fiorello
language/s (1)    (2) language & communication languages, minority Lao (river)
La Pegna mobile library Largo del Castello Latillo, Gaetano Latin Latini
(ancient people) Lattari mountains (reg. park) Laurito (frescoes of)(1)   (2)
Lauro, Achille Lawrence, D.H.(1)    (2) Lazzari, Dionisio (1)   (2)   (3) Lear,
Edward
Lecce Baroque Leffler, Anne
Legambiente legends, Neapolitan lentils Leo, Leonardo Leonardo da Vinci
Leoncavallo, Ruggero Leonetti (villa) Leopardi, Giacomo
Lepanto,Battle of Lettere (castle) Letters from a Mourning City Levico "Liberty"
architecture (1)    (2) Liberty ships
libraries libraries (community) Library, National library, Storia patria nostra
Licola Licosa (Punta) Li Galli (islands) lighthouse (Anacapri) lighthouses in &
near Naples Ligurians (ancient people)(2) Lilio (Lilius), Luigi Liri (island,
waterfalls) literacy (spread to Italy) Liternum lithographs (1890-1900) "Little
King" Livia, Villa "Living Will" Locris (Locri) Lomax, Alan Lombardo, Gustavo
Lombards (main entry)
Lombards in Italy (UNESCO) Lombroso, Cesare Longo, Maria Lorenzo the Magnificent
Loris-Rossi, Aldo Lucania (Roccagloriosa) Lucania, archeol. museum Lucanians
Lucera (Muslim colony) Luciano, Charles ("Lucky") Lucia (Villa) Lucian luck:good
& bad (1) (2)  (3)  (4)  (5)  (6) (7) Lucrino, lake Lucullus (villa & "splendor
of") Luiz, Silvio Maria lullabies Lynn, Richard

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M

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"Macchia" plot, the macchietta (song type) MacKowen, John Clay Maddalena
(bridge) Maddaloni Madonna of Buon Consiglio Madonna (Pomegranate) Madre di Buon
Consiglio Maglione, Mario Magnacca, Nadia Magna Graecia Magia naturalis Magliano
Vetere maintenance and upkeep Maiuri, Amedeo Majo (villa) Majolica (ceramics)
Majorana, Ettore Majorano, Gaetano Majorcan cartography Malahne (motor yacht)
Maldacea, Nicola malocchio Mallett, Robert Malta Maltese Falcon (yacht) Mamma
Ciociara Mamma Schiavona mandolin, Neapolitan Manduzio, Donato Manfred Maradona,
Diego (1)   (2) Maratea, Christ of (statue) Maraval (Villa) Marcellino and Festo
M. Amalia, queen of Naples M. Carolina, queen of Naples Maria Christina of Savoy
Maria Cristina (grotto) Maria Sofia of Bourbon Marigliano (Palazzo) Marina di
Stabia Marina, via (new constr.) Marinelli bell foundry marine reserves Marino,
Giambattista Mario, E.A. maritime museums Marotta, Gerardo Marotta, Gius. (1) 
(2)  (3) (4) Marlow, William Mars Marseilles (cruise stop) Marsili, Mt.
(volcano) Martini, Arturo Martucci, Giuseppe Martyrdom of S. Ursula Martyrs'
Square
Masaniello's Revolt Maschio Angioino (1)   (2) Massa Lubrense(1)   (2)
Mastriani, Francesco Mater Matuta Matera Matese (lake & park) Matteucci,
Raffaele (1)   (2) Maxantia (tomato) May (the Rites of) Mayr, Simone Mazarin
(Cardinal) mazzarella (of S. Giuseppe) Mazzella, Scipione Mazzini, Giuseppe
Mazziotti (Palazzo) Mazzucchi, Alfredo measure (archaic units of) Med Cooking
Congress Med Diet (Ancel Keys) Med Diet (UNESCO Heritage) Mediterranean Games
Medit. Museum (MAMT) Medit. Shipping Co. (Msc) Medrano, G.A. megaliths Megaride
(island) mega-yachts (1)  (2)   (3)   (4) Mehta, Zubin Melfi, Constitution of
Melloni, Macedonio memento mori Mercalli scale (earthquakes) Mercato, Piazza
(1)   (2)  (3) Mercadante, Saverio Mercadante Theater Merchant Marine Academy
Mergellina
Mergellina train station Merliano, Giovanni (da Nola) Merola, Mario Messapians
(ancient people) Messina quake (1908)(1)    (2) Metro del mare metropolitana
(series) metropolitana (airport station) Miceli, Giorgio Michelangelo sculpture
Migliaro, Vincenzo Migrantis Foundation Minturnae (Minturno) miscellania, early
miscellany, Naples Miseno Mitelli, Giuseppe Maria Mithra, cavern of Molosiglio
(port)(1)   (2) monaciello Monaldi (hospital) Monarca
monasteries Mon(n)aLisa monolith (Sicilian channel) Monongah, W.Va. mine
disaster Monopoli (city) Monopoly (board game) Mons Lactarius (battle of) Monte
di Dio Monte di Pieta Monte Echia Monte e banco dei Poveri Monte Nuovo Monte
Sant'Angelo Monte Sant'Angelo (univ.)
Montesarchio Monteverde, Giulio (sculptor) Monteverdi, Claudio Montevergine
(sanctuary) monuments Monuments in May (1)   (2) morganatic marriage Mori,
Cesare Morlacchi, Francesco Mortella, la (gardens) (1)  (2) mortuary analysis
Morse, Samuel Moscati, Giuseppe Moses ("horns" of) Mostra d'Oltremare (1)  (2)
Muhammad (The Night Ride) multi-spectral imaging Mumford, Lewis Municipio,
Piazza munnezza e bellezza Munthe, Axel(1)    (2) Murat, Gioacchino Murat & the
Neapolitan navy Murolo, Roberto museum, archaeological museum,
archaeo(staircase) museum, Naples diocese museum "Madre" museum/metro stop
museum, naval (S. Martino) museum(of the subsoil) museums, living
museums (nat. sciences) music & exploding heads music (Center of Ancient) music
conserv. & Educ.(1) (2) music conservatories, original music, Roman musical
instruments music.misc.(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) musicals in Naples Muti, Riccardo
myths Mysteries, Children of the

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N

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Naccherino, Michelangelo NAlbero NAZI art plunder
names (historical geographical) names of kings names, unusual Naples, ancient
(in museum) Naples (bank, archives) Naples (duchy)(1)   (2) Naples (kingdom,
time-line) Naples in the 1600s Naples Italia theater festival Naples, a paradise
of devils Naples Netherworld, strange fate Naples Riviera (book) Naples today
Napoleon Napoletani a Milano (film) Napoli '900 (art exhibit) Naples Atlas
complete Napolimania Napoli Milionaria Napoli nobilissima (journal)
Napolisoundscape Napoli Underground (NUg) Narciso, Adolfo Natale in Casa
Cupiello National Parks, S. Italy (table)
NATO base, ex-(1)  (2)  (3)  (4) Natural Sciences (1735-1845) Nauclerio, G.B.
NBLKFOPSJON 'ndrangheta Neapolis (1)(port)   (2)   (3) Nea Polis (on-line film
noir) "Neapolitan crypt," the Neapolitan diaspora Neapolitan language (1)   (2)
Neapolitan Mastiff Neapolitan painting, history of
Neapolitan Republic, first Neapolitan Republic (1799)
Neapolitan Song (1)  (2)  (3) Neap. (Parthenop.) Song, archives
Neapolitan Songs (pseudo-) Neapol. Stories & Legends Neapolitan song texts
"Neapolitan War," the Nelson, Horatio (vice-admiral) Nelson & Lady Hamilton Nemo
Assoc. (marine biol.) Neo-Realism (1)  (2)  (3)  (4)   (5)   (6)   (7)   (8)
nepotism in Academia "Neptune" fountain Nestor's Cup Neville-Rolfe, E. New
Year's Niccolini, Antonio Nicolai, Carsten Nicolini, Giuseppe Niemeyer
auditorium (Ravello) "Nile" (square & statue) Ninfa (garden) Nisida Nisida
(detention center closes) Nisida (2015 update) Nisida (period postcard #23)
Nixon, Marnie
Nobile, Umberto Noir, film (local) noise Nola (the gigli)(1)  (2) noodles (1)  
(2)   (3) Normans, the Northern League, the Norway, Arthur H. (1)   (2)
Noschese, Alighiero Notari, Elvira Nunziatella Numismatic Center

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O

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Oasis of the Seas obesity (1)    (2) observatory (astron.) observatory
(Vesuvius) Ocean Victory (yacht) Odessa (the ship) oenomancy ogres Old City/New
City (Greek) Olivetti factory On Golden Pool opera parodies Opicians (ancient
people) Oplontis (3 items) Opus Continuum (1)  (2)
opus reticulatum oracles Oracles of the Dead Oral HistoryWW2 Orchids (Valley of)
Orfei, Moira organs (pipe) organs (in the Duomo) "Orientale" University  Orkney
Islands

Orlando, Mt. (Gaeta) Orsi, Paolo & R.C. Museum Orsini Del Balzo, Raimondo Oro di
Napoli (l')   (1)   (2) Ortese, Anna Maria
Ortolani, Sergio Orvieto Oscan-Samnite remains Oscans (ancient people) 'o sole
mio Ostuno (museum) Otiosi,the (society) Otranto (mosaic in) Ottati Our Lady of
Mercy (church) Our Lady of the Snow (church) outlaw music (1)    (2)


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P

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Pacanowski, Davide Pacini, Giovanni Paderni, Camillo Padovani, Aurelio Padre Pio
Padula, certosa and museum Paestum(1)   (2) Page, Russell Paglicci Grotto
Painter, William Paisiello, G. Paisa (film) Palazzo a mare (Anacapri) Palace of
Pleasure Palasciano, F. paleo-Christianity (1)   (2)  (3) Paleolithic Park
Palepolis
Palermo (cruise stop) Palinuro (ship) Palladino, Eusapia Pallonetto (Santa
Lucia) Palma, Mallorca (cruise stop) Palmieri, Luigi palm tree pest Palmyra PAN
(modern art museum) panem et circenses Pane, Roberto Pannone, Gianfranco
Pantaleone Papal States papyri (of Herculaneum) Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
Paradise inhabited by devils Parry, Milman Partanna, Lucia Migliaccio Partanna
(Palazzo) Partenio National Park(1)(2) Parthenope (siren) Parthenope (old city)
Parthenope (restoration of statue) Parthenope university(1)   (2) Parthenopean
Republic (1)   (2) Pasolini, Pier Paolo
Pasquetta Passanante, Giovanni Pastena (grotto) pastoralism Pattano, St. Mary of
(Abbey) Patrizi(villa) pawn shop (first) pazzariello, the Peace & Quiet Peard,
John Whitehead
Peloponnesian War Penne, A. (building, legend) Pentameron, the pentiti, i
(informers) Perez, Augusto Pergolesi, G. (1)   (2) pernacchio (1)      (2)
Perret, Frank A. Perrucci, Andrea Persano horses Persano (hunting lodge,
Bourbon) Persano (WWF site) persiane
Pertosa caves Pertusillo (lake) Peter III of Aragon Peter of Eboli Petillo,
Pietro Petina (Alburni) Petito, Antonio (1)   (2) Petito, Salvatore Petrarch
in/and Naples Petrarch (letter on Avignon) Petrella, Errico Petrolini, Ettore
Petrosino, "Joe" Peutinger map Phalerum Philosophical Studies (Institute) Phocea
(ship)(1)   (2) Phoenecian Steps Photochrom lithography (1890) photography,
early photography (Right of Panorama) phylloxera winepest Phyrric victory
physics museum Piana delle Orme (museum) Piano, Enzo Piarist schools Piazza
grande picaresque (novel) Picchiatti, Bartolomeo Picchiati, Francesco Antonio
Piccinni, Niccolo Picenians (ancient people) Picentine regional park Piedigrotta
Piedigrotta Festival Piedi per la terra (organization) Pieta de' turchini
Pietrabbondante Pietrarsa (railway museum) Pietrarsa (royal foundry)
Pietrastornina Pietro da Morone Pignataro, Felice Pignatelli, villa Pinakes of
Locri, the Pio Monte della Misericordia Pioppi Pisacane, Carlo Pisani, Giuseppe
Piscina Mirabilis Pithecusa (Ischia) 1 Pithecusa (Ischia) 2 Pitloo, Anton Sminck
pizza (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) Pizzofalcone Place in the Sun, A (TV
drama) Places named for Saints Plague, the (1656) plague columns (1)  (2)
Plebiscito, piazza (1) (2) (3) (4) Pliny, the Younger Poerio, C. Poggiomarino
Poggioreale, Villa Polla (Alburni)
Policoro Woods Pompeii (consol. page) Pontano Chapel Pontano, Giovanni Pontano
Institute Pontecagnano Pontine swamps Ponza Pope Pius VI popes from Naples Popes
& anti-Popes porcelain factory (Royal) pornography (Greek &  Roman)(1)  (2)
Porpora, Niccolo Portici (Bourbon palace) port (passenger) port (commercial)
port of Neapolis port, Roman Portus Iulius Porzio, Luca Antonio Poseidonia
Posillipo (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Posillipo School (painting) Posta Fibreno (lake)
postcards from Naples Postiglione post-office (constr. 1936) pot-holes Poths,
James Poveri di Gesu Cristo (conservatory) Pozzuoli Pozzuoli (Cathedral)
Pozzuoli (natural concrete) Pozzuoli (Roman port) Prefecture of Naples presepe
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) presepe assoc.(A.I.A.P) presepe (underwater) Presti,
Bonaventura Preti, Mattia Procida (6 items)(2) Procida (Monte di) professions,
old-time (1)  (2)  (3)  (4)  (5)  (6)  Provenzale, Francesco Proverbs
public transport (early) public health under the Bourbons Puca, Davide
Pulcinella (1)   (2)  (3)  (4)  Punks on Bikes Purgatorio ad Arco (church) puple
turd gorge! Putignano, Stefano Pythagoras

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Q

Quisisana Royal Palace Quarant'Ore devotion Quattro Giornate (tunnel)

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R

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Radeca festival Ragolia, Michele railway (Italy's first) railway museum
Raimondi, Pietro "Raimondello" rainfall Ramage, Craufurd Tait Ranieri, Massimo
Ranjit Singh ratchet (musical instrument) Ravaschieri di Satriano Ravello
(2005)  (2008)  (2014) Ravello (villa Episcopio) Ray, L. (Remembering Naples)
Rea, Domenico realism(lit)(1)  (2)  (3) Redeemer, Most Holy (Church) Redeeming
Christian slaves Redeemer (Mountain) Reformation in Naples Reggio Calabria
Museum Regi Lagni (canals) Reid, Neville Remembrance of Things Past Renoir,
Pierre-Auguste Republic, first Neapolitan
Restoration, European Inst. of Reubeni, David "Reuccio," il revolution (1848) in
Naples Riace Bronzes Ricca (Palazzo) Ricciardi (Villa) Richard, J-C of Saint-Non
Rimini, Antonio Ripa, Matteo Risanamento(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Risorgimento1)(2)
Risorgimento,il (WW II   newspaper) ritmo cassinese Riva Fiorita rivers(60+ km)
Rizzi Zannoni, G.A. Roads to Nowhere Robert the Wise Robida, Albert
Roccagloriosa Roccamandolfi Roccamonfina Park Rocco, Gregorio Maria rock art
Roman bridge to Vomero
Romanesque architecture Roman Republic (1849) Rome, Rebirth of Romulus
Augustulus Rosa, Salvator Roscigno (Alburni) Rosebery, Villa Rosi, Francesco
Ross,Janet Rossi, Lauro Rossini, G. (1)   (2)   (3) Rovigliano,island Royal
Clipper (yacht) Royal Palace Royal Poorhouse royalty
Rubino, Sergio Ruffo, F., Cardinal Rufolo, villa (Ravello) rupestrian
churches(1)  (2)  (3)  (4)  (5) Russo-Ermoli (palazzina) Russo,Ferdinando Russo,
Tato Russo,Vincenzo

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S

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Prefixes of churches: San (S. or Ss=saints), Sant',  Santa (S.), Santa Maria
(S.M.), and Santissimo/a (SS.=for The Most Holy Redeemer, Christ/the Most Holy
Virgin Mary, respect.) are listed first. Other entries under S follow thereafter
S (general).


San & Ss. (Saints)-


Saint James, the Shell of S. Antoniello S. Arcangelo (Bourbon royal site) S.
Bartolomeo S. Carlino (theater) S. Carlo Theater S. Carlo all'Arena S. Costanzo
(church, Capri)
S. Diego all'Ospedaletto S. Domenico Maggiore S. Domenico Soriano S. Ferdinando
(church) S. Ferdinando (theater) (1)   (2) S. Ferdinando (first steamship) S.
Filippo Romolo Neri S. Francesco delle Monache S. Francesco di Paola (church) S.
Francesco di Paola (life) S. Francis Caracciolo S. Francis Xavier S. Gaetano
(Cajetan) S. Gaudioso S. Gennarello Spogliamorti S. Gennaro S. Genn. al Vomero
S. Genn. & the iPhone S. Genn. (basilica extra moenia) S. Genn (bust, L.
Esposito) S. Genn. Day (moved!) S. Genn. (Treasure, Chapel) S. Genn. dei Poveri
S. Genn. museum S. Genn. (Porta) S. Giacomo degli Italiani S. Giacomo (Palazzo)
S. Giacomo degli Spagnoli S. Giorgio dei Genovesi S. Giorgio Maggiore
S.Giovanni a Carbonara S. Giov. Battista delle Monache S. Giovanni dei
Fiorentini S. Giovanni delle Monache S. Giovanni di Pappacoda S. Giovanni in
fonte S. Giovanni Maggiore S. Giovanni Magg. (square) S. Giovanni Rotondo (town)
S. Giuseppe a Chiaia(1)   (2) S. Giuseppe dei nudi S. Giuseppe dei Ruffi S.
Giuseppe delle scalze S. Greg. Armeno (1) (2) (3) Ss. John and Theresa S.
Lawrence (Night of) S. Leonardo S. Leucio (town) S. Lorenzo (archaeol. site) S.
Lorenzo (church) S. Lorenzo (museum) S. Martino S. Martino Hill S. Martino
(island) S. Martino vineyard S. Michele Arcangelo S. Michele Arc. (Monte
S.Angelo) S. Mich. Arcangelo (Port'Alba) S. Michele di Montenero S. Nicandro S.
Nicholas in Naples S. Nicola alla Carita S. Nicola a Nilo S. Paolo Maggiore S.
Paolo stadium S. Pasquale Ss. Phillip & James S. Pietro ad Aram S. Pietro a
Maiella S. Pietro infine (town) S. Pietro Martire S. Sebastiano, (Naples &
Alatri) S. Severino (orig.monastery) Ss. Severino e Sossio S. Severo al Pendino
S. Severo Chapel S. Silvestro (Partenio Park) S. Silvestro (woods, WWF) S.
Tarciso Martire S. Vincenzo a Volturno S. Vincenzo della Sanita S. Vincenzo de'
Paoli S. Vincenzo, Molo (pier) S. Vitale


Sant', Santo, Santi, St.--



Sant' Agostino della Zecca Sant' Alfonso Hill Sant' Andrea delle Dame Sant'
Angelo a Fasanella Sant' Angelo a Nilo Sant'Angelo in Formis Sant' Aniello a
Caponapoli Sant' Antonio abate Sant' Ant-Monache Port'Alba Sant' Antuono
(bonfires) Sant' Antonio a Posillipo Sant' Arcangelo a Baiano Sant' Aspreno ai
crociferi Sant' Aspreno al Porto Sant' Efremo Vecchio Sant' Eligio Sant'Elmo
(1)(2) Sant' Onofrio a Capuana Santo Stefano Santo Strato Santi Apostoli St.
Anthony's "Fire" St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
St. Camillus de Lellis St. Vitus Dance



santa (S.) SS. (Santissima)--


S. Agata de' Goti S. Anna dei Lombardi S. Anna (festival, Ischia) SS. Annunziata
(Vico Equense) S. Brigida S. Brigida "2" S. Brigida (the headgear) S.Caterina a
Chiaia S. Caterina da Siena S. Caterina della Spina Corona S. Caterina a
Formiello S. Caterina a Formiello (fountain) S. Chiara, church S. Chiara
(courtyard restor.) S. Chiara museum S. Chiara (old cross-roads)

Santa(S.) (cont.)- 


S. Croce Basilica, Lecce S. Croce e Purgatorio S. Lucia (St. Lucy) S. Lucia a
Mare
S. Lucia al Monte S.M. a Cappella Nuova S.M. a Cappella Vecchia S.M. ai Vergini
S.M. alla Carita S.M. Annunziata (Ravello) S.M. Apparente S.M. Assunta di
Bellavista S.M.Capua Vetere (town) S.M. degli Angeli alle Croci S.M. degli
Angeli a Pizzofalcone S.M. dei Sette Dolori S.M. del Carmine (1)   (2) S.M. del
Divino Amore S.M. dell'Aiuto S.M. della Catena S.M. della Colonna S.M. della
Concordia S.M. della Libera (Vomero) S.M. della Neve S.M. della Pazienza S.M.
della Redenzione dei Captivi S.M. della Rotonda S.M. della Sanita S.M. della
Sapienza(1)   (2) S.M. della Vittoria S.M. delle Grazie S.M. delle Grazie a
Toledo S.M. dello Spirito Santo S.M. del Parto S.M. del Soccorso (Arenella) S.M.
di Caravaggio S.M. di Loreto (conservatory) S.M. di Montecalvario S.M. di
Monteoliveto S.M. di Montesanto S.M. di Pattano (Abbey) S.M. di Piedigrotta S.M.
di Pietraspaccata S.M. di Portosalvo(update) S.M. Donna Regina (new) S.M. Donna
Regina (old) S.M. Egiziaca a Pizzofalcone S.M. Francesca S.M. in Cosmedin S.M.
in Portico S.M. la Nova S.M. Maggiore (1)(2) S.M. Regina Coeli S. Margherita
Nuova S. Martha S. Matrona
S. Orsola S. Patrizia (Patricia) S. Restituta S. Teresa a Chiaia S. Teresa degli
Scalzi Ss. Trinità
Spirito Santo, church Spirito Santo dei Napoletani




S (general)--


Sabines (ancient people) Sacchini, Antonio Sacred Heart, (Institute)
Sacred Letter Sacred Spring Saepinum sagre (festivals) Said, Edward sailing
Sala, Nicola Salas, Esteban Salento (caves) Salernitano, Masuccio Salerno 1943
(association) Salerno, duchy of Salerno Ivories Salerno (medical school) Salerno
(music conserv.) Salerno (Palazzo) Sallustro, Attila Salo (Republic of) Salone
Margherita salt mines of Sicily Salvator Mundi Salvi, Selene (paintings)  
(2) (3) Salvi, Selene (poetry) (1) (2) Samnites sampietrino (1)  (2) Samurai
Academy Sanfedisti, the (society) Sanfelice, Ferdinando Sanita (area of Naples)
Sanitansamble Sanmartino, G. Sannazzaro, Jacopo Sannazzaro Theater Santangelo
(Palazzo) Santobuono (Palazzo) Sapri (Gleaner of--poem) Saracen (or Sighting)
Towers saracinesca Sardinia (general) Sardinia(to separate index) Sardinian
guidicati Sardinian nuraghi Sargent, John Singer
Sarnelli, Pompeo Sarno river Sarro, Domenico Sartre, Jean-Paul Sassano Saviano,
Roberto Savinio, Alberto Savoia di Lucania Savone river Savoy Scalandrone grotto
Scale, Muslim book of the Scam, gentle street Scampia, the vele [sails](1)   (2)
Scampia Storytelling Scarfoglio, Antonio Scarfogio, Eduardo Scario Scario,
sailing trip to Scarlatti, Alessandro Scarpetta, Edoardo sceneggiata
Schianterelli, Pompeo Science City(1)  (2. fire 2013) Scipio Africanus
sciuscia(1)    (2) Scolopi (scuole pie)
Scontrino, Antonio Scopa (card game) Scot, Michael (1)    (2) scribe, the
(profession) Scudillo scugnizzo (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
sculptors (Neapolitan) sea front (via Caracciolo) Seanna (yacht) Sebeto river
Secret Room (Archeo. Museum) Secret Societies (M.Crawford) secret societies,
other sedili (mediev. admin. unit) Segesta Seiano Grotto Sele river Selinunte
Senerchia Serao, M. (1)   (2) Serpico, Federico Serra di Cassano, (Palazzo)
Serre (park, Calabria) Sessa (Palazzo) Seven Madonnas of Campania sewerage
system Seymour, David Sgambati, Giovanni shades & blinds, etc. etc. Shakespeare
(Was he Italian?) Shakes. & Garib. (etymology) sheela-na-gig Shelley, Mary
(1)    (2) Shelly, P. B. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) shipbuilding ships & sails Shroud
of Turin Shrove(tide)
SIAE sibyl (Cuma) sibyl (pseudo, Averno) Sibyl, the Time of (painting, poem)
Sichelgaita Sicignano degli Alburni Sicilian expedition, the
Sicilian Vespers Sicily (islands) Siculians (ancient people) Sinigallia, Aldo
(r.i.p) sirens sirens, land of the Siren's Last Song Sirens, Temple of
Sirignano, Palazzo sister city (of Naples) sisters of Calcutta Skanderbeg
"Skulls" smorfia, la Smyth, Penelope snob club snow (1)   (2) soccer (football)
soccer museum Sofer (Bagnoli) Solari, Tommaso solfatara Solimena, F. (1)  (2) 
(3) Soliva, Carlo Sommer,Giorgio Sommonte, Pietro Sordi, Alberto Sorrentino,
Stansilavo (1)  (2) Social Wars (Rome, 90 BC) Soratte, Mt. bunker (Rome)
Soratte, Mt. (karst pits) Southey, Robert South Italian (!) Sovente, Michele
Spaccanapoli (1)   (2) Spagnuolo, (Palazzo dello) Spanish in Naples Spanish
Inquisition in Naples Spanish Quarters (1)    (2) Spanish Succession (War of)
Spartacus(1)     (2) Speculum literature Sperlonga (Tiberius' villa, grotto)
Speziale, Stefania Filo Spielrein,Sabrina Spina Corona (fountain) Spinazzola,
Vittorio Spinelli, Giovanbattista Spinelli, Maria Spinello (of Giovenazzo), M.
spirits (good & evil) (1)   (2) Splendida (ship) Spontini, Gaspare Stabiae
stadiums in Naples stamps Stanzione, Massimo Star of David (Galleria Umberto)
State Roads 145 & 18 (2) statuary (villa comunale) statues (confusing) statues,
eight (8 sculptors) statues, 2 (Piazza Plebiscito) Stiffe grottoes & presepe
Stile, Ignazio Stohrer (von) stone-cutting stone-cutting (signs & symbols)
Strada, Gino (EMERGENCY)
streetart street bands street-life, descriptions street pianos State Roads 145 &
18 (2) Stratagems of War (al-Hawari) streets (1)(2) strikes Stromboli (1)(2)
Strozzi, tavola (map) struscio, the Strutt, Arthur John Stuarts of Naples, the
Stufe di Nerone Subsoil of Naples
subway literature Sulla Summonte Suor Orsola university Suessula (ancient Oscan)
SuperAbile (ONLUS) survivor culture Swiss in Naples Sybarites symbolism,
Christian (1)  (2) symbols of Naples syphilis Syracuse (ancient city)







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T

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Taburno, Mt. Regional Park Talitha (yacht) Tall ships
Tanagro river tangeziale highway, the Tanucci, Bernardo Tarantella, the(1)   (2)
Taranto (ancient) Taranto (Battle of, 1940)
Tarsia, Palazzo Tasso, Torquato Tasso, T. (via) taxis Taylor, Bayard (at
Vesuvius) teaching farms Teanum Sidicinum(Teano) Teatro di Corte (1) (2) (3)
Teatro Festival Italia 2014 Teatro nuovo Tecchio, Piazzale Teggiano Tekla
Famiglietti, Maria Telesio, Bernardino Tempest, the (De Filippo) Templar,
Knights (1)   (2) Tennyson, A. Terra di Lavoro Thalberg, Sigismund
That's Amore (1)(2) theaters, first in Naples Theatres of War (novel) theft,
petty The Last Man thermotoga neapolitana Thouret, Jeanne-Antide Tiberius (a
fish story) Tiberius (Sperlonga villa) tile, your inner time line (dynasties)
Tirrenia building Todd, Thelma
Toledo, Don Pedro de, viceroy Tomb Raiders of Naples Torcino (Boubon hunting
site) Tosca Tosco, Partenio Toto Toto (Theater) toy museum Trabaci, Giovanni
Maria trabucco (fishing) train ferries train, first train (high-speed)(1)   (2)
trains (1) (2) (3) (4) train station (old main) Traeta, Tommaso trams
(trolleys), new transumanza (1) (2) (3) Tree of Life (mosaic in Otranto) trees,
sacred tregenda, the Triangle of Death Trianon Theater
Trinchera, Pietro triskelion Tritto, Giacomo troglodyte (proud to be) Troisi, M.
Trulli, (houses) Tullio, Francesco A. tunnel, Bourbon (4 items) tunnels tunnel
repair (Sorrento) turtles (rescue center for) Tu Scendi dalle Stelle Twain, Mark
(1)   (2) Two Sicilies (Why two?)

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U

Click on image for a sample article from letter U

UFO! ugliness Uluzzo (Uluzzian) Ulysses Umberto I (assass. attempt) Umberto,
Corso Underground cities underground Naples (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)  (6) (7) (8) (9)
underwater archaeology (Sard.) underwater " " (Sicilian Channel)
UNESCO sites in Campania UNESCO World Heritage List UNESCO Intangible Culture
UNESCO Memory of the World UNESCO Modern Heritage UNESCO Underwater Heritage
UNESCO Primeval Beech Forests
university (Fred.II) & others
univer. students (decrease) UOSAE Urban VI (pope) Urban Attention Deficit
Disorder Urban Conviviality Prize urbanology Urban Sketchers

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V

Click on image for a sample article from letter V

Vaccaro,Andrea Vaccaro.Giuseppe Vaccaro, Domenico Antonio Valadier, Giuseppe
Valdez, Juan de (1)   (2) Valentine's Day(1)    (2)
Valogno murals
Vanvitelli (van Wittel),G. Vanvitelli, Luigi Varia of Palmi, the Vatican (or
Papal) States Variconi, the Vaughan, Herbert M. Vedius Pollio, villa Veglia,
Nino Veiled Christ Velardinello Vele [sails], of Scampia Velia/Elea Venafro
(Royal Palace) Veneti (ancient people) Venice (lagoon) Venice, saving
Venezia (Palazzo) Ventotene island Verdi and San Carlo (1)  (2) Verdi and The
Sicilian Vespers Verdi's music for the King Verdi Theater (Salerno) Vergini,i
vernacularization ver sacrum Vesuvian Villas Vesuvius, Mt. Vesuvius (asleep!)
Vesuvius, etymology Vesuvius Observatory Vesuvius National Park Vesuvius Railway
(Th.Cook) Vesuvius(photo, eruption 1944) Vesuvius photo of theday Vesuvius
(recent eruptions) Vesuvius (silly items)
Vesuvius, the good old days Vesuvius (train, planned) Vetara (island) Veterinary
Hospital via Sacra Langobardorum Viceconte,Ernesto Vicentino, Nicola Vico,
Giambattista (1)   (2) Vico (G.B) Foundation Victor Emanuel II (monument) View
of the Naples Pier Vigano,Salvatore viggianesi Vikings in the South villa
comunale villa comunale (photo album) villa comunale, statuary (6-part)
Villaggio, Paolo Villa Jovis (or Tiberius) villas of Naples (1)  (2) Vinaccia,
G. Domenico Vinci, Leonardo Virgil(1)  (2)   (3)   (4) Virtual Museum
(Herculaneum) Vittoria (Piazza) Vivara (Procida) Vivenzio, Giovanni Viviani,
Raffaele Volaire, Pierre-Jacque volcanoes (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Volpe,
Vincenzo Volpicelli, villa Volscians (ancient people) Volturno river
Vomero-urban expansion votive wall shrines Voynich (manuscript)
Vulcano buono Vulture, Mt.

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W

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Wagner, Richard Walpole, Horace Walton, William wave energy conversion Weber,
Karl Jakob Webster, John Weir, Mark(1) (2) (3) Wertmuller, Lina (1) (2) (3) (4)
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Westerhout, Niccolo van Western Schism wetnurse W.
C. Roberdeau Wheel of Fortune Whiffenpoof Song White Fleet, the White,Jesse
Wilde, Oscar, in Naples Winckelmann, Johann J. wind power in Campania wind rose
wine (names and wine pest)
Winspeare (villa & family) Wishing Tree, the (1)   (2)   (3) Witches of
Benevento Wittel, Gaspar van Wizard of Oz, The Wizard's Secret, the (Serao)
Women Artists
women's journals World Monuments Fund WW2 armistice (Sept. 1943) WW2 Bombing of
Naples WW2 Damage to Art and Monuments WW2 Oral History (1) WW2 Oral History (2)
WW2 Oral History (3) WW2 Oral History (4) WW2 Oral History (5) (San Carlo) WW2
Oral History (6) WW2 Oral History (7) WW2 Oral History (8) (cartoons) WWF Oases
in Campania WWF Oasis-Persano WWF Oasis-Le Cesine (Puglia)

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X

Nothing in Index X yet.

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Y

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Yiddish Young, Lamont Youth Hostel

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Z

Click on image for a sample article from letter Z


                                                       

zampogna(1)    (2) Zanarella, Paolo Zaro Woods (Ischia) Zeppelin Attack on
Naples! Zevallos-Stigliano (palazzo) Zingarelli, Niccolo "zoo-mafia," the Zoo,
Naples (consolidated page)






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A

Click on image for a sample article from letter A

A (name of yacht) (2) A (another yacht) abandoned railways A Bell for Adano
Abravanel(Benvenida, Samuel) Abruzzo National Park Abubacer Abu Tabela Academy
of Fine Arts AcademiaSecretorum (3 parts) Academies in the Middle Ages
accabadora Acerra Acciaroli Achenbach,Oswald Acton Actors Studio Acropolis,
Recovering the advertising (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6) ads & English Aeclanum Aeolus
aerobatics Afragola(rapid train station) Agnano (lake) Agnano thermal
baths(1)(2)(3)(4) agri-archaeology agriturismo Agro Picentino(museum) Agropoli
A.I.A.P. (presepeassociation) Air Force Academy airport (complaints) airports
airports (secondary) al-Asaad, Khaled Albacini, Carlo Albanians in south
Italy(1)(2) Albergo-Poveri (1)(2)(3) Alberobello Alburni (Letters from, 2013)
Alburni Mountains Alburni, towns of the Alexiad,The Alifana railway Al-Kindi
Allegro ma non troppo (series) All thy Conquests Alnwick (William of) Altair III
(yacht) Altamura (bread, Man, cathedral) Altamura, Saverio Altavilla, Pasquale
Alvino, Errico Amalfi (1)(2)(3)(4) Amalfi Coast, Hiking above
Amalfi Drive (Beauty & the Beast) Amalfi Maritime Code Amalfi Maritime Museum
Amendola, G.B. America's Cup (1)(2)(3)(4) Amina/Picentia (Etruscan) Amerigo
Vespucci (ship)(1)(2)(3)
Amodio, Pasquale Amore,Nicola amphitheater,Roman Naples amphitheater(Flavian),
Pozzuoli Anacapri Anacapri (Engl. forts)(1)(2) Anacapri (Letter from, 2011)
anasyrma ancient Naples collection ancient peoples of the South ancient ruins
(rebuild?) Andreani, Fedele Andreozzi,Gaetano Angelini, Tito Angel's Flight
(Basilicata) Angevin Fortress Angevin Naples(1)(2) Angevin Naples (simplified!)
Annese, Gennaro Annius of Viterbo Anniversary Waltz Annunziata, Church Antece
(rock sculpture) anthems (even of Naples!) anthropology Anticaglia, via
Antiniana, via anti-Popes anti-Risorgimento anti-seismic construction Antonino
stadium Apennine Sibyl Aperti per Voi Aponte,Gianliugi apotropaic magic (1)(2)
April Fool's Day Aquara (Alburni) aquarium (Dohrn) aqueduct (Apulian) aqueduct
(Carmignano) aqueduct (Carolino) aqueduct (Roman)(1)(2) aqueduct (Serino)
Aquinas, Thomas Arab influence on Renaissance Aragon, Crown of (1)(2)(3)
Aragonese Naples Arata, Giulio Ulisse Arborea, Eleonora (of) Archangel Michael
(church) Archbishop's Palace archeology(1)(2)(3)(4)(5) archeological tourism
Archeomar Archiflegrean caldera Archimedes architecture (1)(2)
architecture of Fascism archives, state Arcimboldi, Giuseppe Arco Felice
Armenian monument "arsenale" of Naples art (contemp. religious) art gallery
(Napoli Underground) Art Gallery, National Artemis (statue) art, modern (1)(2)
art, modern (PAN museum)(2) art nouveau (1)(2)(3) art, restoration(1)(2) art
theft Arthur (King) Ascarelli, Giorgio Ascensione a Chiaia Aselmeyer Castle
Ashkenaz Aspromonte Astroni, the astronomy Atella-Comedy Central(1)(2) Atella
(archaeology museum) Atena Lucana Athena (yacht)(1)(2) Atherstone, Edwin
Atlantic (yacht) Atlas (Farnese) Auberjonois, Rene Augustus' villa near Nola
Austrian Naples Avella Avena, Adolfo (1)(2) Averno, lake (main entry) Averroes
(Ibn-Rushid) Aversa Avicenna (Ibn Sin) Avicenna (Canon of Medicine) Avignon
Papacy Avitabile, Paolo (general) Avvocata, l' A Walk in the Sun


B

Click on image for a sample article from letter B

Baboccio (da Piperno), A. Bach, J.S. Badlands, the Bagnoli (page:13 items)
bagpipes,Neapolitan (1) Baia Thermal Baths Baia (castle & museum) Baia, Imperial
Port Baia, Temple of Venus Baia, underwater guide Bakunin, Marussia Balfe,
Michael ballet in Naples (1)  (2) "baloney" Balsorano (Palazzo) Balvano (train
disaster) Bamonte, Giuseppe Bandello, Matteo bandits Banca Intesa (art gallery)
Bank of Naples (archives) Bank of Naples (treasures) bank robbers baptistery S.
Giovanni in fonte Barbaia, Domenico (1)  (2) Barbati, Gaetano (priest) Barbaro
(Mt.) Barbella, Emanuele Barber of Seville Barcelona (cruise stop) Barenboim,
Daniel Bari (air-raid, 1943) Barletta(Challenge of) Barnabites in Naples Barons'
Revolt (Capaccio) Baroque (Back to the, 2010) Baroque (Lecce) Baroque,
Neapolitan (painters) Barra, Giuseppe Barzini, L. Italians in Argentina Basile,
Giambattista baths, thermal (Roman)(1) (2) (3) (4) Battistello (G.B. Caracciolo)
Baubo Baum, L. Frank Bayard, the (1st train)
Bazzico, Alfonso Bazzini, Antonio Bay of Naples (Renoir) Bearded Lady (painting)
Befana (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Beffi (Master, triptych, of) Belforte Bellini (piazza) Bellini Theater Bellini,
Vincenzo belfry, oldest Belliazzi, Raffaele bells (Marinelli) Belvedere 'lama'
(Puglia) Belvedere (villa) beneath Naples beneath oldest basilica Benevento
(Duchy of) Benevento, Witches of Benjamin, Walter Berard, Jean (Center) Bernari,
Carlo Beverello, molo (pier) Bianchi (Institute) Bianchi, Pietro (architect)
bicycle path bird symbolism Bixio, C.A. Black Death, the (1656) black market
blackout Blackwood of London (yacht) blankpage
Blue Grotto, the Boats of the Bay(2014)('15)('16)('17)('18)('19) Boccaccio,
Giovanni bombing of Naples, WW2 bombs (unexplod.) (1)   (2) Bonaparte, Caroline
bonfires of Sant'Antuono Boniface V (pope) Boniface VIII (pope) Boniface IX
(pope) books on Naples (1) (2) (3) (4) bookshops
Borgo Marinaro Borsa (Piazza della) Bossi, Marco Enrico Botanical Garden Bourbon
Coffee (ad) Bourbon (coat of arms) Bourbon 'royal sites' (list) Bourbons (1) (2)
(3) (4) Bourbons in Exile, the Bourbons, Last Stand Bourbons miscellany Bourbons
(origins) Bourbons (public health) Bourbon troops/US Civil War Bourbon Tunnel
Bovio, Libero Bozzutto, Giuseppe (Dr.) Brandi (1)  (2)  (3) brides, child bridge
(oldest) Brindisi & the Bronzes Bristol (Hotel) Brit naval exped. (1742) Brogi,
Carlo "Bronze-Age Venice" Brown, Harry Bruni, Sergio Bruno, Giordano Brutalist
(architecture) Buchner, Giorgio Buffalo Bill buffaloes building, illegal (1) 
(2) bull fighting in Naples bunkers from WWII bureaucracy Burney, Charles Burns,
John Horne Bussento caves busses & bus drivers busses & trams (early) Butler,
Samuel bynames of kings


C

Click on image for a sample article from letter C

cabin-lift (Posillipo) cable-cars (1) (2) (3) (4) cable-cars (map) Caccaviole,
le gole di Caesar Augustus (villa) "Caffarelli" (castrato) cafe chantant Cafe
Express (film) Cafone Caggiano, Emanuele Calabria, Notes on Calabria quake
(1783) Calabritto, Palazzo calanchi Calasanzio, G. Cala Ulloa, Pietro Calderai,
the (society) calendar (lunar) Cales (ancient) Cali, Antonio Caligula Calitri
Calore river (Benevento) Calore river (Campania) Calvi Camaldoli (1)  (2)  (3)
Camaldoli (di Visciano) Camaldoli Urban Park Camerota Caves Cammarano, Salvatore
Cammarano, Vincenzo Campagna (town) Campolattaro (lake) camels Camillus de
Lellis (saint) camorra (1)  (2)  (3)  (4) (5) camorra (on-line library)
Campanella, Tommaso Campania Felix (poems) Campania (historical geog. names)
Campania (regional parks) Campeva (Etruscan) Campi Flegrei Campi Flegrei
(museum) Campolieto, villa Canova, Antonio cantastorie Capaccio (castle, plot)
Capasso, Michele Capitanata & Gargano Capece Minutolo, Antonio Capodimonte
Cappella-Roman fleet necropolis Capri (5 parts) Capri, Battle of (1)  (2) Capri
Revisited (J.MacKowen) capsule hotels Capua Capua - Amphitheater Capua
(provincial museum) Capuana, Porta, Castle Capurro, Giovanni (1)  (2-bio)
Caracciolo, Fran. (admiral) Caracciolo, Francis (Saint) Caracciolo,
G.("Battistello") Caracciolo, Pier Antonio Caracciolo (via) Carafa di Belvedere
Carafa di Roccella (palazzo) Carafa, Oliviero Carasale, Angelo Caravaggio
(comics) Caravaggio Exhibit in Naples Caravaggio on loan? Caravaggio, the last
Carbonari Carbone, Riccardo
Cardarelli, A. (hospital) Carditello (Bourbon lodge) Cardito-Carditello Carlo,
Prince of Capua Carmelite (ancient order) Carmelite (Discalced) Order Carmina
Burana Carminiello ai Mannesi Carmine Church (1)  (2) Carnevale (3 items)
Caroline (Queen of Naples) Caroline, queen Caro mio ben cars Carus, C.G. Caruso,
Enrico(1)  (2) casa baraccata Casacalenda (Palazzo) Casa del Turista (Brindisi)
Casanova in Naples Casa Rossa (Anacapri) Caserta Palace & San Leucio Caserta
Palace as film set Cascio Ferro, Vito Casina Vanvitelliana Castel Capuano
Castelcivita Castelcivita cave Castellammare (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Castel
dell'Ovo Castel del Monte (Puglia)(1)(2) Castelgrande Observatory Castelnuovo al
Volturno (WWII) castles, old castles & towers & forts castrati (1)  (2)  (3)
catacombs (1)  (2) catacombs, Jewish (1)  (2) Catalan Atlas Catalan expansion
catastrophes Cathedral Cattolica, la (Calabria) Caudine Forks (battle) Cavagna,
Gian Battista Cavallini, Pietro (1) (2) Cavallino, Bernardo cave art (really!)
cave-churches(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) cave-ins, sink-holes, etc. cave markings
caves(1) (2) caves (Coastal)(1)  (2) caves "for a song" caves (prehistoric)
Cavone hill, the Celanapoli Assoc. Celano, Carlo Celestine V (Pope) Celestre,
Roberto Cellamare (Palazzo) cell phones Celts Cemetery-366 Trenches cemetery,
non-Catholic (Capri) Center of Ancient Music center/Naples, hist. (map) Centola
Project centro direzionale "centurionization" Cerami (Battle of) ceramics museum
Cerberus Cerignola(Battle) Cerulli, Enrico Cervantes in Naples Cesine (le), WWF
Oasis Championnet (General) Chanowitz, H. (1)  (2)  (3)(4)
charity(1)(2) Charles II ('Little King') Charles III Charles V Cheetah the chimp
chess: pieces & boards chestnut crisis (1)  (2) Chiaiese, Leonardo Chiaromonte,
F. Chiatamone, (water of) child labor Chinese in Naples (1)  (2) Chinese
restaurants choir, university choreography choreomania Christ of Maratea
(statue) Christ Church Christianity, early Christian symbolism (1)  (2)
Christie, Agatha Christmas (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11)
Christmas Already? Christmas Eve Christmas (Greek Orthodox) Christmas Pieces,
Four Christological monogram Church (Marian, Pompei) Church of the Cenacolo
Church of the 33 churches, misc.(starts here) Cicala castle (Nola) Cicerone
(tour guide) Cilea, Francesco Cilento (Alburni) Cilento, hill towns Cilento,
national park Cimarosa, D. Cimaruta Cimbrone, Villa (Ravello) Cimmerians
Ciociaria Circello Civita d'Ogliara Civitella di Tronto Circumvesuviana railway
Cirillo, Domenico Cirò (Carafa castle in)

Citta-Partenope (on-line) City Hall circus Cities and Virgins city walls Civil
War (U.S., Italians in) Clanio (river) clochard Clodt v. Jurgensburg,P. Coat of
Arms, Bourbon coastal flooding Cocceius, Lucius Auctus Cocchiara, Giuseppe
Coleman, Charles C. Collana, Arturo Collecini, Francesco (1)  (2) Collepardo
(grotto) Colletta, Pietro Colombaia Foundation (Visconti) Colombo, Giacomo
Colonna, Vittoria colors (of houses) Come back to Sorrento Comencini, Giovan
Battista Comic Opera comic books Commedia dell'Arte composers, obscure composers
(other) Conca della Campania Conca (Palazzo) Conca, Sebastiano Concezione al
Chiatamone Concistoriali, the (society) concrete, Roman
Confederate flag Confed. States of America Conforto, G. (1) (2) (3) Congregation
of the Oratory Congregazioni (palace of the) Congress (Italian Scientists-1845)
Conradin (execution) conservatory, music conservatories, orignal Constantine of
Carthage Constantine (Edict of) construction construction (to resist quakes)
Conte, Luisa Controne Contucci, Andrea convents, aristocratic Cook's (Thomas)
Railway Coppola, Carlo Coppola, Laura Coppola, villaggio cops, undercover
copyright (1) (2) (3) Corenzio, Belisario (1)  (2) coriander & confetti
Corigliano (Palazzo) Corleto Monforte Corradino (1)  (2) Coroglio (1)  (2) Corte
dei Leoni (villa) Cortese, Giulio Cesare Cosenza, Luigi (architect) counterfeits
Counter Reformation, Naples Craco (ghost town) Craven, Elizabeth (1)  (2) Craven
(Villa) Crawford, Marion (article) cremation Crescere Insieme Crispi, Francesco
Cristoforo Colombo (ship) Croce, B. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Croce di Lucca
(church) Cronaca di Partenope Crocodile Story, the Crotone & Pythagoras Crown of
Aragon, the Cruise, the cryptic inscriptions Cuccagna,il Paese di Cuccagna,
Cucciniello, Michele Culturavventura Culture Forum (2013)(2) culture, Neapolitan
(1)(2)(3)(4) Cuma (consolidated) Cuma (Jewish catacombs?) Cuma (lunar calendars)
Cuma (Roman tunnel) Cumana railway Cuoco, Vincenzo currency (archaic units)
customs, new, old Cutolo, Anna Cyclopean walls (1) (2) (3) (4) cypress grove


D

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D'Acquisto, S. da Camaino, Tino d'Alagno, Lucrezia Dalbono, Carlo T. da Lentini,
Giacomo Damecuta, villa (1)(2) D'Angelo, Francesco d'Angri, Palazzo Daniele,
Pino (1)(2. R.I.P.) da Nola, Giovanni Dante Alighieri Dante, Piazza Dante
(statue) da Panicale, Masolino D'Arcos (viceroy) Dark Ages in Naples (1)(2)
d'Avalos (Palazzo) (Procida) death, culture of de Alcubierre, Rocco De Angelis,
Edoardo De balneis puteolanis De Blasio, Bill De Crescenzo, Luciano De Curtis,
G.B. De Filippo, Eduardo(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) De Filippo, E. (popularity abroad)
De Filippo, E. (The Tempest) De Filippo, Luca De Filippo, Peppino de Gasparis,
Annibale Dehnhardt, Friedrich de Jorio, Andrea d'Elboeuf, villa de' Liguori,
Alfonso Maria della Porta, Giambattista delle Colonne, Guido
dell'Orefice, Giuseppe De Luca, Ferdinando de Mari (Poggio dei Mari)
De Marinis, Fulvio(1) (2) (3) (4) de Matteis, Paolo demographics De Muto,
Salvatore d'Enghien, Maria de Paganis, (H)ugo De Principe (Pontano) de Ribera,
Giuseppe der Kater Hiddigeigei de Rosa, Loise De Sanctis, Francesco De Sica,
Vittorio De Simone, R. de Toledo, Pedro (Don) De Veroli, Carlo Devil's
Footprints De Vulagari Eloquentia dialect (Neapolitan) (1)(2) dialect lit. in
Neapolitan dialect theater diaspora,Neapolitan Diaz, Armando di Capua, Eduardo
Dickens, Charles di Fausto, Florestano Di Giacomo, S. Diomede Carafa (Palazzo)
Diomedes Don't Get No Respect Dionysius(of Sicily) diplo. relations, US/Naples
di Sangro, Raimondo di Spigna, Alfonso
d'Ognate (viceroy) Dog, Grotto of the dog museum dog waste dog racing
dog-sitting Dohrn, Anton doll hospital Doll's House, A dolmen Dolomites, Small
(region. park) Domenichino Donadio, Giovanni Donizetti, G. Donn'Anna, villa
Doria, Andrea Doria d'Angri, Palazzo Doria d'Angri, Villa Dorian Invasion
D'Orsi, Achille Douglas, Norman Doyle, Arthur Conan Dracula dreams driving in
Naples drones over Naples(1)(2) Dove sta Zaza (song) dubbing, film Duca d'Aosta
(piazzetta) Duchesca (Villa) Duchess of Malfi, The Dumas, Alexander Durante,
Francesco dynasties (time-line)


E

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Early humans in S. Italy Early Miscellania Early Netherlandish Painting
earthquake(Calabria, 1783) earthquake (Ischia, 1883) earthquake (Messina, 1908)
(2) earthquake(1857) (1930) (1980) earthquakes Easter Monday
EAZA(eur.assoc.zoos&aquar.) Ebe (villa) Eboli Echia, Mt. ecomonsters economics
Eden (Hotel)-ex Edenlandia (park)(1) (2) (3) Egg Castle "Eleonora"(Fonseca
Pimentel) Elea/Velia
Elena e Maria, villa Elicantropo (theater) Emerald Grotto emigration exhibit
emigration/immigration emigration museum? English cemetery (-ex) English forts,
Capri (1) (2) English usage Enotrians (ancient people) Eos (yacht) (2) Epiphany
Equians (ancient people) erotic art (ancient) Escher, M.C. Esoteric Naples
Esposito, Lello Etna (Mt.) (on UNESCO list) Etruscans in Campania(1) (2)
Etruscan language
Etruscan museums Eunostidi (Greek Naples) EUR Eureka!--museum exhibit Eurispes
European Capital of Culture Euro,the (1) (2) Evangelista,Elsa Everything is
related to Naples: series. Evil Eye extracomunitari Exultet rolls of S. Italy


F

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Fabre, Jan FAI - environmental fund Faito, Monte (Mt.) Falciano-Mondragone
Falcone, Andrea Falcone, Aniello Fanzago, Cosimo Farelli, Giacomo Farinelli
Farnese Collection Farnese, Palazzo (Rome) fascio littorio (Fascist symbol)
Fascist architecture Fascist plot against Croce fast-food fast-food (ancient)
(1)(2) Favorita, Villa Fazzini, Gaetano FEDERPARCHI femminiello Ferdinand II,
"la bomba" Ferdinand IV (a sidelight) Ferdinandea(1) (2.different) Ferdinando &
Carolina (film) Fermariello (Villa) Ferragosto Ferrante of Aragon Ferriere
(Valley of the) Ferrigno, Giuseppe Fersen (villa, on Capri) FERT Fescina, the
Festa, Farina e Forca Fibonacci, Leonardo Fieramosca, Ettore
fig (hand gesture) Filangieri, Gaetano Filangieri museum film noir films set in
Naples Filomarino, A. (archbishop) Filomarino, Palazzo Finelli. Giuliano
Fiorentini,dei (theater) Fiorenza, Rosario Fiorelli, Giuseppe Fiorillo, Silvio
fireworks(1)   (2) Fireworks in Naples (painting) Firrao, Palazzo Fischetti,
Fedele Fiuggi "Fjord" of Furore Flegrean Fields Flegrean islands (marine
reserve) Floridiana, Villa Florimo, Francesco "flower people" Foce Volturno Park
FOQUS Foggia (city)
Foggia, Michele food, slow Fonseca Pimentel, E. Fontana, Domenico Fontanelle
cemetery football (soccer), early Fortunato, Giustino
fortune tellers Forty-Hour devotion (altar) Fossataro, Marcello fountain, Serino
fountains, (monument) Four Days of Naples (1)(2)(3) Fracanzano, Cesare Fra
Diavolo Fra Nuvolo Franceschi, Emilio Franceschi, Giulia Civita
Franchetti, Alberto Francis (pope) in Campania(1) (2) Frankenstein Franklin,
Benjamin fratria (Greek Naples) Frederick II (1)(2)(3)(4) Freight Village (Nola)
Fresnel lenses Friday the 17th! Frozen in Time Fruit of Christmas, The Fucik,
Julius Fuga, Ferdinando Funiculi Funicula funicolari (cable cars) (map)
funicolare (Montesanto) funicolare (MS: new station) funivia (Posillipo) furbone
Fusaro, Lake Futurismo


G

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Gabinetto segreto Gaeta (1)(2) Mt. Orlando Park Gaiola(2002)(2015) Galante,
Gennaro Galdieri, Rocco and Michele Galilei, Vincenzo Galleria Principe di
Napoli Gallery, The (novel) Galleria Umberto(1) (2) Galuppi, Baldassarre
Gambrinus Caffe Gandolfi, Riccardo garbage and beauty Gargano, the Gargano
(coastal caves) Gargano National Park Gargiulo, D. (1)(2) Garibaldi, Giuseppe
Garibaldi (US reaction 1) Garigliano river Garzya, Giac.(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)
(9) (10) (11)
Gate of Heaven, the (film) Gaudi, Antonio Gaudo culture Gauro, Mt. Gay Odin
Gazzaniga, Giuseppe Gazzola, Felice Gelbison. Mt. (sanctuary) Gemito,
Vincenzo(1)(2)(3) Genoa (cruise stop) Genoino, Giulio Genovesi, Antonio
Genovese, Gaetano Gentileschi, Artemisia geology (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)
geophysics observ. Ischia geo-paleo park & lab Gestur (navigation company)
gestures, hand (1) (2) gestures & A. de Jorio Gesualdo, Carlo Gesu delle monache
(church) Gesu Nuovo, church & square Ges.Nuovo, music on facade Gesu Vecchio
(church) getting by Ghetti, Bart. & Pietro ghost towns Giaquinto, Corrado
Giammusso, Hugo Giannetti, Giovanni "Giant," the (fountain) Gigante, Giacinto
Gigante, Marcello gigli (of Nola) Gioconda, la Gioia, Flavio Giordani, Giuseppe
Giordano, Luca (1)(2) Giov. Maria Trabaci (assoc.) Girolamini (book theft)
Girolamini (church, monas.) Girolamini (pipe organ) Gisolfo, Orazio Gladstone's
pamphlet/Naples Gleijeses, Vittorio Goethe, J.W.v.(1)(2) goigs (Sard. religious
chants) Golden Mile Golden Pool, On Google archives (old Naples) goats (on
Capri)
Gonzaga, Giulia Goodyear Blimp Gothic Wars Gradola, villa (Anacapri)
Grande,Antonio graffiti (1)(2) Grand Hotel (1880) Grand Hotel Londres Grand
Tour, the Granary, the old Royal Gravina, Palazzo Grazzanise (airport)(1)   (2)
Great Race of 1908 Great White Fleet Greeks in Naples Greek churches in Calabria
Greek language (in Italy) Greek Naples Greek Orthodox Church Greek tombs Greene,
Graham Gregorian calendar Gregory VII (Pope) "Green lungs" of Naples Green
Schooner Grimaldi, Francesco (1)(2) Grossatesta, Gaetano grottoes (marine) of
Posillipo Gualtieri, Nicola Guarracino,lo Guglielmelli, Arcangelo
Guglielmi,Pietro Guiscard, Robert Guise (Duke of) guitar in Naples, the  
gypsies (1) (2) (3)


H

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Haas (villa) haggis pizza hagiotoponomy halloween Hamilton, William (Sir)
Hamilton,Emma Hammett, A. Hannibal hate-speech haunted houses Hauteville, Robert
(of) Haussmann, G-E. Hayes, Alfred health care Hebrew inscriptions (alleged)
Hellman, Fred (WWII oral history) Hemingway, Ernest Hera (temple) Hercules, rock
of Herculaneum (1)(2)
Herculaneum (papyri) Herc. (Ercolano) Virtual Museum Herman (1)(2)(3)(4)(R.I.P.)
Hersey, John Hesselblad, Mary Elizabeth Hindenburg (airship) Hipparchus Hirpinia
Historical Studies (Institute) historic center, Naples (map) Hitler in Naples
Hollow Earth Holmes, Sherlock Holocaust Studies in Naples Holy Apostles (church)
Homo Erectus (Aeserniensis) Homer hooligans (soccer) Horn, Rebecca
horse breeding (Persano) horse's head Horse Tamers, The (statues) hospital del
mare hospital (First Polyclinic) hospital for the "Incurable" hospital, military
(ex)convent "hospital section" of Naples Hospital, USA 17th General Howells,
William Dean humans (early modern)


I

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Iapigi (ancient people) Ibn Khaldun ice-skating in Naples I dreamt that I dwellt
in marble halls Ieranto (Jeranto)(Bay) Ig Nobel prizes Incoronata, church(1)(2)
industrial archaeology Industrial Arts museum(1)(2) Immacolatella
immigration/emigration Impossible Exhibit, the (2014) incubation (the other one)
infiorata (flower petal art) Innocenti, Bruno Inquisition (Medieval) Inquisition
(Spanish) Insanguine, Giacomo inscriptions, Latin installation art Inst.
Historical Studies Inst. Philosoph. Studies Int. Cont. Drill. Program intarsio
internoA14 (association) inverted high-rises
iPhone app for touring Naples Iqbal's Carpet (social circus) iSanGennaro, the
(!) Ischia(1)(2)(3) Ischia & Agartha Ischia (ancient/Pithecusa) Ischia
(earthquake 1883) Ischia (grottoes) Ischia (letter from) Ischia (lighthouse)
Islam (Muslim colony, Lucera) Islam, early (in Italy) Islam in Naples 
(1)(2)(3)(4) islands (small) Isolympic Games (Neapolis) Isouard, Nicolo Italian
naval flag Italian Wars (1500s) Italic Confederation Italic peoples Italsider
(Ilva) "Italy" (etymology) "Italy" (first use of) iTourNA Iuvara, Martino


J

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jai alai (1)(2) Jason Jefferson, Thomas Jerace (Ierace), Francesco Jeranto (Bay
of) & poem (2) Jessel, Leon Jesuits in Naples Jewish community Jewish catacombs
Jewish history exhibit Jewish quarter Jews (early in Italy) Jews of San Nicandro
JFK in Naples Joanna I  & Joanna II Jodice,  Mimmo John of Austria Joli, Antonio
Jolly Hotel Jommelli, Niccolo Jones, Thomas journals & newspapers, old Journey
to Parnassus Judith (Book of) Jung, C.G.


K

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K666. Fra Mozart e Napoli (novelle) Kagoshima, Japan Kapoor, Anish(1) karst &
caving in S. Italy karst (geology) Kathleen Mavourneen Kennedy(JFK) in Naples
Kerbaker, Michele Keys, Ancel Khedive (the, in Naples) Kircher, Athanasius
Kociejowski, Marius (all pages from here) Knights Templar Krupp, Alfred Krupp
(via) (Capri) Kurgan Hypothesis


L

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L-59 (WWI airship) Lablache, Luigi
Lafrery,Antoine Lago (di) Patria La Guardia, Fiorello
language/s (1)(2) language & communication languages, minority Lao (river) La
Pegna mobile library Largo del Castello Latillo, Gaetano Latin Latini (ancient
people) Lattari mountains (reg. park) Laurito (frescoes of)(1)(2) Lauro, Achille
Lawrence, D.H.(1)(2) Lazzari, Dionisio (1)(2)(3) Lear, Edward Lecce Baroque
Legambiente legends, Neapolitan lentils Leo, Leonardo Leonardo da Vinci
Leoncavallo, Ruggero Leonetti (villa) Leopardi, Giacomo
Lepanto,Battle of Lettere (castle) Letters from a Mourning City Levico "Liberty"
architecture (1)(2) Liberty ships
libraries libraries (community) Library, National library, Storia patria nostra
Licola Licosa (Punta) Li Galli (islands) lighthouse (Anacapri) lighthouses in &
near Naples Ligurians (ancient people)(2) Lilio (Lilius), Luigi Liri (island,
waterfalls) literacy (spread to Italy) Liternum lithographs (1890-1900) "Little
King" Livia, Villa "Living Will" Locris (Locri) Lomax, Alan Lombardo, Gustavo
Lombards (main entry)
Lombards in Italy (UNESCO) Lombroso, Cesare Longo, Maria Lorenzo the Magnificent
Loris-Rossi, Aldo Lucania (Roccagloriosa) Lucania, archeol. museum Lucanians
Lucera (Muslim colony) Luciano, Charles ("Lucky") Lucia (Villa) Lucian luck:good
& bad (1) (2)  (3)  (4)  (5)  (6) (7) Lucrino, lake Lucullus (villa & "splendor
of") Luiz, Silvio Maria lullabies Lynn, Richard


M

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"Macchia" plot, the macchietta (song type) MacKowen, John Clay Maddalena
(bridge) Maddaloni Madonna of Buon Consiglio Madonna (Pomegranate) Madre di Buon
Consiglio Maglione, Mario Magnacca, Nadia Magna Graecia Magia naturalis Magliano
Vetere maintenance and upkeep Maiuri, Amedeo Majo (villa) Majolica (ceramics)
Majorana, Ettore Majorano, Gaetano Majorcan cartography Malahne (motor yacht)
Maldacea, Nicola malocchio Mallett, Robert Malta Maltese Falcon (yacht) Mamma
Ciociara Mamma Schiavona mandolin, Neapolitan Manduzio, Donato Manfred Maradona,
Diego (1)(2) Maratea, Christ of (statue) Maraval (Villa) Marcellino and Festo M.
Amalia, queen of Naples M. Carolina, queen of Naples Maria Christina of Savoy
Maria Cristina (grotto) Maria Sofia of Bourbon Marigliano (Palazzo) Marina di
Stabia Marina, via (new constr.) Marinelli bell foundry marine reserves Marino,
Giambattista Mario, E.A. maritime museums Marotta, Gerardo Marotta, Gius.
(1)(2)(3)(4) Marlow, William Mars Marseilles (cruise stop) Marsili, Mt.
(volcano) Martini, Arturo Martucci, Giuseppe Martyrdom of S. Ursula Martyrs'
Square
Masaniello's Revolt Maschio Angioino (1)(2) Massa Lubrense(1)(2) Mastriani,
Francesco Mater Matuta Matera Matese (lake & park) Matteucci, Raffaele (1)(2)
Maxantia (tomato) May (the Rites of) Mayr, Simone Mazarin (Cardinal) mazzarella
(of S. Giuseppe) Mazzella, Scipione Mazzini, Giuseppe Mazziotti (Palazzo)
Mazzucchi, Alfredo measure (archaic units of) Med Cooking Congress Med Diet
(Ancel Keys) Med Diet (UNESCO Heritage) Mediterranean Games Medit. Museum (MAMT)
Medit. Shipping Co. (Msc) Medrano, G.A. megaliths Megaride (island) mega-yachts
(1) (2)(3)(4) Mehta, Zubin Melfi, Constitution of Melloni, Macedonio memento
mori Mercalli scale (earthquakes) Mercato, Piazza (1)(2)(3) Mercadante, Saverio
Mercadante Theater Merchant Marine Academy Mergellina
Mergellina train station Merliano, Giovanni (da Nola) Merola, Mario Messapians
(ancient people) Messina quake (1908)(1) (2) Metro del mare metropolitana
(series) metropolitana (airport station) Miceli, Giorgio Michelangelo sculpture
Migliaro, Vincenzo Migrantis Foundation Minturnae (Minturno) miscellania, early
miscellany, Naples Miseno Mitelli, Giuseppe Maria Mithra, cavern of Molosiglio
(port)(1)(2) monaciello Monaldi (hospital) Monarca
monasteries Mon(n)aLisa monolith (Sicilian channel) Monongah, W.Va. mine
disaster Monopoli (city) Monopoly (board game) Mons Lactarius (battle of) Monte
di Dio Monte di Pieta Monte Echia Monte e banco dei Poveri Monte Nuovo Monte
Sant'Angelo Monte Sant'Angelo (univ.)
Montesarchio Monteverde, Giulio (sculptor) Monteverdi, Claudio Montevergine
(sanctuary) monuments Monuments in May (1)(2) morganatic marriage Mori, Cesare
Morlacchi, Francesco Mortella, la (gardens) (1)(2) mortuary analysis Morse,
Samuel Moscati, Giuseppe Moses ("horns" of) Mostra d'Oltremare (1)  (2) Muhammad
(The Night Ride) multi-spectral imaging Mumford, Lewis Municipio, Piazza
munnezza e bellezza Munthe, Axel(1)(2) Murat, Gioacchino Murat & the Neapolitan
navy Murolo, Roberto museum, archaeological museum, archaeo(staircase) museum,
Naples diocese museum "Madre" museum/metro stop museum, naval (S. Martino)
museum(of the subsoil) museums, living museums (nat. sciences) music & exploding
heads music (Center of Ancient) music conserv. & Educ.(1) (2) music
conservatories, original music, Roman musical instruments
music.misc.(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6) musicals in Naples myths Mysteries, Children of
the


N

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Naccherino, Michelangelo NAlbero names (historical geographical) names of kings
names, unusual Naples, ancient (in museum) Naples (bank, archives) Naples
(duchy)(1)(2) Naples (kingdom, time-line) Naples in the 1600s Naples Italia
theater festival Naples, a paradise of devils Naples Netherworld, strange fate
Naples Riviera (book) Naples today Napoleon Napoletani a Milano (film) Napoli
'900 (art exhibit) Naples Atlas complete Napolimania Napoli Milionaria Napoli
nobilissima (journal) Napolisoundscape Napoli Underground (NUg) Narciso, Adolfo
Natale in Casa Cupiello National Parks, S. Italy (table) NATO base,
ex-(1)(2)(3)(4) Natural Sciences (1735-1845) Nauclerio, G.B. NBLKFOPSJON
'ndrangheta Neapolis (1)(port)(2)(3) Nea Polis (on-line film noir) "Neapolitan
crypt," the Neapolitan diaspora Neapolitan language (1)(2) Neapolitan Mastiff
Neapolitan painting, history of Neapolitan Republic, first Neapolitan Republic
(1799)
Neapolitan Song (1)  (2)  (3) Neap. (Parthenop.) Song, archives
Neapolitan Songs (pseudo-) Neapol. Stories & Legends Neapolitan song texts
"Neapolitan War," the Nelson, Horatio (vice-admiral) Nelson & Lady Hamilton Nemo
Assoc. (marine biol.) Neo-Realism (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8) nepotism in Academia
"Neptune" fountain Nestor's Cup Neville-Rolfe, E. New Year's Niccolini, Antonio
Nicolai, Carsten Nicolini, Giuseppe Niemeyer auditorium (Ravello) "Nile" (square
& statue) Ninfa (garden) Nisida Nisida (detention center closes) Nisida (2015
update) Nisida (period postcard #23) Nobile, Umberto Noir, film (local) noise
Nola (the gigli)(1)(2) noodles (1)(2)(3) Normans, the Northern League, the
Norway, Arthur H. (1)(2) Noschese, Alighiero Notari, Elvira Nunziatella
Numismatic Center


O

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Oasis of the Seas obesity (1)(2) observatory (astron.) observatory (Vesuvius)
Ocean Victory (yacht) Odessa (the ship) oenomancy ogres Old City/New City
(Greek) Olivetti factory On Golden Pool opera parodies Opicians (ancient people)
Oplontis (3 items) Opus Continuum 1  (2)
opus reticulatum oracles Oracles of the Dead Oral HistoryWW2 Orchids (Valley of)
Orfei, Moira organs (pipe) organs (in the Duomo) "Orientale" University
Orlando, Mt. (Gaeta) Orsi, Paolo & R.C. Museum Orsini Del Balzo, Raimondo Oro di
Napoli (l')(1)(2) Ortese, Anna Maria Ortolani, Sergio Orvieto Oscan-Samnite
remains Oscans (ancient people) 'o sole mio Ostuno (museum) Otiosi,the (society)
Otranto (mosaic in) Ottati Our Lady of Mercy (church) Our Lady of the Snow
(church) outlaw music (1)(2)


P

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Pacanowski, Davide Pacini, Giovanni Paderni, Camillo Padovani, Aurelio Padre Pio
Padula, certosa and museum Paestum(1)(2) Page, Russell Paglicci Grotto Painter,
William Paisiello, G. Paisa (film) Palazzo a mare (Anacapri) Palace of Pleasure
Palasciano, F. paleo-Christianity (1)(2)(3) Paleolithic Park Palepolis
Palermo (cruise stop) Palinuro (ship) Palladino, Eusapia Pallonetto (Santa
Lucia) Palma, Mallorca (cruise stop) Palmieri, Luigi palm tree pest Palmyra PAN
(modern art museum) panem et circenses Pane, Roberto Pannone, Gianfranco
Pantaleone Papal States papyri (of Herculaneum) Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
Paradise inhabited by devils Parry, Milman Partanna, Lucia Migliaccio Partanna
(Palazzo) Partenio National Park(1)(2) Parthenope (siren) Parthenope (old city)
Parthenope (restoration of statue) Parthenope university(1)(2) Parthenopean
Republic (1)(2) Pasquetta Passanante, Giovanni Pastena (grotto) pastoralism
Pattano, St. Mary of (Abbey) Patrizi(villa) pawn shop (first) pazzariello, the
Peace & Quiet Peard, John Whitehead Peloponnesian War Penne, A. (building,
legend) Pentameron, the pentiti, i (informers) Perez, Augusto Pergolesi, G.
(1)(2) pernacchio (1)(2) Perret, Frank A. Perrucci, Andrea Persano horses
Persano (hunting lodge, Bourbon) Persano (WWF site) persiane
Pertosa caves Pertusillo (lake) Peter III of Aragon Peter of Eboli Petillo,
Pietro Petina (Alburni) Petito, Antonio (1)(2) Petito, Salvatore Petrarch in/and
Naples Petrarch (letter on Avignon) Petrella, Errico Petrolini, Ettore
Petrosino, "Joe" Peutinger map Phalerum Philosophical Studies (Institute) Phocea
(ship)(1)(2) Photochrom lithography (1890) photography, early photography (Right
of Panorama) phylloxera winepest Phyrric victory physics museum Piana delle Orme
(museum) Piano, Enzo Piarist schools Piazza grande picaresque (novel)
Picchiatti, Bartolomeo Picchiati, Francesco Antonio Piccinni, Niccolo Picenians
(ancient people) Picentine regional park Piedigrotta Piedigrotta Festival Piedi
per la terra (organization) Pieta de' turchini Pietrabbondante Pietrarsa
(railway museum) Pietrarsa (royal foundry) Pietrastornina Pietro da Morone
Pignataro, Felice Pignatelli, villa Pinakes of Locri, the Pio Monte della
Misericordia Pioppi Pisacane, Carlo Pisani, Giuseppe Piscina Mirabilis Pithecusa
(Ischia) 1 Pithecusa (Ischia) 2 Pitloo, Anton Sminck pizza (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
(6) (7) (8) Pizzofalcone Place in the Sun, A (TV drama) Places named for Saints
Plague, the (1656) plague columns (1)  (2) Plebiscito, piazza (1) (2) (3) (4)
Pliny, the Younger Poerio, C. Poggiomarino Poggioreale, Villa Polla (Alburni)
Policoro Woods Pompeii (consol. page) Pontano Chapel Pontano, Giovanni Pontano
Institute Pontecagnano Pontine swamps Ponza Pope Pius VI popes from Naples Popes
& anti-Popes porcelain factory (Royal) pornography (Greek & Roman)(1)  (2)
Porpora, Niccolo Portici (Bourbon palace) port (passenger) port (commercial)
port of Neapolis port, Roman Portus Iulius Porzio, Luca Antonio Poseidonia
Posillipo (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Posillipo School (painting) Posta Fibreno (lake)
postcards from Naples Postiglione post-office (constr. 1936) pot-holes Poths,
James Poveri di Gesu Cristo (conservatory) Pozzuoli Pozzuoli (Cathedral)
Pozzuoli (natural concrete) Pozzuoli (Roman port) Prefecture of Naples presepe
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) presepe assoc.(A.I.A.P) presepe (underwater) Presti,
Bonaventura Preti, Mattia Procida (6 items)(2) Procida (Monte di) professions,
old-time (1)  (2)  (3)  (4)  (5)  (6)  Provenzale, Francesco public transport
(early) public health under the Bourbons Puca, Davide Pulcinella (1)   (2)  (3)
 (4)  Punks on Bikes Purgatorio ad Arco (church) puple turd gorge! Putignano,
Stefano Pythagoras


Q

Quisisana Royal Palace Quarant'Ore devotion Quattro Giornate (tunnel)


R

Click on image for a sample article from letter R

Radeca festival Ragolia, Michele railway (Italy's first) railway museum
Raimondi, Pietro "Raimondello" rainfall Ramage, Craufurd Tait Ranieri, Massimo
Ranjit Singh ratchet (musical instrument) Ravaschieri di Satriano Ravello
(2005)  (2008)  (2014) Ravello (villa Episcopio) Ray, L. (Remembering Naples)
Rea, Domenico realism(lit)(1) (2) (3) Redeemer, Most Holy (Church) Redeeming
Christian slaves Redeemer (Mountain) Reformation in Naples Reggio Calabria
Museum Regi Lagni (canals) Reid, Neville Remembrance of Things Past Renoir,
Pierre-Auguste Republic, first Neapolitan
Restoration, European Inst. of Reubeni, David "Reuccio," il revolution (1848) in
Naples Riace Bronzes Ricca (Palazzo) Ricciardi (Villa) Richard, J-C of Saint-Non
Rimini, Antonio Ripa, Matteo Risanamento(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Risorgimento1)(2)
Risorgimento,il (WW II newspaper) ritmo cassinese Riva Fiorita rivers(60+ km)
Rizzi Zannoni, G.A. Roads to Nowhere Robert the Wise Robida, Albert
Roccagloriosa Roccamandolfi Roccamonfina Park Rocco, Gregorio Maria rock art
Roman bridge to Vomero
Romanesque architecture Roman Republic (1849) Rome, Rebirth of Romulus
Augustulus Rosa, Salvator Roscigno (Alburni) Rosebery, Villa Rosi, Francesco
Ross,Janet Rossi, Lauro Rossini, G. (1)(2)(3) Rovigliano,island Royal Clipper
(yacht) Royal Palace Royal Poorhouse royalty
Rubino, Sergio Ruffo, F., Cardinal Rufolo, villa (Ravello) rupestrian
churches(1)(2)(3)(4)(5) Russo-Ermoli (palazzina) Russo,Ferdinando Russo, Tato
Russo,Vincenzo


S

Click on image for a sample article from letter S



Prefixes of churches: San (S. or Ss=saints), Sant',  Santa (S.), Santa Maria
(S.M.), and Santissimo/a (SS.=for The Most Holy Redeemer, Christ/the Most Holy
Virgin Mary, respect.) are listed first. Other entries under S follow thereafter
S (general).



San & Ss. (Saints)-



Saint James, the Shell of S. Antoniello S. Arcangelo (Bourbon royal site) S.
Bartolomeo S. Carlino (theater) S. Carlo Theater S. Carlo all'Arena S. Diego
all'Ospedaletto S. Domenico Maggiore S. Domenico Soriano S. Ferdinando (church)
S. Ferdinando (theater) (1)(2) S. Ferdinando (first steamship) S. Filippo Romolo
Neri S. Francesco delle Monache S. Francesco di Paola (church) S. Francesco di
Paola (life) S. Francis Caracciolo S. Francis Xavier S. Gaetano (Cajetan) S.
Gaudioso S. Gennarello Spogliamorti S. Gennaro S. Genn. al Vomero S. Genn. & the
iPhone S. Genn. (basilica extra moenia) S. Genn (bust, L. Esposito) S. Genn. Day
(moved!) S. Genn. (Treasure, Chapel) S. Genn. dei Poveri S. Genn. museum S.
Genn. (Porta) S. Giacomo degli Italiani S. Giacomo (Palazzo) S. Giacomo degli
Spagnoli S. Giorgio dei Genovesi S. Giorgio Maggiore S.Giovanni a Carbonara S.
Giov. Battista delle Monache S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini S. Giovanni delle
Monache S. Giovanni di Pappacoda S. Giovanni in fonte S. Giovanni Maggiore S.
Giovanni Magg. (square) S. Giovanni Rotondo (town) S. Giuseppe a Chiaia(1)(2) S.
Giuseppe dei nudi S. Giuseppe dei Ruffi S. Giuseppe delle scalze S. Greg. Armeno
(1) (2) (3) Ss. John and Theresa S. Lawrence (Night of) S. Leonardo S. Leucio
(town) S. Lorenzo (archaeol. site) S. Lorenzo (church) S. Lorenzo (museum) S.
Martino S. Martino Hill S. Martino (island) S. Martino vineyard S. Michele
Arcangelo S. Michele Arc. (Monte S.Angelo) S. Mich. Arcangelo (Port'Alba) S.
Michele di Montenero S. Nicandro S. Nicholas in Naples S. Nicola alla Carita S.
Nicola a Nilo S. Paolo Maggiore S. Paolo stadium S. Pasquale Ss. Phillip & James
S. Pietro ad Aram S. Pietro a Maiella S. Pietro infine (town) S. Pietro Martire
S. Sebastiano (Naples & Alatri) S. Severino (orig.monastery) Ss. Severino e
Sossio S. Severo al Pendino S. Severo Chapel S. Silvestro (Partenio Park) S.
Silvestro (woods, WWF) S. Tarciso Martire S. Vincenzo a Volturno S. Vincenzo
della Sanita S. Vincenzo de' Paoli S. Vincenzo, Molo (pier) S. Vitale


Sant', Santo, Santi, St.--



Sant' Agostino della Zecca Sant' Alfonso Hill Sant' Andrea delle Dame Sant'
Angelo a Fasanella Sant' Angelo a Nilo Sant'Angelo in Formis Sant' Aniello a
Caponapoli Sant' Antonio abate Sant' Ant-Monache Port'Alba Sant' Antuono
(bonfires) Sant' Antonio a Posillipo Sant' Arcangelo a Baiano Sant' Aspreno ai
crociferi Sant' Aspreno al Porto Sant' Efremo Vecchio Sant' Eligio Sant'Elmo
(1)(2) Sant' Onofrio a Capuana Santo Stefano Santo Strato Santi Apostoli St.
Anthony's "Fire" St. Camillus de Lellis St. Vitus Dance



santa (S.) SS. (Santissima)--


S. Agata de' Goti S. Anna dei Lombardi S. Anna (festival, Ischia) SS. Annunziata
(Vico Equense) S. Brigida S. Brigida "2" S. Brigida (the The Val di Noto and the
Sicilian Baroque) S.Caterina a Chiaia S. Caterina da Siena S. Caterina della
Spina Corona S. Caterina a Formiello S. Caterina a Formiello (fountain) S.
Chiara, church S. Chiara (courtyard restor.) S. Chiara museum S. Chiara (old
cross-roads)

Santa(S.) (cont.)-

      

S. Croce Basilica, Lecce S. Croce e Purgatorio S. Lucia (St. Lucy) S. Lucia al
Monte S.M. a Cappella Nuova S.M. a Cappella Vecchia S.M. ai Vergini S.M. alla
Carita S.M. Annunziata (Ravello) S.M. Apparente S.M. Assunta di Bellavista
S.M.Capua Vetere (town) S.M. degli Angeli alle Croci S.M. degli Angeli a
Pizzofalcone S.M. dei Sette Dolori S.M. del Carmine (1)(2) S.M. del Divino Amore
S.M. dell'Aiuto S.M. della Catena S.M. della Colonna S.M. della Concordia S.M.
della Libera (Vomero) S.M. della Neve S.M. della Pazienza S.M. della Redenzione
dei Captivi S.M. della Rotonda S.M. della Sanita S.M. della Sapienza(1)(2) S.M.
della Vittoria S.M. delle Grazie S.M. delle Grazie a Toledo S.M. dello Spirito
Santo S.M. del Parto S.M. del Soccorso (Arenella) S.M. di Caravaggio S.M. di
Loreto (conservatory) S.M. di Montecalvario S.M. di Monteoliveto S.M. di
Montesanto S.M. di Pattano (Abbey) S.M. di Piedigrotta S.M. di Pietraspaccata
S.M. di Portosalvo(update) S.M. Donna Regina (new) S.M. Donna Regina (old) S.M.
Egiziaca a Pizzofalcone S.M. Francesca S.M. in Cosmedin S.M. in Portico S.M. la
Nova S.M. Maggiore (1)(2) S.M. Regina Coeli S. Margherita Nuova S. Martha S.
Matrona
S. Orsola S. Patrizia (Patricia) S. Restituta S. Teresa a Chiaia S. Teresa degli
Scalzi Ss. Trinità
Spirito Santo, church Spirito Santo dei Napoletani


S (general)--


Sabines (ancient people) Sacchini, Antonio Sacred Heart, (Institute)
Sacred Letter Sacred Spring Saepinum sagre (festivals) Said, Edward sailing
Sala, Nicola Salas, Esteban Salento (caves) Salernitano, Masuccio Salerno 1943
(association) Salerno, duchy of Salerno Ivories Salerno (medical school) Salerno
(music conserv.) Salerno (Palazzo) Sallustro, Attila Salo (Republic of) Salone
Margherita salt mines of Sicily Salvator Mundi Salvi, Selene (paintings) (2) (3)
Salvi, Selene (poetry) (1) (2) Samnites sampietrino (1) (2) Samurai Academy
Sanfedisti, the (society) Sanfelice, Ferdinando Sanita (area of Naples)
Sanitansamble Sanmartino, G. Sannazzaro, Jacopo Sannazzaro Theater Santangelo
(Palazzo) Santobuono (Palazzo) Sapri (Gleaner of--poem) Saracen (or Sighting)
Towers saracinesca Sardinia (general) Sardinia(to separate index) Sardinian
guidicati Sardinian nuraghi Sarnelli, Pompeo Sarno river Sarro, Domenico Sartre,
Jean-Paul Sassano Saviano, Roberto Savinio, Alberto Savoia di Lucania Savone
river Savoy Scalandrone grotto Scale, Muslim book of the Scam, gentle street
Scampia, the vele [sails](1)(2) Scampia Storytelling Scarfoglio, Antonio
Scarfogio, Eduardo Scario Scario, sailing trip to Scarlatti, Alessandro
Scarpetta, Edoardo sceneggiata Schianterelli, Pompeo Science City(1)  (2. fire
2013) Scipio Africanus sciuscia(1)(2) Scolopi (scuole pie)
Scontrino, Antonio Scopa (card game) Scot, Michael (1)(2) scribe, the
(profession) Scudillo scugnizzo (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) sculptors (Neapolitan) sea
front (via Caracciolo) Seanna (yacht) Sebeto river Secret Room (Archeo. Museum)
Secret Societies (M.Crawford) secret societies, other sedili (mediev. admin.
unit) Segesta Seiano Grotto Sele river Selinunte
Senerchia Serao, M. (1)(2) Serpico, Federico Serra di Cassano, (Palazzo) Serre
(park, Calabria) Sessa (Palazzo) Seven Madonnas of Campania sewerage system
Seymour, David Sgambati, Giovanni shades & blinds, etc. etc. Shakespeare (Was he
Italian?) Shakes. & Garib. (etymology) sheela-na-gig Shelley, Mary (1)(2)
Shelly, P. B. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) shipbuilding ships & sails Shroud of Turin
SIAE sibyl (Cuma) sibyl (pseudo, Averno) Sibyl, the Time of (painting, poem)
Sichelgaita Sicignano degli Alburni Sicilian expedition, the
Sicilian Vespers Sicily (islands) Siculians (ancient people) Sinigallia, Aldo
(r.i.p) sirens sirens, land of the Siren's Last Song Sirens, Temple of
Sirignano, Palazzo sister city (of Naples) sisters of Calcutta Skanderbeg
"Skulls" smorfia, la Smyth, Penelope snob club snow (1)(2) soccer (football)
soccer museum Sofer (Bagnoli) Solari, Tommaso solfatara Solimena, F. (1) (2) (3)
Soliva, Carlo Sommer,Giorgio Sommonte, Pietro Sordi, Alberto Sorrentino,
Stansilavo (1)(2) Social Wars (Rome, 90 BC) Soratte, Mt. bunker (Rome) Soratte,
Mt. (karst pits) Southey, Robert South Italian (!) Sovente, Michele Spaccanapoli
(1)(2) Spagnuolo, (Palazzo dello) Spanish in Naples Spanish Inquisition in
Naples Spanish Quarters (1) (2) Spanish Succession (War of) Spartacus(1) (2)
Speculum literature Sperlonga (Tiberius' villa, grotto) Speziale, Stefania Filo
Spielrein,Sabrina Spina Corona (fountain) Spinazzola, Vittorio Spinelli,
Giovanbattista Spinelli, Maria Spinello (of Giovenazzo), M. spirits (good &
evil) (1)(2) Splendida (ship) Spontini, Gaspare Stabiae stadiums in Naples
stamps Stanzione, Massimo Star of David (Galleria Umberto) State Roads 145 & 18
(2) statuary (villa comunale) statues (confusing) statues, eight (8 sculptors)
statues, 2 (Piazza Plebiscito) Stiffe grottoes & presepe Stile, Ignazio Stohrer
(von) stone-cutting stone-cutting (signs & symbols) streetart street bands
street-life, descriptions street pianos Stratagems of War (al-Hawari) streets
(1)(2) strikes Stromboli (1)(2) Strozzi, tavola (map) struscio, the Strutt,
Arthur John Stuarts of Naples, the Stufe di Nerone Subsoil of Naples, the subway
literature Sulla Summonte Suor Orsola university Suessula (ancient Oscan)
SuperAbile (ONLUS) survivor culture Swiss in Naples Sybarites symbolism,
Christian (1)(2) symbols of Naples syphilis Syracuse (ancient city)



T

Click on image for a sample article from letter T

Taburno, Mt. Regional Park Talitha (yacht) Tanagro river tangeziale highway, the
Tanucci, Bernardo Tarantella, the(1)(2) Taranto (ancient)
Tarsia, Palazzo Tasso, Torquato Tasso, T. (via) taxis Taylor, Bayard (at
Vesuvius) teaching farms Teanum Sidicinum(Teano) Teatro di Corte (1) (2) (3)
Teatro Festival Italia 2014 Teatro nuovo Tecchio, Piazzale Teggiano Tekla
Famiglietti, Maria Telesio, Bernardino Tempest, the (De Filippo) Templar,
Knights (1)(2) Tennyson, A. Terra di Lavoro Thalberg, Sigismund
That's Amore (1)(2) theaters, first in Naples Theatres of War (novel) theft,
petty The Last Man thermotoga neapolitana Thouret, Jeanne-Antide Tiberius (a
fish story) Tiberius (Sperlonga villa) tile, your inner time line (dynasties)
Tirrenia building Toledo, Don Pedro de, viceroy Tomb Raiders of Naples Torcino
(Boubon hunting site) Tosca Tosco, Partenio Toto Toto (Theater) toy museum
Trabaci, Giovanni Maria trabucco (fishing) train ferries train, first train
(high-speed)(1)(2)
trains (1) (2) (3) (4) train station (old main) Traeta, Tommaso trams
(trolleys), new transumanza (1) (2) (3) Tree of Life (mosaic in Otranto) trees,
sacred tregenda, the Triangle of Death Trianon Theater Trinchera, Pietro
triskelion Tritto, Giacomo troglodyte (proud to be) Troisi, M. Trulli, (houses)
Tullio, Francesco A. tunnel, Bourbon (4 items) tunnels tunnel repair (Sorrento)
turtles (rescue center for) Tu Scendi dalle Stelle Twain, Mark (1)(2) Two
Sicilies (Why two?)


U

Click on image for a sample article from letter U

UFO! ugliness Uluzzo (Uluzzian) Ulysses Umberto I (assass. attempt) Umberto,
Corso Underground cities underground Naples (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)  (6) (7) (8) (9)
underwater archaeology (Sard.) UNESCO sites in Campania UNESCO World Heritage
List UNESCO Intangible Culture UNESCO Memory of the World UNESCO Modern Heritage
UNESCO Underwater Heritage UNESCO Primeval Beech Forests university (Fred.II) &
others univer. students (decrease) UOSAE Urban VI (pope) Urban Attention Deficit
Disorder Urban Conviviality Prize urbanology Urban Sketchers


V

Click on image for a sample article from letter V

Vaccaro,Andrea Vaccaro.Giuseppe Vaccaro, Domenico Antonio Valadier, Giuseppe
Valdez, Juan de (1)(2) Valentine's Day (1) (2)
Valogno murals
Vanvitelli (van Wittel),G. Vanvitelli, Luigi Varia of Palmi, the Vatican (or
Papal) States Variconi, the Vaughan, Herbert M. Vedius Pollio, villa Veglia,
Nino Veiled Christ Velardinello Vele [sails], of Scampia Velia/Elea Venafro
(Royal Palace) Veneti (ancient people) Venice (lagoon) Venice, saving Venezia
(Palazzo) Ventotene island Verdi and San Carlo (1)(2) Verdi and The Sicilian
Vespers Verdi's music for the King Verdi Theater (Salerno) Vergini,i
vernacularization ver sacrum Vesuvian Villas Vesuvius, Mt. Vesuvius, etymology
Vesuvius Observatory Vesuvius National Park Vesuvius Railway (Th.Cook)
Vesuvius(photo, eruption 1944) Vesuvius photo of theday Vesuvius (recent
eruptions) Vesuvius (silly items)
Vesuvius, the good old days Vesuvius (train, planned) Vetara (island) Veterinary
Hospital via Sacra Langobardorum Viceconte,Ernesto Vicentino, Nicola Vico,
Giambattista (1)(2) Vico (G.B) Foundation Victor Emanuel II (monument) View of
the Naples Pier Vigano,Salvatore viggianesi Vikings in the South villa comunale
villa comunale (photo album) villa comunale, statuary (6-part) Villaggio, Paolo
Villa Jovis (or Tiberius) villas of Naples (1)(2) Vinaccia, G. Domenico Vinci,
Leonardo Virgil(1) (2) (3) (4) Virtual Museum (Herculaneum) Vittoria (Piazza)
Vivara (Procida) Vivenzio, Giovanni Viviani, Raffaele Volaire, Pierre-Jacque
volcanoes (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Volpe, Vincenzo Volpicelli, villa Volscians
(ancient people) Volturno river Vomero-urban expansion votive wall shrines
Voynich (manuscript)
Vulcano buono Vulture, Mt.


W

Click on image for a sample article from letter W

Wagner, Richard Walpole, Horace Walton, William wave energy conversion Weber,
Karl Jakob Webster, John Weir, Mark(1) (2) (3) Wertmuller, Lina (1) (2) (3) (4)
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Westerhout, Niccolo van Western Schism wetnurse W.
C. Roberdeau Wheel of Fortune Whiffenpoof Song White Fleet, the White,Jesse
Wilde, Oscar, in Naples Winckelmann, Johann J. wind power in Campania wind rose
wine (names and wine pest)
Winspeare (villa & family) Wishing Tree, the (1)(2)(3) Witches of Benevento
Wittel, Gaspar van Wizard of Oz, The Wizard's Secret, the (Serao) women's
journals World Monuments Fund WW2 armistice (Sept. 1943) WW2 Bombing of Naples
WW2 Damage to Art and Monuments WW2 Oral History (1) WW2 Oral History (2) WW2
Oral History (3) WW2 Oral History (4) WW2 Oral History (5) (San Carlo) WW2 Oral
History (6) WW2 Oral History (7) WW2 Oral History (8) (cartoons) WWF Oases in
Campania WWF Oasis-Persano WWF Oasis-Le Cesine (Puglia)


X

Nothing in Index X yet.


Y

Click on image for a sample article from letter Y

Yiddish Young, Lamont Youth Hostel


Z

Click on image for a sample article from letter Z

zampogna(1) (2) Zanarella, Paolo Zaro Woods (Ischia) Zeppelin Attack on Naples!
Zevallos-Stigliano (palazzo) Zingarelli, Niccolo "zoo-mafia," the Zoo, Naples
(consolidated page)
×

ARAGONESE NAPLES

"I wonder how they got in!" people would say. It had worked for the Greeks
against the Trojans and it had even come off once before in this very city of
Naples back in the 6th century when the Byzantine general, Belisarius, sneaked
his men past the city walls through an aqueduct. Now it was going to work again;
Alfonso's cohorts within the city opened the passage and let the invaders in.
And just as under Belisarius, the subsequent sacking and pillaging was
atrocious, but Naples was now rejoined to Sicily, unifying the Kingdom of Two
Sicilies for the first time in two hundred years. Afterwards, Alfonso went back
outside so he could enter the city officially on February 26, 1443 in a golden
chariot and sheltered by a canopy held by 30 disgruntled Neapolitan noblemen.
That entry is memorialized in the Aragonese victory arch over the entrance to
the Maschio Angioino, the Angevin Fortress. It was a task the nobles did not
like, for a king they did not like, at the beginning of a dynasty they would not
like. Shortly thereafter, Alfonso left his Spanish holdings to his brother and
dedicated himself full-time to his own Aragonese dynasty in Italy.(Technically,
the kingdom of Naples was part of the Crown of Aragon, a little-remembered term.
It was a loosely connected and vast sea-faring confederation united by
allegiance to the king of Aragon. It was short-lived (because the nation state
of "Spain" was about to form by the fusion of the houses of Aragon and
Castille). (See image, below. Note that the Crown of Aragon extended even into
Greece.)

Neapolitans always considered Alfonso (image, above) a foreigner, particularly
because of his habit of surrounding himself with only his own countrymen and
giving them the choice positions at court. Apparently, towards the end of his
life he changed his mind about this and passed on to his son a few bits of
advice: avoid the Spanish, lower the taxes and keep on good terms with the
princes in Italy, especially the Popes. Alfonso was regarded as a cultured
person; he founded an excellent library, and artists, poets, philosophers and
scholars were an integral part of his court. In the field with his troops, he
lived the same life as his men and exposed himself to danger in battle with no
regard for his own personal safety. They say he also went among the common
people incognito to find out how things were going. He liked to listen rather
than talk and claimed to be a simple person, once saying he would have been a
hermit if he had had his choice in life.

Because of his patronage of the arts he became known as Alfonso the Magnanimous.
He also started the total rebuilding of the Angevin Fortress, fallen into ruin
since its completion in the late 1200s; he paved the streets of the city,
cleaned out the swamps and greatly enlarged the wool industry that had been
introduced by the Angevins. In spite of his pretensions to simplicity, he was
addicted to splendor. At a Neapolitan reception for Frederick III of Germany,
the order of the day to all the artisans in the Kingdom was to give Frederick's
men whatever they wanted and send Alfonso the bill. Then they all went hunting
in the great crater known as the "Astroni" in the Phlegrean Fields and had a
banquet at which wine flowed down the slopes and into the fountains for the
guests. Parties, however, did not prevent Alfonso, by the time of his death in
1458, from also having developed the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies into the
foremost naval power in the western Mediterranean.

Alfonso's illegitimate son, Ferrante, succeeded him and, in spite of extreme
hostility on the part of the feudal lords in the kingdom, succeeded in
strengthening the monarchy at their expense. He also drove the Angevin fleet
from Ischia, their last stronghold in the area. Ferrante countered baronial
hostility most violently. To show the barons that feudalism was truly dead he
made a lot of them dead, by doing things such as inviting them to weddings and
then arresting, jailing and executing a number of them. They say that some were
fed to a crocodile that prowled the dungeon. (A skeleton of one such reptile
hung over the arch in the Castle until quite recently.) He even mummified some
of his late enemies and kept them on display in the dungeon of the Castelnuovo
(the alternate name for the Maschio Angioino, meaning, simply "New Castle", thus
distinguishing it from the older Castel dell'Ovo, the Egg Castle).

A sigh of relief went up from the landholding class when Ferrante died in 1494
after 28 years on the throne. It had been a time of intrigue which included
on-again/off-again relations with the Church and even a short-lived treaty with
the feared Turks who were raiding up and down the Italian coasts. The point of
the treaty had been to warn the rest of Italy to the north not to take the
Kingdom of Naples for granted. (The Ottoman Turks had just overrun the Byzantine
Empire and were threatening Rome, itself.)

The French reappeared with designs on the throne of Naples. Under Ferrante's
successor, Neapolitan resistance to the French was utterly ineffective and the
French, under Charles VIII, took the city virtually unopposed; indeed, they were
welcomed by most of the nobility, who sensed a chance to recoup their losses.
Their toadying didn't work. The French pillaged the city, anyway, and
dispossessed a number of the nobles. Charles, however, suddenly found himself
cut off: The Papal State, Milano, and Venice which had just let Charles pass
through unhindered on the way to Naples suddenly formed an alliance behind and
against him. Charles had to fight his way back home, attempting along the way,
and failing, to bribe the Pope into crowning him King of Naples. The jibe by
historians is that the French brought two things back from their Italian
campaign: the Renaissance and syphilis, one of which history has dubbed morbus
gallicus in their honor.

France then tried something else: the proposal of an Alliance to Ferdinand of
Spain against Spain's own Aragonese relatives in Naples, by virtue of which the
Kingdom of Two Sicilies would cease to exist and be divided between Ferdinand
and Charles. This would effectively give them both one less rival realm in the
area, as well as squelch the heresy that it wasn't nice to carve up one's own
cousins. Ferdinand went for it and even Machiavelli, himself, later said that
Ferdinand had certainly needed no lessons from anyone in ruthless princemanship.
The pact of Granada was signed on 11 November 1500; the Kingdom was to be
divided, with the capital, Naples, going to France. The French reentered Naples
in July 1501. It now seemed, however, that both France and Spain had had their
fingers crossed at the signing of the original treaty, so they had a war over it
and Spain won. In May 1504 Spanish troops evicted the French and entered Naples,
ending the Aragonese dynasty. The Kingdom, intact, became a colony of Spain.

Naples was now no longer the capital of its own realm. In a few year's time,
with Charles V of Spain crowned Holy Roman Emperor, heir to the Caesars and
Charlemagne, it would be part of an empire as it had been more than a thousand
years earlier. True, the East had fallen and what was left of Christian Empire
was all in the West, but after 1492 'West' meant something monumentally
different in human history. The Empire had shifted, spreading from Europe to the
Americas and on to the Pacific. The age of Empires on which "the sun never sets"
had arrived.

Close
×

EVERYTHING IS RELATED TO NAPLES

© Jeff Matthews  entry Mar 2009

The Temple of Venus in Baia


One of the most interesting bits of architecture in the vast outdoor (and
underwater!) museum that is Baia is the so-called Temple of Venus (photo, right)
. It is directly adjacent on the west to the entrance to the small lovely port
of modern Baia. The structure was built in the reign of Hadrian (117-137 AD). It
offers striking evidence of the evolution that took place in Roman architecture
during the Julio-Caludian period. There is a clear difference between this
building, characterized by a high tambour (the circular vertical part of the
cupola) with a circular internal plan and external octagonal one with large
windows, and the elementary structure of other, earlier buildings in the area.
The use of opus cementicium as the main binding ingredient had reached
perfection; this is a mixture of stone chips and strong mortar that contained
pozzolana (a volcanic ash named for the town of Pozzuoli).

This newer technology as well as an increasingly specialized workforce led to
the construction of buildings where space was conceived of in a different and
very modern way; mixtilinear (combing both straight and curved lines) forms of
architecture started to become more widespread and were marked by bright spaces
designed to be aesthetic and pleasing to the eye and not merely lived in.

This Temple of Venus is “so-called” because it was really something else (as is
the case with a number of other “temples” in the area—the Temple of Serapis in
Pozzuoli, for example). In this case excavation has shown the structure to have
been a thermal bath, the baths of which reach down to about six meters below
today’s visible ground level. The outer face is in brick, with large porticos of
reticulatum; inside, the walls were dressed with slabs of marble up to the
impost of the windows and higher up with mosaic. The outside still shows traces
of the original stone facing. The dome was formed by an umbrella vault; a part
of the octagonal roof remains visible from the outside.

The lower part of the building, on which other only partially visible buildings
lean, has become difficult to interpret; this is due not just to the lowering of
the ground level caused by seismic activity, but also due to the restoration
designed to reinforce the structure at the beginning of the 20th century. The
thermal baths were connected to a structure in the rear and stretched along the
slope of the hill.



[Other entries dealing with Baia and the immediate environs:

The Baia Castle and Museum;   The Imperial Port of Baia;   Miseno;  The Sireno
Aqueduct;

The Phlegrean Fields;  Cuma.

to Ancient World portal



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FRANCESCO CARACCIOLO

Caracciolo is an old and prominent Neapolitan surname. There are at least 50
bearers of that name in the current Naples phone book. Indeed, the name has
divided into various branches over the centuries"Caracciolo of here" and
"Caracciolo of there," resulting in some very impressive listings in the
directory. There is a "Prince Landolfo Amrogio Caracciolo di Melissano". That is
the longest one I see, although, without a title, Francesco Alberto Caracciolo
di Torchiarolo" edges him out by a few letters. (From the address in the phone
book, he is my next-door neighbor, although I don't know why that should matter
to me.) There are even four different streets named via Caracciolo in Naples:
Batistella Caracciolo (renowned painter of the Neapolitan Baroque, contemporary
of Ribera and Caravaggio); Bartolomeo Caracciolo, about whom I know nothing; T.
Caracciolo (the T stands for Tristan, I think); and the one that all Neapolitans
think of when they hear the name "Caracciolo" Francesco (portrait, above). The
splendid road that runs from Mergellina to Piazza Vittoria along the sea,
fronting the Villa Comunale, thus, is named for Francesco Caracciolo
(1752-1799), the Neapolitan admiral whose name is dramatically linked in history
with the rise and fall of the Neapolitan Republic of 1799 and with the principal
players in that episode: Queen Caroline, King Ferdinand, Lady Hamilton, and,
especially, Horatio Nelson. (Besides the links in the previous sentence, other
entries about this period include: The Bourbons, part 1; Eleonora Fonseca
Pimentel; Cardinal Ruffo, Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton, and On Trial for their
Reputations.) Francesco Caracciolo was born January 18, 1752 of a noble
Neapolitan family. He entered the navy at a young age and fought with
distinction with the Kingdom of Naples' ally, the British, in the American
Revolutionary War. He also fought the Barbary pirates and against the French at
Toulon. In December of 1798, the Neapolitan monarchy fled the capital in the
face of the insurgent Neapolitan republican forces backed by the French army at
the gates of the city. The King and Queen fled to Sicily on Nelson's ship,
Vanguard, escorted by Caracciolo on the Neapolitan frigate Sannita. Caracciolo
returned to Naples in January to take care of private matters and arrived in the
city after the Republic had been declared. His behavior at that point has
remained the subject of speculation. Either he resented being snubbed by King
Ferdinand, who had fled aboard Nelson's vessel and not Caracciolo's, or he was
appalled at the cowardly flight, itself, or he was truly taken with the newly
proclaimed Neapolitan Republic. Whatever the case, he took command of the naval
forces of the new Republic. In other words, he betrayed his king. He led the
Republican navy against royalist Neapolitan and British naval forces for the
brief life of the Republic, his last major engagement being an attack on the
British flagship, Minerva, inflicting damage on that vessel. The Republic,
however, was doomed by the withdrawal of French forces from Naples and by the
arrival of the royalist Army of the Holy Faith under Cardinal Ruffo. Caracciolo
was captured. His trial is a matter of record and takes place against the whole
backdrop of deceit by which the Royalist forces actually retook the city. The
agreed to an armistice, promised safe passage to Republican defenders
(presumably including Caracciolo), and then put the Republicans on trial,
anyway.

The church of Santa Maria della Catena,
final resting place of Admiral Caracciolo.
There was never any doubt as to Caracciolo's fate. Queen Caroline had relayed to
Nelson her wish that Caracciolo should hang, no matter what. Caracciolo was
tried aboard a British ship, Foudroyant, by Neapolitan royalist officers and
charged with high treason. He was not permitted to call witnesses in his
defence. He was condemned to death by three votes to two. He was not given the
customary twenty-four hours for personal matters of the spirit. His request to
be shot was denied and he was hanged from the yardarm of the Minerva on the
morning of June 30, 1799. His body was weighted and thrown into the sea. One of
the mainstays of modern Neapolitan mythology is that the body refused to sink,
floating to the surface and eerily bobbing its way towards shore. Indeed, there
is even a painting showing King Ferdinand aboard his ship, aghast at the sight
of the admiral's corpse floating alongside. Whatever the case, Caracciolo's body
was retrieved from the sea and his remains now rest in the small church of Santa
Maria della Catena in the Santa Lucia section of Naples (photo, above). [Also
see this excerpt from Robert Southey's Life of Nelson on the execution of
Caracciolo.]

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THE SOUTHERN ITALIAN EXULTET ROLLS

Except for occasional ceremonial use in civil life, such as getting a college
diploma, or the electronic metaphor of "scrolling" on a computer screen, we
don't much use scrolls anymore those rolls of paper with writing on them. In
some religious use, however, they are still prominent. The Scroll of the Law in
Judaism is one that contains the Torah or the Pentateuch; it is bound by
elaborate rollers befitting the high ceremonial occasion for which it is used.
Generally speaking, scrolls started to be replaced by books under the Romans in
the first century AD; by around 300 AD, these two formats of "parchment media"
were on a numerical par in Europe. The spread of Christianity was important in
the gradual, but irresistible, replacement of scrolls by books in Europe well
before the year 1000. Books are easier to read, store, and transport. Indeed, it
is impossible to imagine a modern church service with scrolls. ("Please scroll
through in your hymnals to 'Yes, We'll Gather by the River'it should be about 12
feet into the scroll. I'll take ten and go get coffee while you look!") It is,
thus, interesting that religious services of a certain kind were responsible for
the comeback of the scroll around the year 1000 at least religious services of a
certain kind and in certain places. These were the so-called Exultet Rolls in
southern Italy.
The Exultet is the Easter Proclamation (in Latin, the Praeconium Paschale) the
hymn of praise sung by the deacon for the blessing of the Great Easter candle
during the Easter Vigil in Roman Catholicism and some Protestant denominations
of Christianity. The Exultet rolls were parchment scrolls containing text and
music for this blessing. (See notes at end for an additional comment on the
musical notation.) The scrolls were widely used in the 10th and 11th
centuries.*1 Traditional, typical scrolls were generally written horizontally
(whether right to left as in Hebrew or left to right as in Latin) and broken up
into "pages" such that you scrolled through the pages. The Exultet rolls,
however, were written top to bottom and contained text, musical notation and
magnificent illustrations. The illustrations were upside down with respect to
the text so that they could be viewed properly by observers as the scroll
unrolled from the ambo, an elevated lecturn, before them, while, at the same
time, the deacon could view text and music properly from his side. *note 2 The
scrolls could be as wide as 80 cm (c. 2.5 feet) and stitched together to make
them as long as 9 meters (c. 27 feet). The scrolls were a way of including the
congregation in the service: the deacon would hold forth with the lengthy
Excultet proclamation and at the same time unscroll the roll so that the
illustrations gradually came into view before the congregation as he spoke. (It
was an early version of a slide-show! The very young may wish think of this as a
Power Point presentation from someone with real power.) It does bear emphasis,
however, that the use of a scroll for the service was not merely and perhaps not
even primarily a practical device. It lent solemnity and magnificence to the
occasion. The intoned Exultet text, itself, started (in Latin, obviously):

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God's throne
Jesus Christ, our king, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of Salvation! 

" La Terra [the Earth], from an Exultet roll produced in the town of Troia.
Note (from the indentations in the text) that the text is upside down in
relation to the illustration.


There then followed an extensive retelling not just of the life of Christ but of
the world since Creation with appropriate illustrations on the scroll for
various episodes, including Adam and Eve, the Flight from Egypt, the Crossing of
the Red Sea, the Pillar of Fire, the Virgin and Child, the Crucifixion, Christ's
descent into Hell, the Resurrected Christ, the Offering of the Candle, even the
Praise of the Bees who provided wax to make the candle. Illustrations and text
also praised the Church or the Pope, and the Emperor or King. In that regard,
the scrolls underwent changes form the 10th to the 12th century that reflected
social changes. There were two texts: Beneventan and Franco-Roman. Benevento was
one of the great centers of Lombard culture in Italy; the Beneventan text is the
older of the two and probably goes back to the eighth century. The later
Franco-Roman text gradually replaced the earlier Beneventan one in the course of
the 11th century as the authority of the Papacy grew in the south and Lombard
power declined.
As noted, the reading of the Exultet had a secular as well as religious function
or, better, it fused the two by praising not just Church and Pope but also kings
and emperors, past and present. The scrolls (seen even in the single image
above) have ornamental strips running on both sides of the text and
illustrations. These strips contain a great number of miniature portraits.
Scholars debate whether they were meant to represent real persons or whether
they were "generic portraiture," that is, tributes to whoever happened to be
king or emperor at the time and whose name would then be inserted between lines
of nearby text to remind the deacon what name to praise. (Indeed, there are
numerous palimpsest patches on the scrolls where such interlinear names have
been scratched away and other names written over. The scholarly consensus seems
to be that of Ladner: though some of the religious portraits, say, of a Pope,
may be an attempt at an accurate rendering, the portraits of the kings and
princes of the earth are generally "stereotyped communication-pictures without
the intention of portrayal."
The production of the Exultet scrolls started in Benevento and spread to other
places throughout southern Italy, such as Bari, Gaeta, Capua, Troia and Salerno.
There are extant fragments of scrolls in various museums and libraries in Italy,
including the Vatican Library and the Diocese Museum of Salerno. These scrolls
continue to be of great interest to students of medieval art, liturgy, and
music.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*note 1: Ladner also notes the relatively late use of scrolls in places other
than southern Italy for uses other than the Exultet: "Rolls instead of books
have also been used for a fourteenth-century religious poem in Middle English,
called Arma Christi or The Arms of the Passion (cf. R.H. Robbins, The Modern
Language Review, XXXIV [1939], 415 ff.). These rolls like the Exultet rolls are
illustrated and were meant to be read publicly, but otherwise there seems to be
no connetction with the Exultet rolls." ^back to text
*note 2: There are also examples of Exultet scrolls in which the text and
illustrations run in the same orientation/direction. It is not clear at least to
me from sources, but it seems to me that the deacon, the person reciting the
Excultet, must then have stood below the ambo with the viewers such that they
were all looking at the same thing from the same vantage point while the scroll
was unrolled from above by an assistant.^back to text
additional note on music: As a point of clarification, when we say that the
scrolls contained text and music, the musical notation was in the form of
"neumes," the forerunner of modern musical 5 line staff notation. Neumes
generally did not indicate exact pitch but, rather, were markings above the text
to remind the singer which direction the melody was to move and indicate
something about the rhythm or how long to hold out a note. Neumes were a
mnemonic device to help someone who already knew the melody. In the illustration
above, the faint interlinear markings are the neumes. ^back to text
sources: Cavallo, Guglielmo. Exultet, rotoli liturgici del medioevo meridionale,
IPZS, Rome, 1994. di Frusca, Chiara. "Cultura libraria in una Societa
Multiculturale: l'Italia Meridionale nei secoli XI XIII" in Le Mille e una
Cultura, Scrittura e libri fra Oriente e Occidenta. Centro Universitario europeo
per i beni culturali, Ravello, EDIPUGLIA. Bari, 2007. Kelley, Thomas F. The
Exultet in Southern Italy. Oxford University Press, New York, 1996. Ladner,
Gerard B. "The 'Portraits' of Emperors in Southern Italian Exultet Rolls and the
Liturgical Commemoration of the Emperor" in Speculum, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Apr.,
1942), pp. 181-200. Ladner cites extensively, and praises, an earlier work by
Myrtilla Avery, Exultet Rolls of South Italy. Princeton University Press.
Princeton, London, The Hague, 1936.

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THE DUOMO (CATHEDRAL)

The Duomo, the cathedral of Naples, is dedicated to San Gennaro, Saint
Januarius, the patron saint of the city. It was built at the end of the 13th
century at the decree of Charles I of Angio near the basilica of Santa Restituta
(of which more, below), a sixth-century church that was incorporated into the
Gothic architecture of the later cathedral, itself. The cathedral has been
restored numerous times over the centuries. It was redone after the earthquake
of 1788 and again in 1887. Its marble portals, however, are original.

Inside, the cathedral is 100 meters long and in the form of a Latin Cross, with
three naves, divided by sixteen pillars that form Gothic arches and incorporate
110 granite columns. The ceiling of the central nave is of wood and bears five
paintings by various artists: the Annunciation, the Presentation at the Temple,
the Visitation, the Nativity and the Epiphany. High on the Walls of the central
nave and the transept are paintings of saints done by Luca Giordano and his
school; at the base of the pillars are busts of the first 16 bishops of the city
of Naples.

Above the door of the main entrance are monuments to Charles I of Angio (d.1285)
in the center; Charles Martel, King of Hungary (d.1295) on the right; and his
wife, Clemenza of Hapsburg (d.1295) on the left. These monuments are the work of
Domenico Fontana; viceroy Enrico Guzman Count of Olivares ordered them built in
1599 because the original tombs of those nobles had been destroyed. The side
chapels are all quite interesting, containing a collection of funerary items,
sculpture, frescoes and canvases that represent an exhaustive overview of
figurative art from 1200 to 1700.

In the nave, the fourth chapel is the Brancaccio chapel; just beyond that you
enter into the oldest part of the Cathedral, the Santa Restituta basilica, one
of the most interesting examples of paleo-Christian Naples. Originally, it was a
church in its own right, built in the 6th century. Its present three aisles
divided by 27 antique columns are what is left of the original church after it
was incorporated into the body of the massive new cathedral in the 13th century.
They say that Santa Restituta was a young African woman, who, because she was a
Christian, was abandoned to the sea on a boat set ablaze. The fire, however,
died out and she was miraculously able to put ashore on the island of Ischia. In
the eighth century her remains were brought to the church in Naples that then
took her name. The baptistery of San Giovanni in fonte beneath Santa Restituta
claims to be the oldest in Western Christendom and contains a number of mosaics
of extreme interest. (See this link for a graphic display of the mosaics.)

In the nave, the fourth chapel is the Brancaccio chapel; just beyond that you
enter into the oldest part of the Cathedral, the Santa Restituta basilica, one
of the most interesting examples of paleo Christian Naples. Originally, it was a
church in its own right, built in the 6th century. Its present three aisles
divided by 27 antique columns are what is left of the original church after it
was incorporated into the body of the massive new cathedral in the 13th century.
They say that Santa Restituta was a young African woman, who, because she was a
Christian, was abandoned to the sea on a boat set ablaze. The fire, however,
died out and she was miraculously able to put ashore on the island of Ischia. In
the eighth century her remains were brought to the church in Naples that then
took her name. The baptistery of San Giovanni in fonte beneath Santa Restituta
claims to be the oldest in Western Christendom and contains a number of mosaics
of extreme interest. (See this link for a graphic display of the mosaics.)

Opposite the Gothic Santa Restituta is the Baroque chapel of San Gennaro del
Tesoro, built between 1608 and 1637 to fulfill the vow made by the people of
Naples on January 13, 1527, after a plague. The bust of Januarius is precious.
It is of silver, done by French craftsmen and is a gift of Charles III of Angio.
It preserves part of the saint's skull as well as the vial of blood that is
believed by the faithful to liquefy miraculously twice a year. This occurs in
May and September, repeating the miracle that happened for the first time during
the reign of the Emperor Constantine, when the remains of Januarius were moved
to Naples from Pozzuoli, the site of his martyrdom on September 19, 305. The
expectation by the populace of the yearly occurrence of the "Miracle of San
Gennaro" remains one the most fascinating manifestations of faith in all of
Christendom.

Archaeological work done around the the Duomo since the 1960s has brought to
light a number of Greek, Roman and medieval items of interest. Traces of four
'city blocks' have been found, formed by the intersecting upper and central
decumani (the east-west streets of Greek Neapolis) and the stenopoi, or
north-south cross-streets. A small temple has been uncovered on the ancient
stenopoi corresponding to modern-day via Duomo. The blocks around the Cathedral
were clearly incorporated into later Roman Imperial road-work within the city.
With the coming of Christianity, a number of Christian churches started to
appear in the area, but many of the smaller ones from before the turn of the
millennium were torn down to make way for the Cathedral.

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THE FESCINA

There are many tombs, crypts and catacombs from ancient times in Naples. Such
repositories of intact human remains may give the impression that cremation was
not practiced at the time of the Greeks and Romans. That is not the case.
Cremation in the days of ancient Greece and Rome was common and did not fall out
of favor in Italy and elsewhere in Europe until well into the Christian era. In
ancient Rome, both burial and cremation were common, and the choice was
apparently a social one; the upper classes preferred cremation. [Related entry
here.]
Cremated remains were stored in cinerary urns; these in turn were placed in a
columbarium, a sepulchre having in its walls niches to hold the urns. Columbaria
could be both below and above ground, or even have both an underground and a
surface part. The name "columbarium" comes from the Latin word for "pigeon"
since the structures, indeed, looked like dovecots, even down to the "pigeon
holes" for the urns. A mausoleum, on the other hand, is an above-ground edifice
built as a memorial to the deceased and containing the remains in whatever form
cremated, skeletal, mummified, etc. The word mausoleum comes from the grand tomb
of Mausolus of Caria (a satrapy of ancient Persia); it was erected by his queen
Aremesia in the middle of the 4th c. BC at Halicarnassus (the site of modern day
Bodrum in Turkey) and became known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World.
I have seen the Fescina (photo, above) called both a columbarium and a
mausoleum. Dated to the 1st c. BC, it is a free standing column topped by a
pyramid-like hexagonal cusp; it is located in the necropolis of via Brindisi in
the town of Quarto, near Naples. This type of architecture is particular; the
Fescina is the only example of it in the Campi Flegrei or the entire Campania
region of Italy, at the very least. This kind of structure was, however,
widespread in the Hellenic Age in the eastern Mediterranean, which has led to
some speculation that the family that built this one was from Asia Minor. (There
are a few other pyramid mausoleums in Italy, most notably the tomb of Gaius
Cestius in Rome, built in c.15 BC. That one is large 37 meters high and is a
true pyramid; it was almost certainly modeled on Egyptian pyramid tombs during
the so-called "Cleopatra craze" in ancient Rome. It seems to have little in
common with the Fescina. I am tempted to say that the Fescina may be unique in
all of Italy, but I would be happy for some clarification.)


The term fescina* is from the local vocabulary of the grape harvest and is a
nickname hung on the monument by farmers in the area who noticed its similarity
to the conical basket (photo, right), the fescina, carried by those picking
grapes from ladders along the higher vines in a vineyard. In any event, it is
built in opus reticulatum* brick-work and has two floors, one of which is
underground and the plastered walls of which contain eleven niches for the
cremation urns. There are also three reclining couch-beds known as triclinia;
they are of brick and were intended for ritual banquets. Two slit openings
higher up allowed light and air to enter. The part visible above ground appears
to be about 6 7 meters high. The area was excavated in the 1970s and 80s. The
Fescina was part of a larger Necropolis.
[update: Nov. 2012] A local archeology group has cleaned up the site such that
it is now visible and visitable.]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Opus reticulatum: Roman brick work that placed the pointed ends of
diamond-shaped bricks into cement such that the square bases formed a diagonal
pattern on the surface of a wall. The pattern of mortar lines resembled a net or
reticulatum in Latin.
fescina etymology: The word is a dialect variation of fascina (accent on the
second syllable). The English term is "fascine" i.e., a cylindrical faggot of
brush or small wood, bound together and used in construction for such things as
filling in ditches. It is a cognate of fascio, a bundle or sheaf of grain, which
then became a political symbol and has given us the term Fascism.
photos: top photo of the fescina from Museo Diffuso, provincia di Napoli. basket
photo from S. Salvi, Napoli Underground.

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THE GALLERIA UMBERTO I

 © Jeff Matthews   entry June 2003, revised Sept 2013




The Galleria Umberto I





> The Galleria Umberto in Naples is in the shape of a Crux immissa (lit.
> extended cross) or Latin Cross; that is, one in which the main, vertical beam
> sticks above the crossbeam. The Gallery is oriented almost precisely to the
> four cardinal points; in this image, north is at the top. The long "beam"
> (horizontal in this image) is 138 meters long; the shorter crossbeam is 108
> meters long. The Galleria is often termed "cathedralesque"; in keeping with
> that terminology, in this image, the left-hand section would be the "nave" of
> the church, the right hand section the apse, the top and bottom together, the
> transept. They meet at a large space called the "crossing." If you stand in
> the middle of the crossing, the top of the dome is 57 meters above you. Where
> the sections of the cross meet at the central space, they










> form  large surfaces at the NW, NE, SW and SE points. These are quite large
> (photo, right, below) and are, in fact, entrances to the offices on the upper
> floors of the Gallery.
> 
> 
> Entrances are from all ends of the cross. The main entrance is from the south,
> directly across from the San Carlo theater, (the large building at the bottom
> in this image). (That entrance is seen in the photo at left, directly below,
> left.) The street running up on the left is via Toledo (alias via Roma); the
> street along the north (top) side of the block is via Santa Brigida; the
> street running down the right is via Giuseppe Verdi.



Main Article



The first architectural results of the industrial revolution sprang up in
Britain in the middle of the 19th century: Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace in
1851, for example, and The Oxford Museum (1859) by Deane and Woodward. By using
iron, these architects sought to reconcile the split in the Victorian
personality, which viewed such industrial material as the substance of engines
to power modern society with, perhaps, but hardly the stuff of Architecture with
a capital A—the discipline of designing museums, hotels, universities and other
such places for the genteel to gather. 

Such use of glass and iron, however, was to revolutionize architecture and
eventually lead to the first steel-framed skyscrapers of the Chicago architects
before the century was out. High vaulted glass and iron domes, governed by their
own new architectural aesthetics, characterized a number of structures built in
Europe in the last decades of the nineteenth century. The most prominent example
in Naples is the Galleria Umberto I, across from San Carlo Theater. It was
inaugurated in 1890, and named for Umberto I, who was king of Italy from 1878
until 1900 when he died at the hands of an assassin [see this entry on an
earlier attempted assassination of Umberto]. (There is a slightly earlier,
smaller example of the same type of architecture in Naples, the Galleria
Principe di Napoli.)


The idea behind the Risanamento ('resanitizing' or 'making healthy again') of
Naples in the 1880s and 90s was to clear large sections of the city that for
centuries had been nests of squalid overcrowding and disease; then rational
construction could take place. The wide boulevard known as Corso Umberto (or the
Rettifilo, the 'straight line') running from Piazza della Borsa all the way to
the main train station at Piazza Garibaldi was one result of this effort, as was
the construction of a new seaside road and 20 blocks of new buildings at Santa
Lucia. The Galleria Umberto was another.


There was a need to renew the area across from San Carlo known as Santa Brigida,
and four designs were submitted. One by Emanuele Rocco (1852-1922) was chosen.
His plan left in place a number of historic buildings that others would have
torn down, yet presented a high and spacious cross-shaped mall, a truly
cathedralesque affair surmounted by a great glass dome braced by 16 metal ribs.
Of the four glass-vaulted wings, one fronts on via Toledo (via Roma), still the
main downtown thoroughfare, and another opens onto the San Carlo Theater, framed
like a splendid proscenium by the portals of the gallery (photo, below). The
Galleria Umberto was based on the design of the gallery in Milan completed in
1865; yet, it was a more aesthetic fusion of the industrial glass and metal of
the upper part and the masonry below, which, itself, is a spectacular collage of
Renaissance and Baroque ornamentation, tapering off to clean smoothness of
marble at the ground concourse. Other architects involved were Ernesto Mauro and
Antonio Curri, the latter being primarily behind the intensely ornate decorative
and symbolic designs that cover surfaces in the Galleria. (He also worked on
restoring the interior of the San Carlo theater as well as the delightful
interior of the nearby Gambrinus Caffè.)



The Gallery was built to stimulate commerce and to be a symbol of a city reborn.
It still contains numerous cafès, businesses, book and record shops, and
fashionable stores. Once it held theaters and restaurants as well, and was,
indeed, the sitting room of bourgeois Naples. (One such theater was the fabled
Salone Margherita, home of the local version of the café-chantant. It was below
the main concourse with a stairway leading down to it and a separate entrance
from street-level outside. It was closed for many years and is currently being
rebuilt.) The fate of the Galleria Umberto has come to be somewhat of a metaphor
of Naples, meaning that there are good times and bad, periods of splendor as
well as decay. Among its many ups and downs is even the fact that it was the
target of aerial bombardment by a dirigible in the First World War! 

These days, you can still —and should still— marvel at the architecture, its
deceptive orderliness as it moves and shifts like Proteus from one detail to the
next. Yet, the Galleria also lets you become for a moment the center of an
equally fascinating bit of flesh-and-blood architecture: a true human
kaleidoscope swirls around you, on the way to the opera, to work, to a
rendezvous. Perhaps they are well-dressed, perhaps disheveled; the weird as well
as the mundane, the casual and the poised. From the perfectly nondescript to
those who look like extras in some bizarre film, they all have their own reasons
for being drawn to what is still a most remarkable structure.



(update from June 2015)



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entry Sept 2013


"What are all those Stars of David up there?"




That was precisely the question a woman asked whom I was leading though the
Gallery. In the Gallery Umberto, as noted in the box at the top of this page,
the four sections of the cross come in from the four cardinal points, N, S, E &
W, stopping well short of the center and allowing for large surfaces at the
intermediate points; these are, in fact, entrances to the upper floors of the
gallery by internal stairways and elevators. There are thus four such entrances
in the Gallery, each topped by a semicircular framework of glass called—I think,
but am not sure—a lunette, a typanum, a half-moon window, or, my personal
favorite, a semicircular framework of glass! They are identical; one of them is
seen in the image, above. They are all decorated identically with what my guest
referred to as "Stars of David"—a single large six-pointed star—a hexagram—at
the top and two sets of five smaller similar stars arrayed along the bottom,
separated by three empty panes.

Capernaum
photo by & courtesy of W. Johnson
Strictly speaking, however, in this case they are not Stars of David. Well,
wait—back up. "In this case" is important, since obviously they ARE Stars of
David—that is, the hexagram, the six-pointed star. That symbol has been a symbol
of Judaism at least since the Middle Ages; it has a much older history as a
decorative or ornamental design in Jewish archaeology in the Middle East (and
possibly a religious symbol, though that is disputed).* There are, in any event,
such designs or symbols on very old synagogues in the Middle East —in Capernaum,
for example, (photo, left). The hexagram has also been used in religious and
cultural contexts other than Judaism. Today, the symbol is indelibly linked to
Judaism in the perceptions of both Jews and non-Jews; it was adopted as the
symbol of the Zionist movement in 1897 as well as by the state of Israel in 1948
for their new national flag. (It bears noting that the traditional "co-symbol"
of Judaism has been the menorah, the seven-branched candelabrum used in the
temple; it is at least as strong a symbol of the Jewish faith as the Star of
David.)

> *note to "...though that is disputed."  the Jewish Virtual Library says "The
> Magen David (shield of David, or as it is more commonly known, the Star of
> David) is the symbol most commonly associated with Judaism today, but it is
> actually a relatively new Jewish symbol....there is really no support for the
> claim in any early rabbinic literature. In fact, the symbol is so rare in
> early Jewish literature and artwork that art dealers suspect forgery if they
> find the symbol in early works. "

masonic symbols

In 1890 in Naples, Italy, that connection between the six-pointed star and
Judaism was not particularly part of the non-Jewish perception among the
populace. (The Jewish population of Naples numbered fewer than 1000 persons at
the time.) Rather, the hexagrams are masonic symbols. This makes sense when you
consider that the Gallery Umberto, from the outset in 1890, housed (at #27 in
the Galleria) the Neapolitan center of the Grande Oriente d'Italia, one of the
largest and most significant masonic organizations in Italy, founded in 1805 and
counting among its 19th-century members the likes of Giuseppe Garibaldi,
Alessandro Manzoni and Giosuè Carducci. It is still the largest masonic
organization in Italy and still in the Galleria Umberto.

I am not concerned with the nature of freemasonry—what it is, what it isn't. I
am content to believe in their published accounts of support for hospitals and
schools and less inclined to believe that they are ensconced in a mountain
retreat planning to take over the world—or, in the words of my dear friend,
Peter, they are "hardly the Bilderburger Trilateral Commission conspirators so
often depicted." I admit that I don't see the necessity of symbols, but maybe
that's just me. The eclectic masonic use of symbols is well-known. My
light-hearted layman's point of view is that if you are going to lay claim to
some sort of genealogy of knowledge, that is, a connection to esoteric secrets
that run back through the centuries, even millennia —knowledge that might serve
us well today— then you pretty much need all the symbols you can find: 6-pointed
stars, 5-pointed stars (the Gallery in Milan, very similar to the one in Naples,
is ornamented with 8-pointed stars) pyramids, upside-down pyramids, circles,
squares, crosses, all-seeing eyes, pentagons, eagles, anchors, harps and
tesseracts. On the right is a photo of a masonic ritual where the standard
masonic symbols of the square and compass (representing the Grand Architect of
the Universe, as the masons put it) are next to a menorah! My friend, Warren,
interprets this as a symbol of "I believe in something," and that is fine with
me. (Note, too, that in the large photo, above, there is also a display of
five-pointed stars, the pentagram, running around the metal base of the dome.
That is also a common masonic symbol.) So, they're not Stars of David up there.
Well, wait —back up again. Can you deal with their presence in the same way as
the juxtaposed square, compass and menorah" That is, might it be some sort of an
all-encompassing all-welcoming way of saying "I believe in this, too! I believe
in something." Maybe.

(Thanks to Warren Johnson, Peter Humphrey and Selene Salve for their comments.)

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RUSSIAN HORSES

The horses in Naples are reared up; they look wild and as yet untamed, while the
horse tamers, themselves, are as naked as the horses. It all looks savage and
somewhat un Italian,lets say Russian and steppe-like at least compared to other
stately and totally tamed equestrian statues in the city (the two mounted
versions of Charles III and his son, Ferdinand I in the square on the west side
of the same royal palace, for example.) But the inspiration is very classical;
the statues are variations of the colossal Roman marbles of Castor and Pollux,
the Heavenly Twins, posed with their steeds at the fountain on the Quirinal Hill
in Rome. The Horse Tamers in Naples were cleaned and restored in 2002 (which,
incidentally, is the last time I have seen that particular entrance to the
gardens open).

There was a reason for the good relations between Imperial Russia and the
Kingdom of Naples in the 1840s that impelled the czar to give away two of his
prize monuments. Czar Nicolas grandfather, Czar Paul I, had signed Russia up in
the so-called Second Coalition (formed in 1798) against the forces of Republican
France. The other members of the Coalition were Great Britain, Austria,
Portugal, Naples and, surprisingly, Turkey (the Ottoman Empire). For a while,
then, the Russian and Turks put aside their centuries of dispute to make common
cause against the French. A joint Russo-Turkish fleet joined the forces of
Admiral Nelson in the southern Mediterranean. The immediate goal was to dislodge
the French-supported Neapolitan Republic (proclaimed in January, 1799) and
reinstall the Bourbon monarchy to the throne of Naples. A body of five- or
six-hundred Russians and Turks landed on the Adriatic coast, having crossed from
Corfu, to assist the Royalist forces under Ruffo in retaking the kingdom. They
were successful, and the Russian and Turkish commanders both signed the
armistice agreement by which the Bourbons (in this case, King Ferdinand I) were
restored in Naples. One grandfather had helped another, and both grandsons were
now still absolute monarchs, still resisting the gathering forces of reform at
mid-century. That is worth a couple of statues.

This is a 19th-century lithograph of the Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg
showing the four horses.The artist and lithographer was oseph-Maria
Charlemagne-Baudet) (1824-1870), a Russian and known there as Iosif Iosifovich
Charlemagne.

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RAVELLO FESTIVAL 2005
BOCCACCIO, RUFOLO, WAGNER,
& THE WORLD'S LOUDEST TROMBONE SECTION


WARM UP BY LISTENING TO THIS

In his Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) devoted an entire tale (Second
Day, Tale Four) to the adventures of one Landolfo Rufolo, a contemporary of his
from the town of Ravello on the "delightful...slope of Amalfi." Rufolo was rich
but wanted more; thus, he set off to seek his further fortune, became a pirate,
went down at sea, was rescued and eventually found his way home to Ravello again
where he built his villa on a spectacular slope overlooking the sea. He then
"lived in honorable estate" until his death.

Poster of first Wagner Festival, 1953As if from Snoopy's Dark-and-Stormy-Night
school of great coincidences, just a few years earlier (c. 1200) in far-off
Germany, Wolfram von Eschenbach had written his Parsifal, which, centuries
later, would inspire Richard Wagner's (1813-83) last work, a tale involving the
evil sorcerer, Klingsor and an enchanted garden. Wagner visited the Villa Rufolo
in 1880 and was so inspired by the beauty of the garden that he declared, "Here
is the enchanted garden of Klingsor." Did Eschenbach know Boccaccio? And what
were Mommy and Daddy von Eschenbach thinking when they named their kid
"Wolfram," a word that means "tungsten" in German? And how would young Tungsten
have rated Wagner? (answer: "Really loud. Say, do you guys know anything by
Hildegard von Bingen?") And why is "Parsifal" a pseudo-anagram for "Laugh His
Rap"? Alas, we may never know the answer to some of these questions, but see how
it all ties together?



Wagner apparently rode up to the Villa Rufolo from Amalfi on a mule. (What did
mules ever do to God?!) Wagner was a notorious deadbeat and left an unpaid tab
at the Palumbo Hotel, but, as it turned out (70 years later), more than made up
for it by transforming the villa and all of Ravello into a money magnet. Ravello
held its first Wagner music festival in 1953. The yearly affair has since grown
in scope and continues to attract hordes of music lovers and performers of world
renown every year.

The gardens that so moved Wagner were actually the result of a renovation of the
villa in 1851 when Francis Neville Reid,* a Scottish botanist, bought the
property and went crazy with the plant life. The restoration of the villa,
itself, was in the hands of Michele Ruggiero, a gentleman who then took over the
excavations at Pompeii. Significant parts of the original villa are still
intact, including the main tower and intriguing Norman-Arab columns (photo,
right) along a passageway through the villa and to the back of the property
where the outdoor concerts are held. The stage is set up at 1000 feet over the
slope and sea looking due east along the folds of the mountain range of the
Amalfi coast. The view is stunning.



This year's festival started July 3 and will run through September 17; it has
"sections" for orchestral, chamber, and film music, visual arts, experimental
theater, and discussions on education. I went for the orchestral
music-specifically, Wagner, because that is why one goes to Ravello. We heard
the Orchestra and Choir of the Marinsky Theater from St. Petersburg. It wasn't
all Wagner, but it was close enough and included, on two successive evenings, a
prelude from Parsifal, the funeral march from The Twilight of the Gods, the
overtures to Tannhauser and The Flying Dutchman, and the introduction to the
third act of Lohengrin. One non-Wagner item was Prokovief's great score to the
Eisenstein film, Alexander Nevsky. I recall noting that there were two bass
trombonists in the Parsifal excerpt, thus giving the collective low brass
section the most lethal attack of decibels since the eruption of Krakatoa. It
was fine!



*Obituary notice of Neville Reid from The Times, July 21, 1892.


Mr. Francis Nevile Reid, who died at Ravello on the 12 inst. at the age of 66,
will be greatly missed and sincerely mourned throughout the beautiful region of
southern Italy where he had lived for something like 40 years. A member of a
wealthy Scottish family, he suffered, as a very young man from delicacy of the
chest; and as, during a journey in Italy, he found great good from the air of
Ravello, above Amalfi, he bought land there, and the half ruined Palazzo of the
once famous Rufoli family, and there he henceforth made his home. In those days
the hill country of the kingdom of Naples was about the most backward and
barbarous part of Italy; and Mr. Reid set himself to introduce some kind of
civilization into his commune and neighbourhood. He made the Palazzo habitable,
while preserving its ancient features with loving care; he gave employment to
the underfed and underpaid people; he gradually organized a decent municipality;
and, in the end, a few years ago, he succeeded in getting the excellent carriage
road made to Amalfi, thus opening up the district and immensely increasing its
chance of prosperity. Many were the difficulties that he had to overcome,
especially from the small bourgoizie, who complained that he raised the rate of
wages that they had to pay; and on one occasion, a few years ago, the ghastly
murder of a local friend and partisan of his, in a quarrel arising out of this
partisanship, reminded him of the real savagery that still remained among the
people of Ravello. More than once, in the old days, he had a narrow escape from
the brigands, who, in the last years of Bomba and after his overthrow, infested
the mountains of the Surrentine peninsular. Once, as Mr. Reid, his wife, and her
mother were about to sit down to dinner, the village cobbler ran in to tell them
that 70 of these scoundrels were assembling in the Piazza, and that he would be
seized in ten minutes. He and the ladies just succeeded in slipping away down a
narrow path to Minori, the little seaport 1,000ft. below. where they took boat
for Capri, staying there till order was restored. General Pallavicini swept the
mountains clear of brigands, and since that time Mr. Reid has been able to live
and carry on his career of quiet beneficence undisturbed. It is hard to estimate
what a loss his death will cause throughout that lovely but very poor region, to
which, for a generation or more, he has literally been a Providence. His heir is
his nephew, the son of Sir James Lacaita.


(Also see Ravello 2008 and 2014)

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ANTONIO DE CURTIS-TOTO

ANTONIO DE CURTIS—TOTÒ

THE FOLLOWING NUMBERED ITEMS ABOUT THE LIFE AND CAREER OF ANTONIO DE CURTIS
(NAME IN ART, TOTÒ) APPEARED ON THE DATES INDICATED IN THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF
THE AROUND NAPLES ENCYCLOPEDIA AND HAVE BEEN CONSOLIDATED HERE ONTO A SINGLE
PAGE. THEY INCLUDE THE MAIN ENTRY, FIRST, AND THEN ENTRIES ON TWO FILMS IN WHICH
HE APPEARED PROMINENTLY; FINALLY, THERE ARE  ENTRIES ON THE TOTÒ MUSEUM AND TOTÒ
THEATER EXTRACTED FROM THE MISCELLANY PAGES.


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1.

entry Nov. 2002
Totò (1898-1967)

It is proverbial that there is something universal about humor, yet, nothing
translates with more difficulty from one culture to another than film comedy.
Great exceptions, such as Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy, though they may have wound
up making talkies, more or less depended on their genius for visual humor, and
slapstick developed in an age when humor was silent. Once films started to
speak, the rules changed, which is why highly verbal comics such as Groucho Marx
are so difficult to render into another language. A pie in the face, a prat
fall, or a piano falling downstairs cross cultural and language barriers much
easier than trying to translate, "Bernstein is out in the corridor waxing
wroth!" "Yeah? Well, tell him to get in here and let Roth wax himself for a
while!" 

The Neapolitan comic Antonio De Curtis, known as Totò, is another example of
humor that can be appreciated across cultures. True, he is often full of the
verbal dexterity that only native speakers of Italian can appreciate, yet his
flights of outrageous language are so often combined with pure visual humor that
he is easily one of the most accessible of all film comics, language and culture
notwithstanding. 

Nothing will start a marathon session of tale-swapping quicker than Neapolitans
sitting around recalling scenes from their favorite Totò films. If you want one
where the pompous get their comeuppance, there's the train scene where he offers
to help a windbag senator with his luggage, taking each piece and carefully
passing it out the window of the moving train, and for sheer pantomimic grace,
only Chaplin at his best can compare with Totò's version of a marionette puppet
dancing his way across the stage to the strains of the Parade of the Wooden
Soldiers.


This memorial is at Totò's birthplace in the
Vergini section of Naples.


His early career started after WW I in vaudeville and expanded into films. He
made 85 of them in all. Some of them, of course, are silly potboilers, fun but
forgettable. Others are "art," the kind you wind up admiring, but still puzzling
over and studying in History of Cinema classes, such as his brilliant work in
Uccellacci ed uccellini (1966) (lit. "Ugly birds and little birds." English
title is "The Hawks and the Sparrows."), produced by another genius, Pier Paolo
Pasolini. Others, the most memorable ones, have him in the role of the true
clown, the little man down on his luck, just trying to make it through another
day. There is this poignancy in Guardie e Ladri (Cops and Robbers). Totò, as a
petty thief, spends much of the film making a good-natured overweight policeman
chase after him. They become friends and though Totò has to go off to jail, the
policeman winds up promising to send postcards to his family from different
places around Italy so they'll think Totò is just off on a business trip. Then,
there is some of Everyman's would-be defiance of Authority in a film called i
Due Marascialli, when a high-ranking Nazi officer in WW II Italy screams at
Totò: "I can do what I want. I have a blank check!" "A blank check?" answers
Totò, in a retort now proverbial in Italian, "Well, you can wipe your ass with
it!" 

A number of other Totòisms have found their way into the language. "Siamo uomini
o caporali?!" ("Are we men or corporals?") and the immortal, but untranslatable
line (because it contains a grammatical error which contradicts the spirit of
the sentence): "Signore si nasce ed io lo nacqui!" (Maybe something like,
"Gentlemen are born, not made, and I is one!") He was also the author of a
number of well-loved poems and songs in Neapolitan dialect, most memorable of
which are A' livella (a poem about death as the great equalizer) and
"Malafemmina," a love song. 

Like many comics, Totò did not become appreciated as a "true clown" until after
his death. But most Italians knew right from the start what it took critics
decades to figure out, and now through the pleasant little time-machine known as
television, we can all see why. 





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2.


entry June 2003

solfatara, Totò (2) 

One of my favorite Totò films is "47, Morto che parla" (47, Dead Man Talking).
The title has to do with the smorfia, the tradition of interpreting dreams, of
associating numbers with certain things in dreams and then playing those numbers
in the lottery. The presumption is that someone on "the other side" is giving
you a hot tip. Number 47 in the Smorfia is Dead Man Talking, so if you have a
dream in which you are conversing with, say, one of your dearly departed, 47 is
one number you should play. Unfortunately, you need at least three "hits" to
have any chance of making real money. That's three friends in very high
places—perhaps too much to ask in any one week. 

The film was made in 1950 and is a loose adaptation of a stage comedy of the
same name by Roman playwright, Ettore Petrolini (1886-1936) with some of
Moliere's The Miser thrown in. The whole plot revolves around getting a
skinflint Baron, played by Totò, to reveal where he keeps a large stash of
money. The conspirators figure that the best way to do this is to make Totò
believe he is dead, have him wake up in the afterlife, and then get him to talk
about what he did in life and where he hid things such as money. They drug him
and cart him away to a Stygian landscape replete with fumaroles and other
Dantean special effects; when he comes to his senses, those who were his friends
in life are standing around in bed sheets and laurel wreaths, moaning and
otherwise impersonating characters whom you might expect to meet in the doom and
gloom antechamber of the hereafter. 

I won't spoil the rest of the film for you, but I remember being taken with the
set for the scene where he wakes up: barren hillside, lots of rocks, smoke and
steam. It turns out that it was filmed on location in Naples—right outside of
Naples, really, in the Solfatara, a very active and bubbling sulfur pit. It is
located in the area known as the Campi Flegrei. Indeed, Petronius, in The
Satyricon reminds us…


> Est locus exciso penitus demersus hiatu 
> Parthenopen inter magnaeque Dicarchidos arva,
> Cocyti perfusus aqua…  (Satyr., CXX, 67-9)
> 
> …that between Neapolis and the vast fields of Dicearchia [modern–day Pozzuoli]
> there is a place at the bottom of a cavern washed by the waters of the
> Cocytus*... 
> 
> [*One of the four mythological rivers of the netherworld, on the shores of
> which wandered the souls of those who had known no proper burial at death.]

Strabo (66 B.C. -24 A.D.)  also mentions the Solfatara in his Strabonis
geographica, calling it Forum Vulcani, the abode of the god, Vulcan, and the
entrance to Hades. 

The Solfatara is, at present, a protected nature reserve open to tourism. It is,
indeed, at the "bottom of a cavern"—a large crater of volcanic origin and one
that is still very active, geologically. In its long history, the Solfatara has
suffered from benign neglect as well as commercial exploitation, having been
mined for is alum and chalk as well as serving as a source for mineral water
with reputed medicinal value. Its value as a scientific station for the study of
the geologically very interesting activity in the area started in 1861 when the
property was purchased by the De Luca family, which included Francesco De Luca,
a physicist. His scientific descriptions of the area, the mineral content of the
soil and waters, etc. are still informative reading. The area was officially
opened to visitors in 1900 but had long been—bound as it is to Greek and Roman
Mythology—a stop on the so-called "Grand Tour". 

There have been a number of recent documentaries on Italian national TV about
the Solfatara. They refer to the site as an "active volcano" and have used
it—with nearby Vesuvius, of course—as a point of departure to discuss the
geology of the entire Bay of Naples.


photo directly above by Napoli Underground (NUg)


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3.

entry June 2003

pazzariello; Marotta, G. (3)

I have heard that the pazzariello still exists, but I have never seen one except
in a period re-enactment of the Naples of days gone by. Indeed, in April 1997,
RAI, the Italian state radio, ran a short program called "The Last Pazzariello
of Naples" in which they went to a hospital in the Spanish Quarters and talked
to Michele Lauri, born in 1920, the gentleman purported to be the last of his
kind except, as I say, in re-enactments. "Don Michele" said he had plied his
trade from the end of WWII until the late 1980s—50 years of being a pazzariello,
then, eventually, the last one in Naples. For many centuries, before mass
printing and then electronics made it so much easier to spread the word, there
was a profession called "town crier" or some variation thereof—a person paid to
walk around and shout out the news of the day and also get in a few ads for
local merchants. The pazzariello was that person in Naples. 

Typically, he dressed in mock military garb—a homemade uniform with bizarre
medals, epaulets and a diagonal sash across the chest. He wore a fancy French
Bourbon tricorner hat, usually with the points at front and back instead of on
the side and carried a large baton. He looked perhaps more like a circus
ringmaster than a general, but at least it was conspicuous. The pazzariello
(from the Neapolitan verb pazziare—to joke) was usually accompanied by a small
band of at least a flautist and a bass-drum. He paraded around the streets and
announced that a new shop was opening, or that this or that shop was almost
giving away merchandise, so hurry, hurry, hurry—or that so-and-so had lost a
wedding ring and would the finder please have it in his heart to return it. He
told a few jokes, rhymed a few couplets, and there were also the obligatory bits
of gossip and anti-establishment comments. He and his small entourage picked up
the few coins that people tossed their way. 

If the pazzariello is familiar at all to those outside of Italy, it is probably
through the 1954 film, L'oro di Napoli (The Gold of Naples), directed by
Vittorio De Sica (1901-74). The film consists of five episodes (six in the US
release) based on those found in the 1947 book of the same name by Giuseppe
Marotta (1902-1963). The first episode in the film (il guappo—the Racketeer)
revolves around the character of a pazzariello, played by Totò (photo, above).
(Don Michele, the real deal, had a bit part in the film and was a technical
adviser.) Totò's performance is uncharacteristically dark and melancholy and the
episode has been called by one critic the last bit of true "neorealism" to come
from De Sica (the director of Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D) before he started
making more light-hearted fare. 

[Click here for an item about another story in the book, The Gold of Naples, an
episode that was not in the film. Also here for an episode from both book and
film.]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

from Miscellany pages:


—The Neapolitan comic, Antonio De Curtis (in art known as “Totò”), was the most
popular Italian film comic of the 20th century. (“No one is in second place,” as
they say.) A number of complaints in the paper have noted that the city can’t
seem to get its own unfunny act together enough to buy the comic’s home on Via
Santa Maria Antesaecula, a site where they could open a decent museum dedicated
to Naples’ “favorite son.” The house has been up for sale a number of times and
the city has done nothing.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

added, August 2011


The Totò Theater is alive and well. It opened in May, 1996, on the premises
of—and after totally refurbishing—the old Ausonia cinema, (perhaps putting the
brakes on the distressing cultural trend in the other direction, whereby live
theaters become movie-houses). The establishment bills itself as the "comic
theater of Naples" and has had successful seasons since its inception. The
631-seat theater is on the south-side of the Botanical Gardens, a few minutes'
walk from a street named after the great comic (via Antonio De Curtis) and also
near the Vergini/Sanità area of Naples, where he was born. The season generally
runs from October through May and features comic plays and musical comedy. The
theater also sponsors theater workshops for younger actors just starting out.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also see: Totò Statue Removed

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THE NAPLES ZOO- NO. 1 - SEPT. 2007

If you don't like zoos, I understand. The animals in zoo posters all look-well,
not too unhappy about being in prison. The giraffes look sufficiently goofy, the
tigers still look proud and menacing, and the elephants seem unperturbed. In
real life, however, I still have to be convinced that wild animals should be
contained in anything less than one of those wild animal safari parks, where
there is at least the illusion of open space. If I hear that well-maintained
zoos are one of the ways in which we help endangered species survive, then I
guess I have to accept that. Grudgingly. And so I accept the newly reopened
Naples zoo for what it seems to be: relatively small but well-designed and
properly maintained.

The recent history of the zoo in Naples has been a disaster. It was founded in
1940 on the premises of the gigantic Mostra d'oltremare-Overseas Fair Grounds-in
the Fuorigrotta section of Naples, though it didn't begin regular operation
until after WWII. Over the next few decades, it acquired some sort of a
reputation as a decent zoological facility-or so they tell me-but the first time
I visited it (in the 1970s) I didn't like it. As I say, some people don't like
zoos at all. I never went back. In the 1990s, the zoo-financed and run by the
city-started to decline badly. By 2002, animals were suffering (and dying) from
neglect. Volunteers and unpaid staffers struggled to keep it open. (Private
citizens were going to butcher shops, buying whatever they figured a lion might
like and carrying it over to the zoo!) It was closed in 2003. I remember how
good I felt for the animals that they were being shipped out to facilities
elsewhere.

The zoo has reopened recently under the private management of the owners of the
adjacent amusement park, Edenlandia, so I took my second visit to the place the
other day. The literature for the zoo guarantees that the animals are properly
cared for, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that score. I didn't
visit the whole place, but I saw a well-landscaped facility, an elephant, a few
tigers, a camel, some flamingos, and even a small farm-animal petting enclosure
for children. (The children seemed to like it and the goats didn't seem to
mind.) There was even a row of smaller cages ("The way they used to pen up
animals in zoos") for exhibit purposes only. (Maybe those are the ones I
remember.) The new enclosures are much larger. If private management can make it
a going concern and fulfill the plans to expand into the currently unused spaces
of the east end of the Fair Grounds, then I'm satisfied. Not happy, but
satisfied. There is still something not right about a tiger in a cage. The
elephant I saw was leisurely tossing dust on herself (but, alas, item 5, below);
the camel was just staring at the starers; but the tigers were pacing. That's
what they do. Pace.

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THE NAPLES ZOO- NO. 2 - JUNE, 2009

Sabrina, the 32-year-old female elephant-the only elephant left at the Naples
zoo-is in danger of dying from an intestinal obstruction. Doctors from the
university department of veterinary medicine and experts from as far away as Tel
Aviv have converged on the zoo to see if they can save her. It is, according to
reports, very iffy. The zoo, itself, though an immense improvement over what the
place used to be, still needs to be restructured. Contsruction is supposed to
start in September on a major expansion into the adjacent and largely unused
area at the east end of the large fair grounds in Fuori Grotta, the Mostra
d'Oltremare. The new entity will be called Animalia and will be on the order of
those large safari parks where animals have more room to roam. [updaate #5,
below]

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THE NAPLES ZOO- NO. 3 - NOV. 2012

(Nov. 8) Edenlandia & Zoo bankrupt! I last looked in on the premises of these
facilities five years ago and expressed cautious optimism. It now seems that
both the large amusement park/fun fair, Edenlandia, and the nearby Naples Zoo
are bankrupt and have been officially put on the international auction block.
Both facilities had a long history of problems (see those links, above) when
they were taken over in 2003 by the Park and Leisure Corporation, which tried to
administer both as a single enterprise. For a while, it looked good, at least to
me. The company, however, wound up 13 million euros in debt and was finally
declared insolvent. A final disposition on how to deal with the crisis in case
there are no takers to buy the premises (that also include the adjacent
ex-dog-racing track) has been put off until February of next year. The area is
at the west end of the large Mostra d'Oltremare in the suburb of Bagnoli and has
always seemed the perfect place for facilities that serve the leisure time of
citizens in a crowded city. Perfect places to take the kids. Lots of potential.
We'll see. (update: here)

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THE NAPLES ZOO-NO. 4 - JAN. 2013

(Jan 24) Zoo emergency, again. The crisis has not been resolved, and the
international press has reported that animals in the Naples zoo are days away
from starvation. This means, of course, that a local paper ran a timely feature
on it yesterday! I suspect that if past performance is any indicator, the city
will find a band-aid solution to the problem. The last time this happened, 10
years ago, animals were fed by supplies from private citizens who carted food
in. Some favor releasing the large carnivores into city hall while the city
council is in session. Yummie. A modest proposal.

A few days later. BUT! It now seems that Alfredo Villa, the Italian-Swiss owner
of a company called Brainspark has agreed to buy the Zoo and Edenladia property
and pump enough money into it to bring the whole leisure park back to life.
What's more, say this morning papers, the jobs of the dozens of personnel
connected with the facility will be saved. Everyone seems to be happy. I have
heard this song & dance before, so I am wary of running over there and giving
the tiger in the above photo a big congratulatory hug. Stay tuned.

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THE NAPLES ZOO- NO. 5 - OCT 2014

(October 25) Wherever the mythical Elephant Graveyard is supposed to be, it now
has another resident. Rest in peace. Sabrina, the icon of the Naples zoo, a
56-year-old female elephant, also noted five-years ago when she was merely ill,
has died. Sabrina was the only elephant in the zoo. Not exactly solitary
confinement, but for a social species such as the elephant, it probably comes
close. She came to the zoo in 1986. Fifty-six is kind of middle-aged for an
elephant; maybe she just got lonely. Or maybe it was the zoo. I have not been
back there in a while because it was so depressing. Anyway, the last word to
John Donne: "Nature's great masterpiece, an elephant; the only harmless great
thing."

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THE NAPLES ZOO-NO. 6 - NOV. 2015

(Nov 3) - Sabrina, thou shouldst be living at this hour! The last time I wrote
about the Naples Zoo, it was on the death of Sabrina, the only elephant (the
solitude alone is probably what killed her). My other entries on the zoo are on
this page. They redepress me when I read them. Perhaps this time around, things
are looking up, and it's about time.The Zoo website announces "Great
Expectations lead to Grand Surpises" in the form of mother and daughter, Wini
and Julia (48 and 23 years old, respectively), newly arrived from Copenhagen (at
least it's warmer in Naples!). Their Danish keeper arrived with them, so as not
to make the change too abrupt. They have a new elephant house, green grass, a
huge water pool, trees to scratch on and about one acre to roam around in. It
doesn't seem like much, but it is, after all, a zoo. This addition to the zoo
comes through an organization known as EAZA (European Association of Zoos and
Aquaria, founded in 1992), headquartered in Amsterdam. They say in their promo
literature that "...zoos and aquaria have a strong role to play in protecting
nature and wildlife both at our institutions and out...". That is shorthand for
the plausible and unfortunate scenario that in a world intent on making wild
animals extinct,* maybe the only way to shelter and protect them is in
captivity. The organization is an umbrella for specialist groups such as the
European Endangered Species Programs and various breeding programs. The Naples
Zoo, in its literature, says that some of the facilities are not yet fully open
because they are being restructured. Also, the former co-management scheme with
the adjacent funfair/amusement park "Edenlandia" is still uncertain since that
facility is still closed (it has announced that it will reopen in six months).
What can I say? If they don't give these two beautiful creatures (whom John
Donne called,"Nature's great masterpiece...the only harmless great thing") a
fair deal, I am going to go down and release the kraken! (Actually, that thing,
probably Architeuthis dux, lives at the Dohrn Aquarium in Naples, a facility in
good standing of the EAZA! So be warned...)
*(If you think that is an exaggeration, perhaps this external link will convince
you.)

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THE NAPLES ZOO- NO. 7 - APRIL 3 2016

(Apr 3) - Things seem to be looking up for the Naples zoo. As you may read on
this page, the place has had a lot of downs, as well. But for now...the most
recent addition is Lubango, a male giraffe, weighing in at 600 lean and cuddly
kg/1300 pounds, but not nearly full-grown. His weight can expect to double and
he'll reach a height of 5 meters. That's what eating 30 kg a day of leaves will
do for you. Lubango comes from the Vienna Zoo, where he was born in captivity.
In Naples he'll roam around an enclosure with three elephants, gnus, ostriches
and some baby llamas. Recently the zoo has also added a crocodile, a hippo and
inaugurated a new tiger enclosure. (Presumably the sweet widdle wwamas and
Lubango, the new giwaffie, are not in the same enclosure as the croc or tigers.
Who knows? I've seen them do worse!) Though the IUCN (International Union for
the Conservation of Nature) does not count the giraffe as an endangered species,
the population is declining in Africa due to the destruction of habitat. The
entire Naples Zoo now is on 80,000 sq. meters of land/c. 20 acres. Their promo
literature goes to great ends to tell us that they're doing their very best to
expand and maintain. I've heard that before, but I'm hopeful.

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THE NAPLES ZOO- NO. 8 APRIL 10 2017

April 9, 2017 - The Naples zoo has presented two new tigers, Annibale and
Arcana. They were donated by private philanthropy. Arcana is an example of a
white tiger (pictured) (also known as the bleached tiger, a pigmentation variant
of the Bengal tiger). We note that this particular sub-species of tiger no
longer exists in the wild. The last wild white tiger was killed in the 1950s;
all white tigers alive today are the result of careful breeding programs. They
are not that rare considering the great number of breeding programs in the
world, especially in India. In European zoos, however, they are not too common;
the Zoologic Garden of Lisbon has five, all born in the zoo; and two Bengal
white tigers were born in a zoo in Gyor (Hungary) in January 2015. There are a
few others. Naples now joins the list.

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RECENT ERUPTIONS OF MT. VESUVIUS & THE FOUNTAIN OF SPINA CORONA

Those are just clouds above the cone, but the folks who built the houses you see
on the slopes of Vesuvius (photo, right) are obviously optimists, for the
question is always, "Isn't it about time?" (Of course, you never ask that
question aloud because that brings bad luck. Yes, your loud mouth might well
cause the next one!)

Well, is it time? With all the pompous weight of scientific certainty, I can now
say...uh, maybe. It is instructive to look at the recent history of eruptions
for a clue. 'Recent' is relative. We can take the last 400 years or so because
in geologic terms that is but a heart-beat.

Working back from the present, the last eruption of Vesuvius was in March, 1944.
It happened in full view of the Allied armies, which had taken the city of
Naples a few months earlier. WWII was still raging farther north in Italy when
Vesuvius went into what is called an effusive eruption (less violent than an
explosive eruption, but nevertheless dangerous and potentially deadly). That
eruption destroyed a number of nearby towns; the volcanic ash also rendered
useless the planes of a U.S. B-25 bomber group parked at the Capodichino airport
in Naples.) There are still a lot of people in Naples who remember that one,
including at least one U.S. Army captain (still in Naples!), Herman Chanowitz,
whose wartime memoirs are chronicled elsewhere in this encyclopedia.      [Also
see this additional photo of Vesuvius during the 1944 eruption.)


Mt. Vesuvius, 1944 eruption. Photo: H. Chanowitz.
Photo restoration: Tana A. Churan-Davis.
Eruptions count as major or minor (and everything in between) depending on the
extent to which they are explosive or effusive, how much ejecta they produce and
the extent to which they change the profile of the volcano, blowing bits and
pieces away, adding new craters, new lava flows, etc. Thus, the eruptions of
1929 and 1926 were minor, but they did, for example, add a few new craters and
damage nearby structures. There was also geologic activity of a different nature
near Naples in that period; a major earthquake struck the Irpinia region (i.e.,
near Avellino) on July 23, 1930, killing 1500 persons. (Earthquakes are not
necessarily related to volcanism, but at least in this area, there is that
possibility.) 


The eruption of April, 1906, was massive and attracted worldwide attention.
(Indeed, for an unusual aside to the 1906 eruption, see The Wonderful Wizard of
Chittenango.) It killed 100 persons and buried nearby towns. The initial
rumblings, however, caused little alarm and locals joked that 'the mountain' was
just preparing a royal welcome for British King Edward, due in Naples for a
visit shortly. He made it just in time for an eruption that dropped the ridge on
the main cone some 250 meters, according to Prof. Raffaele Vittorio Matteucci,
the director of the Vesuvius observatory. The eruption covered the city of
Naples, itself, with ash, and made the roads near the volcano impassable.
Residents of destroyed villages fled to Naples or to nearby towns such as
Castellammare. The eruption was followed by heavy rains that produced what
geologists now call a lahar (an Indonesian word)--massive mud-like slides of ash
and water that buried everything in their path. The eruption created a heroic
mythology around the persons of Matteucci and his US American associate, Frank
A. Perret, who stuck to their stations in the observatory to gather data while
hell raged around them. (Some sources reported at the time that it was the most
massive eruption since the great explosion that destroyed Pompeii and
Herculaneum in 79 AD. That may be an exaggeration, since the 1872 and the 1631
eruptions were likely to have been at least as powerful.) Matteucci's presence
on the slopes during the eruption and his constant messages of reassurance to
the population of Naples were credited with avoiding a general panic.

[See also: this New York Times article from 1906, praising Matteucci.]
[See also: this account of the 1906 eruption by Herbert M. Vaughan.]

There had been a few warnings of the strong 1906 eruption a few years earlier.
In 1900 there was a "Strombolian eruption," that is, a strong but relatively
low-level volcanic eruption with regular ejections of incandescent material to
altitudes of tens to hundreds of meters. From the city of Naples at night, it
was something like watching a pretty good fireworks display. That activity
continued through 1903.


In the 1880s and 1890s there was constant visible volcanic activity on Vesuvius,
small but enough to produce minor secondary cones and small lave flows. As in
1930, the period also contained a major earthquake, this one on the island of
Ischia on March 4, 1881.


eruption of 1872 (photo: G. Sommer)              



The year 1872 produced a massive eruption classified as explosive/effusive.
Somewhat earlier, in 1841, the geological observatory, itself, had been founded,
right on the slopes. The institution was the brain-child of Macedonio Melloni
(1798-1854), who became the first director. It survived the political upheavals
that came with the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples and its absorption into the
modern nation state of Italy. The directorship then passed to Luigi Palmieri
(1807-96), who was on duty constantly during the 1872 eruption.You can see the
observatory today and from a distance notice that it sits on a handy knoll with
the lava flow of the '72 eruption going around it! There were even more
scientific heroics as the director, Prof. Palmieri, refused to leave so he could
man the instruments. Unlike Matteucci, later, Palmieri was totally cut-off and
alone.



Eruption on 1822 (painting: Camillo De Vito)        


The 1850s had constant activity, more Strombolian than explosive, but enough to
cause lava to flow, secondary cones to open and artists to paint. The same can
be said for the eruption of 1839 and other smaller events in that decade. There
is, again, constant activity back to the turn of that century, including a major
eruption in 1822 (image, right); in the 1700s, there were at least three notable
eruptions: 1707, 1737, and 1794, all of which destroyed local villages. As well,
there were weaker eruptions in the 1750s and 1760s. The 1794 eruption opened
craters at relatively low levels on the slopes at 480 and 320 meters. (The
current height of Mt. Vesuvius is 1280 meters.)


The modern cycle of eruptions of Mt. Vesuvius started Dec. 16, 1631 with an
eruption classified as explosive (as opposed to the less violent effusive or
explosive/effusive). The volcano had been quiet for some centuries and then
simply blew its top. Most sources cite this eruption as the greatest since
Pompeii. It followed the familiar behavior of an exploding volcano: lava
fountains as high as 4 km and an ash column as high as 15 km, which then
collapsed onto the slopes producing what is now called a pyroclastic flow. It
was followed in 1637, '49, '52, '54, and '60 by lesser eruptions. Some of those
were accompanied by earthquakes; indeed, even the dreaded bubonic plague showed
up in 1656, lending credence amongst believers to the rumor that the world was
coming to an end. It didn't, of course, and it won't after the next one. (My
friends--the people in those houses in the top photo--tell me that I should
really be quiet and, especially, should delete those last few words.)



By agreement, then, we stop at the 1631 eruption, a harbinger of the active 300
years to come. But perhaps one item from before that is of interest. One of the
most interesting and iconic statues (photo, right) in the city of Naples is the
Fountain of Spina Corona. It is a marble representation of an angelically winged
siren, Parthenope, the eponym of the original city, above Vesuvius. She is
pressing her breasts to direct the streams of water/milk onto the flames of the
volcano to extinguish them. The work bears the Latin inscription Dum Vesevi
Syrena Incendia Mulcet [While the siren of Vesuvius calms the flames]. That may
be a pun in Latin since the Latin infinitive mulcere--besides meaning to calm or
caress--can also mean to soften, as in to make metal soft, and Mulciber is, in
fact, one of the nicknames of Vulcan, the Roman god of the forge, guardian of
fire, and source of the word volcano. So she is 'mulceting' the 'mulciter'.
That's funny. So is the fact that she seems to have the legs of a chicken; I
don't know why, but I'm sure it's complicated.


Some sources say, simply, that the statue was done at the behest of Spanish
Viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo around 1550, and some from the 1600s even claimed
that the siren putting out the flames of the volcano was intended to represent
the way Toledo had extinguished the fires of potential revolution. Be that as it
may, there are references to the statue from the 1400s, so it couldn't have been
Toledo's idea, no matter what people wanted to read into it later on. Most
opinion is that it is from the Aragonese period in the 1400s and the Spanish
effort around 1550 was a remake. That remake was overseen by Giovanni da Nola
(1488-1558), one of the great names of the Italian Renaissance. He worked
principally in Naples. His altars, sepulchers, and monuments are found in many
of the great churches in Naples; he also built a number of the city's monument
fountains from the 1500s.

The fountain has recently been restored and is located outside the church of
Santa Caterina della Spina Corona, not far from the Fredrick II university in
what used to be the Portanova section of the city. The church, itself, goes back
to 1354 when it was built as an annex to a Benedictine monastery and, in its
long history, has even been a synagogue. The original statue of winged
Parthenope is in the National Museum. The restored fountain uses an exact
replica by Achille d'Orso, the prominent Neapolitan sculptor from the early
1900s. In popular and not totally unexpected vulgar parlance, the work is also
referred to locally as la fontana delle zizze (The Fountain of the Tits).

Finally, the current period of calm on Vesuvius —no visible activity since 1944
(although "events" such as rumblings and movement are detected by instruments)—
has been the longest in centuries. Maybe the restoration of the statue is
working.

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DOMENICO ANTONIO VACCARO (1678-1745)
"SAY, ISN'T HE THE SAME GUY WHO DID?"

There is always a "same guy who did". The spire in the square of San Domenico
Maggiore
"In Naples, the answer to that question is usually "yes." There is always a
"same guy who did". Or built. Or painted. Or sculpted. There was a small, busy
cadre of illustrious painters, sculptors and architects in the Naples of the
1600s and 1700s who created much of what made the city into an artistic treasure
in those years. The sculptor Giuseppe Sanmartino comes to mind; his magnificent
Veiled Christ is more famous than his other works scattered throughout the city,
but it by no means puts the others to shame--not by a long shot. And Cosimo
Fanzago? If you see a Baroque-y church in Naples and you're not sure, guess
Fanzago. Statistically, it's better than even money, and even if you're wrong,
it will still impress your friends. (Your enemies, however, may counter with,
"But what about that double-gerbilled hyper-atrium." Be prepared.) D.A. Vaccaro
is another one of the great creators of eighteenth-century Naples. As a painter,
he trained under Francesco Solimena. Some of Vaccaro's paintings survive, such
as the Penitent St William of Aquitaine in the church of Sant'Agostino degli
Scalzi. It is, however, his sculpture and architecture that left an indelible
stamp on the city.

Having said that, unfortunately one of Vacarro's early works of sculpture proved
to be not so indelible after all. The grand obelisk in the middle of Piazza del
Ges, perhaps the most ornate work in the entire city, was originally surmounted
by a bronze equestrian monument to Philip V of Spain, a splendid piece by
Vaccaro and his father, Lorenzo, a prominent artist in his own right. When the
Spanish were forced out of Naples in 1700, the monument was destroyed. (Charles
III later replaced it very wisely with a statue of the Immaculate Virgin,
supremely immune from fickle mobs of statue-topplers.) Much of Vaccaro's
sculpture is on the premises of the San Martino monastery (now a museum), such
as the figures of Providence and Divine Grace for the chapel of San Giovanni
Battista (John the Baptist) on the premises, as well as half-length busts of St
Januarius and St Martin for the main courtyard. He worked extensively, as well,
to decorate the crypt of the church of San Paolo Maggiore in the historic center
of the city.

The Immacolatella
Vaccaro's most visible work in the historic center is another tall column (top
photo) this one in the square of San Domenico Maggiore. The spire was started
after the plague of 1656; the design was by Cosimo Fanzago. The work, itself,
was undertaken by royal architect, Francesco Antonio Picchiatti (1619-94),*
whose concern for documenting and preserving the great number of remains of the
ancient Roman city of Neapolis beneath the site caused construction to be
suspended in 1680 when the spire had reached only about half the height one sees
today. Vaccaro later undertook to finish the project and delivered it in 1737.
The finished carved obelisk and bronze statute of St. Dominic on the top are
his. Vaccaro also did innumerable models for silversmiths and ornate figures for
the presepe, the traditional Neapolitan Christmas manger displays.

[* F. A. Picchiatti is also responsible for the chapel in the building of Pio
Monte della Misericordia in Naples, which contains Caravaggio's The Seven Works
of Mercy as well as for the original convent of Santa Croce di Luca, begun in
1643. The convent stood at the extreme western end of the old historic city (#39
on this map). It was demolished in 1900 to make room for the new Polyclinic
hospital; a small section was left standing as a historical marker.
Additionally, Picchiatti was one of the architects who carried on from Fanzago
on the construction of the church of Santa Maria Egiziaca a Pizzofalcone. The
story has come down that Picchiati's home was somewhat of a museum in itself,
testimony to his wide-ranging interests behind his profession. His private
"museum" held 20,000 ancient coins, 6,000 inscribed pieces of marble, 300 bronze
statues, various domestic implements of aniquity, ancient weapons, a library of
paintings and 1200 books.]

Vaccaro's architecture is what may stand out to casual visitors to the city.
Anyone who visits the courtyard of the Santa Chiara complex will note the
majolica decoration (photo, above. Click here for a separate item on the
restoration of that courtyard.) As well, a stroll along the otherwise dismal
port section of Naples will bring you to the delightful (but as yet unrestored!)
old customs station (photo, above right), the Immacolatella, the only part of
18th-century Naples still standing in that immediate area. That, too, is
Vaccaro's.

He also planned what turned out to be the most spectacular building never [sic]
built in Naples! It was to be the Palazzo Tarsia, now in the heart of the
crowded Montesanto section of Naples and overlaid by two centuries of
rebuilding, destruction and subdividing. The outlines of the original building,
amorphously wedged into an unbelievable hive of buildings, are vaguely
indentifiable from above. The elaborate terraces, ramps and gardens to the
extent that they were ever completed are gone. Vaccaro's own engraving for the
project still exists (illustration, left).

Also see The Church and Mosaic of San Michele on Capri.
Also see The Church of San Michele Arcangelo (at Piazza Dante).

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KEEPING UP WITH THE JOANS

If you think you understand what was happening in southern Italy between the
coming of the Angevin dynasty in 1200s and its departure in the 1400s, then you
have not been paying attention. And even if you have, it really wonot help much.
It was a complicated time. (Maybe this short version will help.)

I am wondering about a book called Queen of Night, by Alan Savage. I haven't
read the book, but I have read a plot description that includes this passage:

Queen Joanna I of Naples was the most beautiful and accomplished woman of her
times. She is also remembered as a cold-blooded murderess and woman of the most
questionable morals. Queen of Night is her story...[one of an]..astonishing
range of intrigue, romance, warfare, rape, betrayal and sheer adventure..Queen
of Night is an enthralling account of a truly remarkable woman..

Joanna I
I am tempted to think that the author, like many-including Neapolitans-has fused
Joanna I and Joanna II into a single woman-beautiful, accomplished,
cold-blooded, and immoral- kind of like Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven, or,
for the younger generation, the queen beast in Alien Resurrection.

To set the record straight (primarily to get poor Joanna I off the hook) here is
the chronology of the Angevin dynasty in Naples:

Charles I  
Charles II
Robert 
Joanna I  
Charles III of Durazzo
Ladislao     
Joanna II 
Rene             1266-1285
1285-1309
1309-1343
1343-1382 
1382-1386
1386-1414 
1414-1435
1435-1442



The nitty-gritty on the two Joans:

Joanna I                     1343-1382
Joanna II                    1414-1435


Joanna I became sovereign of Naples in succession to her grandfather King Robert
in 1343. She has no record of immoral intrigue. (OK, some say she had a hand in
the murder of her first husband, but it was the 14th century-that's a parking
ticket.) She was put to death by Charles, duke of Durazzo, who regarded himself
as the legitimate king of Naples. It is this woman who fits the description of
"accomplished," at least intellectually. She kept the company of the poets and
scholars of her time, including Petrarch and Boccaccio.

Joanna II Joanna II, on the other tentacle, is the preying mantis man-eating
queen that Neapolitans still speak of when they point out this or that building
and whisper, "That's where Joanna murdered her men after making love to them."
These sites "include but are not restricted to" (to hedge my bet with some
legalese) the Villa Donn'Anna at the beginning of the Posillipo coast; the
no-longer extant Villa of Poggioreale; a ruined mystery villa on a chunk of rock
at water's edge in Sorrento; and the alligator-infested sub-dungeon of the
Maschio Angioino (the Angevin Fortress) at the main port of Naples. Such tales
are usually replete with hidden torture chambers and may include 100%
un-verifiable episodes of sex with horses. This Joanna came to the throne at the
age of 45 after a dissolute life. She brought with her a young lover and went
through a series of others in a period that is one of the most confusing in the
confusing history of Naples. The traditional view is that she was not a
particularly astute woman, and that her reign was one long scandal, one which
ran through even the reign of her immediate successor and did not end until the
entire Angevin dynasty was replaced by the Aragonese.

Recently, historians have tended, however, to give Joanna II the benefit of the
doubt. Anecdotal accounts of her personal vices are less the focus of interest
than is the fact the Naples in the 1300s and early 1400s was pretty much
ungovernable, especially by a woman-any woman; "Femines non sunt ut homines
viriles" ("Women are not as virile as men,"said the Florentine Doppo degli Spini
when asked about Giovanna, thus converting what is biologically delightful into
would-be profundity about ability to govern.) She did surround herself with a
lot of men, but almost all of them were potential power brokers. These, again,
included but were not restricted to William of Austria, Padofello Alopo, James
II of Bourbon, Sergianni Caracciolo, and Munzio Forzo, some of whom she married,
some of whom she adopted and some of whom she just made love to. The Angevins
had taken a risk in the mid-1200s by moving the capital of the kingdom from
Palermo to Naples. True, a capital in southern Italy-once removed from
Sicily-was no longer as exposed to the potential flanking pincer moves of Islam
in Spain and in the Balkans; it was also closer to the dynastic homeland,
France; but it was also closer to the centers of northern European military and
diplomatic intrigue. Giovanna may have been doing what she thought needed to be
done to stabilize her kingdom.

So, judge as you will, but at least keep them straight.

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INSTALLATION ART IN NAPLES

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1.


entry May 2003

installation art; Anish Kapoor

The city of Naples-in its never-ending quest to bring art to the masses and
especially to the masses who ride the subway to work-is not just going to spruce
up the soon-to-be-finished university station at Monte Sant'Angelo with a few
paintings or statues or even bronzed old jalopies disguised as installation art.
They have hired British/Indian artist Anish Kapoor to turn the entire station,
itself, into a work of art. The station will be among the deepest in Italy
(about 40 meters) and-well, the area is in the Phlegrean Fields, not far from
the mythological descent into Hades- so, says Kapoor: "We want to create the
impression of a Dantean descent into the underworld." No one seems to know
exactly what that means, and few are in a hurry to find out. It's hell getting
to work, anyway.

Neapolitans are most familiar with Kapoor from his gigantic site sculpture,
Taratantara, originally created for the new Gateshead's Baltic Centre for
Contemporary Arts in England in 1999, but then set up in Piazza Plebiscito
(photo) in Naples in December of 2000 as that year's contribution to the annual
exposition of installation art of one sort or another. The title is meant to be
echoic of the sound made by a trumpet fanfare, as in Roman poet Quintus Ennius'
line, "At tuba terribili sonitu taratantara dixit" - ("But the trumpet sounded
with its terrible taratantara", the onomatopoeia usually left untranslated).
Indeed, the sculpture suggests two funnel-like trumpet bells joined and flaring
out to both ends, something like those strange geometric figures that scientists
use to describe what sort of transdimensional hyperspace thing (a technical
term) we shall have to traverse if we ever hope to reach the stars. Taratantara
was made of a shiny red membrane, glittered in the sun, was about 50 meters
long, 20 high and was anchored in Piazza Plebiscito by steel columns at each
end. While it was up, the columns were scaled by demonstrators. They weren't out
to damage the sculpture-and didn't-but the offices of the Naples Prefecture
bounds the north side of the square and that's always a good place to have a
demonstration.

I am reminded of a clipping I read once in the paper:

An English art student's work was thrown out, literally, after an official at a
Birmingham art center mistook it for trash from the opening day party. Ceri
Davie's "Piece de Resistance" involved red jellies displayed on plates and was
intended as a metaphor of decay. 'Months of hard work had just gone to waste,'
the artist said. "I was quite horrified. Very few of us realize the tough row
that artists have to hoe in dealing with Philistines such as that art center
official. This is probably because practical hoes weren't even invented until
the Middle Ages. As far as we know, the Philistines just got down on all fours
and grubbed their rows into shape with their hands.

Many years before the Decadent Red Jelly affair referred to above, one of the
artist's earlier works, Empty Paper Picnic Plate-which consisted of an empty
paper picnic plate-was not at all well received by critics, who found the title
too hard to say five times real fast and who also mistook "empty paper" as a
metaphor of life instead of a Minimalist description of paper picnics, the plate
itself being just a secondary, but sardonic, applique -which is just as well,
since it too was given the old heave-ho. Fortunately (maybe), it was saved,
since the art center official who tossed it, threw it into what he thought was a
trash bin, but which, in fact, was also past of the art show.

And then there was the artist's Hamburger, those little pointillist nibbles of
semi-conceptualist cholesterol-laden ground Boeuf, a yummy but still youthful
version of her later, futuristic, Quarter-Pounder With Cheese, in which patrons
of the art show were required to flip burgers in the kitchen, then ask
themselves in the drive-through microphone if they "would like fries with that?"
and then-ah, the stochastic power of it all!-eat or not eat the work of art! How
was the artist to know that they had scheduled the exhibit in the same hall as a
dog show? It was to her credit as a resourceful master of Performance Art that
she retitled the whole thing, Gone to the Dogs, A Metaphor. (Or Maybe It's a
Simile).

Davies is not the only artist who has had this trouble. Fortunately, I am in the
possession of a section of the diary of Michelangelo (the National Library knows
nothing about this):

January 8, 1504. Dear diary. I'm ruined. After years of work in chipping away
the pieces, I have finally figured out where beauty is, and it's not in chubby
women with smiling faces. I busted my hump on this one, too! (Alas, even in a
society where males with humps are considered good omens, there is not much use
for a sculptor with a busted one, I'm afraid.)

I spent three years on this! A veritable mountain of chips, shards, bits,
detritus, little stone chunks lying where they fell, all at different odd
angles, each one with a special metaphor to it, deconstructing, as it were, the
sordid and complex confusion of our times. And in stone!-in Carrara marble as
eternal as the plots, counter-plots and intrigues that surround us. I was going
to call it something like Plots, Counter-Plots and Intrigues. (Ok, I hadn't
given it that much thought, yet.) I figured it was about time someone put it all
into permanent artistic form. Why paint anymore?! The colors will just fade and
then someone will come along and invent cartoonists and hire one of them to
touch up my Sistine Chapel with paint-by-the-numbers Day-Glo!

So I finish it and leave it outside. Where else am I going to keep it, in my
living room? This morning it's gone. Those morons took the waste rock and put it
on display! 'It looks just like a boy with a slingshot. Cool!' they said. And my
work of art? 'Oh, that crap? We threw it away,'they said.

I was talking about this with Leonardo From Vinci (man, what a one-horse burg
that dump is!). He has strung an invention of his, a 'talk gizmo' between his
house and mine -two ceramic cups and a very long thread. It works all right,
except that since our houses are many miles apart, communication kind of breaks
down when Tuscan peasant women somewhere in between start hanging laundry on the
line. He says he's working on a very long thread on a spool, which would
actually let you converse as you walk around the street. Like I'm going to hold
my breath waiting for that one. He asked me what I was doing wasting my time
with rocks, anyway, when I could be building things he called 'aeroplanes'. He
told me he was undecided about what to paint on the part he called the
'fuselage' - an eagle carrying lightning bolts in its talons or a chubby women
with a smiling face. I suggested a smiling woman holding lightning bolts. He was
not amused. A weird man, Leo. Frankly, I don't think the old geezer is playing
with a round boccie ball, anymore.

I'll see your metafour and raise you five.

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2.


entry Dec. 2002

installation art; memento mori; "skulls" 

The large and spacious square between the main facade of the Royal Palace and
the Church of San Francesco di Paola is Piazza del Plebiscito. It is ideally
suited for outdoor concerts, street musicians, jugglers, and large groups of
tourists to shuffle nervously as they are efficiently herded from statue to
statue by stray dogs.

The square also lends itself to modern sculpture of the kind that art critics
call "installation art" and the rest of us rustic dullards call, "What in the
world is that supposed to be?!" Generally speaking, installation art requires
some-well,installation-something in the way of mounting, draping, hanging,
digging or soldering. The displays, themselves, may include ("...but are not
limited to...," as lawyers so craftily hedge) metal, wood, plastic, rubber, and
assorted minerals, fabrics and liquids.

And so, in past years, Piazza del Plebiscito has seen a gigantic mountain of
salt dotted with pieces of machinery, apparently a metaphor of whatever it is
that salt represents confronted with whatever it is that machinery
represents-maybe life beset by technology. (Hmmmm, not such a "rustic dullard"
now, huh?!) Then, one year, there was a large wooden replica of an ancient
lighthouse that used to guard the harbor of Naples. Last year, there was a
gigantic replica of the Angevin Fortress made entirely of soft-drink cans
(photo). These exhibits go up in early December and are left in place for the
Christmas holidays, at which time they are "uninstalled". Most of them are
environmentally friendly enough to be dismantled easily or, in some case,
vacuumed up.

In December 2002, they tore up the paving stones in the square. According to the
paper, no one in the city administration recalls giving the go-ahead for any of
this digging, but the latest piece of ephemeral sculpture was duly installed. It
is a work by German sculptor and film maker, Rebecca Horn. Her history includes
mechanical and body-extension sculpture as well as installation art on the
premises of an insane asylum in Vienna. Austria. Her work is often
controversial.

The work consisted of a number of bronze skulls implanted in the pavement
(photo). The work, thus, is Horn's tribute to-or variation on-the well-known
Neapolitan "cult of death" (so-called by some) that centers on the vast
collection of human skulls on the premises of the Fontanelle cemetery in Naples.
The work is "site specific," a sub-genre of installation art, in that it makes
sense only within the context of the place where it is exhibited-in this case,
Naples.

The Fontanelle cemetery is carved out of the tufaceous hillside in the Materdei
section of Naples. The vast chambers on the premises served for centuries as a
charnel house for paupers. At the end of the 19th century, Father Gaetano
Barbati had the chaotically buried skeletal remains disinterred and cataloged.
They then remained on the surface, stored in makeshift crypts, in boxes and on
wooden racks. From that moment, a spontaneous cult of affection for, and
devotion to, the remains of these unnamed dead developed in Naples. Defenders of
the cult pointed out that they were paying respect to those who had had none in
life, who had been too poor even to have a proper burial. Though the practice
has largely disappeared, devotees used to pay visits to the skulls, clean
them-"adopt" them, in a way, even giving the skulls back their "living" names
(revealed to the caretakers in dreams). Yes, all that.

a memento mori mosaic
from Pompeii
National Museum, Naples



In the church of Purgatorio dell'Arco
The display of skulls gives the whole thing a resemblance to the memento mori.
This Latin phrase means "Remember you must die". As a noun, it thus means "a
reminder of death". Historically, it recalls the slaves whose job it was in
ancient Rome to ride in the chariot beside the conquering hero and whisper that
single killjoy phrase ("Remember you must die") in his ear, just to keep Hero
from believing his own press releases. In a Christian context, the "memento
mori" plays a significant part in Neapolitan iconography. It is seen as a
reminder to live the kind of life that will be judged worthy when that time
comes. The courtyard of the museum of San Martino (an ex-monastery) displays
carvings of skulls prominently, and a few churches in Naples  have depictions of
them on the facades or within, most notably, the Church of Purgatorio ad Arco on
via Tribunali.


As grisly as it may seem to outsiders, the Fontanelle cemetery is less a
reminder of death than it is a popular manifestation of the desire to show
affection for those who had so little of it in life. The point, then, of the
work of art in Piazza Plebiscito dedicated to that bit of Neapolitan history is
perhaps to connect the city a bit to its past, to its unusual-even
bizarre-traditions, especially at this time of year.  Some have welcomed the
display, sight unseen, as a way to force one to shake off, even for a moment,
the great mid-December haze of globalized Christmas kitsch. After all, what
better way to remember the birth of the Saviour than with Bing Crosby singing
"White Christmas" as he stands with his reindeer in the traditional Neapolitan
manger scene, the presepe, with the Holy Family, the Three Wise Men, and the
Redeemed Grinch, all of whom are watching the colorized version of It's a
Wonderful Life on a new broadband palm computer? (Sigh. I've seen that one. The
movie, too.)


[Also see "Memento vivere", a painting.]

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3.


entry Jan. 2004

Installation Art
'04                                                                                                          

This This year's ritual installation of artyear's ritual installation of art in
Piazza Plebiscito features a work entitled "Naples," by the master of massive
minimalism, San Francisco artist Richard Serra (1939-). It is a large spiral
(already called "Contraception of the Gods" by those who view with some disdain
the city's unabashed dedication to this kind of display). Entering into the
giant orange sculpture of curved and bending steel plates, you spiral in,
leaning in and out with the curves of the walls, to the center, where you can
look up and see the clock tower on the facade of the royal palace (see photo and
insert). Your perception as you navigate the deceptive geometry of this small,
tilted space set in the larger space of the square, itself, is what gives
validity to the work, says the artist. Clearly, to be a private experience-to be
at all touched by the suggested metaphor of yourself in a similarly skewed
private life-space set in the space of the world at large-the wandering in and
out is best done slowly and alone and not as part of a curious herd elbowing
their way in and out-unless, of course, you spend much of your time elbowing
your way through life wondering what it's all about. That, too, is possible.

The work bears an amazing resemblance to Serra's earlier "Torqued Ellipses,"
done in 1996, separate curved plates of towering steel, which, to the untrained
maximalist eye-with a bit of imagination-might be fit together into a spiral.


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4.

entry Jan 2005

Installation Art 2004/5


It has been ten years since the city of Naples started adorning the vast Piazza
Plebiscito with examples of "Installation Art"-exhibits of various kinds put in
place in December and then taken down after the holiday season. Some of these
works have evoked bewilderment in the eye of the beholder. Or hostility. Or
admiration. That of, course, is what such art is meant to do: spin a web of
extended discourse around itself, made up of people's reactions, which
themselves become part of the answer to that nagging question: "What in the
world is that supposed to be?"  Such works in the last decade in Naples have
included Mimmo Paladino's "Salt Mountain," Anish Kapoor's "Taratantara" (#1,
above), and Rebecca Horn's exhibit of bronze skulls, "Spirits of Mother of
Pearl," embedded in the pavement itself (#2, above).

This year's work is Luciano Fabro's Italia all'asta (photo, left). Asta means
auction in Italian; thus, "Italy for sale" or "Italy to the highest bidder"
captures the spirit of the title. It is a 30-meter tower wrapped round by a
convoluted map of the "Two Italies"-North and South-one part of which is
inverted. The halves touch and, thus, are joined. The sculpture is marked in
places with the names of various sections of the nation that have been sold off
for one reason or another during the centuries-Nice and Savoy, for example,
ceded to the French in 1859 in return for French help in the Italian wars of
independence against Austria. The tower is also marked by the names of private
corporations that have been allowed to buy "what belongs to the Italian people"
(to cite the explanatory notes given out at Piazza Plebiscito); that is,
fundamental resources in the areas of communication, energy, and the chemical
and automobile industries, most of which have now been "privatised". The exhibit
does not bill itself as a protest, but it doesn't have to. Anyone who has been
keeping up with recent government attempts to sell off historical monuments in
Italy will understand what the exhibit is all about. ("Welcome to Rome. See the
Nike Colosseum!" Am I kidding? So far, yes.)

First of all, the division of the gigantic representation of Italy into two-the
Two Italies-recalls that split in the national psyche, something that might not
occur to foreigners, but which is ever-present in the minds of all Italians,
even a century and a half after unification. Second, in spite of the metal
construction, the tower is probably best called by the religious or Baroque
term, "spire"; it is set up in the middle of a large square, recalling two other
large, permanent spires in Naples (at Piazza del Gesu Nuovo and Piazza San
Domenico Maggiore), and is, in fact, a tribute to the importance of the piazza
in Italian history-the public gathering place. TGhis is where people talked,
danced, bought and sold, where revolutions started, proclamations were read and
even executions carried out. "The city is born from the square, not vice versa,"
says Fabro, in an original poem that accompanies the explanatory notes. It is
the perfect site in Naples to generate questions about the modern identity of
Italians, a people that are among the great bearers of European culture over the
centuries.

The exhibit has some interesting sidelights. One is the presence of various
mathematical and musical symbols affixed to the colonnade of the church of San
Francesco di Paola, the building on the west side of the giant square. (These
are, I suppose, tributes to the Greek origins of Naples and Italian scientists
and musicians of the past. It also reminds me that one year, the entire exhibit
consisted of a single Fibonacci sequence arrayed around the semicircular facade
of the church; 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34... They stopped when they ran out of
columns or when Fibonnaci died-I forget which, but I am still engaging in my own
internal "extended discourse" about that one. Stay tuned.) Also, Fabro has put
together a sound track that will be heard around the square for as long as the
exhibit lasts, repeating 25 segments; they range from an ancient Greek chorus to
an Ambrosian chant to the classical music of Cimarosa and Pergolesi to,
ultimately, a recording of Marconi's first radio message.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5.

Dec.2008


For some reason, there will be no exposition of installation art at Piazza
Plebiscito this year. I've just been down there and it is bone-bare, unless, of
course, Christo has managed to install a gigantic sculpture of thin air of
emptiness hanging over the entire square, called Thin Air of Emptiness. On the
other chisel, the on-going shoring-and-sprucing up of the Galleria Umberto may
be viewed as installation art, of sorts. I call it Shoring-and-Sprucing Up of
the Galleria Umberto (photo, right). Alas, this means that there will be no
large Christmas Wishing Tree this year on the premises. Come back in
Twenty-oh-Nine.









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6.

entry Jan 2009

Installation Art 2008/9


I spoke too soon when I said there would be no installation art at Piazzadel
Plebiscito this winter. They put it up a bit later than they normally do, and I
didn't check back. This year's artist is Jan Fabre (b. 1958 in Antwerp,
Belgium). He is described as "multidisciplinary"; he is a playwright, stage
director, choreographer and stage designer. He also founded the Troubleyn
theater company in Antwerp in 1986. Fabre has recently exhibited at the Louvre
in Paris. His exhibit at Piazza del Plebiscito consists of five bronze
sculptures, some of which have previously been shown individually in public
spaces elsewhere. Thus, while the positions of the "parts" in the square no
doubt mean something, the "whole" is not technically "site-specific" (that is,
not made specifically and only for this square in Naples, say, in the sense of
Rebecca Horn's Skulls a few years ago-#2, above). The five sculptures are: The
man who measures the clouds (1998); The man who gives fire (or...with a light)
(1999); The man who cries and laughs (2005);The astronaut who directs the sea
(2006); and The man who writes on water (2006).


The pieces are all of brilliantly polished bronze and are life-sized; they are
set around the large semicircular piazza in front of the church of San Francesco
di Paola (background, photo on right); ...cries and laughs (photo, above) and
...writes on water (photo, right) are in the main portion of the square;
...gives fire (below, left) is off to the side; ...measures the clouds (not
shown) is actually atop the far-left half of the colonnade of the church; and
...astronaut who directs the sea (not shown) is not in the square at all, but on
a balcony of the Royal Palace, which faces the square. Currently (as you can see
in these photos), the entire display is cluttered by scaffolding and bleachers
being set up for the New Year's Eve celebration.







I say "clutter," but maybe it's part of the display. You never know with
installation art. In the pompous vocabulary of art critics (cue professorial
throat-clearing...ahem...),such displays are meant to interact with the viewing
public and invite comments, comments that then become part of the "extended
discourse" of the work, itself. In the case of Fabre's display, the morning
after it went up, there was a single car parked directly next to the
centerpiece, The man who cries and laughs (top photo); it is in the center of
the square and shows a man atop a pedestal, facing the royal palace. His facial
expression, as the name implies, shows laughter and crying at the same time. You
are invited to interpret that as you wish. (That is, he is holding a book in his
left hand, so maybe he's a student or, even worse, a scholar. He is staring at
the grand Royal Palace and smiling at the centuries of culture therein
contained; he is also crying because Naples is in such a mess. That sort of
thing. That is only my own "extended discourse." Feel free to extend your own.
Maybe we can throw a few punches.) The lone car in the morning hours was
interpreted by passers-by in various ways: (1) It's part of the work; (2) It's
the world's cleverest example of illegally parking a car, since the owner knows
that people will think the vehicle is part of the work and leave it alone.

(Conversation between two traffic cops in the square):

-"What in the...?! He can't leave that car there!"
-"Luigi, maybe it's part of the sculpture. If we ticket or tow it, we look like
idiots."
-"Do I look like an art critic to you? Call someone."

A few hours later, the car was gone. That doesn't necessarily mean that it was
not part of the sculpture. Maybe it was a piece of mobile extended discourse.
The exhibition runs through Jan 18, but these displays sometimes run past the
announced closing date. There was no printed explanatory material for this year.
Here extendeth the discourse.


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7.

Dec 20, 2009


This year's installment of "installation art" at Piazza Plebiscito was supposed
to open yesterday, but there was an unspecified technical hitch; thus, we'll
have to wait a few days to see "Pioneer II." It is an example of what is called
"sound art" or "Cymatics"-the visualization of sound; that is, seeing the
patterns caused, say, in sand or in a liquid, by sound vibrations. This physical
link between the heard and the seen has interested a number of artists. You can
test the effect by covering your Stradivarius with flour and starting to play.
You see pretty pattens in the flour as it is "excited" by the sound-just as you
are excited by the sudden drop in the value of your fiddle. This year's artist
is Carsten Nicolai (b. 1965, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Germany). He has installed three
large balloons moored with metal cylinders in the square (photo, right). The
balloons are equipped with internal light sources and are electronically linked
to motion detectors on Mount Vesuvius. Rumbles at the volcano are translated
into audible pitch and run through loud speakers set up in the square. The
effect of that sound causes something to happen to the balloons, but I don't
know what. The purpose of it all is to show how intimately the city is linked to
the volcano. So, if the metaphorical "balloon" at Vesuvius really does "go up"
next week, I think the physical artsy balloons, too, will really go up like
crazy and explode. So far, the cylinders are all you see. The exhibit will be in
place through Jan 12. Art is hell.


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8.

Dec 27, 2009


Art is hell redux. The installation art at Piazza Plebiscito (above) didn't get
off the ground. The art has been "uninstalled"-that is, the balloons have been
removed from their cylinders. The display was too fragile, the windy weather
wasn't helping, and, apparently, one of the components had already been damaged
by a pre-New Year's firecracker. The museum that contracted for the display,
MADRE Museum (an acronym for Museo d'Arte Donna Regina), spent €500,000 on it
and now says that the artist, Carsten Nicolai, has some reserve art warming up
on the sidelines. It will probably be called "Clouds of Light" and will probably
reuse the same cylinders that contained the balloons. It should be in place by
tonight. Ho-hum. The suspense is killing me.


Dec 29                                                   


OK, art is only heck. Except for the ongoing stink about how much money was
spent on this fiasco, the crisis has been overcome by the installation of three
"volcanoes of light" in place of the three large balloons. The physical set-up
is almost identical; that is, there are now three large cylinders representing
Vesuvius (and his two twin brothers?) in the square. At night you can enjoy the
light display over the rims of the "volcanoes." The display is accompanied by
volcano-ey rumbles of sound effects. At night, that is. Interesting point: this
particular work of installation art is "site specific" (that is, the theme is
bound to a particular place-in this case, our local volcano). That is not
uncommon for installation art (Rebecca Horn's 2002 display in Naples was another
example-#2, above). But this one is also time-of-day specific; you can only see
it at night. If you know nothing of the display and walk across Piazza
Plebiscito on a bright sunny day and see only the cylinders, you will no doubt
work out some plausible interpretation of what it all means. This, of course,
will have nothing to do with volcanoes. Not to fret-in the parlance of modern
art criticism, your interpretation then becomes part of the "extended discourse"
on, of, around and about the work. Feel better?




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9.

Dec. 2010                                       


This year's "installation art" is significantly different than most of the
displays since they were first started over a decade ago in Naples. For the
first time, the display will not be set up in Piazza Plebiscito. This is (1) bad
in that not as many people will see it but (2) good in that there is much less
chance of damage, accidental or otherwise, to the installation from Christmas
and New Year's revelers. Also, the display will be "site specific" (much like
Rebecca Horn's "skulls" exhibit-#2,above-from some years ago). This year, the
venue will be the Piazza dei Martire, the monument column in that square
includes four statues of lions at the base. The display could be set up nowhere
else since it consists of six life-sized fiber-glass replicas of one of the
originals, the "prowling" lion by Tommaso Solari. The replicas have just stepped
off their monument pedestal, symbolizing, according to the artist, a
"reawakening" of the city. The installation is the work of Neapolitan artist,
Nadia Magnacca (b.1958). She has a degree in biological sciences and has studied
and taught photography; since the early 1990s she has exhibited photography and
audio-visual displays throughout Europe. That she is a local artist-while not
unique-is the exception rather than the rule for these exhibits of installation
art in Naples. Maybe that's a good sign, too.

As it turns out, there is nothing new under the sun. In 1972, a group of local
artists calling
themselves the "non-existent gallery" installed a plaster lion in the same
square near the memorial column. No one seemed to mind, so they graduated to
trying to unload a whole parade of similar critters along the seafront leading
from the Castel dell'Ovo to Piazza dei Martiri (more than a half-mile!). This
time, the local gendarmes were not amused. The artists did get permission,
however, to put a few in the square, itself. The display was called Hic sunt
leones-"Here there be lions." And here they are again.


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10.

Dec. 23, 2012


This year the city has taken a step back from its yearly tradition of presenting
large-scale "installation art" at Piazza Plebiscito (or anywhere else, for that
matter) during the holiday season. (I don't know if this means anything as far
as the format of future displays is concerned.) Maybe people were tired of the
very large and very expensive single-theme works (see the items above this one
on this page). They were often by artists from abroad, so maybe, too, local
artists got tired of being snubbed. This year, the theme seems to be "local
artists," presented under the title of Percorsi di Luce [Trails of Light].
Essentially, most art and photo galleries, artists' workshops/studios around
town, and other venues where displays can be set up (such as hotel lobbies) are
open almost constantly and will remain open through January 6. It amounts to a
large-scale moveable art show, with you doing the moving from exhibit to
exhibit, from the works of French illustrator (who lives in Naples), Christophe
Mourey, to video-art by Tony Stefanucci, to papier-mache sculpture by Rosa
Panaro, and two-dimensional flat sculpture by Annamarie Bova, etc. etc.
Generally speaking the displays are on premises spread through the traditional
shopping streets from the San Ferdinando and Chiaia sections in the east
(roughly starting at via Chiaia, near the Royal Palace) and then west to the
Posillipo area past Mergellina. I am almost certain that the displays are all
indoors. If there are exceptions involving real "street art," I haven't found
them.


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11. Also for 2012, Opera per Cantalupo. See this link.


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GIAMB



On This Side of the Lighthouse"

Development of Lighthouses in and near Naples


The port of Naples in the 1400s                    

          The Cape Peloro lighthouse on Sicily
First, an irrelevant item about lighthouses: the underlined phrase above the
title is a strange expression not used since the unification of Italy (1861).
Older texts printed in the Kingdom of Naples commonly referred to the island of
Sicily as al di la del faro (beyond the lighthouse) and to the rest of the
kingdom on the mainland of Italy (where the capital city of Naples was located)
as al di qua del faro (on this side of the lighthouse). The reference was to the
lighthouse near (but not at) Messina on Sicily, across the strait between the
"toe of the boot" and the island.

The usage goes back to the Angevin rule of the kingdom in the 1300s and 1400s.
The lighthouse they were talking about is shown above (left). Although it is in
the province of and comune (city, town) of Messina, it is not the Messina
lighthouse; that one is 11 km farther down to the south and is at the Messina
harbor, itself, the most important port in eastern Sicily for traffic over to
Villa San Giovanni on the mainland and all points north. The one shown here,
however, is back up at the NE tip of of the island (the extreme upper right on
this map), where it tells ships coming across the Tyrrhenian sea from the west:
Turn Here. This is where the first Greeks on Sicily built their lighthouse,
right on the beach. You can swim across to the mainland, only 3 km away, but
you'd be swimming into the infamous whirlpool of Scylla (mainland side) and
Charybdis, where, yea, there be lots of monsters. It is historically one of the
most significant lighthouses in all of Italy. Technically it is called the Cape
Peloro lighthouse, named for the Greek mythological hero, Pelorus, as are the
Peloritani mountains. The range runs for some 65 km from that little lighthouse
down past Messina overlooking the Ionian sea on the east until it hits the
slopes of great Mt. Etna. This modern lighthouse went into service in 1884. It
is of masonry construction and has a rotating octagonal prism tower with a
period of 10 seconds. The focal plane is 37 meters/110 feet above sea-level.






The lighthouse (above, right) is from the tavola strozzi, a painting from the
late 1400s of Naples. That lighthouse is on the left in this image (left) from a
1653 map. It was called the "Tower of San Vincenzo". The main lighthouse is the
one on the longer pier on the right and was built in 1487. Since the main
lighthouse is not in the tavola (see that link) we can date the tavola to before
1487 but after the Tower was built (1477). It is not clear when the tower of S.
Vincenzo was demolished, but in the early 1800s, that pier was greatly extended
and is still called the San Vincenzo Pier. The main lighthouse was rebuilt many
times and finally removed in the 1930s and rebuilt at the end of that San
Vincenzo pier. The castle in the upper left is the Maschio Angioino, from 1300,
and is still standing.

The way the modern port is laid out owes much to the wave of Angevin
construction which began in 1300 with the Mascio Angioino castle. The Angevins
were the ones who put a main pier where it still is today, directly east of
their castle, to complement the older smaller San Vincenzo pier to the west.
They also located the large Arsenale (naval ship yard) immediately to the west
of that San Vincenzo pier, still seen in this painting from 1700. That ship yard
has since disappeared and, obviously, subsequent construction and renovation
over the centuries has wrought great changes to the port area; yet, much of it
is still recognizable.




Maybe the lighhhouse at      
Alexandria looked like this.*

Lighthouses or at least signal fires have been around ever since early
cave-sailor decided that he would really like to sail into a harbor instead of
into the rocks next to the entrance. The transition from signal fires to modern
lighthouses (from wood to animal fats to kerosine to electricity) is beyond the
scope of this entry; suffice it say that as splendid as we like to imagine the
Lighthouse at Alexandria (image, right-one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World), ancient lighthouses were probably not much better than a full moon to
help you see where you were sailing. The truly modern lighthouse had to await
the genius of Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788-1827), the French engineer whose
design for a lens (now named for him) allowed the construction of multi-part,
thin, light lenses without the size and weight required by lenses of
conventional design. His lens revolutionized lighthouses, focusing 85% of the
light of a lamp versus the 20% focused with the parabolic reflectors of the
time. The first such Fresnel lens was installed in 1823 in the Cordouan
lighthouse at the mouth of the Gironde estuary in France. Other places in the
world changed over as quickly as they could.

The Bourbons were restored to the throne of Naples in 1815. One of the marks of
the "relaunching" of the dynasty was the attention paid to public works,
particularly those in the important area of ports and harbors, naturally
including lighthouses. The first Neapolitan scientist to propose the adoption of
the new Fresnel system was physicist Macedonio Melloni (1789-1854), best
remembered as the creator and first director of the Mt. Vesuvius geological
observatory in 1841). In 1836, he proposed installing Fresnel lenses at the port
of Naples and at Nisida. The installation of the Fresnel lens at the Nisida
lighthouse occurred in July of 1841; local sources proudly called it "the first
lens lighthouse on this side of the Alps." It was a great step forward for the
kingdom in terms of keeping on a par with technical developments in the rest of
Europe. That was also the year in which the Commission for Lighthouse and
Beacons came into being with the task of applying the new system in the entire
Gulf of Naples and eventually the rest of the kingdom. Melloni was in charge of
the technical side; a number of others devoted themselves to architecture and
design. Great effort was  given to the design of these structures. The designers
used the vocabulary of classical architecture-base, shaft, capital, dorian,
fluting, etc.-in describing a lighthouse tower, for example. They weren't just
putting up traffic-lights for boats; they were building coastal towers meant to
please the eye and the spirit. Some of that is still evident in the photos,
below. The commission decided to have 10 lighthouses as an initial goal; these
were in the most obvious places: the Port of Naples (2), the island of Capri,
Castellammare, Punta Campanella, Nisida, Baia, Capo Miseno, the island of
Procida, and at Forio on the island of Ischia.





Paintings from the period of the Grand Tour often included the Naples
lighthouse. This version by Carlo Bonavia is from 1757. Some form of lighthouse
stood on that spot from1487 to the 1930s. (See first photo, below.)

 

Work on the lighthouses at the port of Naples was begun in September 1841. By
1847, six of the ten were complete. By 1850 attention turned elsewhere in the
kingdom, to the Calabrian and Sicilian coasts as well as islands, including
Ponza (see map, below), where the structure was called "the first lighthouse in
the Kingdom" (meaning northernmost). In 1859 a General Plan for the Systematic
Lighting of the Coasts of the Kingdom 'On this Side of the Lighthouse' was
published. (There was a separate plan for Sicily.) The plan called for 67
lighthouses; at the time of publication, there were only 16 in existence. A
royal decree approved the building of 41 of the remaining 51. The rest were put
off. The study had also looked into the feasibility of restoring and using some
of the many old Saracen towers along Italian coasts in order to defray expenses.
Indeed, one of the constant complaints of members of the commission was that
they were hindered by the tightwad treasury of the kingdom; as a result, in
spite of the large, impressive Neapolitan fleet, the development of lighthouses
lagged behind the rest of Europe, including other Italian states (still
independent at the time) such as Sardinia and Tuscany. The unification of Italy
(1861) changed the situation. In 1873 a commission for Ports, Beaches and
Lighthouses was established within the High Council for Public Works and the
first catalog of all lighthouses in the new united Italy was published.


                                           ----->There is a separate entry on
Ponza here<-----

The illustration, right, shows the location of lighthouses in and near the Gulf
of Naples and the Campania region in general. (A few are shown below. Sooner or
later, I may get them all.)


For various reasons (such as modern electronic navigational aids aboard many
vessels), lighthouses are not as necessary as they once were. (All sailors I
have talked to, however, tell me that GPS navigation is fine etc. etc, but they
really like to see (!) the light from the lighthouse at night.) Some elements of
the lighthouse have, indeed, become, anachronisms; for example, to my knowledge,
the only one of the lighthouses in the illustration that still employs a real,
human lighthouse keeper is the one on Capri (see this link). There is more than
just nostalgia here; there is something primordial and even mystical connected
to lighthouses. Lucien Steil writes in "Metaphysical Archaeology of Lighthouses"
in the American Arts Quarterly, Volume 27, number 2:

> In control of visible and invisible dangers, in convivial serenity with the
> infinity of seas and skies, superbly coordinating the movements of ships,
> planets and waves, lighthouses are superbly lonesome and solitary, yet still
> an intrinsically integrated part of a meaningful, all-encompassing order.
> Lighthouses inhabit natural and metaphysical landscapes like compassionate
> hermits...



*note: The "focal plane" is an imaginary line drawn straight out from the middle
of the optic (lens). The height of the focal plane is measured from the surface
of the water and not from the base of the lighthouse.

→

This photo from the late 1800s shows the lighthouse at the port of Naples (the
tower in the center). It was raised and modernized with the new Fresnel lens
system in 1843. When the port was rebuilt in the 1930s, it was demolished; there
had been a lighthouse there since 1487. A new lighthouse was put  at the end of
the San Vincenzo pier (upper right), extended in the early 1800s. That is the
lighthouse seen directly below.

The Old Lighthouse




Port of Naples



→


The lighthouse is on the San Vincenzo pier extension at the western side of the
entrance to the port of Naples, opposite the lighthouse shown directly below.
Focal plane 15 m (49 ft); red flash every 3 seconds. The adjacent statue of San
Gennaro is one of the icons of the city.


→

On the eastern side of the harbor entrance on a detached breakwater, it is named
for an admiral of the Royal Italian Navy during World War I. Focal plane 18 m
(59 ft); green flash every 4 seconds. It is directly across from the lighthouse
shown above; these two mark both sides of the entrance to the port of Naples.



The Thaon di Revel lighthouse



Cape Miseno


→



The station was established in 1869. The original lighthouse was destroyed in
WWII and rebuilt in 1954. Focal plane 80 m (262 ft); two white flashes every 10
seconds. Capo Miseno is a tall headland that marks the western end of the gulf.
Mythologically, the cape overlooks the waters where Aeneas' comrade, Misenus,
master of the sea-horn-the conch-shell-made "the waves ring" with his music and
challenged the sea-god Triton to musical battle. 

→


Located at the tip of the Sorrentine Peninsula, the station was established in
1846. Focal plane 65 m (213 ft); white light, 2 seconds on, 3 seconds off.
Reports say this lighthouse replaced one destroyed by an explosion in the 1960s.
The area is now a marine park.



Punta Campanella


Capri


→


At Punta Carena, the SW tip of the island of Capri. Built in 1866. Focal plane:
73 meters (240 ft). It is one of the most important on the Italian coasts as to
number of passing ships that rely on it. Rotating lamp w/3-sec. period seen from
25 nautical miles/46 km.


→

At the entrance to Ischia Porto, the main port on the island. The lighthouse was
apparently built in the 1850s but only activated in 1868. Tower is 11 meters/36
feet; focal plane, 13 m (43 ft); flashes every 3 seconds, white or red depending
on direction. There are other lighthouses and beacons on Ischia. Stay tuned.


Port of Ischia (Molo Bagno)


Licosa



→
South of Naples but still in Campania, the isle of Licosa is just off Cape
Licosa at the southern end of the gulf of Salerno. The structure is from 1951.
Focal plane 13 m (43 ft); two white flashes every 10 s. The cape, isle and
adjacent waters are part of the Cilento and Valle di Diano national park.


→

The southernmost lighthouse in the Campania region, in the Gulf of Policastro.
Established in 1915. Focal plane 13 m (43 ft); two white flashes every 7 s. The
lighthouse is a memorial to Carlo Pisacane, Italian patriot killed in 1857.
Located on the west side of the entrance to the harbor of Sapri.






Sapri

Baia (Fortino Tenaglia)

→
Station established in 1856. Focal plane 13 m (43 ft); red light, 2 s on, 2 s
off. 8 m (26 ft) round, red concrete tower with lantern and gallery. The station
is directly below the massive Baia castle on a small island joined to the
mainland by a sandbar.



→


Nisida is the small volcanic island that separates the bay of Naples from the
bay of Pozzuoli. The isle has been joined by a causeway to the mainland for
about 100 years. The island now houses a youth detention facility and is also
the HQ for the NATO naval command in the area. The pier in the photo (with the
old lighthouse at the end-also see below) is not open to the public. Visible in
the background in the photo is Cape Miseno on the other side of the bay of
Pozzuoli.
Nisida


Nisida (2)




→


The station was established in 1841 and claimed to be the first modern
lighthouse (meaning with a Fresnel lens-see text, above) in Italy. The round
masonry tower is 10 m (33 ft) high and is attached to a small keeper's house. It
is now inactive, but there is an active post light (focal plane 14 m/46 ft) that
flashes green every 3 seconds.


→


Established in 1883. Focal plane 24 m (79 ft); four white flashes every 12 s. 12
m (39 ft) octagonal masonry tower with gallery, attached to 2-story keeper's
house. Scario is at the southern end of the Cilento area of Italy, and this
lighthouse marks the entrance to the bay of Policastro from the north. Sign at
entrance notes the 5th order lens and visibility at 13 nautical miles.

(Photo by W.C. Henderson))




Scario





Ischia, Punta Imperatore

 Update, Jan 2016. This is for sale!

→

The lighthouse at Emperor Point on Ischia is important. The lighthouse is on the
SW coast of the island of Ischia near the town of Panza. The station is from
1884, the building from 1916.  Focal plane 164 m (538 ft); two white flashes
every 15 s. 13 m (43 ft) round cylindrical masonry tower attached to the seaward
side of a 2-story masonry keeper's house. Lighthouse painted white; lantern dome
is gray metallic.  It is the light on the port side of the approach to Naples
from the SW, about 35 Km (20 nautical miles) from the lighthouse at Punta Carena
on Capri (#6 on this list, above) on your starboard side, (unless you are in a
rowboat and coming in backwards, in which case you are really on your own,
pal!). The lighthouse is known for the fact that it had a woman lighthouse
keeper, Lucia Capuano, who took over the lonely task when her husband died in
1937.
→


Ventotene is the second largest of the Pontine islands. The station was
established in 1869; this lighthouse was built in 1891. Focal plane 21 m (69
ft); white flash every 5 seconds.  The round tower is 16 m (52 ft) high with a 
lantern and gallery attached to a one-story keeper's house. The lighthouse
painted white; the lantern dome is gray metallic. The lighthouse is located at
the NE end of the island above the porto romano andthe approach to the modern
harbor.


Ventotene


Capo d'Orso (Maiori)



→
(As of Jan 2016-for sale)

Built in 1882 (station established 1862). Focal plane 66 m (217 ft); three white
flashes every 15 s. 2-story stone keeper's house, with a white lantern mounted
on a platform or porch in front of the house. The house is painted white with
red trim. The original lighthouse was  lower, with a focal plane of 25 m (82
ft). Located on a steep promontory at the western entrance to the Gulf of
Salerno, just off of coastal highway SS163 about 4 km (2.5 mi) east of Maiori.
Site open, tower closed.





-*note: Alexandria lighthouse. The chances are good that it did look something
like this. The image looks almost exactly like the Tower of Hercules in
north-western Spain; that one is an ancient Roman lighthouse, restored, still in
working order, and said to be modeled on the Alexandria lighthouse because it
used to be called the Farum Brigantium, from the Greek pharos, the name of the
island where the Greek lighthouse stood. The Tower of Hercules is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.         ^up

sources:


-Cirillo,Ornella. Illuminarele coste: i fari del golfo di Napoli nel XIX secolo
[Illuminatingthe Coasts: Lighthouses in the Gulf of Naples in the 19th Century]
fromthe website of the Italian Association of the History of Engineering. Not
dated.

-Colombo, Antonio. "I Porti e gli Arsenali di Napoli" [The Ports and Shipyards
of Naples] in Napoli Nobilissima, year 3, series in issues 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9.
1894.


-Spadetta, Pietro. "LaLaterna del Molo" [the Pier Lantern] in Napoli
Nobilissima, year 1, issue 7, pp. 109-111. 1892.






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INSTALLATION ART IN NAPLES

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'll see your metafour and raise you five.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2.

entry Dec. 2002

Installation art; memento mori; "skulls"



The large and spacious square between the main façade of the Royal Palace and
the Church of San Francesco di Paola is Piazza del Plebiscito. It is ideally
suited for outdoor concerts, street musicians, jugglers, and large groups of
tourists to shuffle nervously as they are efficiently herded from statue to
statue by stray dogs. 

The square also lends itself to modern sculpture of the kind that art critics
call "installation art" and the rest of us rustic dullards call, "What in the
world is that supposed to be?!"  Generally speaking, installation art requires
some —well,installation— something in the way of mounting, draping, hanging,
digging or soldering. The displays, themselves, may include ("...but are not
limited to...," as lawyers so craftily hedge) metal, wood, plastic, rubber, and
assorted minerals, fabrics and liquids.



And so, in past years, Piazza del Plebiscito has seen a gigantic mountain of
salt dotted with pieces of machinery, apparently a metaphor of whatever it is
that salt represents confronted with whatever it is that machinery represents
—maybe life beset by technology. (Hey, not such a "rustic dullard" now, huh?!)
Then, one year, there was a large wooden replica of an ancient lighthouse that
used to guard the harbor of Naples. Last year, there was a gigantic replica of
the Angevin Fortress made entirely of soft-drink cans (photo). These exhibits go
up in early December and are left in place for the Christmas holidays, at which
time they are "uninstalled". Most of them are environmentally friendly enough to
be dismantled easily or, in some case, vacuumed up. 










In December 2002, they tore up the paving stones in the square. According to the
paper, no one in the city administration recalls giving the go-ahead for any of
this digging, but the latest piece of ephemeral sculpture was duly installed. It
is a work by German sculptor and film maker, Rebecca Horn. Her history includes
mechanical and body-extension sculpture as well as installation art on the
premises of an insane asylum in Vienna. Austria. Her work is often
controversial.


The work consisted of a number of bronze skulls implanted in the pavement
(photo). The work, thus, is Horn's tribute to, or variation on, the well-known
Neapolitan "cult of death" (so-called by some) that centers on the vast
collection of human skulls on the premises of the Fontanelle cemetery in Naples.
The work is "site specific," a sub-genre of installation art, in that it makes
sense only within the context of the place where it is exhibited, in this case,
Naples. 

The Fontanelle cemetery is carved out of the tufaceous hillside in the Materdei
section of Naples. The vast chambers on the premises served for centuries as a
charnel house for paupers. At the end of the 19th century, Father Gaetano
Barbati had the chaotically buried skeletal remains disinterred and cataloged.
They then remained on the surface, stored in makeshift crypts, in boxes and on
wooden racks. From that moment, a spontaneous cult of affection for, and
devotion to, the remains of these unnamed dead developed in Naples. Defenders of
the cult pointed out that they were paying respect to those who had had none in
life, who had been too poor even to have a proper burial. Though the practice
has largely disappeared, devotees used to pay visits to the skulls, clean them
—"adopt" them— giving the skulls back their "living" names (revealed to the
caretakers in dreams). Yes, all that.



a memento mori mosaic
from Pompeii
National Museum, Naples





In the church of Purgatorio dell'Arco

The display of skulls gives the whole thing a resemblance to the memento mori.
This Latin phrase means "Remember you must die". As a noun, it thus means "a
reminder of death". Historically, it recalls the slaves whose job it was in
ancient Rome to ride in the chariot beside Conquering Hero and whisper that
single killjoy phrase ("Remember you must die") in his ear, just to keep Hero
from believing his own press releases. In a Christian context, the "memento
mori" plays a significant part in Neapolitan iconography. It is seen as a
reminder to live the kind of life that will be judged worthy when that time
comes. The courtyard of the museum of San Martino (an ex-monastery) displays
carvings of skulls prominently, and a few churches in Naples  have depictions of
them on the façades or within, most notably, the Church of Purgatorio ad Arco on
via Tribunali.



  At the church of Sant'Agostino alla Zecca     


As grisly as it may seem to outsiders, the Fontanelle cemetery is less a
reminder of death than it is a popular manifestation of the desire to show
affection for those who had so little of it in life. The point, then, of the
work of art in Piazza Plebiscito dedicated to that bit of Neapolitan history is
perhaps to connect the city a bit to its past, to its unusual, even bizarre,
traditions, especially at this time of year.  Some have welcomed the display,
sight unseen, as a way to force one to shake off, even for a moment, the great
mid-December haze of globalized Christmas kitsch. After all, what better way to
remember the birth of the Saviour than with Bing Crosby singing "White
Christmas" as he stands with his reindeer in the traditional Neapolitan manger
scene, the presepe, with the Holy Family, the Three Wise Men, and the Redeemed
Grinch, all of whom are watching the colorized version of It's a Wonderful Life
on a new broadband palm computer? (Sigh. I've seen that one. The movie, too.)


[Also see "Memento vivere", a painting.]



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EARLY LITERACY
OF MONKEY-MEN AND NESTOR'S CUP

Some time ago, M., a dear friend and art historian, wrote me: "You probably know
that the first instance of Greek language on an object was found in the Greek
ruins in Ischia."

I didn't. Dear M. was giving me way too much credit, but first things first. The
Greek name given to the island we now call Ischia was Pithecusa. That's pith, as
in pithecoid and pithecanthropous-ape. Island of the monkeys. Why would the
Greeks settle on an island full of monkeys, you ask? Good question. (And this
will be on the midterm exam.)

The Greeks settled on Ischia because everyone knows they just love islands, and
this one had a nice, nostalgic Olympus-looking mountain on it (which turned out
to be a volcano!) (oops...not so...see Pithecusa). Mainly, however, they wanted
an island as a convenient place to trade with the Etruscans, the mainland power
in the Italy of 700 b.c. (the presumptive date of the settling of Pithecusa)
without encroaching on the mainland, itself. The area was not unknown to the
Greeks. Many centuries earlier, Mycenaean Greeks had visited the same bay. (See
""Uncovering the Bronze Age on Procida"".)

There were, however, no monkeys. The pith- comes in because Greek mythology
spoke of a race of thieving and mischievous little forest creatures called
Cercopes that Zeus turned into monkeys and banished to various volcanic areas,
one of which was our island out here in the bay. (I'm hazy on that. Cercopes
means "-with a tail" in Greek and there is, indeed, a genus of monkey called
cercopithecus; thus, I don't know if these little Greek proto-Leprechauns had
tails before or after Zeus turned them into monkeys. Robert Graves in The Greek
Myths (1955), section 136.c-d has "...[some say that Zeus] punished their
fraudulence by changing them into apes with long yellow hair, and sending them
to the Italian islands named Pithecusae." ["Islands" -plural-because the small
island of Procida, next to Ischia, was included.] So, apparently, the settlers
did not name the island when they settled. It was already Pithechusa and they
had set out from Greece-Euboea, the second largest of the Greek islands-where
things must have been dull, indeed, to sail to that volcanic island in Italy
where Zeus had sent all the ape-men.

Nestor's cup and early Greek writing.

The Archaeological Museum of Pithecusa, open since 1999, is housed in the
18th-century Villa Arbusto in Lacco Ameno on Ischia. The jewel of the collection
is "Nestor's cup" (top photo). That expression can be (1) a reference to Homer's
Iliad and the golden cup belonging to Nestor, the wise, old advice-giver and
king of Pylos; (2) a cup discovered at Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann (the
excavator of Troy) that he claimed was the Nestor's Cup of the Iliad; or (3) the
cup on display at the museum on Ischia. The Pithecusa cup bears an inscription
in an early Euboean form of the Greek alphabet. This forerunner of our modern
alphabet was in existence in Greece by about 800 b.c., and there are enough
samples from 700- 600 b.c. to show that writing was widespread enough in the
Aegean by then to serve as a practical means of communication, for commerce and
even early literature.

The cup in the museum was discovered in 1954 in a Greek tomb on Ischia and has
been reliably dated to 750-700 b.c., making it at least one of (if not the)
oldest sample of Greek writing found inscribed on an object. (The other
candidate is the so-called "Diplyon inscription" a short text on an ancient
Greek pottery vessel, found in 1871 at the ancient Dipylon Cemetery in Athens.)
The cup on Ischia is more interesting since it actually makes the literary
reference to Nestor's Cup. Translating the inscription on the cup, however, is
many daunting steps up from "The pen of my duck is on the table" of your high
school Italian class. This is Homeric Greek written in the oldest alphabet we
have. Forms of letters have changed and the inscription, itself, is fragmented
and has to be reconstructed. People who do this have lots of unfragmented
letters after their names, and their discussions are replete with references to
the Indo-European ablative and long vowel subjunctive and sentences such as "In
Vedic Sanskrit, as in Homeric Greek (and contemporary Russian), the verb 'to
drink' may take either an accusative or a partitive genitive of the liquid
drunk, reflecting an inherited semantic opposition."* At least one plausible
reading of the inscription, written in three lines, right-to-left, is:

"This is Nestor's cup, good to drink from. Whoever empties it will be seized by
desire for Aphrodite, crowned with beauty."

It is generally agreed upon that the inscription was meant to be humorous-a
piece of clay claiming to be the fabled golden cup, indeed! (Ho-ho. Slap my
thigh and call me Ajax.) Other than that, the jury is out and probably never
coming back. It may be a classical reference to the Iliad (given the ample
wiggle room on the presumptive date of the writing of that classic); on the
other hand, whoever inscribed the cup may have known about Nestor from other
sources (after all, Homer had to get it from somewhere). It is also slightly
racy-"seized by desire"- so maybe the inscription was the result of a "drinking
game"-slightly tipsy potters in ancient Greece each inscribing a line. The
Pithecusa cup was not manufactured on Ischia; it was made in Greece and brought
to Italy by settlers.

notes:

*from "Observations on the 'Nestor's Cup' Inscription" by Calvert Watkins, in
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 80 (1976), pp. 25-40.

[also see this entry on Pithecusa]

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OPLONTIS +2 UPDATES

Greek historian and geographer, Strabo (63 BC - 24 AD), wrote that the stretch
of Italian coast from Cape Miseno to Sorrento-the Gulf of Naples-seemed a single
city, so strewn was it with luxurious villas and suburbs of the main city of
Naples. The eastern end of the bay, before the land swings out to form the
Sorrentine peninsula, is of course known today as the site of two towns that met
their doom in the great eruption of Vesuvius in 79 a.d., Pompeii and Heculaneum.
There is a third, lesser-known, and little-excavated town: Oplontis. It lies
beneath the modern-day town of Torre Annunziata, such a short distance from
Pompeii that it was almost certainly a suburb of that larger town and-according
to recent archaeological thinking-probably the port for Pompeii, so close is it
to the sea. The only large, significant excavation at Oplontis is the "Villa of
Poppaea," referring to Poppaea Sabina, Nero's second wife. That is at least a
possible conclusion from an amphora fragment bearing the name "Secundus," one of
Poppaea's servants. In any event, it was almost certainly an imperial residence,
opulently equipped as it was with a 60 x 15-meter swimming pool, a large number
of rooms, intervening gardens and courtyards, and murals on the walls that are
still splendid. Some of the extant murals are beautiful examples of the
so-called "second Pompeian style," depicting artificial architecture on the
walls-painted windows opened onto painted sea or landscape or onto painted rows
of columns that fade away from the viewer through the use of perspective, all to
give the illusion of space. It was, no doubt, one of the villas that impressed
Strabo so much.

Thepeacock mural" from Oplontis. It is remarkable
for the use of pseudo-perspective in the columns
and the trompe-l'oeil effect of the bird's tail.

he existence of such a regal residence is, in fact, noted in the Tabula
Peuteringiana, a medieval copy of a Roman road map. The villa and whatever other
structures made up the small town of Oplontis were buried in the great eruption,
however, and it wasn't until the 1500s that the Spanish rulers of the Kingdom of
Naples came across the ruins of the villa while building an aqueduct. And it was
not until the mid-1700s that further excavation was undertaken in the same wave
of archaeological interest that spurred Charles III and then his son, Ferdinand
IV, to lay bare such antiquities as Pompeii and Herculaneum. Yet, Oplontis
remained-and remains-relatively unknown; the swimming pool wasn't uncovered
until the 1970s and the site, itself, was not open to public visits until the
early 1980s. The excavation is not complete and never will be, since Oplontis,
like Herculaneum, sits beneath a modern town. To get into the site, you walk
down a ramp until you are at ground level, 79 a.d. (about 30 feet below the
modern streets and buildings that surround Oplontis). By far the most striking
thing about Oplontis is what you don't find-human remains. And there are no lava
molds of people huddled together in death, as there are at Pompeii. The Villa
Poppaea was deserted when Vesuvius erupted. In the wake of an earthquake that
damaged the town and villa severely in the decade before the great eruption,
people had moved away so reconstruction could take place. Presumably, the
residents were elsewhere, making typical complaints about how it took the
Egyptians less time to build the pyramids than it does for us Romans to put a
few bricks back in place, when real disaster struck. update: June 2014 (also at
Miscellany 45) Oplontis is the least-known archaeological site between Naples
and Mt. Vesuvius. Compared to Pompei and Herculaneum, it is practically unknown.
Yet, it is worth a visit. The newspapers now lament the fact the a long-awaited
archaeological museum for the site has yet to even get started (!) in spite of
all the declarations of good intention by those holding the purse strings. If
there no museum, then there is no place to exhibit the stuff and it sits in a
warehouse and gathers dust-one, two, three. Even worse, an entire collection of
marble statuary, amphora, mosaics, and gold jewelry is about to leave town as a
traveling exhibit. It is part of the so-called "Oplontis Project," brain-child
of US professor, John Robert Clark, currently directing excavations in Villa B
of the Oplontis site. The exhibit, entitled "Leisure and luxury in age of Nero.
The villas of Oplontis Near Pompei" will be on display at four different
universities in the US, at least through 2015. I said "Even worse," but maybe
it's not so bad. The indifference on the part of authorities to the site at
Oplontis is unbelievable. Maybe if they see it being carted away...

update 17 April, 2016 (also at Miscellany p. 60)

It took some doing, but at last tourists and locals alike finally have a chance
to see some of the treasures of Oplontis, the least-known of the Big Three sites
destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. (the other two are Pompeii and
Herculaneum.) The exhibit is at Palazzo Criscuolo in the town of Torre
Annunziata, location of the ruins. On display on the premises of Palazzo
Crisculo are 70 items from the ruins. The exhibit is entitled A picco sul mare.
Arredi di lusso al tempo di Poppea [roughly, "Looking down at the sea. Luxury in
the age of Poppaea."] The exhibit will run into December of this year. The
project is part of the ongoing effort to open Oplontis-that is, the physical
site, itself-to more and more persons. That plan continues and involves the
participation of local high school students in the creation of a virtual reality
reconstruction of the entire site that can be delivered to smart phones.

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PETER OF EBOLI AND THE DE BALNEIS PUTEOLANIS

(added in Jan 2012)

Peter of Eboli was a Benedictine monk from Eboli (about 70 km/45 miles SW of
Naples). Not much is known about his biographical particulars. He was born after
1150 and probably died around 1220. For a while, he may have resided at Monte
Cassino, the principal Benedictine monastery in Italy, and then at Eboli and
Palermo in Sicily. He was a poet in the court of Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI
(the father of Frederick II). He is remembered for some rather (according to
some) sycophantic verse in praise of Henry as well as what might be described as
the first guide book to the thermal baths of Pozzuoli and Baia. The work is
entitled De balneis puteolanis [The Baths of Pozzuoli], one illustration from
which is seen here (image, right). Peter did the illustrations, himself.

Thermal baths had been widely touted since the times of the Romans to have
curative properties. They still are; there are today baths in Pozzuoli, Baiai
and on the island of Ischia where you can pretty much enjoy the same waters as
did the Romans (except that they ran the risk of electrocution by using their
computers in the water. You have wireless.)

Peter's De balneis puteolanis praises the baths lavishly; it is written in verse
and contains 35 illustrations. At least of few of them are probably the work of
his imagination, but others are certainly attempts at authentic description.
There have been various critical commentaries on De balneis puteolanis (see
Clark) and there has been a recent facsimile edition published by Editalia.




added Dec 2014

Nero's Ovens (Le Stufe di Nerone)


Above (and elsewhere) you may read about the long “therapeutic' history of the
area of the Campiflegrei,  known to the ancients for thermal baths that had
marvelous curative powers. The area still has such baths, where treatments are
even covered by national health insurance!  This particular boxed text, however,
is about one relatively little known commercial establishment called the Stufe
di Nerone (image, right) on the banks of tiny Lake Lucrino between Arco Felice
and Baia. That lake is on the right in the photo at the top of this page,
separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land. The lake used to be a lot
larger and, indeed, was part of Portus Julius, the training facility for the
Roman Western Imperial Fleet. A volcanic eruption in 1538 destroyed most of the
lake, however, (and even coughed up the mountain that the photo was taken from!)
The Stufe di Nerone are in the trees against a ridge at the far end of that
little lake. I was intrigued to read this in various sources: “The first known
map of a cave dates from 1546, and was of a man-made cavern in tufa called the
Stufe di Nerone (Nero's Oven) in Pozzuoli near Naples in Italy.” The first map
of a cave! That grabbed me. I couldn't find it, so I called the patron saint of
researchers, Selene Salvi of Napol Underground.  She found it as she always
does.

This is it, a rather straightforward diagram. The map is accompanied on the
previous page by a description of the   purported benefits of the thermal
waters. This map appears in De ortu  et causis subterraneorum libri V. p.146, by
Georgius Agricola (1494- 1555), a German scholar and scientist, known as "the
father of mineralogy". Published by Froben, Basel, 1546.

The website of the Stufe di Nerone uses the illustration by Peter of Eboli
(directly above this box) and refers to it as “BALNEUM SILVIANAE (the
present-day Stufe di Nerone)."  Hard to say. Maybe it is; maybe it isn't. It's
plausible since it's  just a few hundred meters from the large Baia bath complex
mentioned in the main article (above). The only thing certain about all of the
baths in that area is that for many centuries after the fall of the Roman
Empire, they were forgotten about. Number one, the area was vulnerable to
barbarian invasions: Alaric in 410, by Genseric in 456 and by Totila in 525, and
those guys didn't care about taking baths, anyway! Fickle geology didn't help,
either. The coastline was submerged by very active downward bradyseisms. Yet it
staged a comeback as we see in the illustrations by Peter of Eboli. Yet again,
however, geology wasn't through; there were earthquakes in the 1400s and a
volcanic eruption in 1538 that actually produced, as noted, a new
mountain—imaginatively called New Mountain! Under the Spanish (1500-1700) the
area was refortified and thermal baths staged another comeback. They were on the
Grand Tour of Europe before and after the Napoleonic wars. The entire area
became less isolated in the late 19th century and especially the early 20th
century when industry moved into nearby Bagnoli and large sections of popular
housing units started to spring up at the western end of the bay of  Pozzuoli.
The 1970s and '80s saw more unfortunate seismic activity, and entire sections of
Pozzuoli were abandoned. Sea levels in the bay changed such that port facilities
had to be rebuilt. That activity has subsided, at least for the present.

The current thermal facility, the Stufe di Nerone came into existence in the
1960s when two brothers rediscovered the ancient baths on property they
inherited. The property is at the foot of a ridge that overlooks the western
side of Lake Lucrino, and there are still a great number of remnant Roman bits
and pieces sticking up in the brush. Over the years, the owners have cleared the
brush, built an outdoor thermal pool, and reopened the original spaces that
contained the old Roman baths—and given it a classy name, of course.




sources:

-Clark, Raymond J. 1989-90. "Peter of Eboli, 'De Balneis Puteolanis':
Manuscripts from the Aragonese Scriptorium in Naples," in Traditio, vol. 45,
(1989-1990), pp. 380-389. Fordham University. New York.
-De balneis puteolanis. 1994 facsimile reprint published by Editalia Poligrafico
e Zecca dello Stato. Rome.
-Friese, W. 2010. "Facing the Dead: Landscape and Ritual of Ancient Greek Death
Oracles" in Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and
Culture, Volume 3, Issue 1 March 2010  pp. 29–40  Berg Publishers, London.
- Howard, R.E. (1932) "The Sword on the Stone" in Weird Tales (May, 1932). Ed.
Farnsworth Wright, Chicago.
-Maiuri, A. 1958. I Campi Flegrei. Rome: Libreria dello stato.
-Paget, R.F.E. 1967. In the Footsteps of Orpheus; the Discovery of the Ancient
Greek Underworld. Roy Publishers. London.
-Rucca, G. 1850. Interpretazione di un luogo di Strabone. Stamperia Reale.
Naples.
-Salvi, S. 2011. "Sito archeologico di Baia," & "Tempio di Mercurio" on the
Napoli Underground website.
-Sorrentino, Francesco. 1994. "Bagni alle Porte dell'Inferno." in Medioevo,
cultural monthly, year 8, n. 9. Sept. 1994. De Agostino, Milan.


photo credits: Land of the Cimmerians, Temple of Mercury and the Ruins of the
Baths at Baia courtesy of NUG (Napoli Undergound).



 to history portal             to Ancient World portal



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THE QUARANTORE DEVOTION IN BAROQUE NAPLES

 © Jeff Matthews     entry Feb 2010



Altars produced during the Baroque in Italy were often quite elaborate, and the
ones produced in Naples were particularly so, especially those used during the
Quarant’Ore devotion. That Italian term (also written as one word, Quarantore)
means Forty Hours. It is a Roman Catholic exercise of continuous prayer in the
hours before Easter Sunday to commemorate the hours that Christ was entombed
before the Resurrection. The devotion was introduced in 1537 in Milan and by the
end of the 1700s was widespread in the Roman Catholic world. The special altar
is called in Italian la macchina delle quarant’ore. The best-known Quarantore
altar in Naples was made for the church of San Domenico Maggiore and is from the
late 1600s. As part of the Back to Baroque events currently going in Naples, the
altar, in its newly restored state (photo, right), is on exhibit at the Castel
Sant’Elmo, after which it will be returned to San Domenico Maggiore. The
documentation at the exhibit regarding the altar is this:



> The Machine for the Forty Hours is a complex liturgical apparatus that was
> used for the adoration of the Eucharistic Sacrament over a period of 40 hours,
> the time Christ spent in the tomb before the resurrection. The Jesuits
> proposed that this devotional practice, which began in the early 1500s as part
> of the Easter rituals, should also be followed during Carnival, to distract
> the people from their bawdy celebrations. During the 1600s, the need to
> attract people into the churches led to a real spectacularization of prayer.
> Vying with each other, religious orders set up in the churches vast, showy
> apparatuses, as well as the enormous monstrance, lights, music and choirs.
> [ed. note: in Roman Catholic ritual, the “monstrance” is an open or
> transparent vessel of gold or silver, in which the host is exposed.]
> 
> The machine exhibited here is from the monastery of San Domenico Maggiore,
> where it was found dismantled. Restoring the machine to its original
> appearance required in depth research as well as finding all the scattered
> pieces and putting them together. Its extraordinary scenographic impact,
> typical of the persuasive power of the Baroque, is highlighted in the
> exhibition by the full-scale reconstruction of the altar of the Church of San
> Domenico, where the machine was originally erected. The machine, which can
> probably be identified with one described in a document from 1676, had parts
> added to it up to the early 1800s, almost certainly because of the need to
> restore or change parts that had worn out or been damaged when the monumental
> apparatus was assembled or disassembled. The main part is the cluster of great
> rays within which stands a small temple housing the monstrance with the
> consecrated host. The shaft bears the features of St. Thomas Aquinas.
> 
> Although the name Forty Hours, itself, obviously refers to the hours before
> Easter, note that the devotional period was moved forward to include Carnival
> and then Lent. This gave rise, apparently, to the musical form we call the
> “oratorio”; musical performances on stage were not permitted during the period
> of Lent, so the church decided to bring some music to people in the unusual
> venue of a house of worship, itself. Thus, highly regarded composers of the
> Baroque were often employed to compose music for the period of Lent. This
> practice flourished under the Oratorian Fathers—thus, the oratorio. To see the
> altar in the photo as it must have appeared to worshippers, you have to
> imagine about two-hundred lighted candles in the spidery candelabras on either
> side of the figure of Aquinas, as well as a large canopy, elaborately woven
> from silk and gold threads above the entire apparatus. The underside of the
> canopy was ornately decorated with celestial images.


The keen-eyed will notice something else: at the bottom of this monumental
affair is a small figure of...a dog! The dog is holding a torch in its mouth.
The dog with the torch is the symbol of the Dominican order. First, the Dominic
in question, and founder of the order, is St. Dominic de Guzmán (1170–1221).
Second, the standard story is that his mother had difficulty conceiving a child
and prayed at the shrine of Saint Dominic of Silos. The mother became pregnant
and named the child in honor of the saint. While she was pregnant, she claimed
to have had a dream that her unborn child was a dog who would set the world on
fire with a torch it carried in its mouth.


Or you can believe that it is a rebus, an iconographic pun! (And I have just
listened to an art history lady with lots of letters after her name explain
this, so please don’t think I am being irreverent!) That is: Dominic (in
English) and Domenico (in Italian) are from the Latin  Dominus, meaning God.
Then, cane means dog. In an age not known for thigh-slapping and guffaws, maybe
two monks, who had been down in the wine cellar too long...well...

Fr. Guido: Vinnie, what’s that?
Fr. Vinnie: Oh, just a little figure I’ve been carving.
Fr. G.:  It’s a dog.
Fr. V.:  I know. Get it? San Domenico! Domenico comes from Dominus...God...
Fr. G.:  Uh, did you hear me ask you for a Latin lesson?
Fr. V.:  ...and  domenicane is the Italian plural feminine form of the
adjective!
Fr. G.:  Again...I have books.
Fr. V.:  ...but 'cane' also means the animal. You know —bow-wow! Thus, the
figure can either refer to that dream or...get this!...to the sisters of our
order!  I mean, have you ever seen those women? So we mount this at the bottom
of the altar when no one is looking...
Fr. G.:  Brother, do not pass Purgatory; do not collect 200 ducats. You are
going straight to Hell. I hope you know that.



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FREDERICK II UNIVERSITY

© Jeff Matthews   Jan 2011



> > These three items appeared separately in the original version of the Around
> > Naples Encyclopedia on the dates indicated and have been consolidated here
> > onto a singe page.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

entry June 2003

1. university 

 The main building of the University of Naples is on Corso Umberto, one block
east of Piazza Borsa. The building was erected between 1897 and 1908 as part of
the massive urban renewal of that portion of the city, which saw the
construction of the main boulevard, itself. 

Officially, the university is named for Frederick II of Swabia, the Holy Roman
Emperor, who founded the university in the thirteenth century. It is, thus, one
of the oldest such institutions in Europe. Originally, the premises of the
university were at the nearby church of San Domenico Maggiore. This was at the
time when Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) taught theology there. The University was
moved in 1615 to the building that now houses the National Museum. It moved from
there to its present location off of Corso Umberto in 1777, moving into what had
been a Jesuit monastery and college. That structure was the Chiostro del
Salvatore, built in the late 1500s. The main  university building on Corso
Umberto is simply a front for that older building behind it, which now houses
the university library. [More on other ex-monasteries.] 

The entire complex is vast, stretching  up the hill towards Piazza San Domenico
Maggiore; it is one modern city block wide, as well, and includes the university
library and a number of museums of natural science. Near the main building,
across Corso Umberto, the University has additional space in the ex-monastery of
San Pietro Martire, originally a Dominican establishment until closed in 1808.
That two-level monastery, built in 1590, was entirely restored in 1979.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

entry Nov. 2002

2. university 

I went out to the new University campus at Monte Sant'Angelo the other day. It
is exactly that: a campus on the US model, a city unto itself in an area way out
in what used to be acres of greenery on the periphery of Naples in Fuorigrotta
in back of the S. Paolo soccer stadium. 

It looks to be about half-finished and has a futuristic look about it—lots of
glass and steel, with tubular passages from building to building. Thus far, the
campus  houses the departments of physics, chemistry, biology and computer
science—you know, all the "hard stuff". The humanities are still back in the
middle of town (item, above) in converted 14th-century monasteries, no doubt a
more appropriate setting for studying the metaphors of Dante and Boccaccio.
Eventually, however, even students of languages and literature will move out to
the new site. A subway station directly beneath the campus will link to the main
line into the center of town. It's an ambitious project.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nov. 2007

3. The 2nd University of Naples—I've got it figured out. I mistakenly referred
to "la seconda università di Federico II", which would be spoken as "the second
university of Frederick the second"—confusing in any language. A woman kindly
corrected me. Here's the deal: due to overcrowding at the medical school, the
original "Federico II university" (top item) spun off a second university, now
called, simply, "la seconda università di Napoli" (the second university of
Naples). It has run classes since November of 1992. As far as the medical
departments go, the massive university clinic up on the Vomero hill, which
opened in 1973, is officially the Frederick II Polyclinic hospital; that is, it
is run by the original (i.e. first) University of Naples. Everyone still calls
it "the new polyclinic."  The old polyclinic hospital, located at the west end
of the historic center of Naples and the result of construction at the beginning
of the 20th century, is run by the new (i.e. second) university of Naples. Got
that? Good. I don't.




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HALLOWEEN & THE WITCHES OF BENEVENTO

© ErN 57 Jeff Matthews  entry Jan 2010, rev. Oct 2010

La Danza delle Streghe (the Dance of the Witches)

  by Pericle Fazzini*1                


As globalization has sunk its vast talons into our once diverse cultures, I have
grown accustomed to seeing, for example, St. Valentine’s Day celebrated in
Naples. So when I saw the first Halloween decorations go up around town some
years ago, I shrugged it off as just another glum harbinger of the day when we
shall all — Neapolitans and Australian Bakanambians alike— sit around the
campfire on St. Patrick’s Day, nibble on our traditional Finnish
karjalanpiirakka and sing Dixie.

And yet, there really is a local Halloween, of sorts, near Naples. It's when
witches and spooks come out at certain times and gather by the sacred Walnut
Tree and do things that I am not at liberty to reveal (except that they dance
and no doubt take shots of their famous and potent inebriating beverage, Strega
[witch]). That place is Benevento in the hills about 30 miles (50 km) northeast
of Naples. It is the capital city of the province of the same name in the
Campania region of Italy and supposedly founded by Diomedes after the Trojan
War.



In Italian lore and literature dealing with witchcraft, Benevento and the sacred
Walnut Tree are in the same class as the Brocken in the Harz mountains in
Germany, where northern witches gather on the night of April 30, Walpurgisnacht.
The Benevento gathering is often called in Italian folklore the tregenda, a word
that may derive from an old plural form of trecento (three hundred) used to mean
any large number. Today, it is used only to mean the gathering of witches at
propitious times of the year, typically the winter and summer solstice and
vernal equinox.

In 1600, the celebrated Jesuit and demonologist, Martin Antonius Delrio
mentioned the noce di Benevento (Walnut Tree of Benevento) in his Disquisitiones
Magicae libri sex (Six Books on Investigations into Magic), and the sacred tree
and gathering of witches of Benevento crop up often in literature and
anthropological studies. A poem published in the 19th century in Naples, Storia
della Famosa Noce di Benevento (History of the famous Walnut Tree of Benevento)
goes into some detail on the lore: there is the great serpent twisted around the
tree, and then there is the poisonous nature of the tree, itself, such as to
paralyze you if you fall asleep in the shade of the branches. More recently,
Italian anthropologist and ethnologist, Giuseppe Cocchiara (1904-65), devoted an
entire chapter to the witches of Benevento in his 1956 book, Il paese di
Cuccagna e altri studi di folklore (The Land of Cockayne and Other Studies in
Folklore. Reprint, 1980, Bollati Boringhieri. Torino. )*2 




A large body of scholarship has developed over the years dealing with the
obvious syncretism —that is, the mixing of snake worship (possibly from the cult
of Isis, particularly strong in Benevento under the Romans) and various forms of
tree worship from northern Europe (which has given us the Christmas tree, for
example). Northern influence penetrated into Italy with the Lombard invasions
after the fall of the Western Roman Empire; thus, it is plausible that northern
lore mixed with local, earlier lore come together to give us the “witches” of
Benevento. Locally, the witches are often referred to as janara, possibly from
dianara, a priestess of Diana.

Of the many legends that weave the Lombards into the origins of the lore is one
that tells of a local Christian priest, Barbato, in the mid-600s, when Benevento
was an autonomous Lombard duchy besieged at the time by the forces of Byzantine
emperor, Constans II, still trying to maintain a hold on the exarchate, the
Eastern Imperial enclave in Italy. The Lombard ruler of Benevento, Romualdo,
made a vow to Barbato to give up his northern gods and embrace Christianity if
Benevento were spared from the Greek forces. The Greeks, for whatever reason,
lifted the siege and went elsewhere; Romualdo promoted Barbato to bishop of
Benevento but reneged on his own promise to switch faiths and continued to
worship his little golden statue of a viper (the snake from the tree, one
supposes). Then, Romualdo’s good and faithful wife, Theodorada—and what a witch
she was!—ratted him out to Barbato and gave the bishop the statue. Barbato
melted it down and turned it into a chalice for the Eucharist; he then went and
chopped down the walnut tree and built the church of Santa Maria del voto on the
site.





*1. Pericle Fazzini (1913-87), an Italian sculptor best-known for his 1977 work,
The Resurrection, on the premises of the Vatican. The Dance of the Witches is
from 1949 and is in the Fazzini family collection in Rome.



*2. Cockayne means, roughly, “land of plenty”; the term goes back to ancient
times, existing with slight variations in many languages. (See this link.) The
Cocchiara book is not to be confused with the 1891 book, il Paese di Cuccagna by
Neapolitan writer, Matilde Serao.  





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LAMONT YOUNG (1851-1929)

© Jeff Matthews    Dec 2010  update Aug 2016


> The following three items appeared separately in the original version of the
> Around Naples Encyclopedia on the dates indicated and have been consolidated
> here onto a single page.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

entry July 2003

1. Lamont Young


Lamont Young and Utopian Naples


An interesting tribute to the visionary, Lamont Young:
a mural of his 1883 plan for an urban rail line for Naples
adorns the walls of a modern metro station.

Imagine yourself in a gondola, gliding along a delicate waterway, now and again
passing beneath a quaint wooden bridge. Trees line and shade the footpaths on
either side of the canal, and gentlemen and gentleladies are out strolling along
the banks. Gracious villas are set back from the water's edge, and the faint
melodies of late summer are in the air. Your spirit quickens a bit as the narrow
waterway makes a final gentle bend and opens onto the majestic Grand Canal,
lined by stately façades and crossed by picturesque bridges as it carries
pleasure craft out—to the Bay of Naples! 

Grand Canal? Bay of Naples? But, surely, we are in Venice. Not exactly. We're in
the Venice Quarter of Naples, part of an unfulfilled utopian scheme to change
the city in the years before the turn of the century. 

Change is nothing new to Naples. Like medieval manuscripts written upon and
erased over and over again, there has been new upon old in this city for a very
long time. From the earliest Greeks to the present day, different civilizations
have come and gone in the Bay of Naples and each has left its mark; the city,
with a life of its own, has outlasted the single cultures that have formed her. 

It is still possible, for example, to find in Naples the intricacy of a medieval
town, traversable only on foot and only by one who truly knows the way. The
curved streets still conceal the secrecy and surprise of the Middle Ages, when
you would turn a corner and find the small market or church hidden away. Moving
forward in time a bit, you then find the imposition of Baroque order upon
medieval clutter. When King Ferrante of Naples in 1475 characterized narrow
streets as a danger to the state, he was but giving political voice to the new
Baroque aesthetic of the straight and wide avenue, the open square and the
imposing façade. 

The Naples that we see today, then, has very visible traces of a long history,
but the shape the city has taken in this century is largely the result of things
done or left undone in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Following the
unification of Italy, Naples lost its role as a capital, and was faced with
deteriorating social and hygienic conditions. Class differences and the
inability of the city to plan and execute long-term urban goals put Naples
behind other Italian cities in preparing for the new century.


This is one of 2 or 3 such unusual "Victorian" buildings in Naples, all built by
the English-Neapolitan architect, Lamont Young. This one is the Aselmeyer Castle
on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele. (separate article, #3, below)


Enter upon this scene in the 1870s a Neapolitan born of a Scottish father and
Indian mother, Lamont Young, one of the most fascinating characters in the
history of utopian urban planning. His plan, approved by the Naples City Council
in the early 1880s, had it come to fruition, might have made the peaceful
vignette of the opening paragraph reality instead of fantasy. 

"Utopian" has come to mean "impractical," but Young was quick to insist that his
ideas for the Naples of the future were workable and economically beneficial.
The key to Young's ideas on how to deal with the problems of  urban
sprawl—already evident in the Naples of the 1870s—was good mass transportation.
A number of factors convinced Young that underground transit was the solution.
For one, building new streets was difficult due to the layout of the city
between the sea and hills. Young foresaw chaos if all traffic in a city such as
Naples, with the same surface area as London and Paris, but twice their
populations, stayed above ground. He rejected the piecemeal urban expansion of
the city and the gutting  of the historic center as a solution to the problem,
since it involved impractical large-scale removal and relocation of the
inhabitants. Instead, he favored  a gradual and planned expansion away from the
center—a "suburbanization"—by means of a metropolitana, an underground train
system, which he would design and build.



The Metropolitana

In the late 1870s the City Council called for proposals for a transit system.
Young's plan involved (1)  steam locomotives for tunnels to be built beneath
Montesanto and Posillipo; (2) Tramways—horsedrawn cars on tracks, and (3) the
Omnibus—horsedrawn cars, but no tracks. The plan was rejected because it was too
complicated. 

In December of 1880 he presented a new plan to the City Council, complete with
approximately one hundred tables and drawings. It detailed an extensive metro
network of twelve stations along a 22 kilometer route from Fuorigrotta to the
main train station, replete with passenger lifts to Vomero connecting to narrow
gauge railways to the outskirts. The Metro rail gauge would be compatible with
the state trains already in use, thus allowing the state railway to use the
Metro tracks. 

Although the plan was generally treated kindly in the press, it was eventually
turned down, and it is not exactly clear why. Perhaps it was due to general fear
of structures collapsing from construction along the planned route. To meet this
fear, Young modified his plan in 1883. Changes consisted largely in elevating
some underground sections from beneath populated areas to run on the surface or
overhead, leaving underground only those sections that passed necessarily though
hills within the city. The plan entailed the creation of two new quarters of the
city: one, a Venice Quarter, along the coast of Posillipo, and, two, a tourist
and residential quarter in Campi Flegrei, west of the city, beyond the Posillipo
hill. 

This new plan was published in 1883 and was entitled "The Metropolitana and
Campi Flegrei," and it stressed safety. The underground stretches were through
the tufa, deep in the hills, while the surface portions were away from
residences or elevated to run high above roadways. The line  started west of
Naples in Bagnoli and covered the entire center of the city as well as the
suburbs. It included the difficult hill areas of Fuorigrotta, Posillipo,
Mergellina and Vomero, as well as the densely populated parts of the inner city
and the central train station.  From the station, elevated sections ran along
via Marina and Riviera di Chiaia and back to Mergellina and Bagnoli. A separate
line branched in from the seaside to handle the most densely populated downtown
areas. 

Ingeniously, there were two separate Vomero stations, with passengers rising by
lift 160 meters from the bottom station to the top one, where they could connect
to railway lines for outlying areas. Young's 1886 revision to the plan also
included a "hill line" running from Capodichino through Vomero and on to
Posillipo. It showed considerable foresight, anticipating the hill communities
that later were to spring up in those areas.

 


The Venice Quarter

The need to dispose of the material excavated along the Metro route led Young to
propose using the material as fill along the picturesque Posillipo coast for a
giant reclamation project. Young's plan was to have the land-fill cut by
navigable canals of sea-water, thus creating artificial islands interconnected
by bridges. Buildings and gardens on the islands would "give to our quarter the
appearance of a tiny Venice," a 1500-meter  extension up the Posillipo coast of
the  newly completed via Caracciolo, an avenue running along the sea from the
historic section of Santa Lucia up to Mergellina along the old Royal Gardens of
the Bourbon dynasty. 

For those who saw his idea as too romantic, he claimed it was based on solid
economics: He thought the combination of a mini-Venice with the natural beauty
of the Bay of Naples would put Naples virtually at the top of the world property
market. The whole Venice area covered  over four square kilometers; half for
canals and streets and half for land to build on, much of which, however, would
be gardens, keeping a favorable ratio of open spaces to buildings. The waste
disposal system was well thought out, and the whole quarter rose 2,50 meters
above the sea to keep dampness out of the dwellings. 

The main street, an extension of via Caracciolo, passed over the canals by a
series of bridges. One long canal, Partenope, was crossed by seven secondary
canals, all with outlets to the sea and to each other. The general effect was of
smaller canals leading off of three larger ones which formed a letter "Y", the
stem of which was the Grand Canal. Within the network was a  large circular
canal hub, the Venice-end of the canal-tunnel to be dug through Posillipo to
Campi Flegrei. (Difficult, but not impossible—the Romans built a similar tunnel
two thousand years ago, which may still be visited today.) Young's canal would
be almost two kilometers long, and he was convinced that it would eventually
prove to be the main connector between the west side of Naples and the new
quarter in Campi Flegrei. Young's illustrations for the project are typically
Victorian with their neo-Gothic buildings, bridges and towers.
 

Campi Flegrei


 both black and white sketches shown below were part of Young's
original designs for the rebuilding of the Campi Flegrei


Young's plans re-created Campi Flegrei, the area north of Naples beyond the
Posillipo hill.  The area focused around two central points and  included the
"Crystal Palace" and a number of hotels and beach establishments, private
villas, exposition halls, and thermal bath facilities. Fuori Grotta, the area
farthest from the sea, housed the metropolitana station, residences and the
Crystal Palace. Other sections sloped gently down towards the sea and were given
over to villas and gardens; the seaside area was a beach resort and included a
zoo, shops and  hotels. There were also two artificial lakes and a series of
canals which joined the main one leading beneath Posillipo to the Venice
Quarter. 

Young emphasized greenery and trees. The general impression was of a vast park
with an occasional structure. Numerous parks and gardens allowed, according to
Young, ample space for gymnastics and games. There was an English garden and an
Italian one; small game abounded and Swiss chalets dotted the small hill known
as S. Teresa. The whole area had a network of  wood or metal bridges over the
canals. Also, a narrow-gauge electric railway linked up to the metropolitana. 

The most interesting structure in the area was to be the Crystal Palace, on the
shores of the Small Lake in Fuorigrotta and named for the Crystal Palace of the
Universal Exposition in London in 1851. It would be a showpiece for Neapolitan
Art, theater, exhibitions and concerts. Young, however, viewed the structure
also as a means of educating the people. It was an all-purpose cultural
establishment, so that "those who cannot travel or who are not widely read…may
have a temple in which science can speak to the imagination…where they may learn
how the human spirit has developed." 

Via Marina (the road now running along the main port of Naples) and the new via
Caracciolo meant, for all practical purposes, that there were no longer any real
beaches left in the city, itself. Young saw the bathing resort in Bagnoli as a
way to give Neapolitans back something they had  lost. He designed a bathing
pier for Bagnoli: it formed three sides of a rectangle; the first leg ran 400
meters along the beach in Bagnoli opposite the tiny island of Nisida and
provided  dressing rooms. The other two sides were long double–decker piers in
the water, letting you stroll along in the shade or take a dip, as you desired.
The facility was to accommodate 20,000 persons a day. 

Such a plan necessarily called for a hotel to go along with it. After all,  the
resort was as much for tourists who would stay a while as it was for day
trippers from Naples. Young wanted a hotel that combined the majesty of the
hotels at English seaside resorts with the comfort of the resort hotels in
America. It was to be on the shores of the Greater Lake. The most striking
feature was the 50–meter high metal and glass dome, visible form the entire
area. Inside, there were restaurants, thermal baths and a magnificent Winter
Garden, tropical plants and all. Adjacent to the hotel and forming a symmetrical
whole with it were  two thermal cure baths. Young emphasized that although one
of the facilities might serve the well-to-do clients in the Hotel Termine, he
intended the second one for everyone, "for all social classes". Young saw Naples
as becoming another London or Paris. "I see the city of my dreams, Naples, fifty
years from now, risen majestic and enchanted in the most beautiful area in the
world." 

Young's "fifty years from now" never worked out. The population explosion and
the overwhelming influence of the private automobile (entirely unpredicted in
the last century, even by those who foresaw flying machines!) have done much to
confound the plans of visionaries, Young's included. Aside from those things,
however, how practical was his idea? His critics say he showed a typically
English lack of interest in the bonds that Neapolitans, historically, seem to
have to have to the center of their city. He would, they say, have created a
city with quarters for the rich, virtually ignoring the needs of the poor. He
ignored the possibility of industry in the area. He made no plans for large
numbers of working class, rather seeming to think that those who worked for a
living would remain a fixed number and have to do only with managing tourism.
His plans for a Venice Quarter and a leisure resort in Campi Flegrei amounted,
they say, to little more than an anachronistic Victorian fantasy, instead of a
realistic attempt to deal with the coming century.



[Also see this related entry: Lamont Young's Revenge]



Much of the criticism of the Venice idea was that it was too "poetic". Young,
however, was always quick to point out the economic and practical advantages of
his plan. He was convinced that his idea to decentralize the city by rapid
transit was a good practical idea. Young was not optimistic about getting his
plans approved; he felt there were vested interests working against him. In
spite of his pessimism, he was given the go-ahead by the city council,
contingent upon his ability to raise the money. And here the story ends. The
building time was set for five years. Young was given six months to set up a
private consortium to finance the project without state intervention. He had
apparently been relying on English banking interests for support. The six months
ran out without the necessary financial support and the city council granted an
extension. It, too, ran out. 

Actually, there were two plans for rebuilding Naples. Young's plan lost out to
the eventual winner, the risanamento, a draconian plan that gutted much of the
city. The decision to choose that plan over Young's was made in the wake of the
great cholera epidemic of 1884, a crisis that cried out for solution. The
risanamento was more of a surgical solution than Young's, and who knows what
role such metaphors play in making difficult choices such as how to rebuild a
city? (It is also possible that there really were vested interests working
against Young and for the risanamento.) 

Young's plans may well have been an anachronism, in the sense that they were too
forward looking. Today, Naples is still in the midst of building a satisfactory
underground railway line. Ironically, on the wall of one the stations of the new
line there is a beautiful ceramic map displaying Young's original plans for a
Naples Metro from 120 years ago (photo, top of page). The suburbs of Bagnoli and
Campi Flegrei suffered the industrial blight of a steel mill and a cement
factory for almost a century. Both of those enterprises have been abandoned and
the area is now priming for an episode of non-industrial urban renewal on its
own, based on the spectacular natural beauty of the bay. These plans include
luring the next America's Cup regatta to the waters of Bagnoli. Meanwhile, the
nearby tourist resorts of Sorrento and Capri thrive on the leisure time of
tourists, a recent phenomenon that Young's critics could not have foreseen when
they labelled his vision of a new Naples an anachronistic Victorian fantasy.


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entry Feb. 2003


2. Lamont Young

Lamont Young's "castle" (photo, directly below) is going to be restored. It is a
quaint piece of Victorian Gothic architecture set on the cliff of Pizzofalcone,
the original cliff of Naples that overlooks the Castel dell'Ovo and the small
harbor of Santa Lucia. When it was planned in the early years of the
20th–century, it really would have overlooked all that; however, by the time it
went up (1922) construction along the seaside road led to the pitiful sight of a
"castle" from which there was no view at all except of the splendid backs of
hotels now directly in front of—and considerably higher than—the cliff.


The castle was one of three or four such buildings put up by Young along the
same unusual lines, highly criticized at the time as being not in keeping with
the traditions of Neapolitan architecture. One of Young's other castle-like
Victorian Gothic structures in the Chiaia part of town, above Parco Grifeo, even
features an artificial crack high up on one of the towers (photo, directly
above), meant to simulate great age or, perhaps, a lightning strike. All of
these buildings would be at home on the covers of gloomy novels about moors, fog
and frail heroines.





> The buildings are, however, charming, and the one on Pizzofalcone (photo,
> right) is now going to get one–and–a–half–million euros to undo the damage
> down by arson a few years ago; in addition, part of the grounds will be
> converted to a museum/exposition room that will inform visitors about this
> fascinating Neapolitan with the very English name. Here they will learn about
> Young's plan for the total rebuilding of the city (including the construction
> of an underground train line!) in the 1890s (a plan that lost out to the
> Risanamento—the gutting of large sections of the city).
> 
> Young's house on the Pizzofalcone cliff     
> (built, 1922)                        
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> update Aug 2016
> 
> The building shown directly above, Lamont Young's home on Pizzofalcone, has
> had a gloomy history, which, however, may now be taking a turn for the better.
> First of all, Young named the villa for his wife, Ebe Cazzani, and technically
> it is still called Villa Ebe. Second, Lamont Young, distraught at the turn his
> own life had taken (his plans for the city had been rejected, and his own view
> of the sea from the historic height of Greek Naples was now closed to him
> forever by block after block of new high-rise hotels thrown up by the
> risanamento—in short, he was a failure) committed suicide by pistol-shot in
> the villa. The premises decayed over the decades, somehow survived WWII but
> continued to decay. The arson attempt to destroy the premises in 2000 was
> serious and was almost the death knell for Villa Ebe. Yet, on the verge of
> demolition, it was saved: good-hearted volunteers, private organizations and
> the city got together to save it. For the last two years, work has been going
> on to restore "The Gardens of Villa Ebe," to restore the interior and turn it
> into a tribute to its architect. The practical but quaint (if that is the
> word!) (pictured, above left) switch-back ramp leading up to the villa has
> already been renamed the rampe Lamont Young (number 8 on this map). God, I
> hope they don't screw this one up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> The Aselmeyer Castle
> 
> From the above items about the general life and career of architect Lamont
> Young. You will gather that none of Young’s grandiose plans from the 1880s—not
> the metropolitana, not the Venice Quarter, not the grand seaside resort in
> Bagnoli—none of that came to fruition. It all shattered against the
> risanamento, the great and drastic urban renewal of the city in the face of
> the terrible cholera epidemics of the 1880s. At best, we have handed down from
> Lamont Young, a few individual buildings, the most impressive of which is the
> Aselmeyer Castle on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele (C.VE), in these photos.
> 
> Young had to give up on his sweeping plans to rebuild entire sections of the
> city once it became clear that the city council was going ahead with the
> risanamento. He, thus, concentrated his efforts on putting up some individual
> buildings that still stand today. In 1895, Young acquired the rights to build
> on sections of the C.VE. (At the time, that street was almost bucolic and
> nothing like the mass of buildings you see today.) Even then, his plans
> reached well beyond what actually wound up being done. For example, he had
> come into possession of the Villa Lucia in the Floridiana park in the Vomero
> section, high above the C.VE. He proposed joining that property to the C.VE
> with an elevator: you would have his Villa Santa Lucia at the top and a new
> hotel, which he proposed to build, at the bottom.
> 
> After all was said and done, he had to give up his plans for the new hotel
> (although construction was partially completed and even today serves as a
> conference and reception hall. (It is named for one “Bertolini,” who acquired
> the building from Young in the early 1900s.) Young had to settle for simply
> putting up as his own residence on the C.VE, the building seen in these
> photos. It was built in 1902 and sold two years later to banker, Carlo
> Aselmeyer, whose name the building still bears. (More correctly, the name of
> the building is Castello Grifeo dei Principi di Partanna.) Young moved away to
> the small isle of Gaiola on the Posillipo coast.
> 
> Architecturally, the building is, quite simply, English Gothic (“Dracula
> Victorian,” as they say) as are most of Young’s other works. (An exception is
> the Neo-Renaissance Grenoble Institute on via Crispi.) That was the greatest
> criticism levelled against him—his buildings don't look as if they belong in
> Naples. (Well, that was the second greatest criticism; the big one was that
> his sense of “city” was not Neapolitan; it involved the new concept of
> “urbanization” —moving people out of the center of town (using his
> never-to-be-built metropolitans as the primary people mover). That may not
> have been Neapolitan, but that is, however, what eventually happened, anyway,
> with the invention of the automobile, with or without Lamont Young.) A fair
> criticism would be that he thought Naples could eventually live from tourism.
> New 20th-century industry played no role in his thinking.
> 
> In any event, the Aselmeyer Castle still exists but has been kept up only
> marginally at times. It has long since been sub-divided into many different
> apartments and suffers from the same problem that all condominiums do in
> Naples: you can’t get everyone to agree on major repairs. The building has
> also been architecturally defaced by two additions on either side of the main
> entrance: cream-colored, smooth blocks of junk not in keeping with the
> rough-hewn stone of the rest of the building.
> 
> 
> to portal for architecture and urban planning

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SYMBOLS OF NAPLES

It is not surprising that Mt. Vesuvius is a common symbol of Naples. There have
been so many paintings and photos of " 'a muntagna" over the years, it's almost
as if artists and weekend snapshooters were engaging in ritual propitiation. You
know: "If we feed Your ego enough with all this art, maybe You won't explode
again. Very sincerely, we remain Your faithful servants in Pompei." Who knows.






I am fascinated by stylized graphics of Vesuvius. I have no idea how many there
have been over the years, but a recent copy of the International Journal of
Semiotics, Statistics and Ouija Boards informs me, reliably, that "there are
really a lot" of such graphics done by advertisers, artists, school children and
bored doodlers to depict Vesuvius. They range from Andy Warhol's famous-for 15
minutes, anyway-explosion of color (at the top of this page) to the works of
anonymous designers churning out ads. (A few of those are on the right, and
there is anothervery good one here.)




Other symbols are a bit harder to come by. Dangerous, even. The 30-foot-high
ceilings of the Royal Palace could only have been painted and ornamented by
giraffes. (Indeed, it is my understanding that the revolutions of 1820 and 1848
in Naples could have been avoided if only the despotic rulers of the kingdom had
realized they were spending too much money on giraffes and not enough on guns
and butter.) Anyway, walking around said Royal Palace staring at said ceilings
is a very good way to fall down the magnificent Bourbon staircase, but also a
good way to notice a splendid example of the triskelion, or triskele.




The triskelion is a symbol formed by three of almost anything conjoined and
radiating from the center-triangles, commas, lines, circles, tear or water
drops, trombone slides, arms, or legs. Such symbols are very widespread in human
cultures and are found all the way from Celtic mythology to Buddhist art. The
one in the Royal Palace (photo, above) -with stylized human legs radiating from
the center-is common in ancient Greek culture. The symbol is found on Greek
coins and even earlier Mycenean pottery. In the palace, the triskelion is there
as a symbol of Sicily, representing the claim of the Bourbon monarchy to rule
the "Kingdom of the Two Sicilies," a term applied on and off to the southern
half of the Italian peninsula since the 1400s-Palermo, of course, being the
first Sicily and, then, Naples the second.

As a symbol of Sicily, the triskelion (meaning "three legs" in Greek) goes back
to the existence of Sicily as part of Magna Grecia, the colonial extension of
Greece beyond the Aegean. Pliny-either the Elder, the Younger, or the One in
Middle-says the use of the triskelion to represent ancient Trinacria (an earlier
name for Sicily)-is symbolic of the triangular shape of the island, defined by
three distinct capes, equidistant one from the other. (The modern names: Cape
Peloro, at the straits of Messina; Cape Passero, at the southern tip; and Cape
Lilibeo, at Marsala in the west.)

On that note, the same lovely person, Laura, who brought the triskelion on the
ceiling to my attention in the first place (as she was falling down the stairs)
now tells me that

I don't know if that part about not using the north star convinces me, but as
stories go, it's a good one! In any event, in the center of most depictions of
the Sicilian triskelion is a human face, that of the Medusa, one of the aspects
of the goddess Athena, patron saint of the island. The triskelion appealed to
the Bourbons of Naples primarily because it was NOT a Bourbon symbol; it was
classical Greek and, as such, lent historical weight to the claim of unity of
Sicily and mainland. (The keen-eyed will noticed a smaller, secondary triskelion
within the first, radiating out from between the legs. They appear to be stalks
of wheat. The harvest? Fertility? Phallic symbols? All of those? Guess away.)

I have not scoured the city on a great triskelion hunt, but I can't help but
notice that in everyday places there are designs that fit at least the general
description of "three of almost anything conjoined and radiating from the
center," such as the leaf design (photo, right) on the facade of the Church of
the Redeemer on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Naples.
Also, in the category of Two Symbols for the Price of One is the red amulet
(bottom, left) that is either (1) a single curved corno (animal horn),
representing the sexual vigor implied in the phallic symbol or (2) a serpent,
with a possible connection to ancient ophiolatry (serpent worship). It might be
both, which makes it all the more interesting, especially since there is now a
third possibility. Vendors of the famous peperoncini-small Calabrian red
peppers-stylize the ads for their red-hot little veggie (Capsicum frutescens
perenne ) such that it resembles the amulet. The symbolism is enough to take
your breath away. The peppers will do that, too.







Pulcinella, of course, the Neapolitan masked figure from the medieval tradition
of the Commedia dell'Arte is the personage who most symbolizes Naples. There is
a separate entry on him here.)

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SYMBOLS OF NAPLES

These churches were certainly not "miscellaneous" to the people who built them,
nor to those who have frequented them over the centuries in Naples. It's just
that a separate item about each church in Naples would denude the cyberforests
of the world. These, then, are the first entries of a potentially very long
series noting the presence of the many small or less noticed churches in a city
where-in 1700-ten percent of the population belonged to the clergy.

Santa Caterina a Formiello is at the extreme eastern end of the old historic
center of the city, near the old eastern wall of the city and the gate called
Porta Capuana. It was founded about 1510, completed in 1593, and dedicated to
the virgin martyr of Alexandria. It constituted an important part of an ancient
monastery that originally belonged to the Celestine order and which passed to
the Dominican fathers after 1498. They kept it until the 19th century, when the
monastic premises were closed and used as a wool factory. Exceptional frescoes
by Luigi Garzi from 1685 and various 16th century funeral monuments are kept
within the church. The church has a single-aisle Latin cross interior covered by
a barrel vault with five chapels on either side.


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San Giovanni a Carbonara is at the northern end of via Carbonara, just outside
what used to be the eastern wall of the old city. The name carbonara (meaning
"coal-carrier") was given to this site allocated for the collection and burning
of refuse outside the city walls in the Middle Ages. The monastery/ church
complex of San Giovanni, itself, was founded by Augustinians in 1343. The church
was completed in 1418 under King Ladislaus of Durazzo, who turned the church
into a Pantheon-like tribute to the last of the Angevin rulers of Naples. It was
expanded over the course of the following three centuries and contains
sculptures and artwork of considerable interest, including the chapels of
Caracciolo del Sole and Caracciolo di Vico.

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Santa Caterina a Chiaia (photo left) is also known as Santa Caterina martire)
and is near Piazza dei Martiri in the western, Chiaia section of the city. The
church was built originally as a small family chapel by the Forti family and
then ceded to the Franciscan order, which expanded it by 1600. The church that
ones sees today, however, is the result of a series of remodelings, including
one as late as 1732 in the wake of a serious earthquake in that year. The facade
is characterized by a representation of the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of
Alexandria. The main entrance is marked by a plaque commemorating a restoration
of the facade in 1904. Art work in the interior is mostly dedicated to the life
of Saint Catherine, including a prominent dome display by Gustavo Girosi from
1916.

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The New Church of Santa Maria of Jerusalem -also known as the Church of the
Thirty-Three is hidden away on via Pisanelli, a small street in the historic
center of Naples. It was built in the second half of the 16th century and later
demolished to make place for the present one, built at a right angle to the
earlier church. Inside, there is stucco decoration and an 18th-century majolica
floor. The small convent annexed to the church became, in 1539, home to a group
of cloistered Capuchin sisters. The premises still serve that purpose. The
church was called Thirty Three from the number of sisters who could be housed
there, with a clear reference to the age of Christ at the time of the
Crucifixion. (The photo on the right is as about as close as you're going to
get. When they say "cloistered," they're not kidding, and when I say "hidden
away", I mean invisible. A stealth nunnery.)

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Santa Teresa a Chiaia is one of the many churches in Naples built by Cosimo
Fanzago, the greatest architect of the Neapolitan Baroque.  The church is two
blocks in from the Villa Comunale in the western part of Naples. The original
church and monastery on this site were from 1625 and belonged to the Carmelite
Order. At the time, the area inland from the sea, in back of the string of
seaside Spanish villas, was wooded and relatively bucolic. In the years between
1650 and 1664, a new complex was built by Fanzago, and it was quite large,
occupying much of the land around the church that one sees today. The monastery
was closed in the 1860s and various episodes of urban renewal-and in some cases,
urban blight-have truncated the original complex such that, of the original
premises that included gardens and such, only the church remains. Some care has
been taken, however, to keep it looking the way it did when it was built. The
facade is an excellent example of the Neapolitan Baroque. Within the church,
there are significant examples of art work by Luca Giordano.











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San Giuseppe dei Ruffi is in the historic center of the city, one block north of
the Cathedral of Naples at the intersection of via dei Tribunali and via Duomo.
The site, itself, was originally the location of the ancient monastery of Santa
Maria degli Angeli, closed in the 1500s. In 1611 it was acquired by the Ruffo
family as a site for a new convent. Restructuring the earlier premises was done
to a design by Dionisio Lazzari; the work was begun in 1669 and the new convent
was inaugurated in 1682, the work completed by Lazzari's student, Giovan
Domenico Vinaccia. The Ruffo family retained the premises until 1828 when it was
given over to sisters of the Sacramentine order, who retain it to this day. Much
of the ornamentation in the church was not completed until the early 1770's.
Obviously, San Giuseppe dei Ruffi has severe competition one block away at the
Cathedral; nevertheless, the interior of the church is a spectacular example of
the Neapolitan Baroque and Rococo.



Like many of the nearby buildings along the same north-south axis, the original
complex was truncated by the construction of via Duomo, the broad, straight road
that now connects Corso Umberto in the south to via Foria on the northern side
of the historic center. That construction was part of the Risanamento, the urban
renewal of Naples in the late 1800s.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





San Pasquale. The church and adjacent monastery of San Pasquale are one short
block to the north of the Villa Comunale and Riviera di Chiaia on San Pasquale
square, between Piazza Vittoria and Mergellina. The complex goes back to 1749
when Charles III of Bourbon and his consort, Maria Amalia, had it built in
thanks for having been blessed with a male heir to the throne. Church and
monastery were given to the Fathers of Alcantarini Leccesi. The monastery was
closed by the government of the new nation state of Italy in December of 1866.
The premises contain significant art work of Antonio Sarnelli and Giacinto
Diano.









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Santa Maria degli Angeli delle Croci is mentioned elsewhere in this
encyclopedia, since the courtyard and monastery of the original vast complex now
house the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the university if Naples. The
church, itself, remains open as such; the facade looks down from the end of via
Michele Tenore, the street that runs along the west side of the large Botanical
Garden in Naples. (The odd term delle Croci [of the crosses] in the name of the
church derives from the crosses that used to be situated along the street
leading up to the church.) Those crosses were taken down in the wake of street
construction in the area in the mid-1800s, at which time, the double stairway
was added to the entrance.

The church was started in 1581 by the Franciscan order; the facade is "Serlian"
(from Sebastiano Serlio, the Italian Mannerist architect and author of the
influential treatise, I sette libri dell'architettura)-that is, it presents a
central arch between two prominent architrave elements. The statue of St.
Francis above the entrance was long attributed to Cosimo Fanzago but may
actually be by father Crisanto Gagliucci, who is said to have sculpted it
originally for the church of Santa Maria la Nova. If that is true, the
relocation is due to the light fingers of Fra Giovanni da Napoli (d. 1648), the
powerful head of the order at the time, who is said to have helped himself to as
much of the statuary and silverware from Franciscan churches throughout the area
in order to decorate the new church. If it is not true, then Fanzago gets credit
for the statue as he does for most of the rest of the church. Early comments on
the church was that it had a "happy" look to it, which may account for the fact
that it was a popular place for noble and even viceregal weddings. The courtyard
contains a remarkable series of frescoes by Belisario Corenzio arrayed along the
36 arches of the arcade. Taken together, they are a study of Neapolitan nobility
of the 16th century; each section displays an heraldic crest and a painting of
the appropriate duke, count or prince. The murals were among Corenzio's last
works. In his day, he was a leading muralist in Naples and like his
contemporary, Fanzago, his works were spread throughout the city.

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The church of Sant'Anna dei Lombardi (the somber building on the left in this
photo) was originally known as Santa Maria di Monteoliveto (Mount of Olives). It
is the single remaining religious remnant of what was once the Mount of Olives
monastery, founded in 1411. The entire complex was at one time one of the
largest monasteries in Italy. Urban renewal from the 1930s literally built
around the old monastery, leaving much of the original structure standing in the
center. At the east end, the church, itself, is still in use, but the adjacent
monastery is now the Pastrengo barracks of the Carabinieri (Italian national
police force).

Art within the church and the facade, itself, display the influence of the
Florentine Renaissance. Within the church are the monument tomb of Maria
d'Aragona, the tomb of architect Domenico Fontana, and paintings by Giorgio
Vasari and Pedro Rubiales. It is also home to a group sculpture in terracotta
from 1492 by Guido Mazzoni of the Lament over the Dead Christ. The church once
housed three paintings by Caravaggio: St. Francis in Meditation, St. Francis
Receiving the Stigmata, and Resurrection; but they were destroyed in the
earthquake of 1805. The original design of the church was greatly modified in
the 1600s by architect Gian Battista Cavagna, and the church had to be restored
after the bombings of WWII. As of February 2009, the church is again open to
visitors.


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The church of Santa Maria dell'Aiuto [Saint Mary of Eternal Help or of Succour]
is on a small east-west street of that name about 150 yards into the old city
across the street (via Monteoliveto) from the east side of the main post office.
It is just past the better-known church of Santa Maria la Nova.

The architect was Dionisio Lazzari [see Lazzari, Dionisio(1) (2)] and, in its
newly restored condition (after years of being closed), the church may be
appreciated for the absolute gem of the Neapolitan Baroque that it was. The
historian Celano (writing when the church was new) recounts what has become
folklore surrounding the origins of the church-that two children in 1635 posted
their own crude drawing of the Blessed Virgin in a window of a lower floor of
what was then the Palazzo Pappacoda (not to be confused with a church of a
similar name) and collected donations. When they had collected enough, they
hired a real artist to do his own rendition on canvas-again to solicit
donations. The process gained speed and by the time of the great plague of 1656,
a small chapel had been founded and then a church-on the site of the original
Pappacoda building and dedicated to Our Lady of Succour. In an age in which such
concrete manifestations of faith were held to be protection from earthquakes,
eruptions of Vesuvius and pestilence, not only churches arose, but also the
three so-called "plague columns"-or votive spires-of Naples. See (1) (2).

The church is in the design of a Greek cross-that is, a central nave with a
transept of equal length as the nave; it has a central dome. A partial inventory
of the art works contained in the church includes:

> -three paintings by Gaspare Traversi dated 1749: The Nativity, The
> Annunciation, and the Ascension of the Virgin;
> -the monument tomb of Gennaro Acamparo by Francesco Pagano from 1738;
> -also by Pagano, the angels that support the candelabra of the main altar;
> -the painting of The Virgin of Succour by Giuseppe Farina;
> -The Flight of Joseph by Nicola Malincolico;
> -the side ovals of The Archangel Michael by Giacinto Diano.

The restoration of Santa Maria dell'Aiuto has been spectacularly successful.


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The church of Santa Maria della Sapienza is one of the large, old churches in
Naples that no one notices. It is on via Costantinopoli near Piazza Bellini, an
area greatly affected by the risanamento, the urban renewal of the city in the
late 1800s and early 1900s. Specifically, the church and convent were affected
by the construction of the nearby First Polyclinic Hospital and medical school
of the University of Naples, which required the demolition of some nearby
buildings. After the unification of Italy, it was common practice in Naples to
convert old monasteries to secular use, usually leaving the adjacent churches
intact. (Sometimes they didn't, as in the case of the church of Croce di Lucca,
the old convent of which was adjacent on the south to the convent of S.M. della
Sapienza.) The Sapienza convent was demolished, but the church was left
standing; yet, it has been closed for many years and is badly in need of
restoration.


There was a convent on the site in 1519, quite early in the period of the
Spanish vice-realm in Naples. The unusual name, Sapienza (knowledge) derives
from what was on the property before that: a shelter for poor students,
sponsored by Oliviero Carafa (1430-1511), from one of the best-known families in
medieval and Renaissance Naples. He was an Italian cardinal, the archbishop of
Naples, friend of popes (and would-be Pope, himself), diplomat and great
intellectual patron of Renaissance arts. (He is, for better or worse, remembered
today for his opposition to Michelangelo's use of nude figures in the fresco of
The Last Judgement.) The name Sapienza stayed with the premises when the convent
was built. The later configuration of S.M. della Sapienza comes from a complete
rebuilding done between 1625 and 1670. Some sources claim that the remake was
the idea of Francesco Grimaldi (1543-1613), whose work in Naples on the Chapel
of the Treasure of San Gennaro in the cathedral and Santa Maria degli Angeli a
Pizzofalcone is well-documented. That is possible, but he died before real work
had even begun; thus, the premises took their newer form through the work of two
other architects, primarily Giovan Giacomo di Conforto and Orazio Gisolfo. Most
sources attribute the facade to Cosimo Fanzago, the greatest Neapolitan
architect of the time. The interior was noteworthy for the presence of frescoes
by Belisario Corenzio (c. 1558 - 1643) and paintings by Giovanni Ricca, Domenico
Gargiulo (aka Micco Spadaro), and Andrea Vaccaro, among others. The paintings
have long since been removed from the decaying church for safekeeping.

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The basilica of San Gennaro extra moenia ("beyond the walls") was the first
church in Naples named for San Gennaro, the patron saint of the city. The
origins are probably in the 4th century, that is, at the time that the mortal
remains of the martyred saint were moved to the adjacent catacombs at the foot
of the Capodimonte hill, well to the north of the ancient city walls. The tomb
of San Gennaro with this adjacent church was an important site of worship in the
early centuries of Christianity in Naples. The site went into severe decline
when the Longobards invaded Naples in 831 and removed the remains of the saint
to Benevento. A short time later, in 872, the Benedictine order started
construction at the site of a large monastery dedicated to Saints Gennaro and
Agrippino (the patron saint of Naples before San Gennaro). They rebuilt the
basilica and incorporated it into the north end of the monastery, making the
entire structure well over 200 meters long. For hundreds of years, the monastery
continued to use the nearby catacombs as a cemetery. In the 1400s, the monastery
premises were converted to a hospital; it served in that capacity during the
plague of 1479 and subsequent outbreaks. In the 1600s the facility also served
as a kind of poorhouse, caring for the indigent and not just the sick, acquiring
the name of San Gennaro dei Poveri (of the poor). It is still an important
medical facility in Naples. The basilica is now on hospital premises and is more
correctly called the Basilica di San Gennaro dei poveri. (See also the general
entry on the catacombs.)


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SYMBOLS OF NAPLES

Again, here are some churches and ex-monasteries scattered throughout various
quarters of Naples. And again, they are no less interesting or worthwhile for
their inclusion under this "miscellaneous" rubric.

The church and adjacent monastery of the Spirito Santo are near the northwest
corner of the old historic city on via Roma (also known by the original Spanish
name of via Toledo). The refurbished monastery now houses the architecture
department of the University of Naples. (The photo, left, is in the courtyard of
those premises. The photo of the courtyard, right, is from 1890-1900.)





The church and monastery got off to a false start, so to speak, in 1562, when
Pope Pius IV gave the Dominican order the go-ahead for a plan to build a
"conservatory" (meaning, here, "shelter") for prostitutes, their children, and
the poor, in general. The early construction was demolished under viceroy Alcale
in order to expand the main road leading north out of the city. New construction
at the present site began, however, soon thereafter and was generally complete
by 1600 although additional construction continued well into the 1700s. At one
time or another, great Neapolitan architects such as Ferdinando Fuga and Luigi
Vanvitelli contributed to the final product. Many of the paintings and works in
marble commissioned for the original complex are still preserved within the
church. The premises served not only to "conserve" the destitute, but to teach
them a trade, one of which was music; the use of "conservatory" to mean "music
school" stems from this usage at this and similar institutions in Naples.


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The ex-monastery of Sant'Andrea Dame, which today is part of the University of
Naples School of Medicine, was founded in 1583 to house the order of Augustine
hermits. The church interior, with a single aisle and no transept, preserves its
late-16th-century layout; the presbytery displays rich marble wall decorations
created by the Ghetto brothers in the last quarter of the 17th century, after a
design of Giovanni Domenico Vinaccia.



The building is almost at the top of the northwest height of the historic city
of Greco-Roman Neapolis and is not far from presumed site of the ancient Greek
acropolis. The conversion of this site to a medical building was part of the
massive construction in the early 1900s to convert the quarter into a modern
hospital zone with medical school. This entailed tearing down a number of
ancient buildings to erect the new hospital and the incorporation of other old
structures, including Sant'Andre delle Dame, into the hospital facilities. The
courtyard is open from the main entrance and may be visited.


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Santa Maria della Redenzione dei Captivi was founded under the name of Santa
Maria della Mercede by a pious association set up in 1548 to redeem the
Christians captured by the Muslims. ("Saracen" raids were common in those days
along the shores of the kingdom.) The church was renovated in the 18th century
following the latest dictates of the Neapolitan rococo; the church is
characterized by the magnificent, almost theatrical design of the facade by
architect Ferdinando San Felice. It was here that Alfonso Maria de Liguori,
future saint and celebrated author of Canti di Natale (Christmas Songs) took the
vows to enter the priesthood. The location is fitting since the church is
adjacent to the music conservatory and at the top of the street, via San
Sebastiano, long known for the presence of a great number of music shops. (There
is a lovely, active monastery and church on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius named for
Liguori.)
[There is an historical display on the premises of the Bank if Naples about
S.M.della Redenzione dei Captivi. See this link for the text of that display.]


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San Giuseppe a Chiaia is on the street named Riviera di Chiaia, now the inner
road running along the north side of the long public park, the Villa Comunale.
When the church was built, however, in the early 1600s, it was seaside property,
the park being a much later addition to Neapolitan topography. The original
chapel was built by Father Flaminio Magnato as  a Jesuit convalescent home.
After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Naples it became a nautical school, and
in 1817, King Ferdinand I had it converted into a home for the blind. It is
again a church. According to historian Vittorio Gleijeses, it once housed a
religious relic that is the source of an amusing Neapoplitan expression.


[Further mention of this church here.]
[Also, there is a longer article on this church by Selene Salvi here.]


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Santa Maria Apparente is a high and imposing church about halfway along the
length of the street named Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. That street is one of the
main east-west thoroughfares in Naples and starts at Piedigrotta in the west
(where the Mergellina train station now stands), runs up the hill and then east
all the way to a point above the National museum, a distance of about two km.
The road was built in the mid-1800s, so when this church was built--in the late
1500s--the area was truly bucolic, set, as it is, below the height of San
Martino. The church was commissioned by Brother Filippo da Perugia and the
original architect was Giovan Battista Cavagna. The buildings adjacent to the
church formed part of the original monastic complex, which was then expanded
between 1634 and 1656. The monastery was closed in the late 1700s and for a
while served as a prison, housing inmates jailed in the wake of the 1799
insurrection that led to the short-lived Neapolitan Republic as well as
prisoners arrested after the turmoil of the 1848 revolts. The original plan for
the main street in front of the church called for major road-straightening, a
bridge, and demolition of some of the nearby buildings, none of which came to
fruition; thus, the high double stairway entrance to the church sits directly on
a curve. In the form that one sees it today, the stairway was rebuilt in 1930.






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Santa Maria di Montecalvario is in the heart of the Spanish Quarters of Naples.
The church was founded in 1560 with a donation by the Neapolitan noblewoman
Ilaria d'Apuzzo. It was consecrated as a Franciscan establishment in 1574. This
church, too, was originally part of a monastic complex. The monastery was one of
the many that were closed in Naples during the brief French rule of the kingdom
in the early 1800s. For some years it served as a barracks. The church has been
maintained since 1923 by fathers of the Mercedari Order. Among the many art
works of interest in the church are some attributed to Giacomo di Cosenza, but,
in any event, to the school responsible for introducing into the Kingdom of
Naples in the 1520s the modern styles of Raffaello and Michelangelo.


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Chiesa del Cenacolo (Church of the Last Supper) is on the Corso Vittorio
Emanuele, a short distance from Santa Maria Apparente (above). As churches go in
Naples, it is relatively recent; it stems from the early 1800s. It was
originally the chapel in a rest home for the elderly, the structure that
surrounds this small church on both sides and which has since been converted to
other uses. The Cenacolo is the first church in Naples run by the laity.

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Sant' Efremo Vecchio is another of the many churches in the Sanite area of
Naples. This church, too, is the eponym for the street; it leads away from the
school of Veterinary Medicine (itself a converted monastery, that of the church
of Santa Maria degli Angeli alle Croci).The name Efremo is a corruption of
Efebo, a third-century bishop buried in the nearby catacombs. In the 1200s his
remains were then deposited in a church cut into the rock, itself, and then, in
1539, the Capucin order was given the property and built the first monastery in
the province. The present configuration of the premises is due to a series of
restorations, one in the 1720s, another in the 1770s and one in the 1840s. After
the closing of monastic orders in the wake of the unification of Italy in 1861,
the order again came into possession of the property in 1887. The majolica tile
inlays at the entrance are from the 1830s and are by Tommaso Bruno. The main
altar is from the 1773 and is by Michele Salemme. The church does contain,
however, remnants of sculpture done much earlier, before any of the more modern
restorations. The rather well-known sculpture of The Reclining Bishop is, in
fact, from the mid-1500s. It is now positioned behind the altar, but the
speculation is that it was originally a tomb marker at another location and that
it was moved inside when the saint's remains were transferred. The nearby
catacombs of Sant' Efremo Vecchio, although open occasionally for visits, have
presented archaeologists with a number of as yet unresolved questions, most of
these having to do with the relatively late location and identification of the
catacombs-1931. 


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SYMBOLS OF NAPLES

SanPietro Martire. The main body of this ex-monastery now houses departments of
the Federico II University of Naples.  The origins of San Pietro Martire go back
to the Angevin dynasty in Naples when Charles II of Anjou authorized the
construction of a new Dominican basilica. Construction was begun in 1294.  (At
the time, the area was already a maze of tight alleyways close to the port; the
layout of the area that one sees today was greatly changed by the urban
rebuilding, the Risanamento, of the late 1800s.)


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Our Lady of Mercy. (A.k.a. the Church of Sant'Orsola.) The presence of the
Spanish Mercedarian order is part of the consolidation of the Spanish monarchy
in the vice-realm of Naples in the 1500s. This church/monastery is at the
western end of via Chiaia (now a pedestrian thoroughfare), a road that, indeed,
was once the main way to get from the area around the Royal palace to the newer
Spanish expansions to the west along the sea front. (Actually, it still is the
easiest way if you don't mind a short walk.) The church is on the site of an
earlier Chapel of St. Orsola from the 1400s; construction to incorporate that
chapel into the newer church started in the late 1500s. The church is not
particularly conspicuous from the front as it is abutted on both sides by other
buildings. Like many church/monasteries in Naples, it was closed under the
French in the early 1800s, but later reopened. It underwent extensive
restoration in the 1850s. Ten years later, the unification of Italy forced the
closure of virtually all monasteries in Italy. In 1874, the former monastic
premises were sold and eventually converted into the Sannazzaro Theater, still
operating. The adjacent church stayed a church and remains essentially what one
sees today.

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Santa Maria delle Grazie is below the Corso Vittorio Emanuele at a small square
called Piazza Mondragone, a name historically applied to the entire premises
that contain the small church: il Retiro di Mondragone, the Mondragone Retreat.
The entire complex was originally a "conservatory", in the early non-musical use
of the word to mean a shelter, a place where widows and destitute women might be
cared for. The complex was founded in 1653 by Elena Aldobrandini, countess of
Mondragone. Construction of the church, itself, was somewhat later than the
shelter; the church is from 1715. Urbanization and subdivision of the area has
reduced Santa Maria della Grazie to a rather sorry state. For a long time, it
was simply closed but has recently been at least partially restored. It is
considered an outstanding example of late Baroque art and architecture in
Naples.

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Santa Maria Assunta di Bellavista. It is difficult to say which church in Naples
has the best view of the bay. This one has to be high on anyone's list. It is
way out of town at Piazza San Luigi, on the long main road, via Posillipo, that
winds west away from Mergellina and up the hill towards Cape Posillipo. (The
photo, right, was taken from the road that runs down to the sea, the cape and
villa Volpicelli.) From the long monastery-like facade, one is tempted to
compare this church to the old Spanish buildings in downtown Naples-maybe
spectacularly restored. Not so; in fact, from the side or above, you see that
the building is not a gigantic monastic block, but simply a very long facade
fronting a relatively shallow building. It was built in only 4 years, beginning
in 1860 on land granted by Francis II (the last king of Naples) to two sisters
of the Capece Minutolo family. The church, itself, is only the central portion
of the building. The two wings were meant to house, respectively, a school and
shelter for the poor on one side and dwellings on the other. The clean
neo-Gothic facade, thus, is not a restoration, but the original design.


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Santa Maria della Pazienza is commonly called the "Cesarea", after Annibale
Cesareo, the royal secretary responsible in 1602 for the construction of what
was then a church plus major hospital. It is located about halfway up the Vomero
hill above the archaeological museum and accessible from below by the main road
up, via Salvator Rosa. It is today just above the intersection of that street
and Corso Vittorio Emanuele (a major east-west road which did not exist until
the mid-1800s). The "Cesarea" was, at the time it was built, well outside of
town. Originally, the church and hospital were under the direct administration
of the Holy See. The hospital was closed in the late 1800s under a general move
towards secularization of health-care facilities in Naples, and the
administration of the church was transferred to the archbishopric of Naples.

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Santa Maria del Parto (Birth) overlooks the small port of Mergellina and is
quite easy to "underlook" if you are busy with the daily portside routine. Yet,
the church is very old and very historic. It was founded by the great Neapolitan
poet Iaccopo Sannazzaro on land he obtained in 1497 from Frederick II of Aragon.
The king also gave Sannazzaro a stipend; thus, the poet spent the last years of
his life working on his church and his poem, De partu Virginis, at the same
time.



Although the entire complex has been divided and subdivided over the years, it
is evident that the whole affair was once a single unit and was much bigger than
the quaint church on top (photo). The original plans called for a two-level
complex-the church that you see today on top and another church dug in the
tufaceous cliff face below at a point where there was a cave that contained a
well-known wooden presepe (manger scene) by Giovanni da Nola. The premises also
included a monastery, using part of an earlier structure that had been on the
site from the time of the Angevin dynasty. The first church was finished in good
order, but the second part had some problems in the early 1500s due to a plague
epidemic that forced Sannazzaro to leave Naples. Also, the French and Spanish
were still fighting for control of the area; thus, at one point in the 1520s,
the new church was converted into a military fortification. Before his death,
Sannazzaro managed to get the property back, and heirs finished the project.
Later, the monastery part was closed by the French in the early 1800s and, for a
while, those premises became the private property of the Neapolitan opera
impresario, Domenico Barbaia. 


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The church of Santa Teresa degli Scalzi (aka Santa Teresa al Museo or Madre di
Dio) is the eponym for the street on which it is located, just around the corner
to the north of the National Archaeological Museum. The broad street was the new
thoroughfare built by the French under Murat in the early 1800s to connect the
historic center of the city with the royal palace of Capodimonte. In spite of
the historical importance of the church and the great number of art works
contained on the premises, it is almost never open to be visited. The interior
of the church is a treasure trove, with works by painters Paolo de Matteis and
Battistello Caracciolo and the sculptor Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, among many
others. Also, the church holds a painting of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII. It
is by Giacomo Colombo and is from 1715, the era of the brief Austrian Hapsburg
vice-realm in Naples. The chapel of St. Teresa within the church was designed by
Cosimo Fanzago and is considered relevant in the history of Neapolitan Baroque
art




S.M. degli Scalzi was built between 1604 and 1612 and was the first church and
monastery of the Discalced ("barefoot") Carmelite Order in Naples. The founders
were Carmelite monks from Spain, followers of St. Teresa of cvila. The facade of
S.M. degli Scalzi contains a stucco statue of St. Teresa and one of St. John of
the Cross; the facade is from 1652 and is the work of Fanzago. [There is a
seperate entry on the Ancient (Calced) Carmelite Order.]


When religious orders were closed in 1808, some of the furnishings within the
church were moved elsewhere to conserve them as cultural artifacts. In this
case, the original altar, built by the Neapolitan sculptor, Dionisio Lazzari
(1617-89), was moved to the royal palace, where it resides today. The double
stairway is the result of later construction in the 1830s after the church was
reopened. The ex-monastic premises today house an Industry and Crafts Institute
for the Blind.


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San Carlo all' Arena.  This church with the strange name is located on the north
side of via Foria, just east of Piazza Cavour, and is relatively late in the
history of Neapolitan church building. The general layout of the building is
attributed to the Dominican priest/architect Fra Nuvolo (Vincenzo de Nuvola,
1570-1643), but the church was not inaugurated until 1700 with work on the
facade continuing as late as 1756. This is actually a rebuilt version of another
church of the same name somewhat to the west of the present site; that church
was opened in 1602 and is no longer standing. The name, itself, "Arena" means
"sand" and refers to the former presence of a rain-fed river that ran along what
is now via Foria, all presence of which has now vanished; the last witness to
that presence, the nearby bridge of Sant'Antonio abate, was demolished in 1868.
The church was home to the Cistercian order, which, however, had to abandon the
premises in 1792 to make room for a shelter ("conservatorio"), a plan that never
came to fruition. With the coming of the anti-clericalism of the short-lived
Neapolitan Republic of 1799 and then of the longer-lived French rule under Murat
at the beginning of the 1800s, the premises were used as a store-house; many of
the art works contained in the church and monastery were lost. Thanks to the
work of the Cistercian order during the cholera outbreak of 1836, they were
again given the property. After the unification of Italy, the order was
suppressed. The ex-monastic premises are today occupied by public buildings. The
church today still contains significant art work and sculpture.


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From its location, size and appearance, the church of Saints John and Theresa
might seem much older than it is-perhaps a sister to one of those many 16th
-and-17th-century Spanish churches just below it in the Chiaia section of town,
just above the western end of the Villa Comunale. Actually, it is more recent
and consequently enjoyed a much shorter life as the church/convent it was
intended to be. There had been an earlier royal villa of sorts on the property
when it was acquired by members of the Discalced Carmelite order in 1747. Ten
years later, a central church was added (photo) at the behest of the monarch,
Charles III. Tradition likes to attribute the conversion and subsequent building
on the premises to architect Angelo Carasale, who had just completed the San
Carlo Theater; however, most sources now claim that the architect is unknown
but, whoever he was, he owed a lot to Antonio Domenico Vaccaro.

The church is on the steep street, Arco Mirelli, about halfway up between piazza
della Repubblica at sea-level and the long east-west road, Corso Vittorio
Emanuele. If you step back from the front of the building and can keep from
rolling down the hill, you will see just how large it is. In that respect, it
has something in common with the earlier Spanish monasteries and convents. All
convents and monasteries were closed by the French in the early 1800s and again
after the unification of Italy in 1861; more recently, the former convent of
Saints Giovanni e Teresa was converted to secular use as part of the Loreto
Crispi hospital. The interior of the church contains works by sculptor Manuel
Pacecho and paintings by Giuseppe Bonito (1707-89) and Francesco de Mura
(1696-1782). Bonito and de Mura were both students of Solimena, and,
interestingly, Bonito is better known for his popular renditions of Neapolitan
life than for religious works.


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The church of Santa Maria dell'Aiuto [Saint Mary of Eternal Help, or of Succour]
is on the small east-west street of that name about 150 yards into the old city
across the street (via Monteoliveto) from the east side of the main post office.
It is just past the better-known church of Santa Maria la Nova.

The architect was Dionisio Lazzari [--> index 'L'] and, in its newly restored
condition (after years of being closed), the church may be appreciated for the
absolute gem of the Neapolitan Baroque that it was. The historian Celano
(writing when the church was new) recounts what has become folklore surrounding
the origins of the church-that two children in 1635 posted their own crude
drawing of the Blessed Virgin in a window of a lower floor of what was then the
Palazzo Pappacoda (not to be confused with a church of the same name) and
collected donations. When they had collected enough, they hired a real artist to
do his own rendition on canvas-again to solicit donations. The process gained
speed and by the time of the great plague of 1656, a small chapel had been
founded and then a church-on the site of the original Pappacoda
building-dedicated to Our Lady of Succour. (In an age in which such concrete
manifestations of faith were held to be protection from earthquakes, eruptions
of Vesuvius and pestilence, not only churches arose, but also the three
so-called "plague columns" of Naples).

The church is in the design of a Greek cross-that is, a central nave with a
transept of equal length as the nave; it has a central dome. A partial inventory
of the art works contained in the church includes:

-three paintings by Gaspare Traversi dated 1749: The Nativity, The Annunciation,
and the Ascension of the Virgin;
-the monument tomb of Gennaro Acamparo by Francesco Pagano from 1738;
-also by Pagano, the angels that support the candelabra of the main altar;
-the painting of The Virgin of Succour by Giuseppe Farina;
-The Flight of Joseph by Nicola Malincolico;
-the side ovals of The Archangel Michael by Giacinto Diano.

The restoration of Santa Maria dell'Aiuto has been spectacularly successful.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

. I harbor no illusion that I will ever discover- much less write about-all of
the little churches in Naples that are abandoned and falling apart. But
sometimes I see one set incongruously in the middle of the modern city, and it
stirs my urge to know more. Via Depretis is the avenue between Piazza Municipio
(the site of the city hall) and Piazza della Borsa (the stock exchange). Like
all such straight, broad thoroughfares in that section of Naples, it is the
product of the massive reconstruction called the risanamento, a 30-year project
of the late 19th and early 20th century. A smaller, yet important, wave of
construction took place in Naples during the 1920s and 30s and produced those
mastodons of Fascist Art Deco such as the main post office, the passenger
terminal at the port of Naples, and all of the municipal and provincial
government buildings on or near Piazza Matteotti.

Another such monolith is the telephone exchange about halfway along via
Depretis. It gleams and towers over the rest of the neighborhood; indeed, it and
the large risanamento building a few yards away could do an excellent
car-crusher number on  the tiny edifice caught in the middle, the church of San
Giacomo degli Italiani. The small church is closed, dilapidated and
non-descript'yet, for what it's worth-it managed to survive two great waves of
purposeful demolition and construction in the last century and even various
random waves of destruction in the form of the aerial bombardments of WW II.

The church was a remake in the 1570s of a nearby church of the same name that
disappeared as part of Spanish construction in the 16th century. The original
church was from 1328 and was the seat of the Order of the Knights of St. James.
The appellation "degli Italiani" (of the Italians) may have been to distinguish
it from another church-more familiar to Neapolitans and, indeed, still a
functioning church-San Giacomo degli Spagnoli. Or, says another theory, it was
to honor sailors from Pisa ("Italians" as opposed to "Neapolitans") whose fleet
rested in the port of Naples for a while on the way home from a victory over the
Saracens further south in 1327. The facade of the present church incorporates
the portal from the 1500s as well as a crest comprised of a shell, sword, and
cross, the symbol of the Order of St. James. The church was left standing
intentionally during the risanamento and was reconsecrated in 1901. I have been
unable to find out if it served as a church after the giant building was put up
next door. I suspect that it was closed during that period and simply never
reopened.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin is as old as legend says it is, no
wonder UNESCO is willing to chip in �,000 to restore it as a museum. That is, if
it was really founded by Constantin the Great-around the year 300-that would put
the church in the first ranks of paleo-Christian houses of worship in Naples. At
the very least, the church is at least as old as one of the same name in Rome
from the 500s, and, in any event, has been documented to be one of the first
four parishes in Naples. The unusual name comes from the Greek adjective
cosmedin (from meaning ornate. The church in Naples held both Greek and Latin
rites until around the year 1200. 

S.M. Cosemedin is also called S.M. di Portanova (New Gate) from its location
near a medieval city gate of that name. The small square in front of the church
is still called Portanova and is about one block in (i.e., to the north) from
the modern straight boulevard named Corso Umberto, not far from the main
building of the Federico II University.

The structure has been closed since the 1980 earthquake and is in impossibly bad
and unsafe condition. Virtually nothing of the artistic interior remains, all
having been either stolen/vandalized or removed for safekeeping. The
configuration that one sees today is from the late 1600s and early 1700s,
concealing the grounds beneath the main body of the church, site of a burial
ground and presumably whatever remains of the original paleo-Christian premises.
There are upper stories, as well. Through the centuries, various monastic orders
found a home in an adjacent monastery, removed during the Risanamento, the urban
renewal of the late 1800s. That construction/demolition also removed an ornate
Baroque double stair-case at the entrance. I have heard nothing of current plans
to start restoration or of the disposition of the monies supposedly allocated by
UNESCO.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Church of S. Maria della Concordia was built in 1556 to a design by Father
Giuseppe Romano, provincial vicar of the Carmelite order. The church was built
about a third of the way up the steep slope leading to the San Martino monastery
and the Sant' Elmo fortress. The church was, thus, well above the new main
street, via Toledo, and was at the high southwest section of the area still
called the "Spanish quarters", built in the mid-1500s to garrison Spanish
vice-royal troops. In those days, the slopes were still bucolic and sprinkled
with churches and monasteries at about the level of today's road, Corso Vittorio
Emanuele, which winds along east to west just above the Concordia and other
religious institutions from around the same period. These include the nearby
church of Santa Caterina da Siena and the Convent of the Sisters of the Most
Holy Trinity (now known as the ex-Military Hospital).

The Concordia was restored in 1718 by Giovan Battista Nauclerio, best known in
Naples for his work on the church and monastery of San Domenico Maggiore; the
church was then completely restored in 1858. During the various closures of
religious orders in Naples since Murat, the premises have also served as a
boarding school, a music school, and even an infamous Debtors' Prison. The most
significant painting on the premises is The Blessed Virgin with St. Michael; it
is either by Giuseppe de Ribera or the Sicilian painter, Bernardo Azzolino (1572
- 1645).

Confusing historical note!  The church contains the tomb of one Gaspare
Benemerino. According to one source (de Lellis, below), Gaspare was due to
become the "22nd King of Fez" when he converted to Christianity, [thus]
"...renouncing his powerful kingdom...in order to gain the eternal kingdom of
Heaven." Since that note appeared in 1654, some sources have simply referred to
Gaspare as the son of the "King of Fez," and as one who served Phillip III of
Spain. This has led other sources to call Gaspare a son of the ruler of "The
Kingdom of Fez," but Fez and the Kingdom of Fez are not necessarily the same
and, in this case, are probably not.



First, the epitaph near Gaspar's tomb in the church simply says that he was an
African king. Assuming the date on the epitaph (1641) to be the year of his
death and the reference to "Pope Urban VIII" (papal reign 1623-44) to be
accurate, there is some confusion. Although De Lellis transcribed the Latin
epitaph to read that Gaspare served "Phillip III of Spain," the stone (photo,
right) says "Phillip II" and even that is not clear. It might even be a "Phillip
I" that someone has altered to "Phillip II" by adding a numeral. (Of course,
that wouldn't fix the chronology, either, but it's as close to 'III' as they
could squeeze in. "C'mon, who's going to notice. Let's go to lunch." This is
likely to have been Guido & Vinnie's Epitaph and Pizza Delivery Service. They
still exist!)


Second, there was, indeed, an historical state called the Kingdom of Fez with a
limited existence, from 1472 to 1554, but that may be irrelevant. What De Lellis
meant by "the 22nd king of Fez" was probably that Gaspare was from the city of
Fez, a major religious center of Islam since the founding of the city in 789 by
the Idrisid dynasty. The city has been called the "Mecca of the West." Rulers of
Fez (as well as other parts of Morocco) have been various dynasties called by
tribal names such as Idrisid, Almoravid, Marinid, Wattasid, and Saadi. (The
Kingdom of Fez is also termed the Wattasid Sultanate.) Thus, de Lellis may have
meant that Gaspare was the son of a king in a long, long chain of rulers
stretching back to the founding of Fez. In any event, Phillip I (or even Phillip
II) on the epitaph stone has to be a mistake, which De Lellis corrected to
Phillip III (reigned from 1598 to 1621) in his transcription in order to set the
chronology straight. So, Gaspare Benemerino died in 1641 in Naples. He was
descended from Moroccan royalty, converted to Christianity and served Phillip
III of Spain. I think. 


source:


de Lellis, Carlo. Supplement to "Napoli Sacra" by Cesare d'Engenio Caracciolo.
Naples, 1654.




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