Walking Tour of Naples and More

Saturday March 24 was a mainly sunny day (hurray!) with a high of 13C.  Perfect walking weather!

We took the Metro two stops to meet up with our Free Walking Tour Napoli.

More subway art

Another photo of a wall at the Dante stop

Our meeting place was the amazing Castel Nuova, a 13th century castle built by Charles I of Anjou and completed in 1282.  The locals also call this the Maschio Angioino (Angevin Keep).  There are five towers.  Raffaele, our guide, noted the difference in the architecture of the towers and the Renaissance arch.  The latter arch was built by the Spanish to commemorate the victorious entry of Alfonso I of Aragon into Naples in 1443.  There is a room inside called the Sala dei Baroni (Hall of the Barons) where a number of French barons were lured to a feast and then slaughtered there in 1486 for plotting against King Ferdinand I of Aragon.  People still get married in the hall as the building is owned by the City and it is a Civic Museum.

Castel Nuovo

The white marble triumphal arch has the coat of arms of Spain above the entrance.  One can still see traces of yellow and red.  The first level sculpture depicts a triumphal march.  The second upper arch has statues of Alfonso.

The triumphal white marble arch

Detail of the warriors

The castle has housed Naples Museo Civico since 1992.  We went inside the entrance .  Our guide pointed out the remains of a fresco that depicts the main square of Madrid.

In 1328, Giotto, the great Florentine painter, came to Naples as the official court painter to decorate a number of rooms in the Castel.   Apparently, only a few fragments of his work remain inside the building.

Remains of a fresco in the entrance-- it pictures the main square of Madrid

We then walked by the Teatro San Carlo, Europe's oldest working opera house.  It was commissioned by the Bourbon King Charles III of Naples, and was inaugurated in November 1737.  There was a fire that destroyed part of the building in 1816, but it was quickly rebuilt.  There was also damage from bombing during WWII that had to be rebuilt.

Teatro San Carlo

Incredible view of Mount Vesuvious on a clear day

We then turned the corner and entered the enormous Piazza del Plebiscito.  The square is named after the plebiscite taken on October 2, 1860 that brought Naples into the united Kingdom of Italy.  The Church, the Chiesa di San Francesco di Paola, was commissioned by Ferdinand I in 1817 to celebrate the restoration of his kingdom after the Napoleonic interlude.  It is reminiscent of the Pantheon in Rome.

Piazza del Plebiscito

Detail of the Church - the inscription refers to both Ferdinand and Saint Francis of Paola to whom the church is dedicated

Panoramic picture of Piazza del Plebiscito (on the left) and the Royal Palace on the right

View up to another area- Vomero with more castles and churches
One reaches this area by funicular

We then walked around the corner to Galleria Umberto I, which we had visited on Friday.  It really is a beautiful building with marble floors and a glass ceiling capped with a 56m dome.

Galleria

Raffaele our guide pointing our the section of the floor with horoscope signs

Moi and Scorpio, my sign

Scenes of the seasons under the dome

After all the grandeur of the buildings located near the Bay of Naples, we headed back toward the centre of the city.  Our guide took us into Quartieri Spagnoli (the Spanish Quarter), a very poor part of Naples, suffering from very high unemployment.  Raffaele said that unemployment is very high in Naples- he said about 42% of those under 35 are unemployed.

The Spanish Quarter was created in the 16th century to house Spanish garrisons.  There was a high rate of criminality in the area.  It is safer now and houses a number of small trattoria.  Every street has its ground-floor apartments of one or two rooms (called bassi) and everyone knows each other.  People eke out a living here.  We saw a pigeon cage, which had some white pigeons in it, which Raffaele told us the owner rents to people for weddings (they are said to be good luck).  Washes hang from the balconies and there are shrines on the walls of all the streets, containing family pictures and pictures of protective saints.  Raffaele used a similar expression to our food tour guide the other day--a mix of the sacred and profane.  The saints are very important in Naples.

Explaining the shrines on the walls

A newer project has graffiti done by children in the area

The narrow streets

Lots of street action

More graffiti

As we headed back to Via Toledo, the main shopping street, we saw a number of signs promoting the #cuoredinapoli art students project.

On Via Toledo, we noticed a number of army jeeps and armed soldiers.  We asked our guide about this and he said that after the incident on the Ramblas in Barcelona last November, the army stationed soldiers on Via Toledo, as part of it is a pedestrian zone and there are always a very large number of people walking on the street.

The Army presence on Via Toledo

Our guide then explained that there is a street that divides Naples in two--- shown by the black line on the map.

Raffaele took us to the outdoor market off Via Toledo, which we had walked through on Friday.

Fish store- since 1931

Nice to recognize signs from the sign maker we met on Friday

Looking up the main dividing street in Naples

We started to walk back to Via Tribunale near our apartment (Raffaele said we had a fabulous location-- a very quiet street just minutes from all the action on Via Tribunale).   He pointed out that many aristocrats had homes off these narrow streets-- one could tell by the arches made of volcanic stone.  One building we passed had the door open to a courtyard- beautiful frescos on the ceiling.

Courtyard off a narrow street

View of ceiling

We stopped in front of the Chiesa del Gesu Nuova that we had visited on Thursday.  Our guide explained that the facade was from the original palace, the Palazzo Sanserverino, built in the 15th century for a wealthy family.  He pointed out that each of the triangular stones on the outside had a letter or sign on it.  It turned out that some scholars recently figured out that they were musical notes in an older language and that the building had a piece of music written on it, to ward off evil spirits.  Apparently, the piece was played in the Church.  Amazing story!  Neapolitans are a very superstitious people.

If you look closely you can see what looks like S's and other signs on the stones

A nearby procession-- we will see lots in the days leading to Easter

Our tour ended in another Piazza we had visited.  It was a good overview and we were glad that we explored a number of different neighbourhoods--- definitely more walking than standing around, which we really like.

We headed back to the apartment at around 12:30 for some lunch and then we hit the streets again.  We had picked up some fish for dinner from a fish store near us that Raffaele had said was one of the best.  We got fruit from a fruit store next to our apartment.

We now notice shrines-- this one is further up our street

It was time to pick up some treats--- we stopped at Scaturchio for their specialty- a dark-chocolate medallion called the ministeriale.

The famous medallions in the window

There was a puppet show with music in a nearby square.

It was time for a caffe.  We went to Mexico as it was highly recommended by our Guide and others we have talked to about coffee.

Barrista at Mexico--typical coffee machine with the levers.  They also served the coffee in a warm espresso cup

We then walked down Via Toledo.   We decided to go into the Galleria D'Italia, an art gallery which is housed in the Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano.   There was a sign outside indicating that it was the site of one of the events featured in Piano City Napoli 2018.   We had picked up some information about this event at Castel Nuova earlier in the day.   Piano City Napoli is taking place this weekend.  There are over 200 events and 400 pianists involved.  It turned out that admission was free to hear the pianists in a wonderful hall on the main floor.

The event at this location was a series of pianists playing works by Debussy over a three hour period.  It was called "Maratona Debussy" and it was to honour the centenary of the death of Claude Debussy.  The young pianists were excellent.  After two performers, we decided to visit the art exhibit (we could see some of the exhibit from our seats in the performance room) and have the best of both worlds- art and music.

One of the pianists

The concert space- beautiful gallery

The exhibit dealt with Neapolitans who had lived in Paris during the years of the impressionists (second half of the 19th century).

Poster for the exhibit- From De Nittis to Gemito

It was an excellent exhibit - the Neapolitans living in Paris often had their works shown in the Paris art Exhibitions and were represented by one of the top agents- Adolphe Goupil and his company. 

Edoardo Tofano (1838-1920)  Enfin...Seuls! 1878

Guiseppe De Nittis (1846-1884)  Alle Corse di Auteil 1883

One of De Nittis's works had never been displayed before.  It is in a private collection in Naples and is entitled L'eruzione del Vesuvio (The Eruption of Vesuvious).  It was part of Adolf Hitler's art collection.

De Nittis- L'eruzione del Vesuvio 1872

De Nittis Pranzo a Posillipo 1879  (definitely Manet like)

De Nittis also did wonderful small painting of Mount Vesuvious-- similar in style to the Japanese artist Hokusai's Views of Mount Fuji, works that De Nittis would have been familiar with, as he was a keen collector of Japanese art.

De Nittis- L'amazone al Bois de Boulogne 1974-75

There was a wonderful view from the second floor of the performance room.

Antonio Mancini (1852-1930) Bacco 1874

Vincenzo Gemito (1852-1929) Ritratto del pittore Mariano Fortuny 1874

It was a wonderful exhibit.  The top floor of the Gallery had a permanent art display.  There was a separate room for a Caravaggio entitled The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula 1610.  Unfortunately, it was on tour in Milan.

We carried on walking down Via Toledo and stopped for some street food at Passione di Sofi (fritto napoletano).  We had a cone of delicious fried seafood.   The street food scene is one of the many features that makes Naples unique.

Delicious fritto to share with Alain

Via Toledo was just packed on a Saturday night.  Neapolitans live outside of their apartments and everyone is out in the evenings.  While there are some tourists, most are locals out on a Saturday night.

The incredible street scene

Alain with his blue scarf

Gorgeous display of lemons- granita shop

We walked all the way down Via Toledo and into the Chiaia area.  We stoped at Gran Caffe Cimmno for an Aperol Spritz (me) and a glass of wine (Alain).  They served us some cicchetti (small snacks) with our drinks.

Outside at the Caffe

Alain with his glass of wine- so nice to be outside on a March evening

First Aperol Spritz of the season-- with snacks- we like the green hard olives

We walked back to our apartment at around 9:00 p.m., passing a huge crowd in front of Sorbillo pizza.  

Crowd outside Sorbillo

What a day-- we both did over 26,000 steps!  Naples is a real experience--the street food, neighbourhoods, and the amazing history of all the different regimes from the Greeks onward that ruled the City.  We highly recommend a visit.  In the centro storico alone there are over 300 churches.  Tomorrow will be another adventure.  We had a light meal at the apartment-- artichokes, salad, and a piece of a lovely tart with eggplant, tomatoes and olives.