5th posting. NAPLES! (first part)

 Greetings to you all.

We spent five nights in Naples last week, somehow tearing ourselves away from Rome. We took a fast train that needed only an hour to traverse the 225 km or 140 mile distance, however, we needed over an hour to reach the Rome train station from our apartment here, and another hour to walk (safe, but a mistake) from the station to our small hotel in Naples.

Here's a general map of the Bay of Naples. 

This map zooms in on the name NAPLES  from the previous map. 
The distance from the Central train station is not all that far, but the sidewalks are not flat, but rather have carved, roughened surfaces, which are useful to provide good footing when it rains, but cause misery for anyone dragging an otherwise nicely wheeled carry-on size suitcase. 
We shoulda spent the 12 euros and saved ourselves an exhausting haul.

We deliberately chose our hotel to be near this straight street, which gives the area its name of Spaccanapoli - or broken (in half) Naples. The large building with the green pointed roof is the large Franciscan basilica of Santa Chiara, or Claire. (Our hotel was immediately behind this large church.) I'll show you that church and its marvelous convent and cloister in a later posting.

The large greyish area to the right at the top of this image is the Central train station. It is not so far if you can carry only a TINY, overnight suitcase, but it was miserable to navigate on foot with a wheeled case. NORTH is to the left in this web image.

Here's another web map, this time of the immediate area we stayed in. (North is sorta towards the top.) If you can see the index numbers, number 2 is Santa Chiara, bottom right.  On this posting, I'll be showing you several street scenes, mostly taken along the via B. Croce (which becomes the via S. Biagio dei Librai). I'll also be showing you a BIT of the large basilica of San Domenico Maggiore.

This is the main street of the area. THANK HEAVENS this part is for pedestrians only! (Um, there were occasional motorcycles, delivery trucks and rarely taxis here, but they could not proceed far or quickly in the usual throng.)

Almost every other storefront was a cafe, a pastry shop, a pizzeria, a fried everything shop, a gelateria, or a seller of fancy foods for the tourists.

Whenever possible, I would stick my nose into the courtyards of these former palaces. They were almost tiny villages in their own right, providing open space for their residents, (nowadays car parking), or simply some light and air to penetrate the interiors of these at least half a Chicago block sized edifices. Most of these dated from the late 1600's through the 1700's.

Some of these eateries were TINY, so small that the counters or display cases would be pushed out onto the sidewalk, leaving only a narrow slit for the proprietor to squeeze through but not wide enough for customers to enter the shallow shop. Think of a large, street side newsstand in the USA and you will be close to how tiny some of these shops are. 

One palazzo was obviously created with a sense of mischief and fun. This stone griffin guarded the front entry portal.

This laughing mask is a keystone in a large arch over an interior shop in the courtyard. 

The stairs in these courtyards were often the primary stairs for the palace. Some are more spaciously laid out than others. Most of the ones I peeped into had some sort of elevator added, often as an industrial-looking vertical box intruding into an otherwise lovely courtyard itself. 

This is a courtyard in a different building, where less maintenance has been invested in the stucco wall covering and in window frames. This is not a "slum" building, but it is in a very pricey neighborhood.

I rarely noticed anyone entering this colorful shop, despite its cheerful and exuberant displays. Its goods (and the prices) are aimed entirely at the tourists.

Any time I would pass by, the proprietor would be standing in the doorway, hoping for customers. Perhaps when the full tourist season is in bloom business will pick up for her. 

There were times when the street was not packed, especially around 6 p.m. There are a number of university buildings scattered throughout the area, having been started by various princes of Naples. With so many students around, there were a very large number of little shops offering inexpensive espresso, simpler pizzas and other snacks.

This is NOT one of the student hangouts. Leopoldo is considered one of the very best, and its prices are a wee bit higher than the others. It is not at all decorated with the plush velvet, tuxedoed waiters and fancy trappings of other "higher-class" cafes in Naples, but the quality and quantity of their diverse, imaginative offerings were wonderful.

Those are tiny wild strawberries, unlike their more "grown up", but comparatively tasteless, American distant cousins. This cake would cost 20 euros, or about 22 USD.

These are zeppole and baba cakes.

In case you can't see the labels, the one for the front right dessert says it costs 12.5 euros, (about 13.5 USD) and is called "chiacchierata". In the right rear corner is a black forest cake, at 20.5 euros, center rear is "Star Bread", Pan di Stelle, for 10.5 euros, the left rear corner is occupied by something with vanilla (and chocolate, of course) for 12.5 euros, and lastly, the front front has something Nabisco couldn't possibly dream up, an Oreo torte for 10.5 euros.

I have NO idea what any of these taste like, for with my multiple allergies, I could not even have the smallest taste of anything in these shops. But I can enjoy looking!

Another large courtyard of yet another former palace.

This is not a "poor" neighborhood, judging by some of the jewelry stores. Yes, some of these trinkets are aimed at the tourists, but the locals must be sustaining these businesses, too. 

Here's the "back end" or apse behind the main altar of St. Dominick's church. Even if you've never been to Italy before, you will notice this isn't exactly the style of "typical" Italian churches. There are many churches and institutions of Naples founded by the ruling Angevens, or those "from Anjou" in Southern France. King Charles of Anjou arrived in 1266 as a conqueror, and his dynasty held much of southern Italy for two centuries. 

There's a nice, short thumbnail description of this reign if you follow this link:

https://italianangevins2013.wordpress.com/who-where-were-the-italian-angevins/

Their dynasty played an important role in late medieval European politics. Another brief but pithy webpage on their rule can be found at

http://www.naplesldm.com/angevinMADD.php 

This is a narrow street along the side of San Domenico. We went up it to avoid the steep stairs at the apse end of the church. 

This is the easier to access entry to San Domenico. 

Oh, happy day for the visitors!
Loads of explanatory signs!
It is even a happy day for non-Italian speakers,
for at least there is a short summary in English.

Top, the putative immersion of St. John the Evangelist in a cauldron of boiling oil near a gate of Rome. Supposedly, when this terrible fate did not harm him, the torturers would not risk offending the Saint's obviously very powerful deity. St. John was then asked to please leave town at once and to not return.

The second scene is the less dramatic, later assumption into Heaven of the Saint.

Bottom scene, a crucifixion with Mary and St. John the Evangelist, with two unspecified Domenican saints.

This chapel was decorated in 1309 by a top Roman artist, Pietro Cavallini, who did many important works in Rome. The chapel's sponsor was Cardinal Landolfo Brancaccio. That name may sound familiar to those who know Florence, for there is a very famous chapel for this family at the church there of Santa Maria del Carmine.

A large side chapel for San. Domenicp.
There are smaller chapels off to the left side for a few of the Angeven rulers.
San Dominico is believed to have been spoken to by the crucifix picture over the main altar. 

Right, a view from the chapel back into the main nave. One very rarely sees pointed Gothic arches in Italy.

 

After our visit to San Domenico, we ducked into a local bookstore to await the usual hour for dinner, not wanting to walk around in the pouring rain nor to ascend the 42 steps to our hotel. I was amused by the juxtaposition of these two featured books on the shelves. The upper one is by the most recent Pope, Benedict XVI, "Introduction to the Spirit of the Liturgy" and the other is "The Three Books That No Pope Wants You to Ever Read":  "The Holy Caste of the church"; "The Sins of the Vatican"; and "The Gold of the Vatican".

The next morning we went out to return to San Domenico for a look when there was full daylight. We went back down the via B. Croce, one of the three main east-west streets of the original Greek city of Neapolis. Part of Naples' fascination is its combining elements of its creation by the ancient Greeks, the later Romans, and the astonishingly convoluted history of its rule by various European powers from the Middle Ages to the late 1800's, when Italy became a political entity. 

Immediately across San Domenico's piazza, there was this small church of Sant Angelo a Nilo, that we took a peek inside. There were signs up AND three volunteers keeping an eye on things to enforce their rule, absolutely and positively, of "NO PHOTO". 

(I think it is called "a Nilo" because there once was a temple to the Egyptian Goddess Isis very nearby, and there were undoubtedly some bits and pieces remaining to lend that adjective to the immediate area. I know of at least two very large temples to Isis in Rome, and a small one in Pompeii.)

This link will take you to a webpage that has some nice photos of the main features of the interior. The text is only in Italian. 

http://www.finestresullarte.info/527n_donatello-michelozzo-monumento-cardinale-brancaccio-napoli.php#cookie-ok

The key points are

part of the entry door
to Sant' Angelo a Nilo.

this was built (1385) as a family burial chapel for the Brancacci (yup, the same ones in S. Domenico and Florence). One of them had the early Renaissance master Donatello do up a large tomb for himself around 1426. This church was "restored" in the early 1700's, but still has several interesting tombs and features. It is well worth the "voluntary" donation of a euro a head to visit.

 In front of several Neapolitan churches are these peculiar columns. They were usually erected in fulfillment of a vow about ending a plague in the 1600-1700's. 

This is the base, with a view of yet another (former) palace to the left. That is now a university center and library, with shops and cafes on the ground floor. 

Detail of a "mermaid" from the column, visible at the top of the preceding photo. 

This is the piazza level entry to San Domenico. We were hoping it would not be a hard climb. It wasn't that hard, but those lovely curving staircases went only one third of the distance to the main part of the church. I don't think this combo photo captures the niceties and proportions of this entryway/small chapel.

The Neapolitans seem to have been grand masters of the tedious art of inlaying semi-precious stones and marbles into tables, altar rails, altar fronts, or, as here, large scale wall decorations.

This is the view when you climb those rounded staircases from the piazza level. The main altar is slightly behind you at this point. 

Slightly to the left of the previous shot is a cross view towards what is called a "macchina". When I saw it with the modern flood lights turned on, I immediately thought of Bernini's works in St. Peter's and many other Roman churches. When seen with the intended candlelight or even blazing sunlight, those gilded effects to glorify the presence of something very holy can be impressive. Those full flood lights were a bit stunning. (I toned down the photo's highlights quite a bit.)

Here it is as seen in morning daylight. I've looked up the purpose of this Baroque exuberance. It is to be lit with candles and oil lamps for 40 hours starting on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter), to glorify the Eucharist, with some of the very devout keeping at least part of a vigil there. 

I was rather struck by the sadness of the widow in this memorial to Cesare Gallotti.
 I can't find much quickly on the internet, mainly because there is a modern person with that name.

This is a rough translation of some of the laudatory things on his tomb.
He was a modest man, 
and an incorruptible magistrate.
He suffered for justice and triumph was a martyr to his work and was a relentless avenger of the law. He died serenely in 1860, at the age of 78. He sounds like someone needed in our modern "improved" age.

This tomb grabbed our attention, partially due to its prominent location, and also for the description of his having been the first bishop of New York. I later discovered he never was in America, becoming stuck in Naples at the time of the Napoleonic War's embargo, so he administered his diocese by letter, which could not have easy or quick, probably needing at least two months for a letter to reach New York. 

Here's an interesting inlaid floor in yet another chapel. 

In the chapel for San Carlo Borromeo, there is this lovely painting of  Jesus being baptized by St. John the Baptist by the Neapolitan Marco Pino, (1521-1583). It was very charming and tender-looking. Pino was a pupil of a well-known painter, Domenico Beccafumi, and also of Michelangelo. Pino obviously learned much from his masters.

A ceramic tile floor in one of the many chapels.

This is the main entrance of the church, looking across the nave diagonally.

The gilded ceiling helped reflect light in the nave. 

LAST VIEW of this church, towards the main altar. I'm not kidding, there was a great deal more to see in the church as well as in the monastery and library complex.