A belated "April FISH" greeting!

Happy "April Fish Day"! 

Yes, dear friends, family and readers, it is the annual feast of all fools here in Rome, which the Italians call "Pesce di aprile". So here are some silly shots. We hope you all are well and that things are at least reasonably fine.

(This depends on what device you are using to view my blog entries. Sometimes my longer-winded ones are not fully displayed and there can be a TINY link saying "READ MORE" at the bottom of your screen. You have not reached the end of a blog's posting until either A. you can't stand it anymore or B. you see my text:
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I'm starting with some photos from Naples (there are a couple thousand more you are not being shown -- yet!).

These young athletes have running a very long time. Unburied from the ancient Villa of the Papyri two centuries ago, they have not lost their stride while buried under Vesuvius’ ash and lava for over two millennia. 

On one of the days we were in Naples, we went to Oplontis, an uncovered Imperial era villa surrounded by the small town of Torre Annuziata on the Gulf of Naples, not far from Pompeii. The Villa is astonishing, for many of its frescoes remained intact. 

Because these were dug out in 1839, they stood a better chance of escaping the plundering of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This Villa is of course far smaller than the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but the quality of the frescoes is a delight, and the utter lack of quantity of fellow tourists is a treat from heaven compared to the madding crowds of the more famous ruins. 

Torre Annunziata is one stop before Pompeii (when coming from Naples) on the Circumvesuviana local rail line. Pompeii has thousands of visitors every day, while in the albeit much smaller remains of the Villa of Oplontis, there were barely a half dozen visitors that afternoon.

I’m showing you only a few bits from Oplontis. A clever architectural surprise is a “vividarium”, or an open to the sky room with plants and flowers growing that can be seen from the inside. These two have fine frescoes of flowering trees, shrubs and small animals and are a visual surprise. There had been wooden shutters to keep out drafts and rain when necessary. 

This hunk of lava remains one of Emil’s favorite visual jokes. Folding wooden doors, to partition off rooms or large opening were not incinerated and so left an impression of their detailed form in the cooling ash and lava. These are a “cookie-cutter” impression of the doors, the original wood having long ago disintegrated. What impressed Emil the most was these are exactly how doors are still made in the modern era, with panels, ridges and cross-members.

The ancient Romans very often frescoed their interiors, and the wealthier households often added elaborate trompe l’oeil scenes, often of very fanciful architecture in perfect perspective. This one has a theatre mask and a peacock as added treats. 

Here's another of the fanciest rooms, 
this was most likely a dining room, 
with a central floor mosaic insert that would show between the dining couches. 

Another of the larger rooms. During the two hours we were there, only a half dozen other tourists had come, quite the opposite of the hordes at Pompeii that were the equal of big-city rush hour subway car crushs. 

There is a very large basilica in the center of old Naples dedicated to the Franciscan saint, Clare, or Chiara. This lovely harpist was a delightful surprise and her "heavenly" sounds were a relief from the usually out-of-tune street “musicians”. 

On another day in Naples, we wanted to visit the Certosa of San Martino, or monastery (and Charterhouse—a larger type of monastery) on one of the hills around Naples’ center.  This shot shows the beginning of the funicular tram that ascends the steep hill. 

(You’ve probably heard the famous Neapolitan tune about this modern improvement to the city. This link will take you to a very nice YouTube three minute piece, with Pavarotti singing, along with subtitles in case you feel like singing along!)

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTSAZAHiOa8

The April Fool part of this occurred when we got off the funicular at a stop not shown on my simpler map. Maybe I was daydreaming a bit about that irrepressible tune? That stop was BELOW where we wanted to go. I decided to walk a few blocks to see where we were. 

This is the very nice view we were treated with. We went back to the station, where the ticket agent kindly let us back in and we then proceeded up the hill. 
It would have been at least the 
equivalent of a 17 story climb, 
a wee bit beyond our capacity!

Here is one tiny glimpse of one of the cloisters of the monastery. The entire complex is rather large, with its core dating back to the 700’s, with many additions even into the late Baroque of the 1700’s. It is now State property. San Martino has among its many other treasures, several Presepi, or Christmas scenes.  

These were done, to show Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus in the middle of everyday Neapolitan life, and are a wonderful record of the 1700’s when they were created. Yes, there are the traditional shepherds, visiting Wise Men with varying numbers of attendants and camel-drivers and of course clouds of angels, but the religious side of these scenes is almost overshadowed by the ebullient surrounding stories. There is usually a scene in a small inn, with card playing, dancing and drinking, merchants in stalls and also street peddlers, musicians, craftsmen plying their trades, laundry drying in the background, 

an endless panoply of life. 

The April Fool part comes in from a traditional character called Benino, who is asleep during all this ruckus, and missing out on the coming of Jesus as well as everyday life. 

He is usually shown as an adult, 

often as the poorest of the peasant shepherds, 

and asleep in a drunken stupor, 

missing out on life in general 

and the religious miracle of the Nativity. 

In one of the many frescoed rooms in the monastery, there is a figure of Moses, shown with what looks like two horns on his head. These are representative of the rays of light thought to emanate from the holy figure. But since Moses WAS Jewish, and the patrons of the paintings were not, Moses is sometimes shown in less than a flattering way. 

Here is a composite view of the Bay of Naples, taken from the extensive terraces of the monastery. Most of Naples itself is off camera to the left, as is Vesuvius.

Yes, there are indeed fruit and vegetable sellers in many of the older neighborhoods of Naples, as well as vendors of “country chickens” and sausages. 

In case you ever wondered what might have happened to Don Quixote after his long quests, perhaps his family opened this 

roasted-food shop and cafe, 

named after his author, Cervantes?

One tends to forget that Naples has a long tradition of being a major center for Universities, libraries and musicians. This juxtaposition of two seemingly disconnected books in a modern book store continues to amuse me — one volume by the former Pope Benedict and the other with the subtitle of “Three books the Pope does not want you to ever read”. I think it shows a nice sense of toleration.

(I know I used this photo in a previous posting, but I still am surprised by the juxtaposition.)

Here’s another bookstore window near one of the many (small) universities. With a wide range of titles. 

Yes, there are a large number of students in central Naples. Perhaps not all of them find it easy to pass their exams and graduate. 

Every day, this fellow was out in front of 

San Domenico, on a major square, 

pronouncing that one could obtain 

a diploma of the streets, 

and graduate at once. 

The placards seem to hold a mathematical formula of some sort, and there is reference to Christ’s not needing a diploma. Very few people would stop to converse with him, and he often scowled so much that I did not feel like trying, either. 

There is always pizza to solace the soul in Naples. This shot shows three varieties, still steaming from the oven. There are many, many kinds to choose from, each a slice of heaven.

On our last day in Naples, we decided to visit the (former) Royal Palace. It was much larger than I had thought, and full of very interesting art, architecture and furniture, even though the “BEST” stuff is in more-frequented-by-tourists places such as the Capodimonti former palace (now a museum complex on a hill overlooking Naples) and at the former Royal Palace in the countryside at Caserta. 

(Yes, that's Vesuvius in the background.)

Nothing like a good staircase to make an impression on visitors!

Too tired to bother standing in line for tickets to the theatre or opera? Well, if you are King, you can have your OWN theatre, complete with a Royal Box for you and also extra space for a couple hundred courtiers and guests to enjoy opera, music, dance, theatre, et cetera. This is not to say there were no other opera houses,  theatres or concert halls in Naples! The very famous San Carlo Opera house is in the previous photo, in the left background.

The visitable part of the palace was much larger than we had imagined. Yes, there were a number of what I call 1700’s horrors, but some were very good, and all were exquisitely crafted.

(In case it doesn't show, there may be a link to "see more" here. Yup, I ain't done yet and

 I hope you ain't either!)

A 1730 "Organ" Clock that Still Runs!

It is not often that I kick myself slightly for being too cheap to have a "smart phone", but this was one of those times. The palace museum, in a leap-frog into the modern era, did not have the traditional, bulky audio guides of either recorder or locally broadcast info. Nope, they went right ahead into the modern era with a smart-phone ONLY audio system. Which meant no smart phone, no access.

The lighting in this room was very, very dim, almost beyond the powers of the lesser camera I had deliberately brought with me to Naples, out of my worry-wart concerns for its security. My smallish handbag is exceptionally secure, with a wide strap reinforced with hidden strands of piano wire, a slice-resistant bottom, and multiple hooks to keep the zipper tabs SHUT. 

     

The back of the device, seen in a strategically placed mirror. Those are tiny ORGAN pipes! The music is driven by the large metal drum to the left of the pipes. The drum has perhaps thousands of tiny teeth that activate the music.

I was very intrigued by this unusual clock. It turns out to be the oldest still-working one of its kind, (from 1730) outdoing any Timex. It has a small organ inside it to play 10 different tunes, most of them composed by Handel (who, while in London, also worked with this clock maker).

This is a web photo of a different clock mechanism, and you may not be able to see the tiny teeth projecting from the drum, but perhaps can see the little pins hanging above the top of the drum to activate the sound. 

Back in Rome, I tried to find more information about this clock. Believe it or not, there is a full length book (written in Italian, of course) on just this device! I also found info by looking up the clock maker, Charles Clay, who worked in London in the early 1700's. 

Here's a snippet from what I found online:

This photo is a "sibling"
of the clock in Naples, this
from the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London

Other versions of this plaque cast in both gilt bronze and in silver can be seen on musical clocks by Charles Clay preserved in Beijing, Birmingham, and Naples. The close working relationship between sculptors, goldsmiths, painters and musicians was harnessed to produce an expensive souvenir of the fashionable Italian Opera season. 

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-temple-of-apollo/

Here's some other links if 

you are bursting with curiosity. I know Apple Watches are the latest thing, but this clock is very nifty.The first two links below will take you to Italian-only pages about the clock. (Google translate will make a mishmash that is almost decipherable.)  The third is to an engaging academic paper in English.

http://www.culturaitalia.it/opencms/museid/viewItem.jsp?

language=it&id=oai%3Aculturaitalia.it%3Amuseiditalia-work_27774

https://www.academia.edu/12817045/The_Three_Georges_Clockmaking_in_Hanoverian_England

The below link will take you to a YouTube piece with a two minutes snippet of the 18 pieces Handel wrote for musical clocks. (This is alas transcribed for guitar.) This clock in Naples has ten of those Handel pieces embedded on its elaborate control wheel in its center. This device is far more advanced than the simple music box many of you may be familiar with. The sounds are created by a rotating drum with tiny metal teeth that activate various levers, springs and music-making devices within the clock itself. 

No, alas, they don't let it play in the museum, but a kindly guard noticed our interest in the clock and lent me her smart phone to listen to an actual recording of it. -- Time sink warning -- there are other pieces nearby on YouTube! Loads of fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSx-SonjlyM

(Oops, more April Fool on me, having delved down several internet rabbit holes all morning gleaning snippets about this clock. The below link is to a Youtube recording that was done on a small but actual organ in a small German town. Still no sign of a recording from an actual clock, but this was fun.) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvGDFZN3SoA

A commentator on that webpage mentioned that a organ-clock that plays (at least some) of these pieces by Handel supposedly sold at a recent Sotheby’s Paris auction for 900,000 euros. 

LAST comment on this item, really! I found a youtube piece played (don’t ask me how) on a toy piano that approximates the tone values I heard on that kind museum guard’s iPhone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkxADVIGK38

Yet another of the many rooms in the palace. This one featured paintings done showing the adventures of Don Quixote. 

Here are several photos from the very fine Presepio Christmas scene in the Royal Chapel, sponsored by one of the larger Italian Banks. We were both horrified to see sunlight streaming directly onto the large display case. I rather doubt there is any of the high-tech glass or filtering films on the case’s glass, mostly there was dust on the inside. Fabric and paint from any era do not hold up forever, especially with direct sunlight beaming on it. Any proper museum curator would have a massive panic attack at such a situation, even if these are modern replicas and not 1700’s originals. 
So this is an April Fool on their heads! 

Mary, Jesus and Joseph are included in this scene, but because of the strong raking light, they were barely visible.

There are oodles more photos from Naples, but these will have to await yet another day. 

Back to photos taken in Rome.

This engraving from the Napoleonic Museum in Rome shows the French army “entering” Rome in 1798. Many Romans would have seen this army as liberators from Papal rule, while many others would have feared such a social upheaval such as had seized France since the Revolution there. 

The French army behaved like occupying armies often do, looting, raping, murdering, gobbling up edible food, wholesale pillaging of churches, museums, palaces and so forth. Napoleon’s return invasion of Rome a few years later was not gentle, either; the next two engravings show a part of the long cortege hauling away artworks, presumably to the seaport for removal to Paris and the Louvre. SOME of the artworks were returned after Napoleon’s fall, but not all of them. Too much death and suffering to be an April Fool joke, but the tables were eventually turned.

Yes, that's the Dome of St. Peter's rising in the background.

This is the supposed site of the Tarpian Rock, a precipice used in ancient Roman times for executions of the worst offenders. Convicted traitors, perjurors, murderers, and thieving slaves would be tossed from the top down to the Tiber, which was then closer to the base of the rock, some 80 feet below. Wikipedia pointed out there was a Latin saying that the Tarpean Rock was close to the Capitol, meaning “one’s fall from grace can come swiftly”, a very nasty form of April fool surprise.  

Two street photos of silly moments. Yes, love does bloom in Rome, although this young girl seems to share some of the older woman’s skepticism of the intentions of the girl’s companions. 

This is a photo of an everyday fool, a woman wearing high heeled, (ok, so these are slightly safer than pencil-thin heeled stilettos) zero-support platform shoes on Rome’s cobblestones. This paving is fairly level by Roman standards.

Nearly everyone has heard of the Trevi fountain. A few blocks north of it is a remaining fragment of the original, Roman-era aqueduct “Vergine” that was repaired and mucked-out several times since its creation by Emperor Augustus’ friend Agrippa.The Renaissance Pope Sixtus IV (della Rovere) also had extensive repairs done in time for the 1475 Jubilee. 

Signs such as this are posted on many smaller archeological sites. Yes you CAN apply for permission to visit, and it sometimes even happens, but usually the April Fool is you for wasting your time to try. Even well-known scholars and professors have trouble obtaining permission to visit (escorted) such sites.

(below photo taken through a tight wire fence.)

A drawing from 1500 of the remains.

This small doorway needed to be cut into an existing building to give the workers access to the aqueduct, some 20 feet below the then current street level that had built up over the centuries. Some guidebooks like to point out the Latin misspelling of Sixtus’ name in the stonework, but this is a very narrow side street, so perhaps it did not warrant a redoing. What mattered was the improved water supply. Ancient Rome had 11 aqueducts, and it is this one, the Vergine, that survived and was the only water supply for the greatly reduced population of medieval and early Renaissance Rome, aside from some wells and water hauled directly from the Tiber, which was where a lot of raw sewage ended up. Plagues? Cholera? The poor things had no idea why.

Another slight April Fool gag. Don’t try parking this close to the Pantheon unless you have a hard-to-obtain VERY special permit. The owner of this Masarati may well have had such. On the other hand, if one can afford to pay more than a hundred thousand or two for a vehicle, a few traffic fines may be inconsequential. 

Here’s a photographer with a better sense 

of balance than I have. He patiently stood 

on a traffic barrier stone to nab a photo 

of a “bathing beauty” sea-gull that was 

having a grand time in a fountain outside 

the church of Santa Maria in Campitelli, 

near the Capitol.

Another April Fool gag - all those unfortunate tourists who think 

they can see the Spanish Steps. All they will see is a mass of other tourists.

Rome is famous for gelato, and Giolitti is a long-time favorite among many. Should you come on a warmish weekend evening, forget about even being able to pass through this moderately wide street. One pays at the cashier and then WAITS in line to approach the sanctum sanctorum where quick fingered clerks pile up enormous cones of multiple flavors.

You pays yer money,
you makes yer choice
IF you can reach the order counter!

LAST ONE! 

This is how one should NEVER, EVER sling one’s camera. 

Do you remember a childhood party game 

called "Pin the Tail on the Donkey"? I watched this person’s camera bouncing along for about 100 feet until its owner finally decided to reposition it. Well, after a few hours in the Vatican Museums, one can be tired enough to no longer care what happens to one’s device.

Happy belated April Fish to you all!

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