The Heart of Naples

A casual visitor to Naples would be struck by the following things:

- the noise, primarily of traffic, but also, everyone talking at the top of their voices, loud music and so on
- the omnipresence of graffiti - it is everywhere, including unfortunately on some of the city's ancient monuments
- young people gathering gregariously in the evenings in every piazza and common area to hang out and in many cases to 'make out'!
- a higher proportion of homeless and street people than in many western cities
- a reputation for petty crime (pick pocketing)
- a modern civilisation living amongst antiquity and history

All of this makes up a high octane, gritty experience for the visitor, which may cause many to think "I don't need this!".

Unfortunately, those people might miss out on the wonderful flip side of Naples because of this. Here are some examples we experienced:

The local people have an uncomplicated, open and welcoming nature that is missing in some of our societies.

We were taken out for a coffee by one of our suppliers and our host parked in a taxi rank, just outside the railway station. It was not long before a taxi driver arrived and leant out the window to ask him to move. Our host immediately moved his vehicle to another illegal park on a roundabout with the hazard lights flashing and left it there for over an hour. However, the taxi driver came up to him and apologised for the inconvenience caused by asking him to move!

We went to a bar and asked the owner for his recommendation for the best pizza restaurant nearby. He gladly gave us directions and we set off, but could not locate it. We went back and as soon as he saw us, he stopped an indepth conversation with another customer and greeted us warmly. When we asked for the directions again, he broke out of his conversation and began to explain. Meanwhile, another of his local patrons joined in, got up and walked to the street and explained in great detail how to obtain one of the Neapolitan pizza's Naples is famous for. He smiled warmly and wished us well. We felt like we were among old friends!

On our last day, we found a cafe that served what we were looking for for lunch. Inside was an old Neapolitan man, whose job it seemed was to be a waiter and comedian. He brought in a plate of pasta for another guest and waved it under the noses of the other patrons so they could smell how good it was! He kissed a guy adjacent to us on the head and then came over and told me how lucky I was to have Kathy. He had an irrepressible twinkle in his eye, so that everyone responded to him. We were still there when it was time for him to go home for his siesta, so he wished us all 'arrivederci' and farewelled us all individually. We were sitting by the street window, and soon there was a tapping on the window and we turned to see his mischevous face grinning and waving goodbye to us!! Only in Naples!!

Furthermore, without exception, three of the four suppliers we dealt with shared with us their views about social issues facing Naples, including the influx of illegal immigrants from Africa. They expressed these views with a compassion and heart that you would not expect if you just experienced the Naples I described above. "These people" (the illegals as they call them) "are not bad people, but they are hungry....." Without exception, we felt a connection with the Neapolitan people that we were dealing with that was more than just a business relationship. That is what doing business is all about in Naples. People sharing their passion.

Also on the flip side, we did not experience any of the petty crime and after a few days felt quite safe almost everywhere we visited. We found that as we relaxed a bit (still being reasonably careful), we really began to enjoy Naples, mainly because of the openness and warmth of the people and also, the amazing ancient nature of the city that is still expressing its vibrance in spite of tough times.

I must say, that as you go around Naples, you can see that it was a glorious and wealthy place probably just over 100 years ago and for much of the previous two millenia. Sadly, that wealth and prosperity is not broadly spread any more.

We'll be back if at all possible!

Neapolitan Life

From my childhood, I always remember I loved Neapolitan Icecream. It was locally made, but consisted of three colours, of vanilla, pink and brown and was always a lovely creamy texture. It was just called Neapolitan I think; just a brand for a locally produced icecream fromTip Top. I wonder if the person in the marketing department that suggested that name had much idea of what real Neapolitan icecream is like or what life in Naples is like, but they hit on a winner with me. I had never heard of Naples at that stage of my life, but Kathy had at a similar age. For her, the term 'Neapolitan' had vastly different associations of rich, warm memories of growing up in this culture. The next few days we began the re-discovery of what being Neapolitan in 2012 means and we took some different things from the experiences we had and mixed them together. Just like the icecream, it ended up tasting very rich and creamy.

On the first morning we had in Naples, we decided to wander up into the very ancient part of Naples, 'Spaccanapoli', which is a road that has been in place since Greek times that literally splits Naples in half and runs in a straight line from the port to the other side of old Naples.

We entered this historic street at Piazza Gesu'' Nuovo (Piazza New Jesus. or New Piazza Jesus). I am not sure of the history of this name, but it was amusing seeing an icecream shop named 'Gelateria del Gesu' ('Jesus' Iceceam Shop' and other similarly named businesses!

We were keen to explore, but Naples was a bit hung over from the previous Saturday night. Many shops and businesses were shut and the churches were really off limits due to the fact that Mass was being celebrated in many of them, so we headed down the narrow street to just experience it.

We were the frightened tourists really, being very careful to keep bags appropriately clenched from passing motor scooter theives and a money belt for our money. It was interesting, that after a day or so, we began to relax and whilst ever vigilant, we never used that money belt again in Naples and when we relaxed, we began to experience the city in a more real way and started to enjoy it at an unexpected level.

We soon discovered the narrow street that leads off Spaccanapoli that is famous for selling the Italian Christmas Nativity scenes called 'presepi'. Italians come from all over Italy to this region to get their 'presepe' and sure enough, the street was full of Italian tourists. It was a refreshing change to the normal flavour of tourists.

As we browsed the stalls that jutted out into the narrow street, suddenly a taxi appeared and was DRIVING down a street about the width of my driveway at home, but full of shop stalls that jutted into the street and also full of people. But, with the use of the horn the people pressed back into the shops and stalls to let the vehicle through. It was tight. As the first one passed me, my elbow caught the side of the car - hey, this was Naples and following the taxi were many motor scooters zooming up and down weaving amongst people as they browsed the shops.

As you wander these narrow streets, every now and again they open up into a Piazza that has an amazing piece of architecture. As we reached the top of this street, we found one of these.

Furthermore, this Piazza had a sign indicating underground excavations could be seen here, so we decided to investigate. Because of its antiquity, Naples has many underground areas to explore that date back to Roman and even Greek times. This one principly had Roman shops from 300 - 400 BC and it was amazing to see the shop counters and other evidence of how life here was lived over 2000 years ago about 3m below the real thing happening just above our heads.. It seemed to that we were walking on 'holy ground' and the only ones there. Suddenly, a group of Italian tourists burst into our reverent solitude, talking at the top of their voices, laughing and full of life right now, it brought us back to the reality of Naples. Life here is lived at full volume in all dimensions simultaneously (their flash cameras popping photos everwhere despite the 'No Photo' signs everywhere)!!

When we re-surfaced, we found ourselves in a large hall and the size and detail of the ceiling frescoes were just amazing. This was initially a friary and the frescoes were intended to represent the 7 Royal Virtues, surrounded by 4 Minor Virtues. In 1442 it was the seat of government for Naples in its self-governing past and the frescoes above featured virtues that they as politicians needed to keep in mind. Love, peace, good luck, kindness, goodness, etc These frescoes were stunning and I just had to make a video of them to do them justice. I wonder if the politicians who sat in that hall actually considered them or ever quoted them to one another in their arguments and points of order. A pity video was not around in those days!