Naples Italy

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday October 18, 19 and 20. 

We finished our southern Italy tour in the port city of Naples, Italy - this was the last stop on our southern Italy tour.  We went from basically quiet seaside or tourist towns to the large and gritty city of Naples.  There are 1 million people (it seems like even more than that), living in the city with a total of 2.5 million people in Naples and the surrounding area.  If you are ever there, I would advise that you never attempt to drive and if you cross the road, do it at a crosswalk and realize you are taking your life into your own hands. Yikes! 

We got in about 930am on Tuesday morning and went right to the Capodimonte Museo that was housed in a Royal palace in Naples.  It sat above the city on 300 acres of park land.  Art museums can be boring for me, but we had a great guide who taught us about Charles III, Bourbon family, Farnese family and King Ferdinand and how the collections and the museum were started.  99% of the paintings were either made for or bought by the Farnese family.  Luckily, even though parts of the palace were bombed In 1943, most was saved. 

Our Rick Steves guide said that Naples had a bad reputation and she was going to take us into areas and parts of the city that would have us appreciate its charm.  We took a 2 hour walk down back alleys and into old churches and she showed us the old world charm.  While the architecture was nice to look at, especially the old grand houses turned into shops and condos, much of the city was graffiti covered and dirty.  While I have never been to New York City, I imagined it something like Naples.   While I say this, I also think the back alley restaurants, bars and shops were pretty cool and if I was a college student or a 20/30 something, I think I would have the time of my life.  An interesting alley was known as Christmas alley and they had nativity sets to end all nativity sets.  We ended the night at a fun pizza place. 

On Wed 19th, we first went to Cappella San severo- chapel and museum.  OMG!!! This was a gem in the middle of alleys.  There were marble statues (commissioned by a prince of course) that were stunning.  Carved out of one piece of marble was a veiled Christ and another figure covered by a net.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but I took pictures of my postcards.  You don’t have to be religious to really appreciate the talent.   Here is more info if you want to look it up.  

https://www.museosansevero.it/la-statua/

Then as a group we went to an archeological museum that had many of the treasures found in Pompeii.  I almost wish we had gone to the museum first so that we could imagine the pieces in Pompeii.  In the afternoon, we were free to explore the city, but most of us wanted to get out of the noise and the crowds and we took a funicular (like the old inclines in Pittsburgh) to a fort on the hill above Naples.  There were great views from there.   Other than our goodbye dinner, that was it for the tour!   It is a shame we ended in Naples, because every other place was 10x better.   

Thursday 20th.  I stayed an extra day in Naples because about a month ago, my flight on the 20th was cancelled, and I had to reschedule it for Friday the 21st.   I just hung out, went to a botanical garden and had lots of gelato.  I am ready to head home. The new flight isn’t without its challenges since the air traffic control is on strike today for a few hours.  Many flights are cancelled, but they are assuring us, that the international flights will depart.   We have just 20 minutes now until the strike starts.  This is a bit of a nail biter.  😰😬😳. We pushed back!  Now I have to go to airplane mode.  Update, the flight attendant said we were within minutes of having the flight cancelled!  Well, we didn’t and I made it back to the states, it is good to be home.  Love you all! 

Thank you for following along 

One of my friends took this candid shot.  I liked it. 

Hilltop castle/fort above Naples 

Fruit tree in botanical gardens 

Botanical garden building 

Quaint back street in Naples 

Cool roots in Botanical garden 

Last night dinner we were entertained 

Me and a river god at the Archeological Museum of Naples 

Crazy modern art helmet on top of the fort above Naples 

Eagle eye view of Naples 

Farnese bull - originally carved from one piece of marble and was restored by Michelangelo.  

From Pompeii - a ceramic tile door sign 

This and all the Pompeii things below were in the Archeological Museum in Naples. 

From Pompeii- stained glass ceramic tile.  Stained glass tile was not used again for thousands of years 

Ceramic tile, originally on a floor in Pompeii 

Pompeii- glass cameo 

Musical instruments from Pompeii 

Me being silly with a bronze statue from Pompeii 

A skull in an alleyway in Naples. 

Naples scenes top and bottom

Egyptian influence statue in from of a Jesuit church in Pompeii 

Crowded street in Naples

Obelisk- of course 

I loved the old organs in the churches. This was from a Jesuit church 

Same Jesuit church 

Selfie - of course.   These kind of statues were put  up to pray for redemption and to save them from the plague. It is Baraoque style, and it is called a Gugila

Bronze bust from Pompeii

Bay of Naples 

This museum was originally a palace for the Farnese family.  This was the reception salon 

Top and bottom, these were the 2 pieces in the museum that were so detailed and beautiful that I talked about. 

Old city wall- from 470BC, just in the middle of Naples 

The age of things keep blowing me away. 

3 old men, singing for money 😢. I thought it was very sad.  Naples was full of people trying to make a euro under the table. Apparently in the south of Italy, unemployment in the younger ages is at approximately 25%.