Napoli!

I have to say, I didn't know what to expect for my weekend in Naples. My professor warned us about the poverty and 40% unemployment rate that plays a huge part in the character of the city. The best thieves can steal the earrings right off your ears if you're not alert. Most people have ties to the mob (The Camorra. The Mafia is Sicilian fyi) so that they can have some sort of income. With all of that on my mind I was actually curious to see the city. It couldn't be terribly unsafe (i.e. South Philly or Kensington unsafe) or the professor wouldn't have arranged the field trip. So I brought the bare minimum, hide my money the best ways I could, and was ready to take on Napoli...

We arrive at the Capodimonte Museum first. We took a rented coach bus so that we wouldn't have to worry about public transportation while we were there and it was great to have, honestly. The museum was originally a palace and it was HUGE. It was such a well organized museum. I really enjoyed it.



It was raining like crazy when we got there so I actually stole this off google. But it's a way bette picture than what I could have taken. We got to see Caravaggio's "Flagellation" and an Artemisia Gentileschi! Which was exciting for me since she's one of my favorite female artists.

After the museum we headed to Certosa di San Martino, which is a former monastery complex of the Carthusian monks. We had to go on a inclining metro type tram that took us up to the top of the hill. The area up here is much nicer and cleaner. This is where the upper class had moved years and years ago to get away from the crime-ridden dankness of the lower streets in Naples. It's still a nice area for upper middle class residence.



These outside escalators were very useful for getting up the rest of the way to the monastery.



View from top of the hill.



The white building at the bottom of the hill on the right is the monastery. To the left is the most beautiful view of Naples.







There's a black cat hanging out on the side. Unfortunately there is graffiti all over Naples..

Inside the monastery there is also a view of the Bay of Naples







Naples streets as it starts to get dark

After the monastery we walked back to our hotel. Everyone had different sized room. Kate and I lucked out with ours!









For dinner we went to a restaurant across the street from the hotel, it was literally a hole in the wall type of joint by I felt like I got a true Neapolitan experience that way. And the guy that took our order and waited on us was such a character. He was singing and dancing and had such a personality. And of course he didn't speak any english and used a lot of Neapolitan dialect so it was hard for me to even pick up what he was saying. But I really enjoyed dinner that night. haha





This was my appetizer. Neapolitan food is famous for their fried foods and pizza. This is a mixed plate of fried stuff. Fried mozzarella (REAL mozzarella, from buffalo's milk that must be made that day), fried potato (this is unbelievably good), fried ricotta cheese (that might have been my favorite), and seaweed which seemed like it was wrapped around bread or something but I really enjoyed it!



My main course was gnocchi with red sauce and lots of cheese! Also very good.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and crashed for a good 9 hours because Saturday was packed with lots of things to do.

For breakfast, we had a another great buffet like in Milan and this time I got a lovely view of Naples while eating my cereal and croissant.



After breakfast we headed to the Cathedral of San Gennaro to look at some frescos. Interesting background of this church and San Gennaro - not too long ago the Catholic church demoted San Gennaro as a saint because there was too much controversy over whether or not his miracles were true. Apparently the church has been cracking down on the saints to see who's stories are too far fetched for believers in the 21st century with all the technological and scientific advantages it's pushing the church to get reevaluate some of their past. Saint Gennaro was a bishop and maryred by being thrown into an oven to be cooked to a crisp. When they opened the oven he walked out unharmed. Then they threw him into an amphitheater to be eaten by wild animals but he calmed them . So they finally decapitated him. A man who was healed by San Gennaro collected viles of blood supposedly from the saint after he was martyred and they are now relics o the church along with his skull. They keep them in the treasury behind the alter and bring them out three times a year to shake the viles to see if the blood will liquify. This then is a good omen for the people of Naples. If the blood stays congealed, the Neapolitans will will SPIT on it until it does. That kind of gives you a taste of the Neapolitan people. But after the blood liquifies, which is almost always does, people will come up and kiss the viles of blood. Interesting story, right?

After San Gennaro, we walked to Pio Monte della Misericordia, which is a round church on the inside that houses Caravaggio's "7 Acts of Mercy". We weren't suppose to take pictures here, just like everywhere else we went to, but I snuck one!!





The church was down this street, or at least a street just like it.

After that, we took a little walking tour of Spaccanapoli, which is the ancient quarter with a long narrow street splitting Naples in half)



We walked to the San Gregorio Armeno district where they make the famous handcrafted nativity scenes that Naples is popular for and people come from all over the world near Christmas time to buy from this area.







This is Tombola. It's an Italian bingo-like game that's often played during christmas time. Neapolitans are incredibly superstitious as well and numbers have meanings to them, so they play the lottery a ton in Naples. If they have a dream they'll look up the number that represents something in their dream and play it, hoping it was a sign that it will bring them the winning ticket. Another Neapolitan quirk is their fear of the evil eye. Our professor told us that he husband, who is a Neapolitan, will never say he is doing good when asked how he is. He'll just say not bad. This is because if things are good or you tell others how great life is going for you right now they may envy your good fortune and curse you with the evil eye. In order to protect yourself, you are suppose to wear or have hanging somewhere a horn. But you can't buy one for yourself. It has to be given to you as a gift in order to work. You see them all over the place where they sell handcrafted things. They look like hot peppers though since they paint them red and give only a slight curve to them. But I thought that was an interesting Neapolitan tid bit.







Pastries!!

So after we walked around for a bit and stopped by another church it was time for lunch! Finally, real Neapolitan pizza!



Our professor took us to one of the best pizza places in Naples: Sorbillo. It's second only to the place mentioned in Eat, Pray, and Love. Both are very well known and have english written on the menu (yay!) so it took a while to get in but once we did I knew I was in for the biggest individual pizza of my life when I saw other people's plate. They are GIGANTIC pizzas!







All of this for 3.30 euro!! Soooo cheap!



Yes I DID eat nearly the whole thing! It was hands down the best pizza of a life time. I'll never be able to eat pizza in the states again.

After dinner we walked around a bit more and saw several different monuments, my favorite was getting to see Giuseppe San Martino's "Veiled Christ" that he sculpted in the mid 1700's. It was unbelievably life-like. I felt like I could lift the veil right off Christ's Body and he's be underneath. It was so incredible how accurate the anatomy was and the veins of his feet and hands through the veil. Very happy we got to see that. That was actually in a small church that isn't used as a church anymore, and down below you can see the strangest science experiment done also in the 1700's by, I believe it was an upper class man or maybe a prince who collaborated with a scientist and figured out a way to inject corpses with a substance that would keep arteries and veins from decomposing to people could study the circulatory system of our bodies. And the two corpses that they first tried this one are on display in this church. It's kind of like a precursor of Body Worlds, if you've ever heard of it. If not, I suggest you google it.

After that we had a bit of free time before out bus came to whisk us back to Rome. A bunch of us decided to walk down to the bay one last time to watch the sunset. It was really WINDY walking down there and a bit chilly. But very worth it.





Mt. Vesuvius





I look terrible but that's Mt. Vesuvius behind me.



On our way back to the bus the sun finally set and made the most amazing burst of color over the horizon





It was amazing to see the same bright sky that the fresco painters must have seen when doing their dome ceilings in all the cathedrals I've seen. These pictures really don't do it justice. It was really breathtaking.

So that was my two day adventure in Napoli! I wish I could have spent another day to see the archeological museum and a few other places. But I'm glad I got to go with my professor who knows the city very well and had interesting little side comments about places and things. It was an experience above and beyond my expectations and made me really love Naples!