Naples – You Won’t Believe It Until You See It

Naples – what can I say that you haven’t already heard? It’s crowded, noisy, hectic, colorful. It has the Bay, Vesuvius and the world’s best pizza. Here’s something you may not have heard: Naples is a destination. Yes, you read that right. Not just a place to travel through on your way to Capri or Sorrento. Naples is an almost unbelievable combination of high and low, sweet and sour, rough and smooth. Naples has to be experienced, and not just for a few hours. Spend some time in this one of a kind city and I’ll bet you’ll be smitten.

I stayed at the Grand Hotel Santa Lucia on the breathtaking Via Partenope. It’s elegantly appointed in an old world style and the staff really goes the extra mile for its guests. The rooms are spacious and quiet. At night I turned off the air conditioner and threw open the French doors to allow the sounds of Naples to wash over me while I slept. In the morning, I opened the curtains to see the sun’s rays over the Bay of Naples, Mount Vesuvius, the islands of Capri and Ischia, the Comencini marina with its brightly colored fishing boats and the Castel dell’Ovo (more about that later). Room price includes full breakfast served in a sunlit room off the lobby.

You can always grab a late-morning cappuccino at Gran Caffe Gambrinus on Via Chiaia. Perhaps Naples’ most storied café, it was a hub of elite literary life in the early 20th century. The surroundings are opulent, complete with chandeliers and a grand piano. Imagine yourself swapping stories with Ernest Hemingway (a frequent patron) while you indulge in gelato, pastry and specialty chocolate creations.

Naples is a truly urban multi-cultural Italian environment. Narrow streets, graffiti, fast cars, buzzing vespas. This isn’t Tuscany, baby. It’s something else - more challenging, more surprising, maybe more frustrating. As a tourist in any big city, you have to keep your eyes and ears open. But you should be doing that anyway, to take in what Naples offers the intrepid traveler. Storefronts line Spaccanapoli in the historic district, offering treasures of artisanal craftsmanship alongside tourist chatskis. You have to learn the difference. Trattorias, gellaterias, pizzerias; it doesn’t stop. There’s plenty to do, whether it’s out on the street, inside a centuries-old structure, on the waves, underwater or underground.

Here’s just a summary:

The Capodimonte Museum. Built during the reign of Charles VII of Naples and Sicily, this Bourbon palazzo is home to a vast collection of artistic treasures. Paintings from the 13th – 18th centuries include stunning works by major names like El Greco, Caravaggio, Titian and Raphael. Part of the Farnese collection of sculpture is housed here, as well as furniture, porcelain and majolica gathered from royal residences.


Naples National Archeological Museum. This is considered by many to be Italy’s most important archeological museum, and in Italy, that’s saying a lot. Its holdings include marbles, bronzes and mosaics from Greek and Roman antiquity. It houses Italy’s third largest Egyptian art collection and an impressive collection of Roman erotic art.
http://www.marketplace.it/museo.nazionale/emuseo_home.htm

Cappella Sansevero. Also known as the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pieta, this small space in Naples’ historic district is bursting with work from some of Italy’s best 18th century artists. Here you can be mesmerized by the quiet, mournful beauty of Sanmartino’s Veiled Christ, while being surrounded by majestic Baroque sculpture. www.museosansevero.it

Castel dell’Ovo. The Castle is named for the legend that the poet Virgil placed an egg in its foundation and, as long as the egg is unbroken, the Castle will survive. The spaces within the Castle are marked with stone archways and afford beautiful views of the Bay of Naples on one side and the charming marina on the other. The Castle hosts art exhibitions, conferences and weddings. The long, bricked causeway leading to the Castle is a popular spot for wedding pictures.

Agnano Spa. This beautiful spa is located just outside of Naples and easily reached by train. Located in a volcanic crater, the area’s hot springs soothed the aching muscles of ancient Greeks and Romans alike. The spa includes natural tuft stone formations that create 5 separate dry heat sauna experiences, progressing from mild to OMG it’s hot! But don’t worry, it’s nothing a dip in one of the indoor or outdoor pools can’t cure. Or perhaps a mud treatment. Or perhaps a meal in the delectable restaurant.

Cuma. Located northwest of Naples, this was the first Greek settlement on Italy’s mainland when it was considered Magna Grecia (Greater Greece). Dating back to probably the 8th century B.C., it was the seat of the Cumaean Sibyl, the prophetess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo. A large crater lake nearby was a mythological entrance to the underworld. Today Cuma is a fascinating archeological site open to the public.

Pompei. About 40 minutes outside of Naples, Pompei is a must see. No matter how jaded a tourist you might think you are, Pompei will amaze you. It’s larger than you expect and the sheer number of details illustrating ancient daily living invite you to consider your place in civilization’s continuum. Buy your water/souvenirs before you reach the site.

What to do underground:
Subterranean Naples. Visit the city below the city. Remnants of ancient Greece and Rome survive in the form of aquaducts, cisterns and winding tunnels emptying into large cavities. During the bombardment of WWII, many Neapolitans moved here to protect themselves. These days, the stone labyrinth hosts daily tours and classical musical concerts.

San Gennaro Catacombs. This is an underground Pagan and Christian burial site dating back to the 3rd century. Unlike the Roman catacombs, these are spacious and (believe it or not) airy, allowing you to stand up straight as you walk among some of the oldest and most evocative frescos in Italy. The Catacombs were consecrated to San Gennaro in the 5th century, when his remains found a home here. The Catacombs house a church, a baptismal font and of course, graves. The complete cycle of life and death was commemorated here. Take a tour with one of their impressively knowledgeable guides and emerge into the sunlight a little wiser.

What to do on the water:
Take one of the entertainment boats docked in the Bay of Naples marina and sail gracefully onto the water for an unforgettable evening. Appetizers and cool breezes above deck, followed by a full course dinner below. After dinner, return above deck for dancing to a live band and delighting in the glow of the full moon (when I was there). This is a popular date spot for the locals; why shouldn’t it be for you, too?

What to do underwater:
Go snorkeling or scuba diving in ancient waters and peek into Roman villas from centuries past. Statutes, pillars, pottery, even tile floors remain in the depths to be enjoyed. You can explore the underwater cities of Baia and Portus Julius in a glass-bottom boat at Baia Underwater Park, if getting wet isn’t your thing.
centrosubcampiflegrei.it

How to get there:
Meridiana Eurofly has frequent, conveniently scheduled flights direct to Naples Airport from JFK.

The Mandolin: The Serenade of Italy

This article is a transcript of our podcast that can be found on our http://essenceofitaly.net/ podcast page.

Carolyn: What could be more Italian than sound of a mandolin? Close your eyes and you’re floating on a gondola in Venice, or walking the narrow streets of Naples as the sun sets. Where did the mandolin come from, and how did it become the signature sound of Italy?

Here to answer these questions is the award winning musician, composer and arranger John T. LaBarbera. John has been playing traditional Italian music for over 30 years. He has recorded numerous CDs & composed many film soundtracks. His theater credits include several off-Broadway productions, including Souls of Naples with John Turturro, and his Italian Music & Theater Company, I Giullari di Piazza.

John has just completed a book called Traditional Southern Italian Mandolin & Fiddle Tunes, published by Mel Bay. Complete with a CD, this book is a rare treasure for music lovers. It not only explains the origins and development of the mandolin, but contains an archive of just some of the traditional Southern Italian music John has archived. Many of these pieces were taught only by ear from generation to generation, but never in written form. John T. LaBarbara is the first one to have preserved these pieces in writing for the mandolin.

It’s believed that the Italian mandolin descended from an Arabic instrument called the uod. The uod is a stringed instrument with a rounded back. It was brought to Europe in the 10th century and over the centuries that followed, Europe molded the uod in its own way. The uod developed into the lute and, in Elizabethan times, became a court instrument. Schools of lute music opened throughout Europe, but most notably in Naples and Venice.

In Naples during the 1700’s, the mandolin had a renaissance of its own. Master craftsman like Vinaccia and Calace refined the instrument’s woodworking with an almond-shaped body & a bowled back made from curved strips of wood. They also switched from using traditional gut strings to metal strings. These innovations made the mandolin more durable, louder and increasingly popular. It was well on its way to becoming the unmistakable music of Italy.

John: The mandolin really has that neapolitan sound, that Italian sound. What makes it sound very Italian, also, is this type of picking called tremolo.

Carolyn: In Italy, there was a long tradition of musicians earning their living as barbers. They brought their mandolins, violins & guitars into the barber shops and when they weren’t shaving customers, they played. It was a good idea since the profession kept the musicians’ hands better protected than working as laborers. Also, barber shops closed early enough to allow the musicians to gather in the piazza and play into the night.

John: Barbers were known to play mandolin, guitar and violin. Remember the Barber of Seville?

Carolyn: Yes.

John :Well, he played mandolin. I have a photo that was my friend’s grandfather & he was a barber & he played the mandolin & I have a beautiful photo from 1910 or 1904 of these guys standing there, playing mandolin in their barber suits.

Carolyn: Another key to the mandolin’s popularity was Queen Margarita of Italy, who reigned in the late 19th century. If she sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because the Pizza Margarita was named for her. The Queen was a patron of the arts. She sponsored painters, writers, musicians and founded cultural institutions. She also played the mandolin.

John: Because of that, then a lot of women were very inspired, she was very influential. She inspired a lot of women to take up the mandolin.

Carolyn: From this influence, Italian women formed mandolin orchestras and they played throughout Europe. As Italians immigrated to the United States, the orchestras came with them.

John: I could show you photos of women playing mandolins, in elegant dress, like turn of the century, Victorian era. The mandolin was also very popular up until the 1920’s. I still once in a while meet somebody who says, oh my grandmother played that, or I remember my mother had a mandolin.

Carolyn: What about the mandolin you’re holding right now?

John: This instrument I acquired around 1980, right after I came back from Italy. I had a guitar student, she knew that I play the mandolin, and she had an instrument that was her grandmother’s and she said that I’d like you to have it because nobody plays it.

Carolyn: Wow. So she just gave it to you?

John: She gave me this mandolin. The mandolin is from around 1900, late 1890’s-1900, and was made by the Martin guitar company. They also made mandolins.

Carolyn: Although the mandolin made its journey from the Arab world to the United States, its sound is indelibly associated with Italy. Maybe it’s because Italy loved the mandolin the most.

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