Miscellany page 91
started mid-January 2023
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1. Italian media are addicted to English. It's sociolinguistics. Saying or writing "climate change" in English makes tv annoucers and journalists feel more sophisticated and less threatened by this image, shot yesterday near Vesuvius by la Repubblica, an on-line newspaper. Today is Jan 12, not even mid-winter. Flowering like this is about 40 days early. The bad news is that climate change is here and we're not sure what to do about it; potential (but unlikely) good
news is that it's a fluke. Or we could geoengineer a bit and pump billions of tons of sulfur aerosol into the stratosphere to block the rays of the sun, cool the planet, and show that giant cockroach that has pushed your refrigerator aside just who's running the show! The reporter was concerned that this early blossoming of plants would affect our "friarielli", ('rapini' in English -- smaller broccoli but just as weird) that I have probably eaten even though I can't pronounce it. I say if you can't pronounce it, you don't have to eat it. I'm glad none of this worries me anymore.
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2.
Friday the 13th
Yes, today is Friday the 13th. Don't worry about it, because the number 13 is lucky in Italy (and in a number of cultures in the world). In Naples and the Campania region, in general, you might say "tredici" (13) if you think your luck has changed for the worse as an exhortation to regain that luck. Of course, that is all crass superstition going back to the Babylonians who were obsessed with the number 12. (12 and 13 are related --and I have checked this quite carefully) -- in that they are both numbers. In any event, it's good that I am not superstitious. Knock on wood. Oh. I did try being superstitious once. I spilled salt on my table at a restaurant once, but instead of throwing a pinch of salt over my shoulder, just to be sure, I threw the whole salt shaker. It hit the guy at the table in back of me of me and broke his nose. He came over and beat me up. Mutatis mutandis. Fear of Friday the 13th is called "paraskevidekatriaphobia". If you can pronounce that, you have nothing to fear. The one to worry about in Italy is Friday the 17th, and I can't tell you about that because it's unlucky to even mention it.
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3.
Diaspora and diasporas
The Diaspora (with a capital D), from whence "dispersion", refers to the scattering of the Jewish people after the Babylonian exile (597-538 BC). Famously, descendants of Ashkenazi Jews gave us the great gift of Yiddish theater, countless comics, Broadway musicals, and popular "tin-pan-alley" songs. Lower-case "diaspora" refers to other examples of exiled groups, gone abroad for many reasons --persecution, famine, or just to find a better life. Information about immigration from southern Italy, commonly called the Neapolitan diaspora, is here.
Colleen O'Sullivan, in her comments on the traditions Ireland share with Naples tells us they are both from culturally very rich diasporas. The "Irish diaspora" is open to interpretation. Broadly, it refers to those of Irish ancestry, i.e., over 100 million people, which is more than fifteen times the population of the island of Ireland, which was about 6.5 million in 2018. You could say that the idea of an Irish diaspora is somewhat of a fiction. We use it only because we now have global mobility. It's hard to say what individuals thought in any group of people leaving their homeland, but it's hard to look at the image (right) and not think those who crossed it knew they were not common back. We may thinking with our 21st-century assumptions. People who left their
homes as little as 100-150 years ago knew they were leaving forever. The Government of Ireland today defines the Irish diaspora as all persons of Irish nationality who habitually reside outside of the island of Ireland. There are 80 million persons around the world who say "I'm Irish". We note that the Irish government has amended its constitution to read "... the Irish nation cherishes its special
affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage." It's a tribute to those who knew they were not coming back. And maybe it's a bit of an apology. That bridge was called "The Bridge of Tears" for a reason. (Droichead na nDeor, in Irish, is in West Donegal.) Family and friends of emigrants would accompany them as far as the bridge before saying goodbye, while the emigrants would continue on to Derry Port. photo credit Joseph Mischyshyn
I said "culturally very rich" because Irish-American composers spawned a tradition of sentimental and nostalgic musical theater (not unlike Italian Americans such as Harry Warren) Those songs that everyone knows, such as "My Wild Irish Rose", "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" and many others were written in New York by Irish Americans.
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4. The New Oplontis Museum
Gabriel Zuchtriegel continues in his attempt to generate interest in yet another archeological site in the Bay of Naples, already loaded with such sites — Pompeii and Herculaneum, to name the two most obvious ones. His energy is contagious. Statuary found in the 1960s and 70s is now "coming home" to the Roman villa of Oplontis in the town of Torre Annunziata at the beginning of the Sorrentine peninsula. The statues — a Nike, a bust of Hercules, a head of Aphrodite, and others-- will be displayed and then be part of a permanent "diffused museum" at Oplontis site. Oplontis was destroyed with other Roman sites by the great eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D., also damaged 10 years earlier by same earthquake. All three site were at work rebuiling from the quake when the Vesuvius blew. The force of the eruption was even stronger at Oplontis than at Pompeii or Herculaneum. At Oplontis not only roofs collapsed, but walls and columns were broken and pieces thrown sideways. Recent archaeology shows that Oplontis suffered a unique type of destruction because it was very near the sea. The pyroclastic flow from Vesuvius into the sea led to a type of "tsunami" which caused the violent entry and deposition of a water-heavy layer in the buildings. In any event, Gabe Zuchtriegel's new museum is about open for visitors. The site is a few minutes from Pompeii on the Circumvesuviana train line.
"This sculpture from ancient Oplontis becomes understandable only if you move around it ... and discover
meaningful detail ... in a way, it’s a moving picture, created 2000 years before the invention of cinema."
Gabriel Zuchtriegel
earlier entry on Oplontis is here
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5. Blessing of the Animals -or- "Awk! Polly want a Communion Wafer!"
Yes, even parrots. Even strange comfort animals. Even rats. But the animals that pet-owners took into the Naples cathedral the other day (the 17th)* for the Blessing of the Animals were all doggies. It is interesting that Christianity loves dogs, while Islam loves cats. In Islamic lore, a cat is said to have saved the Prophet's life by killing a snake. The Prophet blessed the cat by rewarding it with the "righting instinct" — they always land on their feet. But then a cobra is said to have spread its hood above the infant Buddha to shelter him, so...? Some religions even worship animals. I guess I'm not much of an animal person, which is why I don't own a pet. But the priest in the cathedral spoke the right words: "We see in them the beauty of creation. They serve us and comfort us in our daily struggles. So let us be worthy of their service." PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) asks if the animals really understand what's going on (a fair question) and wonders if anyone involved will be one of those hypocrites who abandon Fido by the roadside next summer when they drive off on their holiday (also a fair question).
photo credit, above: la Repubblica
*The feast day of Anthony the Great (c. 251-356), in Naples and the rest of southern Italy known as "Sant'Antuono"
(to avoid confusion with St. Anthony of Padua). In Italy, the saint is regarded as the patron saint of animals.
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6.
The Mouths of Vesuvius
Thanks to Giovanni Mangiacapra and Melania Acanfora, MAV (the Virtual Archeological Museum of Herculaneum) continues to add to its considerable collection of works on display. This image shows the latest addition: Mangiacapra's 2022 "The Mouths of Vesuvius" (using various techniques on paper), displayed here for the first time as part of an exhibition of contemporary modern art called "Earthquakes in Art and Other Tales of Magma".
Details on MAV are here.
photo credit, above: la Repubblica
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7.
The Most Beautiful Panorama in the World
Yes, there were a lot of complaints about this billboard a few years back. It came down veerrry quickly. I saw it and smiled. The writing says, The Most Beautiful Panorama in the World. You see Mt. Vesuvius from a wonderful vantage point. What? Oh, that. There are some women looking at the view. So? Excuuse me, Dr. Rohrschach! I assure you that most men are too busy forging the uncreated conscience of their race to play your little games.
Good day, sir!
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8.
The "Black Wave" Mosaic in Baia
They thought they had lost this thing, perhaps forever, given the natural changes of the sea-floor in the Bay of Pozzuoli off the coast of the town of Baia. The area is earth-shaking and sea-shaking and a big tourist attraction. Divers go down and take looks around all the time. The mosaic in question (shown above, left) is part of the Underwater Archaeological Park in Baia (bue circle in image, right). The mosaic was last seen 40 years ago. Then it was back. The photo is by P. Vassallo. He didn't have to do any real work. The sea-floor did the heavy lifting.
There is a large underwater Roman tower you can SCUBA around. If you're not up to that, you take a glass-bottom boat or a functional (they say) 12-seat submarine with big windows (shown, left). The submarine has special perks as you see from their special guides (shown, right). That's pretty special.
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9.
Brought to you by Extrusive Igneous Rock, makers of fine movie sets!
If you think you know everything about even one of these places, you don't.
See this link.
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10.
Holocaust Remembrance & Music
Forensic Musicologists often help sort out copyright infringement cases, a field so fraught with tedium that I may fall asleep before I finish this sente.............
BUT they also do this: Forensic musicologists race to rescue works lost after the Holocaust. That's the title of one of many articles about this subject. The gentleman on the right, Francesco Latoro, has spent much of his life trying to find and restore music lost in the Holocaust. The music was written by many murdered composers you've never heard of. Thousands of lost compositions. We can't undo the evil done to them, or give them back their lives, but we can try to resurrect their legacy, their music. That is the least we should do and maybe the only thing we can do. Latoro lives in Barletta, a town on the Adriatic at about the same latitude as Naples. His work consists of giving presentations on saving the lost music of the Holocaust. In a recent episode of the American 60 Minutes program, he said he had so far found 8,000 pieces of music, even a symphony written on toilet paper. He restores what he can and even tries to finish some of it. He added, almost whispering, "Some of the music is still imprisoned in the camps." Latoro was born in 1964 and is still quite active. What he and a few others like him do — there is nothing nobler.
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11.
The Italian National Trust for the Environment (FAI)
Fondo Ambiente Italiano
FAI tells us that the Fèscina site is now "cleaned and reopend after years of neglect." (The complete article is here.) It was part of the 10th anniversary of their "Places of the Heart" census, which invited all-comers to submit favorite places in Italy, places worthy of saving. (logo below) (There are other organizations with similar goals, such as UNESCO.) At last count FAI is working on 64 "special places" in Italy, 31 of which are open to the public and can be visited individually or in groups.
FAI is headquarted in Milan and has regional offices throughout Italy. The organisation was established in 1975 as the Fondo Ambiente Italiano based on the model of the National Trust of England, Wales, & Northern Ireland. It goes back to the initiative of Elena Croce, the daughter of Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce.
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12.
How the Mighty Are Fallen - or Just My Speed
Open single-seats, single-track, gravity-driven, people-moving conveyance. The seats rest and slide on rollers. For lack of a better term, I'll call this thing a slide-way, a direct translation of the Italian slittovia. This slide-a-ma-jig is not in Naples or it could fill in for our real people-mover, the Chiaia cable-car, closed and all set to reopen "sometime" in 2024. The slide-a-weenie you see here is in Castelmezzano in Potenza, in the hilly heart of the Lucanian Dolomites already famous for its "Angel's Flight zip-line. While that thing will scare the bejesus out of you, this slide-way is puny. It reaches a modest molasses speed of 40 kph/25 mph over a descent of 740 meters (not two laps on a stadium track). Yawn. The people in that area just don't like to walk and it is hill country. The Romans would have just flattened it or tunneled through it. If you're asking why no-one has ever returned from this harmless little adventure, I don't know. The seats come back empty along a straight, shorter path after they dump you over the side at the bottom is one possibility, but that's just what I've heard.
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13.
Further Adventures of Capt. Archeo!
Look! - up on that single-cymatium architrave, it's...
Mild-mannered archeologist, Gabriele Zuchtriegel (image) (and hereafter, "Gabe") is director of the Pompeii Archaeological Part, an umbrella term that includes Herculaneum, Oplontis, and anything in the area that looks suspiciously ancient and worth digging up. He has quickly earned the reputation as somewhat of a Capt. Archeo. His latest exploit, just started
is here
a new museum is here
the one about the sheep --no kidding
I forget what this one is
And he just started. His current exploit is this:
details here
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14.
The Quisisana Museum
The gulf of Naples was hit by a severe quake in 1980. Tourist sites stalled, such as Pompeii and Herculaneum. Could they reopen? When? Little by little they did. Castellammare (which includes the Royal Palace of Quisisana or Stabiae) started to restore in 2000 and finished in 2009. They planned a museum; the Archaeological Museum of Stabiae opened in 2019, part of the "umbrella" Archaeological Museum of Pompeii (which includes Herculaneum and Oplontis. The museum holds 8,000 items, including some on loan from museums in Naples, and items from nearby Roman villas Arianna and San Marco, (which are well-catalogued and open to booked tours.) The museum is named for Libero D'Orsi, principle of the Castellammare middle school principle, who, in the 1950s, resumed post-war excavations of Stabia, revealing remains of ancient Rome.
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15.
The Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istituto nazionale di statistica; Istat) is the main producer of official statistics in Italy. Its activities include the census of population, economic censuses and a number of social, economic and environmental surveys and analyses. Istat is by far the largest producer of statistical information in Italy. News media have commented on Istat's recent report that shows a notable immigration away from southern Italy to central and northern Italy and abroad. From 2012 through 2021, The totals for the rest of the "Mezzogiorno" (the general term for the south, (like "Dixie" in the U.S.) show that 525 thousand young southern Italians have left for elsewhere. The Campania region with Naples (the capital) leads with 157 thousand lost residents. They are almost all university graduates. News media have used such terms as "unstoppable exodus", "hemorrhage", and the English term "brain drain". It is important to note that these are NOT the "tired, poor, and huddled masses" of a 100-150 years ago. These are middle-class, educated kids who can't find jobs at home. Don't expect any musical nostalgia such as 'O sole mio this time around.
This item also appears as the most recent one on my immigration/emigration page, here.
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16. I wrote this 20 years ago on Valentine's Day. I still like it. "Love's Old Sweet Song" is still a lovely song.
Here. Read it again. Oh...
Just a song at twilight / When the lights are low, / And the flickering shadows /Softly come and go /
Though the heart be weary, / Sad the day and long, / Still to us at twilight comes love's old song /
Comes love's old sweet song.
Music, James Lynam Molloy; lyrics, Graham Clifton Bingham. 1884.
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17. The San Paolo stadium has been renamed the Diego Maradona stadium in honor of you know whom. I think they should change it to the "Hand of God" Stadium in honor of the time he punched the ball into the net with his fist. Only the official missed it. Thus he got away with it, claiming his fist was "the hand of God". That counts a great deal here. Whatever, the city of Naples has decided to return one of several statues dedicated to the soccer great, who, in 2020 went to the great empty net in the sky, "from whose bourn no traveller returns". So sculptor Domenico Sepe get his bronze statue back. It's too expensive and they can't accept donations that cost that much to make. Soccer purists have criticized the piece anyway because Maradona is depicted with the ball on his right foot. He was left-footed. I thought soccer greats were ambifootstrous.
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18.
Sail on in Peace, Capt. Bill - "Here is the sailor home from the sea..."
William Coventry Henderson died last Saturday, February 25, 2023. He was 80. We went to his funeral service on Sunday. It was well-attended by family and friends. He had a lot of friends. Bill was an intensely likeable person. He gave me the finest thrill of my life, a voyage from Naples to Scario, recounted here. In life he was a U.S. naval officer with the JAG office, a sea-going lawyer. Privately, he loved to sail and told me after watching me at that steering thingie that I was a "natural helmsmen" (what- ever that means). I'm pretty sure it was good. He owned the good ship Down East, a 5.5 ton, 26-ft fiber-glass auxiliary sloop with twin keels. The name is odd and only those who have lived on the coast of the U.S. state of Maine might understand it. To get to the Atlantic ocean, you sail down and out to the east.
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