(1) Aug 9 —
The best thing about August in Naples is that
the place is empty. That is also the worst
thing, because there is always a hard-core
minority that stays in the city for the summer
holiday (although they may close up whatever
shops they may have and just do nothing —
always a pleasant break. All
municipal services run on reduced schedules, so
if you're waiting for a bus you have to be
careful, especially given this year's dramatic
weather: there has been almost no rain in months
and the temperatures are in the mid-30s° C (mid
90s° F) with high humidity, producing a
ridiculously high "feels like" index (if that is
the proper term for the opposite of the
"wind-chill factor"). Italian meteorologists
have started using the term "perceived
temperature", which is fine, but it's strange to
hear people who don't understand what that
means. ("Gee, it was almost 50° yesterday,"
[that would be 122°! Instant shrivel up and die
temperature!] I heard a woman say. I started to
explain, but she was having none of it. "No, no.
I heard them say 49°!") The biggest disappointment of the
summer (besides the brush fires!) was the
central funicolare, the main cable car.
It is crucial for many thousands of persons a
day under normal circumstances, yet it was
"closed for repairs" for a period of ONE YEAR
(!), which period was to end about one week ago.
It ended, the mayor showed up for his photo op
and glad-handing and chauffered ride back home
again. The tourists and locals climbed
aboard what was billed as a conveyance not just
"repaired" but completely overhauled, yea and
verily, "made new" and off they went. It went
up, then down, and then stopped — clink! clank! grind!— in the middle. Disgruntled
tourists and locals had to climb out onto the
tracks and trudge down the emergency stairs to
an exit. Conclusion? See you in September. Back
to the drawing board.
(2) Aug 10 —
There's something strange about this boat.
According to the Vessel Finder website, she is
"the ELADA (IMO: 9522192, MMSI: 213777000) and
is a general cargo ship built in 1980 and
currently sailing under the flag of Georgia.
ELADA has 141m length overall and beam of 20m.
Her gross tonnage is 7898 tons." I don't believe
it. That vessel is not 141 meters long, since
she appears smaller than a motor yacht called
the Sea Rhapsody anchored farther out
behind her this morning, a vessel claiming to a
mere 66 meters long. Besides that, look at the
construction; look at the snub-nosed submarine
bow. There is no way that boat was built in
1980. That is clearly modern yacht construction
from within the last 10 years. Also "general
cargo ship...sailing under the
flag of Georgia." Maybe I'm paranoid. I think
that is my newest suspect for a Bond-Villain
boat. The earlier one was the "A". Hang on...
another marine site has her listed more
realistically 45m/135 ft in
length. Call sign 4LOF2.
Leaves the year of construction blank. Even more
suspicious. I think maybe it's just some rich
Georgia godzillionaire enjoying our peaceful
waters instead of his own (there is naval
conflict going on in the Black Sea at the moment
between Georgia and Azak.. Akazi.. Zhakaz... you
know the one. Cargo vessel,
indeed!
(3) Aug
22 —
There was what most people call a "small
earthquake" (until their houses collapse) at the
town of Casamicciola on the northern coast of
the island of Ischia yesterday. The first tremor
registered a 3.6 (then upgraded to 4). There
have been at least 14 aftershocks. (The numbers
are on the MMS [Moment Magnitude Scale],
although most TV speakers just give the numbers
because they're not sure what it all means.
Think old Richter scale and it's pretty close.
It's a measure of intensity.) There was
one verified fatality; an elderly woman was
killed by a chunk of falling masonry. A few
dozen persons were injured, some
seriously. It doesn't have to be an epic
film disaster quake to upset people's lives. One
hospital was evacuated (later reopened),
hundreds of persons stayed outside all night.
Some unreenforced structures (that describes
most buildings on the island) collapsed, and
there are a dozen or so persons unaccounted for.
They may just be wandering around. Geologists
note that this was a "seismic" and not a
"volcanic" quake. That is, the tectonic plates
moved; it had nothing to do with an eruption. As
far as numbers go, the infamous Casamicciola quake of
1883 is now calculated to have been less
than a 6, and it killed 2300 persons.
(4) Sept.
13— Fatal accident at Solfatara.
From my description of
the Solfatara active volcano (yes, it really is)
in Pozzuoli:
The Solfatara
is, at present, a protected nature reserve
open to tourism. It is, indeed, at the "bottom
of a cavern" —a large crater of volcanic
origin and one that is still very active,
geologically. In its long history, the
Solfatara has suffered from benign neglect as
well as commercial exploitation...
"Benign" went sour
quickly yesterday when an 11-year-old boy fell
into a hole in the ground; his parents fell in as
well when they rushed to save him. All three
suffocated quickly from the high concentrations of
carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide that build up
just below the surface. The hole was apparently
not much more than 3 or 4 meters deep (10 to 12
feet). "This has never happened before," at least
in the memories of those who claim to know. If
that is true, they have been lucky. Documentaries
on the Solfatara drill it into you: This is an
active volcano and a dangerous one. This is not an
amusement park, not a fun fair, not "Volcano
World." This is smack on top of the old Campanian Ignimbrite eruption.
Do not take it lightly. It has enough power left
down there to put Vesuvius to shame.
But tens of thousands of tourists flock through
the Solfatara every year; film crews come,
scientists come, and school field trips come.
Yesterday, a musical troupe from Switzerland was
standing around waiting for permission to start
filming when they saw the commotion. They ran over
and were too late to help. Everyone ventures out
unsupervised into an area that since yesterday is,
by definition, a death trap, one run, oddly
enough, by a private family. There is very little
in the way of protective services such as guards,
first aid stations, even adequate guard rails.
There are a few signs that warn you to watch
your step and a few areas that are sloppily
cordoned off. Maybe this unfortunate family
ignored a warning sign. That's what 11-years
kids do. It's hard to say. There is a "lesser"
tragedy here, and I know that is not an adequate
expression. The surviving
member of the family is the seven-year-old
sister who ran for help when she saw her brother
and parents go in. She came back too late to
help. But things will now change. Now that it's
too late. (update box, below, from Marius
Kociejowski [MK], July 2019)
from
MK's
The Serpent Coiled in Naples
 Solfatara is closed
until further notice, perhaps for
good, the denizens of this strange
kingdom dispersed, and Giorgio now a
melancholy king in
exile. "Sono a pezzi,"
he wrote to me. I am in pieces.
A
charge of multiple homicide was
brought against him. On the eve of a
judicial decision that
would determine his future he sent me
a text message: "There is
in the worst of fortune the best
of chances for a happy change." [from
Euripides, Iphigenia in Taurus.]
There
has got to be a better way to take my
leave of Solfatara. It’s not as if
gloom is in short supply. I’ll settle
on that image of Frank Alvord Perret,
breathing in the fumes, l’americano,
who had a knack for making do with
whatever materials were available, in
this instance a metal horn shaped like
a witch’s hat, a receiver and a
microphone, wires running between all
three, which he then composed into
something resembling a giant
stethoscope ― ‘the hero of Vesuvius’,
Frank Alvord Perret, arguably the
greatest volcanologist of them all,
eavesdropping on the guttural
rumblings of a world Virgil had
centuries before sung into verse.
These
are the chapters in Marius
Kociejowski's The Serpent Coiled
in Naples that currently have
small excerpts in Naples, Life,
Death & Miracles. There is
also an extra item from MK (after #
15).
Ch.1 -
introduction - Ch.2 - An Octopus
in Forcella -
Ch.3 -
Listening to Naples - Ch.4 - Lake
Averno -
Ch.5 -
Street music - Ch.6 -
Leopardi - Ch.7 - R. di
Sangro - Ch.8
- Old Bones - Ch.9 - The Devil
-
Ch.10- Signor
Volcano-(2-here) (3)
- Ch.11-
Pulcinella - Ch. 12 -
Boom- Boom(2)-
Ch.13-Two Women-
Ch.14-
The Ghost Palace - Ch.15- An
Infintesimal Particle
- (extra) - Riccardo
Carbone, photographer .
|
(5) Sept.
19 — Today is the Roman Catholic Feast Day
of San Gennaro (St. Januarius), the patron saint
of the city of Naples and the day on which
believers await the "Miracle
of San Gennaro" (see that link for more
than you want to know). Spoiler alert: it
happened this morning at 10:05. There was
all-round happiness (it's strange that even
atheists feel better when the miracle happens;
after all, as the great mathematician, but awful
philosopher, Blaise Pascal, hedged in his
non-blazing, lily-livered "wager", "Golly, you
never can tell, so you might as well believe."
What guts!) The cardinal of Naples, Crescenzio
Sepe, gave a sermon on the plight of the victims
of the Ischia earthquake and pleaded for more
Christian tolerance of the many refugees who now
wind up on Italian shores in search of somewhere
where they can have a decent life. Good sermon.
Those who refuse to believe in miracles may
scoff at the affair as a hoax, but even nominal
Roman Catholics wait for it. Doctors who have
seen "miracles" but are required by science to
use the term "spontaneous remission" more or
less say what Pope Francis said when asked who
could get into Heaven: "How
do I know? Who am I to judge?" So, take it or
leave it, but there it is.
(6) Sept.
23— Artists Fulvio
De Marinis, Selene Salvi,
Ugo de Cesare
and Raffaele
Concilio have
started Opus Continuum, an artists'
collective for the purpose of breathing new life
into the medium of figurative art. They stress
that this is not a reaction against abstract art
but, quite the opposite, a simple expression
that artists should be able to feel free to
paint what they want in the way they want
without having to cater to the commercial whims
of critics and gallery owners. The organization
will be run by artists and for artists. It will
be self-governing, hold a yearly exhibition, and
establish a physical presence in what will be an
exhibit hall as well as a museum. The logo by De
Marinis shows the bird-goddess, the siren
Parthenope, the eponym of the city later renamed
Neapolis. "Who better," says their manifesto, "to represent
this timeless solidarity?...combative and
stately even armed with brush and palette
instead of lance and shield."
Then, "We are not living in the past. It is not
our aim to “repeat”. We shall continue to
innovate. We hold only that in order to be truly
“original” and to have an eye consciously on the
future, it is important to know where we came
from." They have a
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Opuscontinuum/
Their manifesto is published there in Italian and
English.
(7)
Nov. 1 — From the national
TV today, you'd think that Halloween was an
Italian holiday. It isn't. To be sure, there are
places in Italy with witches and such (near
Benevento, for example) (see this link for an
extended piece on that and a special rant on
people celebrating Halloween in Naples!), but,
generally speaking, this particular bit of
cultural conflating has faded a bit, at least
on my block. Maybe it's the electric fences we
put up down at the gate. Yes, it helps to live
in a gated apartment complex. Last night, they
missed us completely. Yesterday afternoon, I
did see one adult woman with halloween-colored
hair walking down the street; she was wearing
a skeleton costume. She was frowning and
walking very fast. I don't know why.
(8)
Dec. 7 — I got my first
pre-Christmas zampogna busking of the
year the other day (on the 5th). That is
unusual because it's too early. You don't show
up at the beginning of December with your
bagpipes (zampogna) and starting
playing Christmas music for coins on the
street (busking). But there he was, down from
somewhere a few miles north of Naples in the
hill country, ideally a small town that still
has genuine folk festivals. (I'll feel
defrauded if I find out he's my next-door
neighbor.) He was decked out in rustic but
splendid garb and was playing a burnished
instrument that simply shone. The piper
usually comes with his partner, a ciaramella
(folk oboe) player and they inevitably play a
carol called Tu scendi dalle Stelle. (If
known at all in English, it is called From
Starry Skies Descending.) They symbolize
the shepherds in the Gospel of Luke who
received the "good tidings of great joy" and
then went forth to "glorify and praise God for
the things that they had heard and seen."
There's an entry on that
carol here. There is a complete entry on the bagpipe
tradition here. There is separate and shorter entry here
as part of the series "Give me that Old-Time
Profession!"
(Also see the home page general
index under "Christmas.")
(9) Dec. 8 —
There's nothing
worse than intangible pizza. Nevertheless,
the craft of the pizzaiuolo (a
pizza maker who specializes in vowel
toppings) has been added to the UNESCO Intangible
Cultural Heritage List for 2017. In Unesco-ese:
Inscribed
in 2017 (on the Representative List of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity)
The art
of the Neapolitan ‘Pizzaiuolo’ is a
culinary practice comprising four
different phases relating to the
preparation of the dough and its baking in
a wood-fired oven, involving a rotatory
movement by the baker. The element
originates in Naples, the capital of the
Campania Region, where about 3,000
Pizzaiuoli now live and perform.
Pizzaiuoli are a living link for the
communities concerned. There are three
primary categories of bearers – the Master
Pizzaiuolo, the Pizzaiuolo and the baker –
as well as the families in Naples who
reproduce the art in their own homes. The
element fosters social gatherings and
intergenerational exchange, and assumes a
character of the spectacular, with the
Pizzaiuolo at the centre of their
‘bottega’ sharing their art. Every year,
the Association of Neapolitan Pizzaiuoli
organizes courses focused on the history,
instruments and techniques of the art in
order to continue to ensure its
viability...
Anyway, big
celebrations in town with free pizza. There are
7 entries on "Pizza" in the index (look under
P!) including this intellectual affront on Samuel Morse and the
Semiotics of Pizza. Eat you heart out.
Great topping.
(10) Dec.
13 —
'BREAD-'PLATES, not 'BREAD-plates
That is,
the plates are made of bread (!)
not made to hold bread.
or
Just
think what the Earl of Sandwich missed by not
calling his contraptions Grain-based
dinnerware!
It's not really that
new of an idea, even though a local paper got
excited enough to call it "revolutionary,"
"sustainable," "ecological," "tree-hugging," and
"a good idea."
In the heart of the Cilento & Vallo
di Diano National Park,
100 km south of the city of Salerno, but still
in the province of Campania, the small town of
Sanza (image, left)
perches at about 500 meters above the Tanagro
valley and the A-3, the main north-south
autostrada from Rome to the south. Sanza is in
the coastal Cilento "bulge" that sticks out
into the Tyrrhenian Sea and separates the
gulfs of Salerno and Policastro and is much
closer (c.10 km) to the southern gulf. Sanza
was and still is famous for the quality of the
bread. Now, thanks to Angelo Avagiano, a
"contemporary farmer" (as he calls himself)
who produces an entire array of plates and
bowls (pictured) made
of grain, you can eat up and then eat the
breadware (or whatever it's called). No dishes
to wash! The grainbased dishes are made from
the same famous grain he has always used and
is fired to impermeability in the same
wood-fired ovens he uses for his bread. What's
for dessert? Probably bread. Maybe that's a
problem.
On the other hand, researchers from La Sapienza
university in Rome and the
U. of Cal. at San Diego recently interviewed
hundreds of 90+-year-old villagers in the
Cilento. Their exceptional longevity and good
mental health, says the study, appear due to
positivity, work ethic, stubbornness and a
strong bond with family, religion and land.
Friend JM says that is a bunch of touchy-feely
fuzzy sociological hooey. He thinks they're
juicin' the plates with something. Me? I don't
know.
The
revolutionary part is that it really is a "no
waste" technology. As noted above, there are
other ways to do this. There are already
high-tech appliances that will bake bread dough
into bowls
and plates, but they are high-tech gizmos made from
plastic and metal and sold by appliance
conglomerates such as giant Electrolux in
Sweden. Not only do they chop down all those lush, gleaming metal
and plastic trees in the northern forests to
make a bowl, but the appliances have to be
plugged in! Gadzooks.
(11) Dec.
15 —The recent study referred to (above)
is quite real. It was done by a team of
researchers from the La Sapienza university in
Rome and the U. of California at San Diego. The
researchers actually studied the village of
Acciaroli on the coast of Cilento (pictured), not Panza, but
there are many articles in geriatric journals
that talk about the general longevity and good
health of the population of the Cilento area at
large. I did a Google search using the search
phrase "longevity studies in Italy" and the
first dozen articles or so were about the recent
study in Acciaroli; there were a few that go
back a couple of years, so the question, itself,
of why the people in the area live so long is
not a new one. Other articles discussed similar
places in Italy such as on the island of
Sardinia and some were about regions elsewhere
in the Mediterranean (including a Greek island
where people "forget to die"!) Many of the
articles mention that Acciaroli is just 5 km
from the coastal village of Pioppi, the place
where Ancel Keys lived
and did his research on the so-called
"Mediterranean diet." This Acciaroli study
concentrated on psychological factors that those
who live to advanced age seem to share: strong
family ties, religious faith, etc. Other studies
focus on genetics, diet, exercise and sexual
activity Dr. Salvatore Di Somma, a professor of
medicine at Sapienza University says that the
older inhabitants, male and female, are sexually
very active. “At 95, they have brains more like
someone who is 50, and at 50, you still think a
lot about sex.”
Finally, a couple of
curiosities about Acciaroli, totally
unrelated to how you can live forever!
(Sorry.) They call their port the
World Heritage Harbour because it's the
largest sea port in the Cilento and Vallo di
Diano national park, all of which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. (Look at
the coastline of the Cilento "bulge" on the map
in the item above this one. Acciaroli and the
port are about one-third of the way down that
coast line after you come out of the gulf of
Salerno, heading south.) And (this is a good
one!) "Everyone knows" that Ernest Hemingway
visited Acciaroli in the early 1950s and they
will all tell you that here is where he met the
“Old Man.” Further, he based the character of
Santiago in his novel The Old Man and the
Sea on local fisherman, Antonio Massarone.
“Everything
about him was old except his eyes, and they
were the same color as the sea and were
cheerful and undefeated.”
"...based the
character of Santiago" makes this some kind of an
urban myth, but it's
better then the truth (what isn't?). The Old
Man and the Sea was published in 1952.
Hemingway visited Acciaroli in 1953, so the
time-line is skewed. Hemingway plausibly did meet
his "Old Man," but after the fact, a fisherman
who, also plausibly, reminded him of his Santiago,
and they often went
fishing together. Still a good story, though.
(12) Dec.
21 — This was the
sunrise on the winter solstice over the
Sorrentine peninsula this morning. I noticed
that it was in a slightly different place than
many years ago. (I am very old.) This means
that the ancients were right about the
precession of the equinoxes and the earth is
wobbling like a spinning top that is slowing
down and will eventually fall over and stop.
We're done for. Merry Christmas and Happy New
Year anyway.
(13) Dec.
23 — Western
Naples,
1701— for Leo
Gugliocciello, a friend and
contributor to these pages.
It's
tempting to call this
remarkable painting "The Good
Old Days," but we know when it
was painted (1701) and thus
know that it was the worst
of times. (The previous
century had not been kind:
revolution, plague, and
volcanoes; by 1700 many had
fled the city and the economy
had collapsed. The Spanish
were done and the Austrians
were about to move in. That
would help. Then would come
the Bourbons in 1734. That
would then really help).
True, by today's overbuilt post-WW2
lack
of standards, at least this
newer part of Naples looks
bucolic, peaceful and almost
empty, so maybe that is
something "good". It is
painted with the photographic
precision typical of the
artist. (Link directly below.)
The image comes to me though
the kindness of Selene Salvi
(see item 6, above). The
original is oil on canvas and
is large (75x174 cm / 29.5 x
68.5 inches - I am a fraction
taller than that!)
The artist is Gaspar
van Wittel (Amersfoort,
Netherlands, 1653 – Rome,
1736), father of the architect
(under the Italianized
surname), Luigi Vanvitelli.
The painting is held in the Zevallos
Stigliano gallery in
Naples and is entitled "A View
of Naples from the Chiaia -
Pizzofalcone Quarter." So the
artist is perched on the Pizzofalcone
height, where the future
Bourbon military academy will
one day stand. The iconic Egg
Castle and Santa Lucia quarter
are to his left. The historic
old city is about 2 km
behind him. He is facing due
west about 1.5 km from the
building you
see at water's
edge
(the old San
Leonardo church, now
gone). (Mergellina harbor is
just around the distant curve
of the beach, out of the
picture.) From that San
Leonardo church, it's about 2
km across to the fortress and
San Martino monastery on the
hill on the right. The
empty(!) hillside in the
middle is the Vomero hill,
totally unrecognizable.
See
for yourself!
The coast road leading
directly out in front of the
artist is via Chiaia, now the
inside one of two roads
(today's outer broad coast
road, Riviera Di Chiaia, is
from 1890). There is not yet
the lush seaside Royal
Gardens, today the Villa
Comunale. Until the Spanish
moved into Naples in 1500,
there were almost no buildings
at all out here — nothing to
paint! Almost every building
along via Chiaia is the result
of the Spanish effort in the
1500s to build a new quarter
in the western part of the
city, mostly for Spanish
gentry and nobility who came
with the change of dynasties.
So van Wittel is looking at
what, for him, is 200-year-old
construction, some of which is
still very recognizable. The
prominent building on top of
the Vomero hill just left of
center (flanked by three
trees) is Villa Lucia, today
part of the large Floridiana
park. Directly below that,
past the empty hillside there
is a church with a dome and
Baroque facade bathed in
light. That is the church of
Santa Teresa a Chiaia, still
very much in use. The
prominent and large shiny
white building in the lower
right quadrant is Palazzo
Cellamare, still there but
grimy because the residents
are too cheap to make it gleam
again. If you walk east past
that Palazzo and off the right
side of the scene, you'll be
at the Royal Palace in just a
few minutes.
(14) Dec.
24
—
Sorry,
this is
largely a
repeat from a
few years ago,
but then so is
Christmas
Eve. In
Italian it is
called the Vigilia
di Natale.
That first
word, Vigilia,
is Latin and
has obviously
given us
English words
such as
"vigil" (a
purposeful or
watchful
staying
awake). It is
used in the
same way as
"eve" is used
in English,
both in
religious
contexts and
other slightly
poetic (but
not
antiquated)
usages such as
"on the eve
of..." to mean
"the evening
(or day)
before."
Germans call
it Heiliger
Abend; the
Spanish say Nochebuena,
and in Basque
it is Gabon
Eguna (you
can look up
the rest,
yourselves).
Since
Christian
tradition
holds that
Christ was
born at night,
tonight is
actually more
important in a
religious
sense than
Christmas day,
itself. In
Naples, the
churches and duomo
(cathedral)
will be packed
for midnight
mass.
On
the secular
side, it's the
day of the
grand family cenone
(cena/dinner
+ -one/augmentative
suffix) (pron.
chay-no-nay,
the Big
Dinner. In the
evening
everyone
drives to a
relative's
home to eat.
The relatives
are usually
the same ones
every year
unless you go
to the wrong
house. They
don't drive
anywhere, but
they do stay
home and cook.
In Naples, the
cenone della
vigilia
typically
features
seafood:*
first
spaghetti with
vongole (clams);
then fish,
probably baccalà
(cod) and
anguilla
anguilla
(pictured -
the creature
so nice, they
named it
twice!), which
sounds a lot
better than
"eel eel," a
snake-like,
catadromous
fish.
(Catadromous,
for Pete's
sake! meaning
freshwater
fishes that
return to the
sea to spawn.)
Relax, they
seldom get
more than a
meter long.
(Neapolitans
are encouraged
to sing
"That's a
moray" after
dinner.) There
is also an insalata
di rinforzo (roughly,
a pick-me-up
salad); that
is, cabbage
salad packed
with olives,
capers,
anchovies,
vinegar, and
enough spices
to pick you up
right through
the roof. The
only things
that don't
come from the
sea at the cenone
are the
spaghetti and
the dessert—12
different
kinds of sweet
and gooey
stuff. If you
don't like
fish, well,
you're in good
company; St.
Augustine,
himself, said
"It's like
eating a box
of
tooth-picks!"
And if you
have high
blood
sugar—look,
stay home. For
you, indeed,
"It's the most
loneliest
tiiiime of the
year." (Gimme
a break on the
double
superlative;
Shakespeare
really did
write "...the
most unkindest
cut of all.")
Wait for
tomorrow for
Christmas Day
specialties,
meat and
vegetables.
*added: Dec.29
There is
an interesting fact involving immigrant
Italian-American cuisine. Immigrant cuisine
can differ quite a bit from home-country
cooking. In the case of the traditional Vigilia
meal, the cenone, it is
fish-based in every immigrant Italian
community that I know of, including those in
the United States. There, however, they have
invented some peculiar terminology —
that
is, the English-language term, "Feast of the
Seven Fishes." It may refer to the entire
day of Dec. 24, Christmas Eve, called la
vigilia di Natale in Italian or the
meal, itself, the cenore. The term
"Feast of the Seven Fishes" is not a
translation from Italian; the term is
unknown in Italy. It is not clear exactly
when this term gained currency nor why the
number seven, although you can make some
Biblical guesses about that one. Anyway,
there are usually more than seven.
(15)
Dec.
26
—
Today is what
they still
call "Boxing
Day" in
Britain. Since
the etymology
of that term
is not
certain, I
prefer to
think of it as
the day when
you can return
gifts you
don't want and
spar a few
rounds with
the
shopkeepers
until they
exchange them.
It is also the
second day of
"Christmastide,"
the twelve
days of
Christmas (the
one with the
turtle
doves!), St.
Stephen's Day,
alias the Feast
of Stephen*
or, in
Italian,
simply Santo
Stefano.
There are a
great number
of towns,
churches, and
even entire
islands in
Italy named
after this
holy figure
traditionally
regarded as
the first
Christian
martyr, the
so-called
"Protomartyr,"
mentioned in
the Acts of
the Apostles
(chapters
6-7).
*The popular
Christmas carol, "Good King Wenceslas" [sic]
has: "Good King Wenceslas looked out, On the
Feast of Stephen"... The carol was
first published in 1853. The lyrics are by
English hymnwriter John Mason Neale. The
melody is an old Finnish folk song. The
reference is to Wenceslaus I or Saint
Wenceslaus, duke of Bohemia from 921 until
935, and eventually the patron saint of
the Czech state.
I
have a few
pages on
churches in
Naples, and I
think there a
few named Santo
Stefano
outside of the
city proper.
But there is
one in
Naples, not
downtown, but
out where
people used to
go for summer
holidays
before WW2. It
stands on the
corner
(pictured)
where you can
turn right and
head into the
Vomero section
of town. I
always
reminded
myself to get
to it later.
It's the
church of Santo
Stefano al
Vomero
located on
what is now corso
Europa
(the large
street running
diagonally
through the
upper-left
quadrant) but
which used to
be via
Santo Stefano;
farther
up, the
street-name
indeed changes
back to Santo
Stefano. This
image is at
the very top
of via Tasso
at 170 m./ 500
feet. If you
turn left back
at that
corner, you
will soon be
on via Manzoni
above the
Posillipo
ridge
overlooking
the bay.
The church,
itself,
appears on a
map of 1775.
At the time,
the area was
entirely
rural, but it
was at a time
when
development
was starting
to encroach in
the form of
large private
villas which
still stand
today, such as
the adjacent Villa Winspeare. It was a country church,
serving
farmers, yes,
but also
serving the
landed gentry
that was
starting to
settle the
area. In
the 19th
century the
church
developed a
reputation for
culture,
particularly
music, with
directors from
the downtown
conservatories.
New roads
started to
creep up the
hillside and
by 1900,
"rural" had
turned to
"urbanized"
and after WW2
even that term
was no longer
relevant. It
as just an
overbuilt
mess. But the
little church
is still
there. It has
even been
restored but
no longer
functions as a
working
church.
[There is
complete history of this church by a cleric,
organist and prominent musicologist, Stefano
Romano:
La chiesa di S. Stefano al Vomero:
Dall’Archivio di una Chiesa di Campagna
[From the Archines of a Country Church], pub.
Ecclesiae Domus, Napoli, 2009. 366
pages, amply illustrated.]
A
Tale of Two
Trees
(16)
Dec.
28
—
An
odd
"Christmas
tree" appeared
a few days ago
on the island
of Ischia,
where they had
an earthquake
in late
August. In the
areas of Casamicciola
and Lacco
Ameno
there are
still 2,000
persons
without a real
place to "go
home to." A
local resident
asked herself
if it was
still worth
putting up a
Christmas tree
and declared,
"It certainly
is. It's still
Christmas."
The result is
pictured on
the right. It
is built from
broken slabs
of people's
homes
decorated with
vegetation,
poignant
beyond belief,
yet somehow
still full of
hope.
Content
and photo by
Pasquale
Raicaldo for la
Repubblica.
Meanwhile,
back on the
mainland, I
thought I had
said what I
had to say
about the
"Wishing Tree"
that local
merchants
donate every
year to be put
up in the
large Galleria
Umberto in
Naples. (Those
observations
are here.)
Yet the Naples
city hall, the
most
gutless wonder
since the Escherichia
coli
bacteria
continues to
astonish. They
can't quite
figure out how
to stop a
bunch of
street punks
from
vandalizing or
stealing the
tree year
after year
(this year's
version is
pictured,
left; it was
dragged back
up into
lop-sided
place by
good-hearted
passers-by).
The punks are
getting better
at it since
they are no
doubt
knuckle-dragging
offspring of
knuckle-dragging
parents who
did this years
ago but who
have now grown
into
full-blown
hoodlums.
(17)
Jan 1
—
Barring hanky-panky in the
electoral college, I think we did it again!
"We're number 1... we're number 1...". That
is, I think Naples wins the coveted Shredded
Finger Award again this year: most injuries
from fireworks. If so, some unfortunate child
will be wheeled over from the ER to put his or
her stump-print in the cherished Sidewalk of
Pain. Ah, the majesty of it all! In all
of Italy last night there were 184 injuries.
There were no deaths, but there were six gunshot
(!) wounds. Mostly the injuries were
from Kim Jong-Un-sized atomic cherry bombs and
rockets going every which way. Many of the
devices were illegal, meaning they were too
high-powered or were shoddily made and had
unreliable fuses. These are not trivial
outpatient boo-boos; some of them involve
serious burns, missing body parts, and eye
injuries and require hospitalization. One
51-year-old Neapolitan man is in critical
condition from a stray bullet. The overall
number of injuries is slightly down from last
year. Of the 184 cases in the nation, 35 were
in the city of Naples, or 46 if you count the
surrounding province of Naples.
(18)
Jan 2
—The
Institute of the Sacred Heart is at
Corso Europa 84 on the west side of the Vomero
section of Naples at about 500 meters above
sea level. Historically, the institute and
other "Sacred Heart" Catholic schools in 43
countries on 4 continents go back to the
foundation of the Roman Catholic religious
congregation for women founded in France in
1800 by Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat
(1779-1865) in order to further the education
of women. The order expanded rapidly in
Europe; the congregation and institute were in
Rome by 1828 and have been in Naples since
1899.
The Institute was
originally located in the historic Palazzo
Balsorano in the Chiaia section of
Naples but has been at its present location
since 1968 and has been co-educational since
1971. It advertises itself as providing
classes at the levels of "Elementary School,
Middle School & High Schools" (there are
three licei /high schools:
"Scientific", "Classical", and "Linguistic,"
all fully accredited by the Italian state) as
well as facilities for "Child Care & Day
Care" in a multilingual environment of
Italian, Spanish and English. The premises are
quite large and include dining and athletic
facilities, well-equipped language and
computer labs, a theater, photographic
equipment, musical instruction, a chapel, etc.
It's impressive. The institute is run by a
foundation named for Romano Guardini (1885 –
1968), an Italian-born German Catholic priest,
author, and academic. He was one of the most
important figures in Catholic intellectual
life in the 20th century.
(19) Jan 6 — Today is January 6, the 12th Day of
Christmas, the Epiphany, a feast day in
Western Christianity that commemorates the
visit of the Magi (the Three Wise Men)* to the
Christ Child. It is in Italy also known as Befana,
plausibly a bit of linguistic
sleight-of-tongue from "epiphany." (Earlier
entries on Befana are under B in the
home page index.) It is the last "gift-giving"
day of the holiday season and still looked
forward to by children (and no doubt by
parents, who will finally get a breather.)
*It may also be called "Three
Kings' Day" although the identification
of the magi as kings
has no foundation in the Gospels. It
is based on a passage in the
book of Isaiah (60:1-5 KJV): "Arise,
shine; for thy light is come. and the
glory of the Lord is risen upon thee...
and the Gentiles shall come to thy light,
and kings to the brightness of thy
rising...".
The source of the
traditional names of the magi,
Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazaar is,
plausibly, Excerpta Latina
Barbari, page 51B (probably
written in Alexandria around the year 500):
"At that time in the reign of Augustus, on
1st January the Magi brought him gifts and
worshipped him. The names of the Magi were
Bithisarea, Melichior and Gathaspa.".
The thing that fascinates about
this holiday (and others) is the great amount
of syncretism involved; that is, the mixing of
earlier religious beliefs and traditions into
Christianity in the early years of the
Christian faith. According to Roman historian,
Varro, giving gifts at the new year went back
the foundation of the city of Rome, itself, at
festivities that took place in honor of the
god Saturn on or around the winter solstice.
The Latin term for these gifts was strenae
(plural) (from the goddess, Strenia,
originally a Sabine divinity, goddess of
good fortune, inhabiting a sacred wood in
Rome). The word has survived into modern
Italian as strenna, specifically a
Christmas gift. It even spawned an entire
publishing branch in the 1800s called strenna
editoriale, lavishly printed and
illustrated books put on the market in early
December in time for Christmas shopping. Thus,
the early Roman giving of gifts found its way
into the tales of the Three Wise Men and the
gifts they brought to the Christ Child. There
are books full of these
tales of the Magi. I
have no favorite, so I picked one I like:
The old woman we now call befana was
approached by Three Wise Men, astrologers from
the east, a few days before the birth of Baby
Jesus. They said they had been following a
star to the place where the the Son of God
would be born. It had to be nearby. Could she
help them find the precise place? They had
brought Him gifts. She was too busy but
provided them with shelter for the night. They
then continued on their way. Later, she had a
change of heart and went after them to help
them search for the Child. She was not able to
find them again. She had missed seeing the
Christ Child and to this day she still
searches year after year, leaving toys and
candy for the good children she finds and
lumps of coal for the bad ones.
(20) Jan 7 —
A day which will live in infamous
calendar confusion! Merry Christmas to
all Eastern Orthodox Christians! When the
Roman Empire split into East and West in the
year 395, it solved a few problems and created
others. It also set the stage, some centuries
later, for a schism between Western and
Eastern Christianity, that is, between Roman
Catholicism (and subsequent Protestantism) and
Eastern Christianity, respectively. The
Eastern (or Orthodox, meaning "right belief")
faith, itself, has separate divisions within
it that may follow various liturgical
calendars due to their initial refusal to
adopt the Gregorian
calendar declared by pope Gregory XIII
in 1582. Thus, various Orthodox communities
may adhere to either the Julian Calendar
(sometimes referred to as the "Old Calendar")
or the Revised Julian Calendar ("New
Calendar"). Or maybe they have another one! In
any event, today, January 7 is Greek Orthodox
Christmas in Naples.
Orthodox churches have a long
history in southern Italy. Today, most of
those original Greek churches throughout the
south have become Roman Catholic, but the
Orthodox faith may still have services in the
Naples Duomo (cathedral) and there is an active Greek church.
Today the ranks of the Orthodox faithful have
been augmented by immigration from the east —
Russia,
Ukraine, Belarus. Generally speaking,
Christmas eve (yesterday) is a relatively
solemn occasion. (Our Gregorian calendar
December 6th is the Feast of Saint Nicholas;
that is Dec. 19th in Julian calendar and St.
Nicholas puts in an appearance on that date to
distribute gifts to children. The photo,
above, is from a few years ago in Naples. The
complete entry is here.)
Today, Christmas day, families may gather
festively and begin a 12-day period of
commemorating the birth of Christ. Although
that number is familiar to Western Christians
as the "Twelve Days of Christmas") in some
eastern churches it may extend even to the
number of Magi who brought gifts to the Child
— there are twelve, not three.
(21) Jan 13 — The landscape garden, Ninfa, has been an Italian Natural Monument since the year 2000. It is near the town of Cisterna in the Lazio region of Italy, well below Rome and about 180 km/110 miles north of Naples. The garden, itself, is a World Wildlife Fund "affiliate oasis" and comprises 8 hectares (20 acres) and contains medieval ruins, oaks, cypresses and poplars, grassy meadows, exotic plants and numerous watercourses. It is set within a larger park of 105 hectares (260 acres). It is all set within the former Pontine Marshes, reclaimed and settled in the 1920s-30s and then later partially "de-reclaimed" to restore marsh area for the purposes of creating this park. The English-style garden was created in 1921 by Gelasio Caetani. The restored medieval village is on the site of a much older site mentioned by Pliny the Younger. Under ancient Rome it was a significant stop on the Appian Way. In Ninfa: The Most Romantic Garden in the World by Charles Quest-Ritson (2009), the author says
