Tuesday, 1 January 2013

Travels with Li Dongni - Naples, Italy (December 2012)

Let's get some simple truths out of the way early on - Naples is a modern Italian city. By this I mean that it is dirty, many streets and buildings are in real need of some TLC, there's graffiti absolutely everywhere and the transportation system is unreliable to say the least. However, anyone who sees Naples as purely those things has missed out on a dynamic, vibrant and historically incredible city.

During our trip we managed to see a few sites in the city, and also to spend some time wandering the streets and popping into the magnificent baroque churches that Naples has in abundance.  Of particular interest were the intriguing narrow alleyways of the old city, which still follows the Greek and Roman city street plan. Below I've highlighted just a few of my favourites of the heritage sites we went to.

Naples National Archaeological Museum

This museum was number one on my list of places to visit in Naples, as its collections mark it out as probably the most important archaeological museum in Italy (through Rome's Capitoline museums and the Vatican collections are also wonderful).  The building itself is a former cavalry barracks in the heart of the city, created as a museum in the 1750's.

Sadly, despite its importance the museum is in need of some investment, as walls have visible damp damage and many galleries are in need of a new coat of paint.  The visitor facilities are also severely lacking for a modern museum, as there isn't even a cafe, just a room with vending machines in.

Although a large museum, the main collections can be easily divided into two categories - the Farnese collection of classical sculptures, and objects, frescoes and mosaics from the nearby Roman towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae - the 'Vesuvian belt' if you will.

The Farnese collection occupies the ground floor, and is displayed very much as an art collection.  The collection, as the name suggests, was formerly in the possession of the Farnese family during the 16th Century, when the Renaissance was leading to the rediscovery of both Greek and Roman ideas and physical remains.

Some sculptures in the collections are particularly famous, such as the 'Farnese bull' - a depiction of the myth of Dirce, being tied to a bull by the twins Amphion and Zethus as punishment for her unkind treatment of their mother.  It is the largest sculpture known from antiquity and once stood in the Baths of Caracalla at Rome.  For me, one of the delightful elements of the sculpture wasn't the main scene, but the varied depictions of wildlife around the edge of the base.

Another enormous remnant of the Baths of Caracalla is the statue of Hercules at rest, leaning against a broken pillar.  The scale of this is difficult to portray in photographs and because it depicts an individual rather than a group, it somehow seems even larger than the Farnese Bull.  The legs of the statue are an interesting story as they were lost for a number of years after discovery.  Replacement legs were carved by Guglielmo della Porta, but when the original legs were found the Farnese family chose not to reinstate them, to prove that modern scultpure was as good as ancient.  The original legs were restored years later, but the Renaissance replacements still hang in the gallery.

One particular statue which brought back memories was Ephesian Artemis (see here for my post of my visit to Ephesus), characteristically covered in what are sometimes said to be breasts, but are actually bull scrota.  Nice.

The upper floors of the museum are dedicated to the objects from Pompeii and the surrounding area, with the stars of the show undoubtedly the frescoes.  The images here are merely a selection of the wonderful examples on show.

Sadly we didn't get to see all of the frescoes on offer (including the ones from Pompeii's Temple of Isis which I had particularly hoped to see) as another of the museum's 'quirks' revealed itself.  Basically, due to a lack of funding, there aren't enough staff to cover all of the galleries, so they are closed on a rotational basis.  Of course, you never know what will be closed and when, and this led to us being brusquely ushered out of a suite of rooms halfway round with no explanation and no apology.  For a museum of international importance (and one that charges a more than nominal entrance fee) this is simply unacceptable.

The museum boasts a fine collection of mosaics, including the huge and detailed mosaic of Alexander the Great fighting King Darius from Pompeii's House of the Faun (see here for my post on visiting Pompeii).  For anyone more familiar with Romano-British mosaics, the quality is simple eye-watering.

A unique highlight of the museum has to be the 'secret cabinet' - a display of the museum's naughtiest imagery, kept locked away from under-age visitors since it was set up in the 18th Century.  Although it has even been bricked up in the past to prevent the contents perverting innocent minds, it is now open to modern visitors, who are definitely more immune to the effects of seeing such material!  Still, if you can't enjoy a good Roman winged phallus, then there's something wrong with the world...

I was particularly interested in the depictions of Mercury with an enormous phallus, and even one statuette with a multi-phallused hat.  Its fair to say that, despite the popularity of Mercury worship in Roman Britain, such a depiction of the god has yet to be discovered in the province!

Naples Underground and Roman theatre

Although it sounds like a nightclub, Naples Underground is a tourist attraction that offers the chance to go under the city to explore a series of caverns which are the result of Greek stone mining, and subsequently used by the Romans for water storage, as a rubbish dump and as wartime bomb shelters.  Some sections of the tour involved squeezing through incredibly tight corridors while holding a small candle, and the whole experience was fascinating, and led by a very good guide.

The ticket also includes being walked around the corner (in a less than salubrious part of town it has to be said) and into an old fashioned house.  The story goes that the house used to be lived in by an old lady, who unbeknownst to all had part of a Roman theatre as her wine cellar (accessed through a large trap door under her bed!).  The area underneath both her house and her neighbours' has now been opened up and part of the backstage of the theatre can be explored. Above ground, two arches still exist which supported the giant, curved outer wall of the structure.  The theatre is of particular interest as the Emperor Nero is known to have performed there.

San Lorenzo Maggiore

Although San Lorenzo Maggiore is a church, our interest in visiting it very much lay in what can be found beneath the standing structure.  We actually visited on our first evening in Naples while enduring a torrential rainstorm, so were glad of the shelter and even more so for what we were able to see.  The site sits on both the Greek agora (marketplace) and the Roman forum, so it is essentially the public heart of the ancient city.

The main remains on display are of shops and buildings around the forum, and many vaulted roofs still survive.

One room which caused particular fascination to our group was the 'treasury', basically a public bank vault.  The strengthened door and holes for bars to secure the window are wonderfully evocative.

Castel Sant'Elmo

This imposing fortification occupies a commanding position on a hill overlooking the Bay of Naples, and is one of a string of defensive sites to be found in the city such as the Norman 'Castel dell'Ovo' and the 13th Century 'Castel Nuovo'.  We reached Castel Sant'Elmo via one of Naples' modern, and very funky, funicular railways.

The Castel itself is a strange site - huge and imposing when seen from the ground, but when you travel up in the lift to get to the top to start your visit, the open courtyard has no interpretation, and seems to be filled with offices (some relating to the cultural heritage bureau).  We were left very confused as to what there actually was to see.  Thankfully, though, one highlight soon became apparent - Castel Sant'Elmo offers breathtaking views across the bay of Naples towards Vesuvius.

It was only when we decided that there wasn't anything else to see and started following the 'exit' signs that we actually started to see the fortification itself, as the exit route winds you down the outside of the impressive structure.  Dating back to the 13th Century, but having undergone various episodes of remodelling, the castle appears in the form of a hexagonal star.  At their height, the tops of the defences stand 50 metres from the ground.

 Certosa di San Martino

This is a former Carthusian monastary near to Castel Sant'Elmo and is now a museum.  The museum has a wide variety of displays - from porcelain to boats, fine art to actors and characters from modern and traditional theatre.  It also contains many fine buildings with beautifully decorated ceilings.  Photography wasn't strictly allowed inside, but seeing as everyone else was doing it and the guards didn't seem to care, I snapped off a few quick photos on my phone, just for you.

And this little tour of Naples draws to a close.  I confess that I had no expectations of the city at all, as popular opinion had suggested that Naples was nothing more than the negative stereotype I mentioned at the start - dirty and theft-ridden.  Thankfully, the city proved to be far, far more than that, and I dearly hope to be able to make a return visit at some point in the future.

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