Florence - Summer? - KLM

Oh what a lovely summer day! At times one forgets that Florence, while holding possibly the greatest art museums in the world, is a small city ... hence the running down the stairs to the tarmac to dissolve in the rain.

KLM was incredible as usual. The cabin crew are so attentive, and the meals are excellent; presentation - taste - and ... well when I looked down at my four course dinner and realized that the coverings of the various dishes formed the pattern of a set of Delft plates, I fell in love with them all over again (not that I have ever fallen out of love with KLM).

Honestly, I have to say that all things KLM were just lovely. I might be a little biased, I have used KLM out of necessity, or convenience over the past three decades, and over the past few years I had little to say, but for this trip, I have a lot to say. I felt like I was back on a plane in the old days of luxurious airline travel! Remember when Mom put you in a tiny suit and tie or dress with a scratchy cardigan and Dad picked out the jacket that smelled the least like cigarettes and fumbled drunkenly with his tie ... and there was a smoking section and they served champagne on the plane! ... They still serve champagne, well they did in business class a few years ago, and if I remember correctly, they served Prosecco even in coach from Canada. I swear I was sent back in time, KLM is just .... (indicate wistful eye emoticon here) ... wonderful ...

Herculaneum - Getting There

Pompeii was one archeological site I had always wanted to see, Herculaneum was the other. I never actually thought that I would get to see both of them on the same trip. It was a dream come true.

The site of Herculaneum is in one of the poorest parts of Italy, which is Ironic as it was once the playground of the rich and famous, and still could be as a tourist destination, but because they won’t move the shanty town off the ruins, they can’t excavate, which means that can’t develop the tourist business, and therefore they have a shanty town…Its almost Zen-like.OOhhhhmmmmmmm…..I really wouldn’t encourage that many more tourists. It’s a small site, much-much smaller than Pompeii, but also like a delicate jewel.

Herculaneum was destroyed in the same cataclysmic eruption that took out neighboring party town Pompeii. Though here instead of being buried under a layer of burning ash the victims were smothered by a flow of pyroclastic mud, the first of which was so hot it carbonized all the wood it touched, preserving the forms of carpentry. Herculaneum is so well preserved because of this mud which filled the buildings from the ground up so the roofs did not collapse like in Pompeii. The state of preservation is so much more conducive to actually understanding how the town appeared, and how daily life actually took place in the Roman era.

The train to Herculaneum leaves from the Circumvesuvia Station on the Via Giuseppe Garibaldi. The cost was around three Euros for a one way ticket (2012). The train usually has a final destination of Sorrento, so don’t worry if you don’t see a train that actually says Ercolano. Watch the reader boards though, as the trains can change departing platforms at a moment’s notice. The trip takes about 25-30 minutes and arrives at Ercolano Scavi. From the train station it is a straight shot down the via Novembre IV to the entrance gate. There are a number of pizza and pastry shops along the route, eat now if you can’t wait because there wasn’t any sort of cafeteria or vendor at the site. You can’t miss the entrance, it’s right at the end of the street, shaped like a triumphal arch and has the word SCAVI on it. Strangely enough there was a tree with hundreds of CD’s hanging from it; just to the right of the entrance.

Be warned this is an extremely poverty stricken area, it’s not pretty and crime can happen quickly. I would never say skip going to Herculaneum, just be cautious and aware of your surroundings.

Once inside the gate you will come to a large modern building that sells the tickets, maps, books and has restrooms. The walk to the excavations is rather exciting because it is such a small area and the lava buildup was so high, that you are looking down on it as you approach and can see the entire thing.

The view is ... the view just is. I don't know if there are words to describe it? Amazing? Horrifying? Phantasmagorical?

I think it really sinks in as you are walking down to the town and you realize that the path you are walking on is several score feet above the warehouses that faced the sea. And if you turn around you realize that the sea is pretty darn far behind you.

I live in an area with fairly active volcanoes (though the last devastating eruption was in 1980) and earthquakes, and I am blessed with having the only "dormant" volcano within a cities limits. We (the city of Portland)  put two reservoirs on it in the late 19th century. So far, so good.

Herculaneum - from near entrance pavilion  off to the left out of camera (there are flush-able toilets there)

Naples - Palazzo Gravina

Palazzo Gravina from the Fontana Monteoliveto

On the same piazza as the Fontana Monteoliveto is the wonderfully executed façade of the Palazzo Gravina.  Built for the Orsini family in the 16^th century it looks like a page from a renaissance book on architecture. Perfectly proportioned pilasters stand over a rusticated ashlar ground floor, windows with classical surrounds between each set of pilasters are topped with round garlanded niches filled with busts. Slightly forbidding, it would appear to be made out of the same volcanic rock that Gesu Nuovo just around the corner was made of.  It’s now the architecture school of the university and I must say that I can’t imagine a better building for it.

Naples - Fontana Monteoliveto

North of the post office, just east of the via Toledo and west of the Piazza Jesu Nuovo, on the via Monteoliveto is the Fontana di Monteoliveto. Lions and eagles and Charles II oh my! Built in 1669, another towering eclectic baroque sculpture. This was given as a gift to the city from King Charles II … the city thanked Charles II and didn’t mention that they had really wanted a toaster. I mean what’s the point in registering at Macy’s?

This particular little piazza has seen some rather industrious graffiti artists and yes that is a street sign that has been wedged in the fountain.  On the

Fontana Monteoliveto, held up by graffiti

Naples - Santa Chiara

Santa Chiara - Piazza Gesu Nuovo

Bell Tower Santa Chiara

Located in the Piazza Gesu Nuovo the church of Santa Chiara is possibly most famous for the cloister that is lined with Majolica tiles. It was damaged heavily during the allied bombing of 1943 which destroyed all of the baroque interiors.

When the church was reconstructed after the war it was as its earlier incarnation as a gothic church, so one will have to imagine the baroque splendor that was lavished on it in the 18th century.

The bell tower is an amazing work of art. It stands separate from the church and is massive. It’s hard to get a sense of scale from pictures but it just seems to have been built over scale. Built of brick and stone it was finished in the renaissance era and has some fine classical detailing on it.

Naples - Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco

Along the via dei Tribunali just east of Santa Maria Maggiore and just west of San Paolo Maggiore stands yet another façade darkened with age; Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.
I would not have originally noticed this church had it not been for the bronze skulls on posts outside. From there one begins to look at the façade and the wealth of carving reveals crowned skulls with drapery drawn out of the eye sockets. The whole effect is rather striking, if a bit sinister and Lovecraftian.

The church was built in 1616 and appears to have become a center for Naples unofficial cult of the dead. There were certainly offerings there when we were visiting. There is a hypogeum underneath the church (well where else?).

Santa MAria delle Anime del Purgatori ad Arco

Naples - San Paolo Maggiore

San Paolo and San Gaetano

Back at Piazza San Gaetano, at the intersection of Via Tribunale and the Via San Gregorio Armeno is the church of San Paolo Maggiore. The magnificently restrained façade post-dates the late 17th century Neapolitan earthquake.

The façade consists of ten Corinthian pilasters painted gray with white capitals. Above the central portal the second order is of composite pilasters in the same gray and white configuration and they support a rounded pediment. The molding between the pilasters reminds me of some of the wainscoting at Versailles, though overall the coloring and complicated staircase is slightly reminiscent of the vestibule of the Lauentian library.

The church was built on the site of a temple to the Dioscuri (our old friends Castor and Pollux) and two of the columns from that temple can still be seen on the façade.