Naples - Castello dell'Ovo

Castello dell'Ovo bridge and gate

Castello dell’Ovo: Yes indeed, the Egg Castle. Why the egg castle? Because according to legend (and this one is a doozy); Virgil (the classical poet who for some reason ended up with a reputation as a sorcerer by the middle ages and so famously/fictionally accompanied Dante on his trip through the levels of Hell in the Divine Comedy) went off and found/stole/collected the very first egg ever laid by a chicken. Which came first the sorcerer or the egg? He performed some magic rites over the egg, possibly involving vinegar and food coloring. No mention of any chocolate rabbits though.


Virgil then placed the egg in a golden cage and hung it from a ceiling somewhere in the castle (oh, certainly it makes perfect sense).  He then proclaimed to the people of Naples that as long as the egg stayed intact no

Castello dell'Ovo

harm would come to the city. Okaaaaay…oh but it gets better and even more crazy (this in a city that believes the dried blood of a Saint who died 1700 years ago miraculously turns liquid, three time a year, every year like clockwork...). So according to yet another legend; during the 13th century (and the reign of Queen Joan I) there was an earthquake and the city was destroyed, well not completely but pretty close. She (or most likely her press agent) told the people the earthquake had occurred because the egg had been broken. She didn’t say who had broken the egg, or what punishment they had received (filling peoples navels with hot molten lead was a common treat for the masses in those halcyon days of yore, being pulled apart by horses was also a happy family outing). She then said that she had gone through all the same magical hocus pocus that Virgil had and that there was a new egg in the cage hanging from a ceiling in the castle, so never fear.

Staircase inside Castello
dell'Ovo

Vesuvius form Castello
dell'Ovo

For some reason I don’t think the egg is still there, Naples has been through some crazy trouble since the 13th century. For a while the castle was a monastery, and then it was fortified again. Finaly at some point it became a sort of castle-park where the city council dumps some rather horrid bronze sculptures.

The castle itself is rather well preserved and it is free to enter and wander about (free is a great price!). Many of the people we saw there were natives of Naples out for an evening stroll, watching the sunset over the bay of Naples or just having a good old fashioned snog behind the battlements.  The battlements themselves have loads of cannons (reproductions?). Funnily enough many of the cannons are pointed away from the bay and directly into the city proper. Yet another sign of the unease of the ever changing rulers of Naples.

View to the north from battlements of Castello dell'Ovo

The refectory still has it’s lovely rib vaults and arches still extant and the views of Naples, Vesuvius and the bay are magnificent. Very much like being in a Sophia Loren movie.

Arches from refectory in the Castello dell'Ovo

Naples - Fontana dell’Immacoletella

Fontana dell’Immacoletella and Vesuvius. It don't half loom do it?

A thirteen minute walk from San  Fransisco di Paolo is the Castel dell’Ovo (yes the Egg Castle, I’ll explain later). There are a number of interesting things along the way. Including magnificent views of Vesuvius and the Tyrrhenian Sea.  Heading southeast on Via Console Cesanio until you reach the bay you can walk along the bay (past cats feasting on discarded fish) in a southwesterly direction to a semi-circular piazza with a statue of Umberto I commemorating his visit to the city after an outbreak of cholera or plague or a plague of cholera, or was it typhoid? I know that supposedly the Corso Umberto I was built in the 1880’s as a wide street to separate the lower area with the docks (and therefore the disease) and the upper areas of the city. Any bloody excuse for a city improvement project eh? These days it would be a motor bypass right through Stonehenge. Well that was off topic.

About halfway between to the Castel dell'Ovo, at a sharp turn of the esplanade, is the Fontana dell’Immacoletella:  A striking fountain, delightfully whimsical and by Pietro Bernini, the father of the stone whittler that inflicted so much baroque-ness on Rome. Will we ever escape from the omnipresent Bernini’s?According to the guidebook I bought while I was there and a couple of websites, like many of Naples older fountains this one has been moved about a bit. 

It's current location is divine. 

Below is the unn-named piazza with the statue of Umberto I. My back is to the bay of Naples in this picture. Well to be precise my back is to a series of food vans on an excedra that juts out into the bay from teh esplanade, but that seemed like a lot of words just for accuracy. 

Naples - Mount Vesuvius

Not much of a post today, just a super picture of Vesuvius that looks like the mountain is steaming away.

Just the cloud effects though.

This picture was taken from right around the corner from the Palazzo Reale on the Via Console Cesario. Where there is a statue of Julius Caesar or Augustus I can't remember right now. Pretty sure it was Julius Caesar, and smothered in graffiti.

Something that we found odd, everything was smothered in graffiti. 

Naples - San Francesco di Paola

San Francesco di Paola with vendors of junk

Opposite the Palazzo Reale is the church of San Francesco di Paola.  I have heard that the inside of the church is dull; Neoclassical in a stark almost horrifyingly academic way. Though others have compared it to an underwhelming tribute to the Pantheon in Rome. The arcades are actually quite beautiful, and they frame the Piazza del Plebiscito in front of the Palazzo Reale quite nicely and are a (so I have been told) relatively safe place to walk at night.

I read somewhere that this was started as a sort of temple to the heroes of the nation (much like the Pantheon in Paris) by Joachim Murat while he was pretending to be king during the early part of the nineteenth century. Then he was deposed, the Bourbons came back and pom-tiddly-pom they decided to turn it into a church dedicated to San Francesco di Paola. But don’t quote me on that as I really don’t remember where I read that, or if I just dreamed it.

Our first view of it was when they were preparing the big stage for New Years eve. My ankle still hurts.

Setting up stage for New Years in the Piazza Plebiscito

Naples - Palazzo Reale

Palazzo Reale

Funny Murat...

Palazzo Reale: This I have been told is worth a visit though supposedly it was closed during the time we were there. I believe it contains some hideously baroque rooms that I remember form my Antique Review magazines that I got from the dustbin of that house on the way back from the Cove bay Clinic thirty years ago. The front of the palace on the Piazza Plebiscito has niches filled with carved images of all of the rulers of Naples. The Murat is rather amusing, I have posted a picture and that is all I am saying about the matter (though I confess I laughed very-very loudly). The whole palace, like Caserta, is a grandiose monument to monarchy. Originally built in 1600 in anticipation of a visit by some king or another, it has passed through the hands of all of the Kings of Naples and the Two Sicily’s  until Vitorio Emanuele II took over as head cheese of all Italy.

All in all it underwhelms. Oh I mean yes, it’s big, it’s positively huge, but an aircraft hanger is big, doesn’t make it exciting.

Palazzo Reale and raised basement facing the bay of Naples

Naples - Galleria Umberto I

Galleria Umberto I with the arcade of Teatro San Carlo to the left

Just to the west of the Castel Nuovo are the gardens of the Palazzo Reale (surrounded by a high wrought iron fence), the Teatro San Carlo and the entrance to the Galleria Umberto I. The latter is a nineteenth century wonder of engineering and a frosted tea cake of architecture both inside and outside. It is immense and a little overwhelming in scale. Personally I liked it; flamboyant, grand, overbearing a bit shabby, perfectly Naples. By shabby I mean; like most things in Naples it was a little gritty, but that is all part of its charm. Just ignore the man urinating in the corner, I did, twice or was it three times? I kid you not.

Inside Galleria Umberto I

The vaulted glass roof (so reminiscent of the crystal palace), the gilded angels, the vast quantity of marble, the delicate mosaics; all indicate that this was one of those massive projects undertaken after the unification of Italy. Apparently it was under the weather for quite some time (40 years), though now it is a bustling hub of activity.

The floor is covered in a beautiful mosaic with the signs of the zodiac in the center under the glass dome. Being the holidays there was a huge Christmas tree chillaxing in one of the wings.

There are four entrances/exits: South to the Teatro San Carlo, beautifully framed by the arch and colonnade, the North and East exits open onto rather dull narrow streets (Via Santa Brigida and Via Giuseppe Verdi respectively), The West entrance is on the Via Toledo (AKA Via Roma), the femoral artery of Naples. Frantically busy both day and night, loud boisterous, entertaining and chillingly frightening at the same time.

Will I? Won’t I? Will I? Won’t I? Get shanked in the Via Toledo tonight?

Towards the post office inside Galleria Umberto I

Naples - December 29, 2011 - Castello Nuovo



Castello Nuovo

We arrived in Naples much earlier than I expected so we left the hotel to see our first destination the Castello Nuovo.
The Castello Nuovo: A gigantic medieval castle of typically castle like features, parapets, towers, crenelated bits. Stone stuff. Begun in 1279 it was completed in just three years. During the reign of the Aragonese king Alphonso V (1470's) a triumphal arch in white marble was built over the main entrance. A strange and stunning contrast to the brutal stonework of the medieval castle.


Triumphal Arch


It is also interesting to note the early interpretation of the ancient roman triumphal arch before the renaissance really had taken hold. The interior contains yet another picture gallery. This one focuses on 19th Century Italian Artists. Meh.


Castello Nuovo with Construction to left



Mike didn't like this castle and said it was ugly. Meh (it's the word of the day), I thought it was very "castle like" big round towers a big fat moat and strangely not as built up around as I would have thought for being in the center of Naples. This could be because there was a massive amount of construction going on in front of the town hall (with a giant facebook "like" thumbs up sign on it).

They have been trying to build a subway here; however every time they dig down they find some sort of archaeological treasure that delays the building for years. This one happens to be some Roman ships that sank in the harbor 2000 years ago. Fairly awesome find really. Doubleplus, if you are actually in the square turn around…yes I mean you, smell that? That is a McDonald's, over there in the North West Corner of the square next to the town hall. For some reason the smell of McDonald's can overpower the smell of Naples and the sea combined, which is quite a feat let me tell you. I have been in some strongly scented places before (Agadir, Damascus, Amman, Venice, The East Village, Gresham, a sun baked port-a-john at a music festival, the great garlic soup disaster...) but those, horryfying as they might be, were mere olfactory sensations, this is more of an assault. A vicious assault. The kind that makes it onto the 10 o'clock news: the smell has walked in though your nose rounded everyone up, hog tied them, pistol whipped them, ransacked the house and kicked the cat. After a while the senses shut down, you learn to breathe through your mouth when stepping outside, but even then some of the chunky fugged smell gets lodged in your the back of your throat and travels up threatening to make your brain dribble out of your ears.

Cannonball damage

There is cannonball damage to the big bronze doors which is pretty fabulous. If you think about how cool it is to have cannonball damage still visable and not the fact that people were dying all over the place.

And I really do love the strange pre-renaissance triumphal arch...it's quirky.

The interior courtyard had a great looking rose window. Looked very much like the set of some BBC production of Shakespere.

Interior courtyard of Castello Nuovo

Naples - December 29, 2011 - Hotel Naples

Staircase from sixth floor

We reserved rooms at a brand new hotel right in the heart of the ancient quarter.

Really, it abuts onto a baroque church attached to a medieval monastery and is directly across from the main entrance to the university (a facade added in the mid eighteenth century to hide the jumble of medieval and renaissance buildings behind it.)

Sound proofed rooms proved very useful...there is no time of day or night, nor any situation that the average citizen of Naples does not think warrants a great blow on the car-horn.

Crossing the street was even more a dilemma than Rome. Until I discovered the secret: Stand at the edge of the sidewalk; close your eyes and go. They will stop, eventually, sometimes. Oh wouldn’t grandpa Giacomo D'Angelo be proud, well probably not. The man was a jackass.

View from window on
staircase

Two twin room

 I loved the staircase and the view from both the room and the porthole like windows on the stairs. Beautiful views of the bay, the university and a nice close up of the glazed tile roof on the dome of the church next door.

Breakfast was included in the very low price we paid and it was very well done. Orange stuffed triangular pastries that are a specialty of the region, fruit tarts with delicate lattice tops, chocolate tarts, chocolate croissants, plain and flakey rolls, and fresh fruits and for some reason, mixed in canned fruit? Hot frittata and instead of bacon fried pancetta, cold meats, salami and British style ham, semi firm cheese, bread for toasting, a strange variety of juices, I think most of them were juice cocktails of some kind. And of course magnificent espresso, cappuccinos and if you so desire, American style coffee.

View from the top of the staircase towards the bay:

View of Church and Naples:

Rome - December 29, 2011 - PIazza San Fransesco di Paolo and the Staircase of Doom

Piazza San Fransesco di Paoala

Walking southwest from the baths of Trajan there is a strangely elegant a viaduct that overlooked the coliseum and walked along, with me getting nervous that we would miss our train, until we came to the Piazza San Francesco di Paola. It was right around the corner, still on this rather odd viaduct now overlooking the Via Cavour.

In the center of the piazza  is an ancient column that was set up centuries ago and a magnificent staircase that went up through a medieval building to a street higher up the hill behind the church. Personally it looked mega sketchy, the sort of place that one would get mugged (but I had not yet been to Naples, so I really had no clue). Convinced that this was not in fact the Staircase of Terror (Cymraeg: grisiau o arswyd) we went up and lo' and behold a familiar looking square.

Grisiau o arswyd!

 Found our way to familiar streets and then walked back to the Piazza della Repubblicca to the secure looking ATM at the Banco di Roma.Which was secure, even though it looked like a skimmer. My bank statement later showed that no one was buying tickets to Beladorm or purchasing furniture/wives in Kiev.

A hop skip and a jump and back to the hotel to pick up bags and head off on the train to Naples.

A nice train. We went second class and had two comfy wide chairs across from each other with fold out leaves, electrical outlets and a USB charging station. Yup, second class…pretty nice.

There were some really super views of the coliseum from here. I think rather better than some of the views that one gets up close.

Coliseum from the area near the baths of Trajan and Piazza San Fransesco di Paola

Rome - December 29, 2011 - Baths of Trajan

Arch from Baths of
Trajan

From the Church of Santi Silvestro (AKA San Martini ai Monti) we walked a little south. Even knowing we had our train tickets in hand, I was still freaked out because I don’t like to be late for anything, and missing a train just seems like a mini-disaster to me.

Then we found a park where a few people were walking dogs and then I saw it. Rising up out of the shrubbery like a mottled aged phoenix, that baths of Trajan...I really never thought I would see this magnificent ruin, but thanks to Mike’s wanderlust and ability to spot something shiny at 10,000 paces I did.

The detail in the brickwork brought to mind the Pantheon and Santa Maria degli Angeli e di Martini, which sort of gives an impression of what each of these excedras would have been like back in their prime. 

Excedra with niches and coffered ceiling, baths of Trajan

Rome - December 29, 2011 - Piazza Santa Martino ai Monte & Santi Silvestro

Medieval towers in Piazza Santa Martino ai Monte

Just south west of Santa Maria Maggiore was the lovely Piazza di Santa Martino ai Monte. Two medieval towers and some lovely archaic buildings that look like they were made out of medieval Legos.

Part of this jumble looked like the back end of a church a very-very old church. A minutes walk south east on the Via Equizia proved this to be the case. The very temple – like front of Santi Silvestro (or San Martini ai Monti). Founded by one of my favorite popes (did you know I had one?) Pope St. Sylvester I. Over the next 1500 hundred years the church that now sits on a quiet street was formed and reformed into the delightful slice of 17th century architecture pictured here.

Looking at the apse end, you wouldn’t think that it would have that classical looking front would you? Surprises abound around every corner in Rome.

On the left the apse of Santi Silvestro (AKA Santa Martino ai Monte)

The front of Santi Silvestro, AKA Santa Martino ai Monti (bit of a difference eh?)

Rome - December 28, 2011 - Capitoline Museum

Hall of the Emperors

Right on top of the Capitoline Hill is the Capitoline Museum (go figure).

The current building were designed by Michelangelo but not finished in his lifetime. The pavement wasn’t finished until the nineteenth century, because well the Italians know that it takes a long time to do something right or wrong, or anything really, but that is all part of their irresistible charm.

The treasures seem never ending but include: two giant heads of Constantine (one bronze and one marble) hundred is not thousands of Roman statues, a complete collection of Caravaggio paintings, the Capitoline wolf (which is outside to the left of the center palace on a terrace, easy to miss if you are not looking for it) and more and more and more...


This is a must see in Rome. Amazed that I have never been before. The ticket office was in the New Palace (Palazzo Nuovo) though I think we entered the museum through the Palace opposite (the Palazzo Conservatorio). IT was rather confusing but I just followed some people with camera who looked like tourists and we seemed to make it inside. We also met some new American friends inside, though we tried to ditch them, they kept popping up all over the museum. They were rather loud, case in point:  "Oh, hey it's our friends from that place with all the rocks. Do you know where I can get a box of Franzia?" 

Capitoline Brutus or
Stone-face Vimes?

Flavian Prom Queen

For someone like me who has read so many books on Roman art and history this was akin to being that kid in the proverbial candy store. Everywhere I turned there was something I had seen photographed and catalogued. From the Capitoline Brutus (the one who overthrew Tarquin Superbus not the one who went all Joan Crawford on Julius Caesar) and the Flavian Lady with her big prom queen hair to the dying Gaul and of course the big marble head of Constantine. Which is really big. Admission is 12 Euros, or could have been a bit more? We were using the Roma Pass so we got a discount of a couple of Euros. All in all the Roma Pass saved up about twenty dollars in one day. If we had used it for public transportation as well then we would have made out like bandits, but I suppose there is too much to see in Rome to be stuck on a bus.

Tabularium

If you find yourself in this museum be sure to look at the second floor where the original 15th century decorations are still intact. They are works of art in and of themselves. The ceilings, oh my.


The hall of Emperors is filled with busts and statues of…well…emperors, and also has a fairly impressive ceiling. 

There is a treat hidden away beneath the museum; the remains of the Tabularium (the ancient roman hall of records) which is still pretty damned impressive two-thousand years later. The arches are awe inspiring and have some of the best views of the Roman Forum anywhere in the city. There is also an elevator that goes down to some excavations underneath the museum, the remains of the old citidal are visible, and a glass elevator is always fun... I am easily entertained though not a cheap date...


I could go on and on and on, there is far too much here to see in just a few hours and I could write a complete blog about it all.

Dying Gaul and weird tourist that kept muttering about "nudes"

Rome - December 28, 2011 - Portico of Octavia

Portico of Octavia

Looking back

The Portico of Octavia was just marvelous. It was yet another of those things that I thought I would not see on this trip. This made me very-very happy.

Tucked away just north east of the theatre of Marcellus, and accessed through the same gate off the Via Teatro Marcello. I only walked over there because I saw something shiny. Glad that I did, because I also got a great view of the Synagogue on the river as well.

The Portico of Octavia is mentioned in Pliny’s Natural History. More than just a "portico" in the modern sense; this was actually an arcaded walk built by Augustus in honor of his sister Octavia (yup the poor woman that married Mark Anthony...and we all know how that played out...the Battle of Actium, and the suicide of the last Pharaoh of Egypt (Cleopatra VII) and..well Mark Anthony...). Sort of like a public park or meeting place but not as formal as the basilicas in the forum, the ruins indicate that it was a rather pleasing piece of architecture.

Inside the Portico of Octavia

It has been molested over time but the recent excavations have shown, to the vast quantity of fish bones found, that in the middles ages it was used as a fish market. The walks built over the excavations reminded me of the little neighborhoods in Venice that are always so appealing and picturesque.

The church that one enters right off the portico is actually dedicated to fishmongers.

Just west of here, viewable from the approach to the Theatre of Marcellus and right in the heart of Roman Jewish Ghetto the monumental synagogue on the river. I believe it is nineteenth century? However, I could be wrong.

Synagogue, theatre of Marcellus on the left

Rome -December 28, 2011 - Capitoline Hill

The Capitoline hill was one of the seven hills of Rome and the center of the Roman World. It held the citadel and the temple of the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva). It now contains the Piazza del Campidoglio created by Michelangelo, the Capitoline Museums in the Palaces with fronts by Michelangelo and the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli.

An extremely wide staircase of marble leads up to the piazza and the museums. At the base are two black basalt lions and at the top two humongous statues of Caster and Pollux (the Dioscuri).

Though Michelangelo designed the piazza and the three palazzos, none of them were built in his lifetime. However, the architects that followed stayed true to the original plans and created a stunning set piece of architecture.

In the center of the Piazza is a copy of an equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius that only escaped getting melted down because in the middle ages they believed it to be a statue of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome.

All three facades are grand. With giant Corinthian Pilasters , classical windows and huge entablatures. You can really tell that this whole ensemble was designed to impress.

I find it highly amusing that the backs of these buildings are pretty plain, medieval brick, a few bits of old Roman wall and rough stone. Like a stage set really.

Capitoline Hill

Rome - December 28, 2011 - Theatre of Marcellus

Theatre of Marcellus

The Theatre of Marcellus is (so I have been told) one of the oldest stone theatres to be built in Rome. The senate during the republican period didn’t like the idea of permanent theatres believing them to be dens of sin…or something. Can’t remember where I read that.

This theatre is remarkably well preserved (at least the outside), mostly because it was turned first into a fortress and then into a palace. Today you can see that the upper floors appear to still be occupied.

I was quite excited to actually see the theatre close up as I have seen it from up the streets a number of times before but without ever having the time to actually stop by and visit. Rather impressive, I have to imagine that the inside was much like the surviving theatres in Bosra and Palmyra in Syria. They didn’t have fancy arcades outside, but rather lavish surviving interiors.

Theatre and Temple Ruins
Synagogue in the background

For a two thousand year old building its held up rather well.

 Right next to the Theatre of Marcellus are three beautifully preserved columns of the temple of Apollo Sosianus. Though the columns we actually resurrected in the 1930’s they are quite impressive nonetheless. Almost a brilliant white in contrast to the rather brownstone looking theatre. According to Pliny this temple was the home of a number of important works of art liberated (looted) from Greece. This included the frieze in the pediment which pre-dated this particular temple by about 400 years.

Some of this frieze is located in the Capitoline Museum (which is visible from the theatre). 

There are a couple of tourist shops (perfect for getting a bottle of water) and a lot of bus stops just east of here towards the Capitoline hill and the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument.

The backside of the theatre of Marcellus

Jeepers I look soooo fat, and what is that guy looking at?