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