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.

Naples - Porta Nolana

The Porta Nolana

The Porta Nolana is located about 100 yards north of the Circumvesuvia train station on the Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi. I believe this gate to be part of the Aragonese walls that surrounded Naples in the 15th century. Unlike the Porta Capuana, which has been cleaned up and restored, the Porta Nolanna is incorporated into occupied residential buildings in various states of decay. It’s actually quite fantastic.

Naples - Duomo

Just west of the church of the Girolamini is the Duomo or cathedral of Naples; San Gennaro. This is the site of the famous Miracle of San Gennaro; twice a year his dried blood (in a vial) liquefies. The façade of the cathedral is a riot of gothic architecture, most of which dates from the late 19th century. The three portals however are supposed to date to the 13th century.

The via Duomo itself is a narrow street lined with shops and even some trees!

Naples - Santa Maria della Colonna

The adorably cute Santa Maria della Colonna

Santa Maria della Colonna: Directly opposite the church of the Girolamini is the little yellow church of Santa Maria della Colonna. This delightfully whimsical gem is nestled, or rather wedged, between two residential blocks that have seen better days. Well they must have surely?

The church had a number of notable features on the façade. Two statues flank the entrance in niches topped with cockle shells, there are a number of cherubs or seraphim hanging about a plaque over the portal and the upper window has some interesting sculptural detail over the center. The capitals to the pilasters appear to be some sort of hybrid of the Composite order. Which itself was a hybrid (hence the name Composite)… The little dome that tops it all off is irresistibly possibly unnecessarily cute.

After the Piazza Jesu Nuovo, I think this is my favorite square in Naples.

The small roads leading south off the square were also delightful.  Almost quaint, as the below picture attests.

Naples - Church of the Girolamini

Right off the via Duomo is the church and convent of the Girolamini. It is actually quite a large complex but it is lost in the jumble of Neopolitan streets. We came across it quite by accident; walking south on the vico Girolamini to the via Tribunali we came to a little piazza where I initially spotted the church of Santa Maria della Colonna. It was only after I began to approach that façade that I realized the building behind me was a huge late baroque fantasy of a building.

The façade was constructed in the late 18th century, but the two cloisters predate this by two hundred years or so. It is by the master architect Ferdinando Fuga, whose other work in Naples includes the Albergo dei Poverei, he is probably most known for the façade of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

I think that the façade is one of the most beautiful in Naples. The pavilion like bell towers with their onion domes and the superimposed orders of the pilasters all work together in perfect harmony.

Naples - Funicular and City Views

Vesuvius looms over metropolitan Naples. 

To get to the Castel Sant’Elmo and the Certosa de San Martino we took the funicular railway from the station just west of the Via Toledo.

It was quite an experience. The dog was strange; there was a dog that no one seemed to be paying attention to sitting in the middle of one of the cars. It was still there when we came back down.

The station and the cars are delightful. Lots of 19th century detail (thankfully not in the cars).

Upon arriving on top of the Vomero I felt as if we were in a very different world than the Naples of the Centro Historico. The first thing we noticed was that it was so clean. It lacked the gritty graffiti of the lower city. Oh there was graffiti  it just seemed cleaner.  Even the supermarket we stopped at was cleaner. The clerk was from Newcastle, which made me laugh.

It also lacked that soiled mattress smell that gave so much character to the old city.

An even more amazing thing is the well placed signage that clearly pointed the way to the Castel Sant’Elmo and the Certosa di San Martino.

Below, Dallas! No, actually the Centro Direzionale from the Certosa San Martino.  A number of landmarks can be seen in this picture.  It gives you an impression of how dense the historical center really is.  These were taken from the forecourt of the San Martino Monastery (certosa di San Martino) where a number of people had gathered for the sunset to drink wine and be merry. Really awesome place.  

From mid left: Santa Maria Maggiore, just below that the Piazza Dante, the Duomo, San Lorenzo Maggiore (and Tower),  San Domenico Maggiore and the San Domenico Plague Column. 

Looking north towards the Palace of Capodimonte in the distance.

Naples/Caserta - Palace of Caserta - Gardens

One of the features of the park that I think is fantastic beyond all that is fantastic is the 3 km long “pond” with a 70 foot tall cascade at the end of it. After the cramped quarters of the Centro Historico in Naples, the open English style park with its great wazzok of a “pond” is rather nice. As with the palace itself the impression is one of overwhelming size, quantity rather than quality. This is sad because there are actually some really amazing sculptures here, they just get a little lost in the sheer vastness of it all.

To walk around the pond/canal it takes about an hour with stopping at each fountain and terrace for a good look and photo op. I would recommend taking an umbrella if it is drizzling or raining. The ornamental trees provide little protection from the elements.



There are tons of sculptures, mostly in collected groups: the arts, the sciences, personifications of architecture, geography etc. and urns supported by tritons and putti. I bet in the summer it must be delightful, but around about New Year’s it’s a little depressing, especially with the drizzle and fog.  The sheer size makes up for it though, damned impressive.

Every quarter kilometer or so one comes to a new fountain and or terrace. Each with it's own theme and dripping with ornament and sculpture.

First up is the fountain of dolphins.  They are sort of proto-evolution dolphins as they have claws and are actually rather terrifying. If marvelously sculpted in a grotesquely fantastic way. 

Can't sleep the dolphins will eat me! 

Next up is the Fountain of Aeolus. Here is a sort of grotto with several dozen zephyrs spouting water jets.

Fountain of Aeolus. I'd love to get in that artificial grotto, it looks cool! 

After the fountain of Aeolus comes the Fountain of Ceres.  I think she is holding a medallion of Persephone? 

Ceres, being all fountain like. 

The palace gets further and further away.

It's gonna be a long walk back. 

The fountain of Venus and Adonis is next. 

Not entirely sure what is going on in this sculpture but it looks darn sexy.

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Finally the statue of Diana and Actaeon, the unfortunate peeping Tom.  For his crime of catching the goddess Diana in the nude he was turned into a stag and torn apart by hunting dogs. Nice! Give me that old time religion. The cascade leads from a grotto about 200 feet above the fountain.

Fountain of Diana and Actaeon. 

Someone liked to sculpt dogs methinks. Here's Actaeon getting torn apart:

And here's Diana with all her bathing attendants. It suddenly all becomes clear:

One last look at the cascade from close up and back to the palace. During the summer there are acres of garden to explore.