Naples - Castel Capuano

The back end of Castel Capuano - Porta Capuana

The Castel Capuano is another of the castles in Naples. It was a violent place…

Named after the east-west roman road that led to Capua (which the gate is also named for, even though it was moved four hundred years ago and no longer straddles the road) this is the second oldest castle in Naples. After the Castel Nuovo was built it seems to have been relegated to the role of a secondary palace or guest/dower house (think Blair House, in Washington, DC). 

As with most palaces it has a long history of famous visitors (Petrarch for one) and palace intrigue (the occasional murder of someone’s lover) and momentous events (Black plague, looting, black plague, wars, black plague, lavish royal weddings, black plague…etc.). It was briefly the royal residence under Ladislaus and Queen Joan II, but then fell back into disuse.

In the 1530’s the building was remodeled as the Palace of Justice. This act consolidated all of the individual courts and offices all over the city of Naples into one gigantic structure (some things never change). A new prison was built in the cellars along with the very in latest torture chambers, it’s all fun and games until someone pulls out the thumbscrews….

The appearance today is the result of a mid 19th century “restoration” that seems to have heavily romanticized the medieval structure.

An interesting note, on the rear of the structure is a fountain from the 1470’s that was built as a horse trough. It's hidden behind the open air vending machines and the newsagents. I kid you not...

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 - 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