Naples

[selenak]

At last, thanks to the it being the second of June, which means a new month with renewed bandwidth, and the last of my Italian pictorial journey. amenirdis, I thought of you and certain historic acquaintances of ours quite often!



Naples is full of castles, what with the Normans, Germans, French and Spanish invading and establishing their stronghold all the time. These days a tourist bonus, of course. The Castel dell'Ovo was my early morning view, every day. It's where my favourite emperor kept his cash. (Frederick II is still relatively popular as opposed to most other foreign rulers; he did found the university of Naples, after all. Also, cash.)






This is how it looks from above; we'll get to that.




My non-favourite emperor, Augustus, greets us here in front of the Palazzo Reale and the Castelnuovo.





Palazzo Reale:



Castelnuovo:





Next to them is one of the most famous operas of the world, the Teatro San Carlo, which we'll get to later. First, there's one of the most striking cloisteryards, of Santa Chiara:











I always liked the legend of St. Francis and the wolf:



What St. Francis would have made of the baroque splendour of most of Naples' churches, on the other hand, I can't imagine. (Or rather, I can. Poor St. Francis.) Take St. Gregorio Armenio. The way towards the church is inconspicious:



And then you're greeted with pure Naples baroque:








Nearby is St. Lorenzo Maggiore, but we won't go inside.



Also St. Gaetano:



And one of the most famous streets, the Via Gregorio Armenio, where they sell nativity scene figures the whole year; they're a local speciality:











I do love the bright colours in Latin countries.



There's also a street specializing in selling books. You go from the Piazza Dante through the Porta Alba:



And it's book seller paradise time:



Also nearby: the Via Tribunali:





Which leads to the most famous gate of Naples, the Porta Capua:







And now let's go underground. Naples had an awesome underground aequaduct system, which worked for two millennia, until 1882 when the water became hopelessly infected by the Cholera epidemic, and they stopped using it. Still, 2000 years! Greek and Roman engineering for the win, I say. In WWII they used it as a ready made bombing shelter. You can visit some parts today, as you can the catacombs. Now the patron saint of Naples, St. Januarius, used to be buried in the oldest of these, which are here:





And you can see fantastic frescoes from that transition time between antiquity and the dark ages, like this family from the fourth century AD:



Or this one, which includes the first depiction of St. Januarius:



When you visit these catacombs, it's worth going a bit further upwards the mountain, and then you're in the Palazzo Realde Capodimonte, where one fantastic art collection is kept. This is because the king who started it was the son of Elisabetta Farnese, and she in turn inherited the Farnese collection from her, cough, uncle, Pope Paul III, who started out as Alessandro Farnese, the younger brother of Giulia Farnese, Rodrigo Borgia's mistress. Alessandro had great taste, and you even get Michelangelo cartoons like this:



This bust shows king Ferrante of Naples, the fellow with the charming habit of collecting the corpses of his enemies and arranging them to a depiction of the last supper:



Enough of the gruesome side of the Renaissance. Let's show my early morning view again, this time the other side:






Up I went to where you have the best overview of Naples, the Castel St. Elmo and the monastery St. Martino. You can see them up there:





And the view is indeed spectacular. I mean:








This is St. Martino, as seen from the Castel:



It is a most beautiful former monastery:







Time to get inside a church again:

















Back into the historic city.

This red church is St. Angelo da Nilo.



Because the Nile itself is represented in the same square:



Piazza San Domenico:



And now for the Teatro San Carlo. Which, as many theatres sadly do, burned and had to be restored.



And most beautifully restored it was, too.











Outside again. Even the small churches you pass without any guide mention are pretty, like these two:





And then there's the Duomo, St. Gennaro:







With the adjunct church St. Restituta:





Feel like escaping outside again? Let's go up another hill, to visit the Villa Floridiana:





Which also offers a fantastic view over the Naples bay:






And now, for a finale, the Vesuvio says goodbye in various moods:

Comments

[cahn]

These are beautiful pics! I can see why you liked it <3 I love churches, and those were my favorites :D

[selenak]

Then check out my latest pic spam as well. ) (Ratisbon is also where a captured Fritz, if he were put on trial, would be put on trial. I scouted the location for that AU, so to speak.:)