History Lesson: Naples

This is my fourth trip to Italy.  In the past, I’ve been to Venice, Florence, Assisi, Rome and the Amalfi Coast (which includes Sorrento, Positano and Pompeii).  I could probably take many of you on a tour of these places with some knowledge of who built what, when and why they’re important. 

I haven’t the foggiest idea about Naples. 

From what I read in my sad little tour book, Napoli has been an “occupied” city for much of its history.  From the Greeks that settled it possibly as early as the 10^th century B.C., to French to the Spanish, Naples has been occupied by foreign governments for centuries. 

Originally, the city was called Palaeopolis, or old city, by the Greeks.  Neopolis, or new city, was built nearby.  After Roman rule and a wave of invasions, it came under Byzantine influence and went through a period of rebirth.  In the 10^th century the invading Normans conquered southern Italy.  In the 12^th Century the French and Spanish took over.  It was hit hard by the Inquisition, plague and overpopulation. 

Naples is known for a lot of things including its food (pizza!), poverty, music, and the beauty of its bay. 

This morning, after sleeping in (our shades worked so well that Hannah refused to believe it was nearly 10AM when we woke up – she thought it was 4), we showered and got ready to hit the town.

That is, after I finished my laundry and hung my undies on the balcony to dry. I'm classy like that.

After checking out our tourbook a bit, I thought hey, let’s go to the Piazza Mercato, which is known for some creepy things happening – lots of beheadings, plague, fun stuff like that.  It used to be a town center of sorts.  What it is now is sort of “Garbageville”.  Though garbage pickup is sketchy here due to the Mafia’s ownership of the garbage service, the Mercato was especially grimy and grim.  Bad choice on my part!

After that we hung a louie (made a left turn) and headed more toward the center of town to a district called Decumano Maggiore toward a church called the Duomo.  This is one of the larger churches in the city and was quite amazing.  I tried to take pictures of some of the outside and just couldn’t fit any of it into a frame.  When we went in, Hannah almost got us kicked out by flaunting her naked shoulders (Catholics here are picky about having joints covered, especially shoulders and knees but I’m sure hips are included).

After the Duomo, we headed southwest to a district called Spaccanapoli which was a major thoroughfare during Greco-Roman Naples.  Now it is a very interesting mix of ancient ruins, narrow streets packed with shops (including fish shops that added to the ambient odors of the alleys) and tons of graffiti.  We managed to find Music Row that had shop after shop of guitars, drums, pianos and an assortment of other instruments.  Hannah bought two Italian picks and a capo for her travel guitar there.

After a pitstop at our hotel and a quick cat nap, we headed out again in the opposite direction toward the sea, taking time to watch a military parade in the Castel Nuovo.  A little farther out we hit the Galleria Umberto (a giant, regal looking building with shops in it) and did a little more shopping.  

Hannah had a chance to buy some new jeans and I bought several boxes of bandaids.  Over the course of the afternoon, my skin started to stick to my leather sandals. So I tried covering my blisters with bandaids which would quickly wad up, covering my feet in sticky wads.  Hannah started walking farther and farther away from me as my feet randomly shed one bandaid after another. 

Not having eaten since this morning, we couldn’t help but stop at the same pizzeria for a quick Margherita pizza and bruschetta.  The flirty and funny waiter commented on Hannah’s perfect Italian as she assertively answered “si!” to his questions in English.

Tomorrow we are off to Positano – one of my favorites!  We’ll be there for five nights to soak up the sun and play around the Amalfi coast. 

Arrivaderci!