Dodging the unexpected in Naples on a July day

We were lucky to be on the other side of the road when the woman threw the contents of a bucket of water down from her balcony.

She lived on the top floor of one of those tall properties which rise six stories from the street.

Her shout of warning was followed only seconds later by the sound of the water hitting the pavement.

Now I hope it was only water because there was no time for anyone to have heeded her shout and dodged for cover.

Luckily no one was hit and within seconds the spreading stain joined the other bits of street rubbish which littered the pavement.

These included a box of assorted rotting fruit, a pile of old newspapers and a broken chair.

Of course a few years ago the piles of rubbish were everywhere and we were treated to daily horror stories on the TV news but not now.

And that I suppose is one of the things you take in your stride about Naples.

There are the stories of crime, along with the frenetic activity on the streets and the sheer shabbiness of some of the city all of which will be true but not of the Naples we saw.

Yes it was noisy and we had to jump out of the way of the cars whizzing their way through the narrow streets but then everyone we met was extremely helpful, no one sought to exploit us and we had fun.

And judging by pictures from the late 19th century not a lot had changed.

Picture; "Via Toledo1". Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Via_Toledo1.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Via_Toledo1.jpg and Naples circa 1890 from Napoli coom’era, 2013, courtesy of the publishers, Intra Moenia