Beware stories of Naples

Via Dei Tribunali

Now you are never quite prepared for Naples.

Tina’s mum who was born here and regularly returns warned us to be careful with a set of safety instructions which would have been a disappointment for anyone intent on robbing us of all we possessed.

We left the cameras behind, stowed the cash in the most obscure places and kept an ever vigilant eye and all for no reason.

Everyone we met as we plunged deeper into the heart of the city and wandered further from the beaten track was helpful and went out of their way to put us on the right track.

One shop keeper actually suggested that the Crocchette di patate he sold was far inferior to the one just a few metres away.

And when it came to the pizzeria the best was not the one with the long lines of tourists but the one recommended by the fruit seller on the corner of VIA DEI TRIBUNALI.

True you still had to wait but only for a few minutes, and it was well worth it.

The basic pizza in the city of its birth was big, the best I have tasted and cost just €3 compared to the one in Sorrento which was 4 times the price.

Napoli Spaccanapoli

Added to this the pizzeria was comfortable and the staff welcoming and efficient.

And if you wanted more confirmation that we had indeed walked into the right place it was that we were surrounded by locals taking a break from shopping or grabbing a leisurely meal form work.

The final touch was in a way the best for as Tina left the tip the boss shouted “a bonus for the lads” where upon the waiters all shouted a thank you.

So all was well and the warnings proved unnecessary.
That said the area around the main station might well have  lived up to Rosa’s fears but then most big railway termini offer up that edgy atmosphere where shady characters appear out of nowhere offering all sorts of dodgy deals.

In our case it was the usual range of DVDs and CD’s with that man selling IPads.  To be fair once their offers had been declined they retreated into the corners of the street by the bars selling tired looking food and watered down soft drinks.

But the station with its crowded rush hour trains was for later, for us there was more of the less well known to encounter.

Not that we set out to search for it, instead it came our way as we left the VIA DEI TRIBUNALI with its mix of pizzerias and food shops and ended up in those narrow side streets where the buildings soar six storeys and every other balcony  has its set of washing hanging down.

And from these streets led off even narrower ones often fronted by a tiny piazza with a fountain the odd shop and a few rickety chairs.

Here were fish mongers bakers and all manner of tradesmen from the watch repairer to the cobbler and much more.

The Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore 

And just as for centuries the street and this ting piazza were where you lived great chunks of the day which given that in the past there was no air conditioning and rooms were small and overcrowded the outside was a preferable place to be.

Look back at old photographs from the late 19th century and read the stories from the traveller writer Norman Lewis and there are the poor sitting on those rickety chairs, carrying out all the everyday routines in the open on the streets.

And that I think will be another story as today I bought a book of photographs of old Naples and with those images will come more stories.

Alas as I took Rosa’s warning to heart and left my camera I have fallen back on the pictures of others.

Pictures; Via Dei Tribunali, Mattia Luigi Nappi and Napoli Spaccanapoli, and the Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore
MM

* Stories from Naples in the spring of 1944, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/stories-from-naples-in-spring-of-1944.html

Watching the hail storm and much more in the Bay of Naples

The VIA R. REGINALDO GIULIANI  July 23rd

Never underestimate the surprises offered up in the Bay of Naples

We arrived in Sorrento in the blistering heat of late afternoon and that was how it was for two glorious days before the rain.

Now I am used to those Italian thunderstorms which come out of nowhere, rage with the full force that nature can devise and are over as suddenly as they came.

But in that brief few minutes the sky darkens and the low rumble of thunder becomes defeating as streaks of lightening flash and the rain just comes down like stir rods.

All that we had and hailstones too which even the locals claim were bigger than anything they had seen before.

Then in a matter of minutes the storm had passed leaving a carpet of fast melting hailstorms and a few broken leaves.

But as ever the storm had cooled the air and cleaned the streets, so that the evening stroll on Sorrento was a pleasant affair despite the crowds of tourists who were all intent on capturing that little bit of Italian life.

And Sorrento did not disappoint, all of which is why we returned the following day.

Eating in the VIA R. REGINALDO GIULIANI 

We took in the odd museum and a fair number of narrow streets each with a bewildering number of shops offering all manner of stuff to entice the tourist and which were pretty much replicated in the next half dozen streets.

All of which led us by degree to VIA R. REGINALDO GIULIANI and a meal at one of the many restaurants that spread out across the road from its beginning to the point when the it becomes too narrow.

The meal was good and of course the position offered up plenty of opportunities to sit and watch.

It cost just €70 which for four seemed acceptable until that is we sampled the delights of Naples a place I have fallen in love with.

Rome will always be my favourite city which has the power to draws us back but Naples is something else.

But that is for another time.

Pictures; Sorrento, July 2014, from the collection of Andrew Simpson