Napoli 3

Today we went to the archaelogical museum and viewed many of the mosaics and paintings that were unearthed in Pompeii. Some of the mosaics were composed of very fine pieces and were incredibly lively.

The paintings were very richly coloured. There were a number of erotic paintings that were used to decorate the love nests of the more wealthy citizens. 

This Roman sculpture struck me as a particularly personal (rather than idealistic) portrait.

What do sculptures do when they're off-duty?

I also visited the MADRE museum of contemporary art. The following photo is a detail of an installation by Rebecca Horn called 'Spirits' (2005). The installation was accompanied by haunting music.

Next, one of a series of photographic negatives on plates by Antonio Biasucci.

Detail of 'Alfabetiere Murale' (1976) by Tomasa Binga.

'TV Buddha' (1985) by Nam June Paik.

The next two images come from a series of tiny watercolour paintings by Nahia Hassan. She was a topographer in Lebanon and part of her job was to investigate missile attacks. The paintings are derived from the photographs she took.

The following image is one of a series of polaroid photos altered by Souheil Bachar. Bachar was held captive in Beirut for 20 years. He was frequently photographed by his captors and sometimes had the photographs returned to him with his image cut out. He had access to paints and brushes and passed some time filling in the blank spaces left by the excisions.

A view through a gallery window.

Another window view into the school of restoration.

More street scenes. The next three photos are taken in the street where we are staying.

A typical snarl of traffic.

Tomorrow we head to the small town of San Gimignano in Tuscany. I don't think I will have internet access there so will have a break from the blog for a few days. Ci vediamo!

Napoli 2

This morning we visited Herculaneum, the other town that was destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 AD. In the following photo you can see the contemporary suburb of Ercolano rising behind the excavations in the foreground. And Vesuvius rises behind Ercolano.

Ancient graffito: a camel on the right and maybe a bird on the left.

This is Sharky. Nothing to do with Herculaneum, but he caught the train with us on the outward journey. According to his owner he is a one month old Jack Russell, but I wonder if he also has some lab. 

After our visit to Herculaneum we took a bus to Vesuvius, almost to the top. We had to walk the last steep kilometre.

View into the crater.

Meanwhile in the carpark...

Napoli 1

Napoli is incandescent.

We are staying in an apartment on the fourth floor of a dilapidated building. Although the building is worn and shedding plaster, the apartment itself is well maintained. There are wide steps leading up to our floor.

On my way up the steps I noticed this shrine outside one of the other apartments in the building.

When we first arrived we ate a late lunch of bread, cheese and tomato left by the prevoius guests, seasoned with olive oil and vinegar which we found in the kitchen. It was a delicious lunch sitting on the open air terrace with a view to Vesuvius.

 Every now and then we heard shouting and cheering and we soon realised that there was a football game going on somewhere. After lunch we went for a walk through the town's historic centre and saw groups of people watching the game on televisions set up in shops and piazzas. Very much a community event. The game was between Napoli and Roma and, judging by the cheering that we heard at about 5pm, Napoli were the victors! There were impromtu games of football occurring in the streets afterwards.

Later in the evening we went on a tour through tunnels 40 metres beneath Napoli's historic centre. The tunnels were first excavated by the Greeks who used the tufa stone to build the city above. The excavations then became cisterns for storing the town's water supply. The Romans extended the tunnels and cisterns. More recently, during WW II, the larger spaces were used as air raid shelters.

This part of the excavation lies beneath a church. In medieval times it was used by the monastics as a wine cellar. It also provided a retreat for monks and nuns who needed time alone. Many miracles are associated with this church including a number of virgin births.

As we walked through the historic centre we found the back lanes were almost empty, but the main streets, set up with outside stalls, were very busy. These streets were still very narrow and it was amazing that pedestrians and motor scooters and the occasional car all seemed to interweave harmoniously.

A lot of the stalls were selling 'ingredients' for elaborate nativity scenes - a reminder that Christmas is just around the corner.

Amantea

The hotel where we are staying, 'La Principessa' is rIght by the sea. The beach here is characterised by sharp volcanic rock and grey sand.

Yesterday I joined the conference for an excursion to the town of Pizzo south of Amantea. We visited the Piedigrotta church which was built inside a sandstone cave in the 17th century. The church houses statues and more detailed biblical scenes carved in the 19th and 20th centuries by Angelo and Alfonso Baron.

In Pizzo we also visited the Aragonese Castle which was built in 1488. Naploeon's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, the deposed ruler of Naples, was held prisoner here and eventually killed in 1838. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to create a tableau in every cell of the castle illustrating the unfortunate fate of the imprisoned French soldiers.

Our tour guide informed us that, typically, the height and width of an archway above the entrance to a residence indicated the importance of the family living there. I suppose the size of a moustache might have had a similar significance.

The entrance to the Chiesa del Purgatorio in Pizzo

After the exertions of the afternoon we were each treated to an enormous tartufo. Era squisito! A dark chocolate centre encased in hazelnut icecream and rolled in cacao.

This morning, while Alan delivered his paper, I took the mini-bus into Amantea. I climbed the steep hillside to the centro storico...

...and then wandered back down to the town market...

...and remembered that today is All Hallow's Eve.

By the way, Alan was pleased that his presentation went well and there were a number of questions afterwards.