Wedding Day (Giorno del matrimonio)
Trip Start
Jun 27, 2008
1
5
8
Trip End
Jul 06, 2008
Naples,
Campania,
Italy
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Naples, Italy
Shopping (Compere)
Every great city in the world that I have passed through has its remarkable trendy shopping street or district:
New York City: Fifth Avenue.
Rio de Janeiro: Visconde de Pirajá.
Paris: Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré
Sydney: Pitt Street.
Tōkyō: Ginza.
St. Petersburg: Nevsky Prospekt.
San Francisco: Union Square.
Milan: Via Montenapoleone.
Běijīng: Wángfǔjǐng Boulevard.
Buenos Aires: Calle Florida.
New Delhi: Connaught Place.
Chicago: Michigan Avenue.
Melbourne: Bourke Street.
Hong Kong: Connaught Road Central.
And the list goes on. But for Naples, the bustling shopping district gravitates around Via Toledo. At around 10AM, I left Luigi's house and meandered through the cobblestone streets of Naples towards Via Toledo
Via del Parco Margherita
. With 7 hours before the wedding, I wanted to take advantage of the fashionable shops along this congested arterial shopping street to perhaps go on a swift shopping spree. Descending on Piazza Plebiscito, Naples' main square, I found police and security forces everywhere in conflict with screaming demonstrators and activists. I asked a policeman in Italian what was going on. Jaded and nonchalant, he answered, "Berlusconi è qui (Berlusconi [Italy's Prime Minister] is here)." Just leave it to the Italians to find any cause to turn a demonstration into a street party. There were lesbians yelling with a bullhorn, pensioners demanding more money, students screaming for reform, young people kicking a soccer ball around, and lots of spectators. I was hoping to get a picture with Berlusconi, but after waiting behind a wall of people for 20 minutes, I realized the wedding countdown was rapidly ticking. I had to turn away from the distraction and start shopping. 12:30PM (4 1/2 hours before the wedding)
My first stop was at Armani (Piazza Martiri, 64) for a new pair of sunglasses. The ones I was wearing, which I had bought in the Plaka shopping district of Athens last year, were fogging up too quickly. Then, I needed new shoes. After a short visit to Vitulli Italia (Via Chiaia, 125), I walked out with a brand new pair of leather shoes, so I threw the old ones I was wearing away. Then, walking down Via Toledo, I saw many smart ties and shirts, and serial stops along the way resulted in the accumluation of more bags
Neoclassical Arch on Via Chiaia
. Near Piazza Dante, I walked past a small store with a very nice, lightweight, dark, elegant suit on display at Vinciguerra (Via Toledo, 35). Trying to ignore it, I walked up to Piazza Dante to buy some souvenirs. But I couldn't get that suit out of my head. Walking back down Via Toledo, I passed the shop window again. And suddenly I felt a magnetic field dragging me in. I inquired about the suit, tried it on, and the next thing I knew, I was finalizing the purchase. There was, however, one major drawback; I had to have the pants altered. I did not want to wait an extra day for the alterations like the time I also bought a new suit in this very same city two years ago at Sonny Bono (Via Toledo). I explained to them in Italian that I was leaving for Norway tomorrow, and today I had a wedding to go to in three hours. The people in the store were very friendly and accommodating. They promised to expedite the alterations, even through their afternoon siesta (1:30PM-4:30PM), so that everything would be ready for me in 1 1/2 hours by 3:30PM. They then curiously inquired about the duration and method of my Italian study. I replied that it was a combination of books, CD's, and lots of Italian parties in Houston over many years. 3:30PM (1 1/2 hours before the wedding)
I returned to pick up the suit, and with very little time to spare, I raced to the Montesanto subway station in a dilapidated neighborhood while dangling new clothes, a new suit, new shoes, a portable GPS, and a digital camera by my side
Flowers Along Via dei Mille
. Nothing happened! Like nothing also happened when I was going through the turbulent ghetto (Favela) of Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro in 2006. Maybe I was extremely lucky...4PM (1 hour before the wedding)
Arriving back to Luigi's house, I went immediately to get changed. Excited about seeing Fabiana and Marco again, I rushed to put my suit on. Luigi was still sleeping in another room, thinking the wedding was going to be at 5:30PM. I had Immaculata, the family's domestic caretaker, wake him up, and then the real rush began. Within 20 minutes, we were all ready with everything. We waited outside for Michele, Luigi's brother, to come pick us up and drop us off at the church, which was 10 minutes away. I was worried we were going to be late, but Luigi kept reiterating that Italian weddings never started on time. Sure, I once knew some Italian friend who had a pathological aversion to punctuality, but my friends who were getting married, Fabiana and Marco, were very punctual people.
4:55PM (5 minutes before the wedding)
Michele negotiated through the hilly streets of Naples like a Formula 1 driver and arrived in front of Santa Lucia al Monte Church (Vittorio Emanuele Blvd, 328), where we literally jumped out of the car and rushed to the entrance. There was only a small crowd trickling in, but no sight of the bride. Luigi said with a vindicated smile, "See, Italian weddings never start on time." I then spotted Marco, the groom, who was already surrounded by his family, inside the 550 year-old church
Via Chiaia Shopping Street
. He was beaming with a scintillating smile, as he saw me and Luigi. We greeted each other with a big hug, and he introduced me to his family. But where was Fabiana? Puzzled, I walked outside to check for her presence. No bride in sight.Small Cardiology Convention at the Church
It was now 15 minutes past 5, and more guests were arriving to this charming church, which was once a vast Franciscan monastery complex built in the 1550's. Located below San Martino Hill on a serpiginous cliffside avenue, the church commanded an unobstructed view of Mt. Vesuvius, the Sorrentine peninsula, and the picturesque cityscape of Naples below. Then, two friends from Houston arrived, Antonio and Elizabeth. They were both Ph.D. principal investigators who used to work at the Texas Medical Center in cardiovascular developmental research together, but now, Antonio was back home in his native Italy, leading his own laboratory. Elizabeth, his charming British wife with a fluent aptitude of Italian, was now teaching biomedical science as a Professor at the University of Salerno. It was truly a sweet Houston reunion once again in Naples. More doctors were arriving at the church, colleagues of the bride and groom. In fact, there was quite a representation of cardiologists attending the ceremony, as both Marco and Fabiana were specialists in that field. It reminded me more of a small cardiology meeting than a wedding. If there were any myocardial infarction (or heart attack) during this ceremony, immediate medical attention would be plentiful and surely available for that lucky individual.
5:20PM Bridal Entrance
Outside the church amidst the threatening rain clouds, I then spotted Fabiana walking down the street among the numerous spectators
Fountain Near Piazza Plebiscito
. Her beautiful white dress and diaphanous veil were flowing dreamily in the cool evening breeze. My jaw just dropped seeing how spectacular she looked. It then dawned on me that this was no longer a cardiology convention, but that Dr. Fabiana was about to get married. She entered the church accompanied by Mendelssohn's "Wedding March from A Midsummer's Night Dream," the music selection that would usually be played at the end of an American wedding. The ceremony was very special, and like a paparazzo, I got up from my church pew and stealthily headed towards the altar to take some pictures of the bride and groom. There were already two Italian professional photographers, who were fighting for elbow room with me. Their huge lenses and sophisticated cameras far outshadowed my small automatic camera purchased in the Akihabara Electronic District in Tokyo. But at least, my smaller device did not take photographic bullying lightly.6:30PM Hors d'oeuvres and Reception After The Ceremony
The delectable appetizers and wine were served in an elegant hall adorned by a huge painting from the Italian Renaissance. I was very impressed with the overall details paid to this wedding, from the fine china and glassware to the artwork and dramatic location. Outside, the rain clouds had now dispersed, leaving the sky illuminated with a spectacular aquarelle sunset. Mt. Vesuvius, responsible for the violent eradication of Pompeii on August 24, 79 AD, was now beautifully looming in the distance in such a delicate and tranquil repose
Inner Courtyard of Luigi's House
. Shakespeare once wrote in Venus and Adonis (1593), "Love comforteth like sunshine after rain. Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain." It seemed fitting that the sunshine was reappearing and sprinkling on the upper terrace of the luxurious San Francesco al Monte Hotel as the newlyweds emerged amidst applauses, congratulatory cheers, and a thunderous appeal for a kiss. The couple complied amid roaring cheers.
Our dinner was set in an ethereal floral garden on the upper terrace of this hotel, which used to be a convent founded in 1557 by the Minori Conventuali Monks, with a breathtaking panorama of Naples. As the reddish-orange colors of twilight dimmed in the sky, the city lights below appeared like a domino effect from one neighborhood to the next, eventually engulfing the entire city in an intense sparkling web of illumination. While enjoying dinner at my table, I had a chance to meet Marco's friends from Ecuador, France, Germany, and Morocco. We drank, talked in English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian, and enjoyed the fine dining of this special Italian wedding: a mosaic mixture of shellfish, fruit, cuttlefish, and walnut as the appetizer, tufolo (a large macaroni shell) stuffed with smoked buffalo mozzarella fondue, eggplant, and coarsely chopped tomatoes as the first pasta course, fresh ripple-edged rhombus-shaped pasta with lobster and green pepper as the second pasta course, and a slice of black salt encrusted sea bream fish accompanied with potato, corn tartelette (shortcrust pastry), and sautéed zucchini and eggplant as the main course
Luigi Outside His House Ready For The Wedding
. Lemon sorbet was an intermediary dish between the main course and dessert, which was a grand buffet of many different cakes, fruits, and of course, the wedding cake.The festive reception dinner was not over until almost 1AM on an early Wednesday morning. In a few hours, I would have to go to the airport to catch a flight to Oslo. I went over to the newlyweds to congratulate them again, had some time to catch up with them as the crowd was thinning, and as we left the hotel, Luigi called for a taxi on his cell phone. At this moment, I felt like I really did not want to leave Italy so soon, as my short four day visit was coming to a close. What a great time I really had seeing Luigi and Annalisa again. And the best part was to be present at Fabiana and Marco's wedding. As I was just getting used to the Italian language, I now would have to start switching that off and turning on the area in my head storing my Norwegian language database. In a few hours, a new adventure was waiting for me in Scandinavia...
Arrivederci, Italia!
Hei, Norge!
