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Napoli!
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This past week of class was tiring. I think I hadn't fully recovered from my busy weekend in Dublin. Luckily classes on Thursday were canceled so I was able to get some extra rest before heading out of Rome for another weekend. Three out of four of my classes include weekend excursions outside of the city, but within Italy. With my Baroque Art History class, I spent Friday and Saturday in Naples. I found Naples to be amazingly beautiful and definitely worth a visit, despite its reputation for being dirty and dangerous.
At 7:30 on Friday morning the whole class met a bus that drove for about 3 hours before arriving in Naples. I was hoping to be awake to see the landscapes along the drive, but I couldn't seem to stay awake. Our first stop in Naples was the Capodimonte Museum. This art museum is full of masterpieces, especially Renaissance and Baroque, which is why we took a trip there. We saw famous works by Caravaggio, Artemesia Gentileschi, Carracci, Reni, and others. Our professor would lecture by important pieces while also giving us some history about the city. We spent several hours at the museum studying several paintings. Then we got back on the bus and went up to a point high above the city where there was a Carthusian Monastery. The most amazing part of that was definitely the view. From balconies we could see the coastline of Naples and also Sorrento, Capri, and Ischia, not to mention Mount Vesuvius. Fortunately we had great weather for sightseeing because normally the air is not so clear making it difficult to see the islands. It was really breathtaking. After having time to take tons and tons of pictures, my professor took us through the monastery. We saw the main chapel and then many other rooms including the room where they held relics, the parlare (where the monks could talk), and a cloister with a mass grave for the monks. Also at the monastery is a gigantic nativity. One thing that Naples is known for is their nativities. It is common for families to not have a Christmas tree, but only a nativity that they add figures to each year. The figures are sold all over the city. The one in the monastery is very large and stays all year round because it is too much to set up every year. We had spent so much time in the museum and at the Carthusian monastery that it was time to check into our hotel and get dinner. On the bus to the hotel we chose two other people to stay in a room with. After having an hour to relax in the hotel, the professor offered to take anyone interested to a typical Neapolitan pizzeria. It turned out that the whole class joined her. We went to a very simple restaurant across the street from our hotel. Two other girls and I decided to share everything so that we could taste as much as possible. We obviously had to try the pizza since pizza originated in Naples. We ordered a risotto with mushrooms, a provolone and pesto pizza, and the traditional pizza margherita. We also ordered a ball of fresh bufala mozzarella cheese. The real mozzarella comes from water buffalo milk, which they always use in Naples. The food was amazing and very filling. After dinner we were exhausted so we went back to the hotel and went to bed.
The next morning we had a wake up call at 8 AM and the hotel offered a breakfast. After breakfast we began walking through the city. We were in the historical area, where there is a lot to see, but it is important to be careful of gypsies and thieves. Also, because of the garbage crisis in Naples, it is pretty dirty. Throughout the day we went into so many different churches that it would take too long to describe all of them. We started at the Duomo where there is the chapel of San Gennaro, patron saint of Naples, along with his relics. The Neapolitans heavily believe in the supernatural so once a year, the blood of San Gennaro is brought out to the public. If the blood liquefies, then it will be a good year without plague or an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. If it does not liquefy, the people will yell obscenities and spit on the relic in anger. Also in San Gennaro's chapel are famous paintings and frescoes. After the Duomo, we went to Pio Monte della Misericodia to see Caravaggio's "Seven Acts of Mercy" masterpiece. The Spacca Napoli is an ancient Roman street that splits Naples in half. We were given time to walk along the street and by some souvenirs. Then we went to San Gregorio Armeno, San Lorenzo Maggiore, Capella San Severo where we saw the Veiled Christ Statue, Gesu Nuovo church (a Jesuit church!), and Santa Chiara church. The church of Santa Chiara was unique because of its beautiful cloister with painted tiles. There were tiles depicting mainly landscapes, but also mythological and religious themes. Along with the tiles, there were frescoes, orange trees, and columns. For lunch, I had the greatest pizza of my entire life. We went to a restaurant named Sorbillo. Apparently the owner has 22 children and they are all pizza makers. I tried a pizza margherita, one with atichokes and mushrooms, and another with spicy salami. It was amazing. Definitely the best pizza I've ever had. After lunch we went to see another Caravaggio painting, "Martyrdom of Saint Ursula. At this point we had walked through so much of the city and it was almost time to head back to Rome so we stopped for some typical Neapolitan pastries. They are known for Baba, which is a sponge cake dipped in rum, and sfogliatella, a flaky pastry. I tried both, of course.
I enjoyed Naples a lot. It was really beautiful and the food was excellent. If I had time I would like to go back and see more than just the art, but unfortunately this trip seems pretty booked up already. Now, I am looking forward to my family visiting. They are arriving on Tuesday and after spending two days in Rome, we are going to Sicily for the weekend for sight seeing and meeting family. I'm really excited for it! I'm also looking forward to spring break because I have finally decided on plans. I will spend the first few days in Madrid with my friend Laura. Then I will head to Paris for a few days where I can meet up with a bunch of friends I have met here and also another friend from Fordham. Then I will go to York for one night with Anthony to visit Andrew Ketchum and then we will all go to London for the end of my spring break. It will be really busy, but great since I can see so many friends from home.
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