Tag: streetfooditaly

A Fabulous Musical Street

Posted on by alice

Alice: I remember when I came to Naples eighteen years ago. It was a dark and rainy January and I would walk the historical centre, making friends with the people I’d meet at the shops and bars I spent time in to keep warm. One of the friends I made was working in a CD store on via Sebastiano I had stumbled upon because I was too shy to visit the stores, although I was fascinated by their instruments, especially their mandolins. He introduced me to local musicians like Pino Daniele, Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare, Almamegretta and 99 Posse. Along the street named after the once-present San Sebastiano Monastery and with its proximity to the Music Conservatory which has been visited by Rossini, Alessando Scarlatti, Bellini and Donizetti (among others), it is still the home to the biggest concentration of music instruments and equipment in Naples.

Fiorella: You are right! It is always nice to walk by the Conservatory and hear the musicians and singers practising.
Neapolitans are never tired of visiting this fabulous place.
The Royal Conservatory of San Sebastiano was established  in 1807 by King Giuseppe Bonaparte. In 1826 it was named Royal Conservatory of Music of San Pietro a Majella. It originated by fusing together three conservatories founded in the 16th century in the churches of Santa Maria di Loreto, Sant’Onofrio in Capuana and Pietà dei Turchini. The aim of the three institutions was to rescue children from the streets of Naples by housing them and educating them through music.
The conservatory and the adjacent church are part of the 14th century monastery of San Pietro a Majella, built at the end of the 13th century and dedicated to Pietro Angeleri, who became Pope as Celestine V in 1294.

The church is also a must-see! The transept is decorated with valuable frescoes dating from the 14th century, baroque marble inlays and a cycle of paintings by Mattia Preti, amongst the others. The fabulous 17 th century cloister with palm and banana trees and a monument to Beethoven by Francesco Jerace, leads to a second cloister and to the Conservatory.
The Conservatory library houses important manuscripts of the numerous composers  who lived and worked in Naples.

Alice: Also Neapolitan-by-adoption like me love to walk down the narrow, tree-lined street and hear notes from guitars, violins and mandolins waft in and out of the doors of the stores. Music lovers will truly appreciate this corner of Neapolitan history. Don’t be shy like I was initially!We visited Giuseppe Miletti store as well as others the other day to buy a speaker and a mixer for upcoming concerts. Two hours and an impromptu concert later, we walked out smiling and in appreciation of Manuela’s patience for all the models she happily let us try!

When you leave via San Sebastiano, turn left at Spaccanapoli to check out the artisan street vendors and street musicians performing for the throngs of people walking by. If you’re looking for something to please your sweet tooth, there is Gay Odin which has some of the best chocolate and gelato in town.
In the late 19 th c. Isidoro Odin, a young chocolatier from Alba, come to Naples, one of the most important and populated European capitals. Naples was a melting pot where artists, aristocrats, scholars and food-lovers from all over Europe spent their time in the already colorful and busy streets of the city. The first classy and wonderfully smelling factory was opened in Chiaia, the area where it is still today. Isidoro worked day and night to create delicious new delicacies and surprise the Neapolitan fine palates. Gay Odin chocolate was and is still today considered one of the best in town. All phases of production are handmade, from chocolate roasting to packaging. Packaging is still the original from paper with vintage images to fabulous boxes representing Naples’ vedutas and guaches. One of the reasons why it is in the registry of Italy’s historical places.
Fiorella: Hungry for something more substantial? Try out the pizza at historical Pizzeria Lombardi.
Pizzeria Lombardi a Santa Chiara is a 5 th generation pizzeria, decorated with majolica tiles inspired from the next door cloister of Santa Chiara. The first pizzaiolo in the family started in 1892 in his bare basso (street level home) in vico Limoncello where calzoni with ricotta and maybe cicoli or simply tomato sauce were coming out from a frying pan and sold for few liras to the neighbours. Four generations have made pizzas every day in the historical center.
A coffee is also mandatory in 70s original style Settebello bar, a bohemian spot where whoever desire to play the piano is welcome…be advised though that the owner, Pino, is an expert in classical music. Also, his fabulous nephew is a musician who studies music and plays piano between serving one espresso after another. Intellectuals, street artists, old professors, street vendors and students are all sitting at the tables of this welcoming corner, where table service is not charged.

 

A Fabulous Night Among the Artichokes

Posted on by alice

Alice: Fiorella, we have to tell the readers about our Friday night in the Vergini!

Fiorella: Who would’ve thought that we would be at a party around pineapples, art students, families and one of the funniest DJs I have heard in a long time!

Alice: When you told me about a party at Ciro, our favorite vegetable seller, I had to go to see what a night dancing to Neapolitan 90’s pop while buying vegetables for Saturday’s lunch looked like.

Fiorella: And it looked FABULOUS.

Alice: Every day this bustling market street hosting Palazzo dello Spagnolo and the famous Ciro Oliva pizzeria is full of cars and mopeds and baby strollers and people going every which way to buy fish, socks, oranges, a newspaper or mozzarella but Friday night it was magical. There was a new energy where the stands used to be which connected artists from around the city, locals, tourists and two of the best up-and-coming bloggers in the area to relax, sip wine, dance and eat delectable, homemade sandwiches filled with ingredients from Ciro’s mom like meatballs, friarielli and eggplant Parmesan.

Fiorella: It was unforgettable! I loved how Ciro, still dressed in his work clothes, was dancing next to the DJ while he continued to sell his fruit and vegetables.

Alice: That is Naples for you…a surprise around every corner. Where else can you find this kind of spontaneous creativity?

 

 

 

Fabulous San Giovanni a Carbonara

Posted on by alice

Fiorella: Apart from pizza and pastries, Naples is famous for archaeology and lots of Baroque…one of the many interesting contrasts of this city. And if you look hard enough, you can find gems of the Renaissance in this fabulous città d’arte.

Alice: I love the Baroque in Naples but it is so great to find those rare places that are examples of other styles. Do you have some favorite spots?

Fiorella: The church of Sant Anna dei Lombardi, the sepulcher for Cardinal Brancaccio by Donatello and Michelozzo in the church of Sant’Angelo al Nilo, the Succorpo in the Duomo and the marble arch of Castel Nuovo are some of the best but I think one of the most notable examples of the local Renaissance is the church of San Giovanni a Carbonara.

Only a few minutes walking from the Duomo and the MADRE museum, in via San Giovanni a Carbonara you find this amazing site where I lead tours to visitors who want to stay away from the typical tourists routes.

Alice: Sometimes off-the-beaten path is the best! I want to know more about Napoli Renaissance. Can we walk there together for a short guided tour? We should also specify that Carbonara has nothing to do with the famous Italian pasta dish that I love so much. However, let’s promise our readers that after the visit they can have a break at the close-by Rescigno bakery, a gluten (and not only) paradise.

Fiorella: Exactly! Carbonarius, indeed, was a place outside the city walls where refuse was collected and burned…not inviting at all.

Alice: By refuse, do you mean trash? But San Giovanni is so pretty!

Fiorella: The complex of San Giovanni was built in the 1340s in this restyled area and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. During the reign of King Ladislao di Durazzo it became the Royal cemetery. Damaged during the earthquake of 1688, it was restructured in the 18th c. by Ferdinando Sanfelice, our beloved Neapolitan architect famous for its spectacular double flight staircases.  Remember our post about the 5 Fabulous Things of Naples?

Climbing the stairs, half way up, we see the Chapel of Saint Monica with its 15 entrances. Continue up the steps-

Alice: Wait, how many steps exactly?

Fiorella: Do not complain-a fabulous surprise is waiting for you. Plus, you are a pro at stairs, I know you live on the fifth floor with no elevator! Anyway, after a little bit of a walk upstairs, you will finally reach the church of San Giovanni. So worth it. And remember we are going to Rescigno afterwards for some of the most delicious snacks ever!

The courtyard is also the entrance to the Cappella Seripando, called the chapel of Crucifix after Giorgio Vasari painted the Crucified Christ (1545) now in the presbytery of the church of San Giovanni.

Suppressed as religious order, the complex was used by military and then bombed in WWII. It was later restored and returned to its origin. The XV century portal, once a side entrance, leads into the church.

Alice: This place is fascinating. Another example of the layers of history around every corner of this city.

Fiorella: The first monument we see is the Miroballo Altar (second half of the15th c.) that reminds us of the arch of Castel Nuovo.

 

Alice: That arch is another one of my favorites as well…anyway, go on!

Fiorella: The Sepulchre of Giovanni Miroballo is a round arch, decorated with statues of saints ending with a tympanum on which St. Michael stands. The central niche, in the arch shows St. John the Evangelist by Giovanni da Nola, and the virtues: Temperance, Strength, Prudence and Justice.

In the tympanum you see the founders of the chapel with the Virgin Mary, Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. The chapel, is considered to be the work of Lombard artists. Probability Jacopo della Pila, Tommaso Malvito, G.T.Malvito and may be Pietro da Milano, in Naples to work for King Alfonso of Aragon at the Arch of Castel Nuovo which is the triumphal arch celebrating his accession to the throne.

Walking towards the altar, amongst sculptures and paintings, you reach the 15th c. Chapel of Caracciolo di Vico (to the left of the presbytery) with a concentric square marble floor and a white cupola which repeats the same geometric motif. The chapel shows the work of the most important sculptors working in Naples between the 15th and 17th c. Giovanni da Nola, Girolamo D’Auria and Annibale Caccavello amongst the others.

Bartolomé Ordóñez and Diego de Siloe are the two foreign artists who realized the altar in around 1516. Active also in Rome, they were familiar with classical sculpture and Raphael’s work. More decisive and dynamic is Ordóñez style, fluid and softer de Siloe’s. The Epiphany in the center, indeed, is attributed to Ordóñez. Here the draperies and the features of the Magi and the other characters are well defined. While Saint George who kills the dragon and the other figures dressed in light fluid drapes would seem to be by de Siloe as well as the flat sculpted Christ on the frontal altar.

Leaving this exquisite space we reach the apse where the impressive Sepulcher of King Ladislao di Durazzo dominates the scene. It was commissioned by his sister who inherited the throne as Giovanna II and it is dated 1428. On the first level of the gigantic monument are the frescoes by Leonardo da Besozzo and statues representing the Virtues with their iconographic elements: Temperance, who pours water into wine; Strength with the column of Samson; Prudence with the snake; Magnanimity who holds a shell with a cherub.

On the second level we see Ladislao and Giovanna II on the throne. At the side of them we can see Military Virtue with the globe and Hope with cupped hands and Charity with a horn of plenty and two maidens and Faith with a goblet.

There is also Giovanna the Queen who descends from a valorous brother and royalty continues on top of the arch where Ladislao’s parents, Carlo III and Margherita di Durazzo are found. Can you see the bishop blessing the king, the Madonna and child together with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Augustine, protecting him?

An opening between the statues of the Virtues leads onto the Chapel of the Caracciolo del Sole family, commissioned by Sergianni Caracciolo, lover of Queen Giovanna II.

 

Alice: Wait, a lover? Scandalous! I guess that is nothing new.

 

 

Fiorella: Yes, he was not a very faithful lover however. Appointed by the Queen as Great Seneschal, he was an ambitious man, ready to do anything in order to obtain office and riches, he betrayed even Giovanna and this eventually led to his murder in 1432.

The chapel is circular and completely frescoed (15th c.) with Stories of the Virgin’s life. Look at the scene in which St. Anna gave birth to Mary: there is a woman looking out of the window with washing hung up outside; another, on the ground floor, is cleaning a chicken.

Alice: Not much has changed in Naples in terms of the washing hanging outside although I don’t think I have ever seen anyone cleaning a chicken! Yet.

 

 

Fiorella: The fabulous floor of this chapel dates back to early 15th c. Local craftsmen created these zoomorphic motifs, vegetable elements and portraits. In some tiles, you see a sun, symbol of the Caracciolo del Sole (Caracciolo of the Sun) family.

Sergianni’s sepulcher was commissioned by his son about ten years after his assassination to celebrate the power of the Seneschal.

 

Alice: There is so much here to take in. A perfect place to wander, explore and take in art and architecture without the hustle and bustle of throngs of tourists. I am getting hungry, though…

Fiorella: Ok, ok, I know just the place to take you. But before you leave the church, take in what remains of the 15th c. fresco of the Annunciation and if it’s sunny don’t miss the little balconies next to the church with washing and a Naples-style panaro (basket) hung up outside.

 

 

Are you ready for a coffee and a Naples-style snack? You know we are not  yogurt-and-an-apple type snackers and the near-by Rescigno bakery offers a wide selection of savory and sweet treats to commit an understandable sin!

 

Alice: I mean, didn’t we earn it? All those stairs! I will take two taralli, please!

Fiorella: Just two taralli? They are so delicious but there are so many choices of wonderful things to go for. You can taste a frittatina di maccheroni (pasta and béchamel which is breaded and fried), a focaccia with so many perfect toppings to choose from. But have you tried their primi piatti?

Alice: Yes, of course! You know I love my carbs and this place has so many choices. One of my favorites first dishes at Rescigno is sartù di riso which takes a while to make but only minutes to devour. Sartù is the Neapolitan elaboration of the French word sur tout (above all). Sartù comes from when chefs created this fusion dish to please the Bourbon nobility. It is a perfect blend of ragù meat sauce, rice, and tiny meatballs (sometimes salami) and then baked with breadcrumbs to perfection. I think I will take one tarallo for the road and enjoy this amazing dish.

 

 

p.s. Thanks to Raffaele Lello Mastroianni for the photo of the Crucifix by Vasari

 

 

 

Tours

Posted on by topolone

Oh yes, the monuments, street food and street art in Naples are fabulous!
Might we suggest a tour with vesuviusvspompeii.com as the guides are all in love with their city and very specialized!
The tour focuses on daily life, traditions, food and street art in vibrant Napoli.
How fabulous is to go around with somebody who knows all the secret spots of the city and suggests all the specialties to try.
Do you want to visit also some local manufactures and shops where the locals go? Ask…and you’ll have the answer!
Relaxing and food-related tours are some of our fabulous choices to learn and taste bella Napoli:

SHOPPING AND TASTE NAPOLI

Do you want to learn about sparkling Naples while shopping -or just window shopping- and tasting delicious street food, wine and cheese?
Your day will be spent between the charming Chiaia neighborhood, where all the principal Italian designer shops and local clothing manufacturers are to be found, OR visiting small artisanal shops in the fabulous crazy historical centre of Naples. Funny jewellery, cameos and coral, hand-made gloves, leather items, ceramics, Christmas decorations, nativity scenes, chocolate and candies are just some of the items you will see or buy.

caciocavallo cheese

UNDERGROUND FABULOUS NAPOLI

Dante /Toledo/ Università/ Salvator Rosa and the ancient buried Greek-Roman city.
These are some of our favourite underground areas and we want to share them with you.
A tour between contemporary art and ancient history is what everybody needs to understand the layers of Napoli. It is so fabulous to go from minimal art and shining mosaics, to blue tunnels and skylights by some of the most famous international artists to a 2500 years old city hidden by the busy roads of Naples centre. Jannis Kounellis, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Joseph Kosuth, William Kentridge, Robert Wilson, Karim Rashid, Alessandro Mendini, Perino&Vele, Enzo Cucchi and Lello Esposito are only some of the artists who participated in designing and decorating this public transport fabulous museum.

Toledo Station

ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM AND SANSEVERO CHAPEL

This is the best combination of top class antiquities and marvellous Baroque art.
Neapolitans call it THE MUSEUM, for its central location, sometimes ignoring that this museo is one of the most important archaeological museums in Europe. Why? The frescoes, mosaics, statues and utensils discovered in the Vesuvian area (Pompeii, Herculaneum, Boscoreale and Stabiae) are simply breathtaking!
Among its other collections are the Farnese and the Egyptian rooms. There is also the secret cabinet which shows many erotic objects from ancient times.

Archaeological Museum – Fresco from Herculaneum

And what to say about the Sansevero Chapel? It is one of the most visited monuments in the city and you will understand why only if you go there. In order to understand the intricate symbology and massonic meanings you will need an expert or a thorough guidebook. You will fall in love with the esquisite marble statues…book tickets on line to avoid long queues!

 

Cappella Sansevero – Francesco Queirolo  Disillusion

Naples Fabulous

Naples (Italian: Napoli – Neapolitan: Napule – Ancient Greek Νεάπολις, Neapolis meaning “new city”) is the third-largest municipality in Italy. Around 1 million residents live within the city’s limits, 3 millions in its province-level municipality. With the highest density of population in Italy, it has a horrifying number of unemployed people but it also has a historical centre which is a world heritage site. A city full of mystery, beauty and contrasts, the streets of Naples tell unforgettable stories not easily forgotten. Its cuisine is synonymous with pizza and spaghetti, Naples’ dialect has its own orthography and is famous over the world because of the Neapolitan songs. Naples Bay is maybe the most beautiful in the world….if not, it is indisputably FABULOUS!
Fabulous – Extraordinary, especially extraordinarily large, having no basis in reality, mythical.
Late Middle English: known through fable. From Latin fabula
(Oxford Dictionaries)