Photos and the City

Category: Italia

Palazzo Reale di Napoli

It was my last day in Naples, my luggage was already at the train station in storage and it was about time to visit the Palazzo royale di Napoli. Palazzo royale was built during the time of the Spanish occupation, who wanted to build a modern palace, large and well decorated.

Envisaged as a 16th-century monument to Spanish glory (Naples was under Spanish rule at the time), the magnificent Palazzo Reale is home to the Museo del Palazzo Reale, a rich and eclectic collection of baroque and neoclassical furnishings, porcelain, tapestries, sculpture and paintings, spread across the palace’s royal apartments. (Lonely Planet)

The King never came but the palace remained becoming the Royal Residence of the Austrians first and the Bourbons who followed. During the Bourbon reign, damage from a fire in 1837 led to a major restoration and enlargement (1838 – 1858) by Gaetano Genovese. It was during this time that Francesco Antonio Picchiatti’s (1651) Scalone d’onore was refaced in pink and white marble. Considered one of the finest monumental staircases in Europe, it now leads to the Museum of Palazzo Reale on the piano nobile. (Napoli Unplugged)

The Appartamento Storico, the historic apartment, was opened to the public in 1919 and then severely damaged during World War II. Carefully restored and today it houses a rich collection of Neoclassical and Baroque furnishings, paintings, tapestries, and decorative arts objects and porcelain.

The famous roof gardens were unfortunately closed and under renovation, so I have to come back to adore them!

It was about time to leave this stunning palace and catch my train to Rome. Little did I know that there would be huge delays of the travels and I was lucky to catch my night train to Vienna by mere minutes.

23/05/2019
Quartieri Spagnoli

Taking a deep dive into narrow alleys and colourful life of the Quartieri Spagnoli, the “Spanish” neighbourhood of Naples.

“Napule è mille culure, Napule è mille paure, Napule è a voce d’ ‘e creature che saglie chiano chianu e tu saje ca nun si sulo:” (Pino Daniele)

Naples is a thousand colors, Naples is a thousand fears, Naples is the voice of children gently coming through

From one window you hear the voice of the beloved Neapolitan singer Pino Daniele, some football match from the next and then an opera piece – the Quartieri Spagnoli are a cacophony of sounds. Mums calling their children, men talking to each other from one balcony to the next and then there are the scooters finding their way through the alleys.

they did start as a place for the rich and noble: it was the Spanish viceroy Pedro de Toledo who chose the area in the 16th century as the perfect location for Spanish politicians and ministers to live. Apparently, he liked it because of its beauty and pleasantness, full as it was with mulberry trees and green. After the ministers and their families came Spanish soldiers, who lived in the bassi and attracted large numbers of prostitutes, ready to keep them company while they were far from home; but the military didn’t only bring around easy women, but also helped the flourishing of commerce: soon the many alleys around Via Toledo, the Quartieri Spagnoli’s main artery, filled up with workshops and stores, bringing a multi cultural and varied population to move into them. (L´Italo Americano)

In the 18th century the Quartieri Spagnolia was loved by artists who choose them as their residence. Poet Eleonora Pimentel Fonseca was one of the first and followed by many, like Goethe.

And how can we forget, to say it all, that it’s in Via Sant’Anna di Palazzo, at the heart of the Quartieri, that the most famous pizza in the world, the Margherita, was born? Indeed, it was there in 1889 that the tricolored delicacy was created in honor of Queen of Italy. (L´Italo Americano)

21/05/2019
Terme di Baia

By train, I made my way from Pozzuoli to Baia, a lovely harbour and town and a very fashionable resort during the Roman Times!

particularly towards the end of the Roman Republic, when it was reckoned as superior to Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Capri by the super-rich who built luxurious villas here from 100 BC to 500 AD. (Wikipedia)

Having a villa in Baia was a must for the Roman aristocracy!

Nothing in the world shines brighter than the gulf of Baia. (Horace)

After some caffé (and probably gelato) and a nice stroll around the harbour, I made my way to the former baths, still a little bit crushed that I wouldn´t be able to visit the Parco Archeologico delle Terme di Baia with the glass boat. But another time it will work out!

The Temple of Mercury, used the have the biggest dome before the Pantheon was built.

the Baia bath complex was the largest one in the world of ancient Rome. It runs along a 450-meter front; the entire hill from the “Baia saddle” down to the sea is covered with the ruins (Naples Life)

Back on the way home to Napoli!

16/05/2019