Photos and the City

Tag: Italia

Up and down – Vomero

On top of the Quartieri Spagnoli sits Vomero watching over the city. Offering the most stunning view on the bay of naples, beautiful buildings and lots and lots of stairs…

It used to be farmland and looks back on a agricultural tradition – something you would expect when you visit this urban area today. It was the nobility that made their way up the hill, trying to escape the plague in the narrow streets of the city in 1656 and looking for fresh air and tranquility. The hill stayed tranquil until the opening of the first two funiculars in the mid 19th century – they still run. The city above (città alta) was connected with the city below (cittá bassa) with steps – a lot of them! “Le Scale di Napoli” – the stairways of Naples.

01/08/2016
Herculaneum

It was on the afternoon of August 24th 79 AD when an enormus eruption of Vesuvius buried several cities including Herculaneum for centuries until the first major excavation in 1738. The diggins and findings in (modern) Ercolaneo and Pompeii initialized the Neoclassicism in Europe – motifs from the roman sites began to appear on furniture, wall paintings and teacups. Naples and the area around Vesuvius were put on the map of the european traveller and became part of the “Grand Tour”.

Herculaneum was probably of greek origin dedicated to the greek god Hercules and was used as a trading post. In 89 BC the town became a Roman municipium (town) until being buried under 20 metres of ash on that August afternoon in 79 AD. About 75% of Herculaneum are still buried today.

Until the discovery of about 300 skeletons in the boathouses (picture above) it was believed almost all citizens had managed to escape into the sea.

Take a walk on the old roman streets and dive into another time – there weren´t that many visitors and it almost became easy to image how life must have been 2000 years ago.

Merken

19/07/2016
Quartieri Spagnoli

This was kind of my daily route down to Via Toledo and back up to my apartement – straight through the spanish quarters (Quartieri Spagnoli). And every time there was something new to discover, shrines, murals, cute dogs, ladies selling something out of their kitchen window, kids on a Vespa, tiny little front gardens, tiny shops, people watching tv together,…

Some days ago Dolce & Gabana transformed the narrow streets of Napoli into a catwalk for their “Alta Moda” show – what a perfect backdrop to present fashion!

12/07/2016