Naples
Miscellany 23 (late
June-running updates through
July
2009)
All Naples miscellany (1)
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 In the last week in June, there was a
large demonstration by representatives of some 70 non-profit
organizations, both religious and non, active in social
assistance programs. They were protesting the absence of funds already
allocated to the groups by the city and
regional governments but which are still unavailable. The demonstration
produced the unusual scene of
groups of nuns blocking
traffic for a short period of time in front of the Naples city hall.
- "Esco
dentro" (roughly, "I get outside while I'm on the inside") is
the
name of a prison work program for about 400 convicts from Naples, who
make about 500 euros a month working three days a week to patrol the
downtown and port areas of the city and assist tourists during the
summer season. They are easy to spot from their bright yellow
reflective jackets and have become somewhat of tourist attraction,
themselves. The regional Campania government has come under criticism
for the program, but it has attracted the
attention of TV crews and newspapers from abroad, places that are
curious to see if such a program works and can be copied. I am betting
that it will work and that the incidence of petty theft such as
purse-snatching will decrease in the areas where the convicts are
present. (That is, if you are a punk pick-pocket, you will probably
want to avoid that group of four rough-looking customers standing over
there glaring at you and who are wise to your ways and who have spotted
you coming a mile away.)
 The Coroglio road, which leads
down from the Posillipo height to Bagnoli,
is
supposed to be
reopened, at least to alternating one-way traffic, by the end of June.
It was closed weeks ago after an umpteenth landslide. That
on-again/off-again story goes back many years (the road was originally
the work of Austrian engineers in the 1830s). It is still the only
convenient way to get from parts of Posillipo to Bagnoli. The Bagnoli
end of the road starts at sea-level and then runs up past the entrance
of the Seiano
grotto (photo, right) and
turns through a number of switchbacks before reaching the top of the
cliff (out of view to the left in the photo).
- As of July 1, there will be 30
street construction sites open in Naples, many of them open even all
night to get at least some of the work done during the summer. Of the
30, eight are long-term sites for the new metro stations, none of which
will be open until 2011 at the earliest. The other 22 sites involve
very necessary street repair and repaving. The work will coincide with
the summer holidays of the traffic cops; half will take July off and
half will go in August. This should be fun.
- Your own permanent box-seats (the Home Edition)! After the
recent
renovations at the San Carlo opera house, a number of box-seats are now
for sale by the theater. Yes, for the low, low price of 400 euros you
can set one of those plush red seats up in your own home and crank up
the stereo! And MORE! Twenty dressing-rooms seats are also available
for 1000 euros apiece; they each bear a plaque with information such as
"dressing room tenor" or "dressing room conductor." You can sit where
he or she sat, depending on who your particular he or she happens to
be. Pavarotti's seat will thank you.
 Antonio Bertani, the owner
of the newsstand located in Piazza del
Gesù, has received an award from the president of Italy. Don
Antonio is now a Cavalliere [knight]
della Reppublica," an award for services rendered. His service
is that he is an unfailingly optimistic and industrious representative
of Naples as well as the promoter and mover behind various social
initiatives to take care of "his" piazza,
one
of the most popular ones in the city and site of such iconic
tourist attractions as the Church of Santa Chiara. For the last 40 if
his 61 years, Bertani has been helpful and friendly to all passers-by.
His sense of humor is legendary, as the sign (photo) posted on his
newsstand shows: it tells you that you can buy tickets for the Italian
national lottery here. In a nation where proprietors proudly tell you
that such-and-such a winning ticket "sold here!" brought such-and-such
ungodly amount of money to the lucky ticket-holder, Antonio says
simply: "At this newsstand in this square in Naples, no one has ever
won
anything."
- Scugnizzi a vela
[somewhat poetically, "Ragamuffins Before the Mast" or, if you like,
"Street kids go sailing"] is a program sponsored by the non-profit
social assistance organization, the "Life Association". Once again,
they are sponsoring a summer program to teach underprivileged teenagers
the craft of restoring sail boats and then of actually sailing them
around the bay of Naples. It is done in collaboration with various
child welfare groups as well as a staff of trained sailors and social
workers. The concept goes by the name of Velaterapia--sailing therapy.
- Tourists who go to places such as Pompeii and Capri may not
be aware of the intense competition among the tour guides who lead them
around. The other day at Pompeii, two guides were haggling over who was
infringing on whose turf. It got heated and, at a certain point, in
full view of a crowd of tourists, one of the two just keeled over and
died. He was 84.
- Matteo Salvini, a deputy in the pseudo-secessionist
Northern League, has resigned over the uproar caused by his being
caught on video (then spread on You Tube) of him at a bar joining in a
rousing anti-Neapolitan "soccer chant." That's what some fans do; they
sit up in the stands and rant, in this case: "Here come the
Neapolitans... hold your noses... they never wash... even the dogs
can't stand the stink." He later apologized and said it was nothing
personal because right after that one, he and his cohorts sang a few
verses against people from Verona. (Ah, good clean fun! Salvini is also
the one who advocated separate metro cars for Milanese so they would
not have to sit among all those unwashed foreign workers in
Milan.) He claims he is resigning in order to serve in the European
parliament and not over the episode caught on video. Northern League
leader, Bossi, true to form, said Salvini should be censured not for
what he sang but only because he has a terrible voice.
 Even more than the recent
UFO sightings over Pozzuoli (!) and even more than the fact that people
are staying away from local beaches in droves because of pollution, the
item causing a real stink is
local musicology and all-around culture guru Roberto De
Simone's (photo) outcry the
other day that culture in Naples is going to hell. "I hate this city.
When I die, I am going to be buried somewhere else. A Naples without
culture is fine only for those who have no culture to begin with."
Harsh words, indeed, from one who has dedicated his life to the culture
of his city.
- This may or may not satisfy De Simone (above), but there
was a spectacular open-air concert in Piazza
Plebiscito, the largest such venue in the city, on Friday, July 17.
The combined orchestras and choirs of the San Carlo Theater and the
National Academy of Santa Cecilia (in Rome)—400 musicians! (including a
40-member children's choir)—came together for a Verdi Gala under the direction of
Antonio Pappano (currently the music director both Santa Cecilia
Academy and the Royal Opera House in London). The orchestra and choir
set up behind the two large statues in the square, backs to the
entrance and colonnades of the church of San Francesco
di Paola; they faced the Royal Palace and an audience of about 9000.
The program included a number of Verdi overtures and excerpts (Nabucco, Luisa Miller, il Trovatore, Aida, Otello) and one item not by Verdi,
the glorious prologue from Mefistofele
by Arrigo Boito, featuring the children's choir and
the young Ukrainian bass, Alexander Tsymbalyuk. Mefistofele is the only opera by
Boito that you ever hear. I don't know if it is the only thing he wrote, but even if it
is, his life was well spent.
- The Arabic word suk,
meaning
"market place" crops up more and more in Neapolitan newspapers
these days, most recently in regards to Piazza Garibaldi, the site of
the main train station as well as almost endless construction activity
for the new underground train lines. The western side of the square has
turned into a teeming hive of wandering vendors and portable stalls and
booths. Almost all of the activity is illegal; not only is it
unlicensed, but those involved are probably not even in the country
legally. The city council has decided to "clean up" the area. No one I
know believes this can be done, other than in a stop-gap sort of way:
chase them away to another street for a while.
 Readers may know that an
organization at new7wonders.com is
sponsoring a world-wide election by email to select the Seven Natural
Wonders of the World. Through the first few rounds of elections, the
field has narrowed to 28, including the Black Forest, the Cliffs of
Moher in Ireland, the Dead Sea, the Gala- pagos Islands, the Grand
Canyon, and the only entry entirely in Italy, our very own Mt.
Vesuvius! I know how Neapolitans celebrate victories. I am hoping that
Neapolitan volcanoes don't do the same
thing. There are a few more run-offs before the seven winners are
selected.
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