I lived for 17 years in New York City and thought I knew what crazy was. Well, I have seen a new level of insanity - Naples, Italy. Seriously, this place is Wackadoodlesville. I've only been here a few hours but I can certainly see why Naples has the reputation it does. It's pandemonium. People walk wherever and whenever they feel they can. Cars and motorbikes ignore things like red lights and pedestrians. It'll be a miracle if I don't get run over by something while I'm here.
I departed my lovely Rome around 9:30 this morning and arrived in Naples around 10:40; reaching my hostel by 11:10am. The hostel I'm staying in is called "Giovanni's House" and it literally is a man named Giovanni who has owned and lived in this 3rd floor apartment all his life. He converted his home into a hostel and now welcomes guests like they are old friends. The funny thing about Giovanni is that he is very proud of being Neapolitan...VERY PROUD! I assume he does this with all his guests, but he sat with me for nearly an hour, explaining the history and features of Naples and exclaiming on how I really need 5 days in Naples to see it; how Naples has so much more history and interesting things to do than Venice, Florence, and Rome; and telling me all the places I need to see while here. Personally, I think the two and a half days that I've allocated for Naples (with one day being a side trip to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast) is more than sufficient.
After my lecture on the joy that is Naples, I ventured out. It was lunchtime and I was heading to a recommended pizzeria (recommended by Giovanni and my Rick Steves guidebook) as one of the best in the city. When I got to the restaurant, there was a line halfway around the building. I didn't have the patience to wait, so I passed on by and found a different pizzeria. In typical Italian style, lunch of a pizza, beer, dessert, and tea took approximately 2 hours. The Italians do not rush their meals. But I will say that nice thing about Naples is that by comparison to other Italian cities, it's cheap. The meal I had today was about half the price of anywhere else in Italy.
By the time lunch was over, I decided that today I would tackle one thing on my "Naples to do" list. The site du jour was...
Naples' Archaeological Museum: My hostel is located approximately 3 blocks from this museum, which is convenient. Considered to be one of the finest collections of archaeological finds, this museum was top of my must see list. It offers some of the best art and decorations from Pompeii and Herculaneum, the two ancient cities destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. When Pompeii was excavated in the late 1700s, the best artifacts were brought to Naples at the behest of the Bourbon king. I saw some amazing statues, like the Toro Farnese (left photo), which at 13 feet is the tallest ancient marble group ever found and the largest intact statue from antiquity. Some restoration was needed on this statue and it was restored by none other than Michelangelo. I suppose if you need a statue restored, you can't ask for better than Michelangelo. There was also a 10-foot colossus of Hercules which was amazing.
After viewing the statues on the ground floor, I made my way up the grand staircase, where I saw some beautiful mosaics which had been discovered in Pompeii and reassembled here.
Next, it was onto Gabinetta Segreto (The Secret Room), which contains a sizable assortment of erotic frescoes, well-hung pottery, and suggestive statues that once decorated bedrooms, meetings rooms, brothels, and shops in Pompeii and Herculaneum. The first thing that greets a visitor upon entering the Secret Room is a pair of big stone penises. These phalli weren't necessarily sexual symbols but were displayed as amulets to keep away the evil eye. They were also symbols of fertility, happiness, good luck, riches, and such. The Secret Room had a whole host of interesting items, but the one that fascinated me the most was the statue of Pan having sex with a goat. As you can see in the photo, it's pretty graphic and illegal in several countries. Ancient Roman culture had a different sense of sexual morals, and viewed sexually explicit material very differently from most present-day cultures. Thank you!
I then explored some non-erotic frescoes and pottery uncovered in Pompeii and explored some more statues, including one that I really liked of a Drunken Satyr (below). This is one happy satyr! And it made me cackle when I saw it. I really enjoyed my time in the Archaeological Museum.
After the museum visit, I returned to Giovanni's House in order to settle in. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to venture out into the insanity that is 'evening in Naples'. I still have time to make that decision. Tomorrow, I plan on exploring more of the city.
There aren't many photos today, but feel free to check out Day 51 photos on my GToE photo site.
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