Weekend in Napoli

The archaeological museum is fantastic, has great stuff. It's good to go there before Pompeii, as it has much of the art that once hung there. The house of the faun means so much more when you have seen the mosaic that was on the wall. The capelle Sansevero is wonderful if interesting statuary is your thing.

Quick Tips:

The Archeological Museum has a secret cabinet you can ask about when coming in. It has erotic art and is very interesting. The central area is very interesting, the old town, but people do warn you to watch your things. Theft has been an issue in this town, although recent crackdowns on thieves may have changed that somewhat. We had no trouble. Get the ARte Card (detailed in the next section).

Best Way To Get Around:

Public transport and walking is the way to go in Naples. You'll have problems crossing a street, though if you don't realize that no one will stop driving until you step out! The Naples Arte Card, three days for 25 Euro covers two museums (we did the archeological museum and the excavation at Pompeii) plus all your transport all the way to Sorrento and even a boat trip down the Amalfi coast if you choose. This is a great deal! Try to take the Funiculi for a little bit of a change, we did not have time.

Ostello Mergellina is a clean and well-run Hostelling International Hostel in a suburb of Naples called Mergellina. It's near the waterfront on the west side of Naples.

The hostel is very accessible to backpackers as it is just up a hill from the train station in Mergellina. Note that you exit the train station, turn right, turn right again, go under the underpass and turn right into the road that will bend up to the hostel. Yes, if you could walk through the tracks you would halve the distance, but you cannot. You pass a little nightclub on the way up, which is built into the side of the hill, very interesting. We had a room on the front of the hostel, but were never bothered by noise.

The hostel charges 14 Euro for a dorm bed, 16 Euro for a bed in a double room, which we decided to get.

Our room looked out on a courtyard, on the railways, and out to the Bay of Naples. Great view, but our double room is small with a bunk bed and no towels (we didn't think to bring towels so we needed to dry off on clothes for the next few days: Bring towels). It has a private bath, and it was generous in size, but the entire room was the shower, as is often true in Italy. The toilet paper was set up so it would not get wet, and the arrangement worked just fine.

The hostel breakfast is a typical Italian hotel breakfast: brioche and coffee. The Coffee is instant put into hot milk, and tastes much better than we expected it to. I had chocolate spread on my brioche, similar to Nutella. Mark had both butter and the chocolate plus a peach topping with the consistency of honey. He said it was yummy. We were glad to stop for a second cup of coffee, a cappuccino, later in the morning from a bar. (In Italy, bars are largely coffee bars.)

I checked the guides for a place for dinner, and settled on the Trattoria Pizzeria de Pasqualino. It was great. The book says 18 euro per person for dinner, but for a total of 30 euro, including a small tip, we got a bottle of Lacrima Christi (yummy fruity red wine.) I ate a vegetable antipasto platter with sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, some kind of greens, grilled eggplant, grilled zucchini, all drenched in garlicky olive oil. Mark had proschiutto with fresh mozzarella. For a pasta dish I had spaghetti pomadoro, and Mark had Farfalle with a salmon sauce. Everything was good. We did not need a further main course.

The menu allows for a full Italian meal, with appetizer, pasta course, main course, etc., or for just a light pizza. There are a number of options for vegetarians, both with cheese, as much of the pizza (you can get marianara pizza without cheese) and without, as in my antipasto, which was heavenly.

If you are staying at the Hostel at Mergellina, or you are coming via public transport to the Mergellina train station, this is easy. It's just down the street from the hostel and the station. Exiting the station, turn right. You will go under an underpass and come out to a busy square with lots of tables (several restaurants seat people here.) From here you can see the water.

Our last evening in Napoli, we went to a Pizzeria named Trianon. It's located in the center of Naples, and is in many guidebooks as one of the great purveyors of true Neapolitan pizza. We were welcomed by a German woman we had met in Pompeii, and we decided to dine together. We had a Margherita Doc pizza (Buffalo Mozzarella and fresh cherry tomatoes, sliced in half, and a Margherita con Fungi pizza, which had sauce, Mozzarella and mushrooms. We also drank a couple of half bottles of red Lachrima Christi wine, which was lovely.

The pizzaria is simple, with tile/brick ovens on each floor. The pizza is the best I have ever had, thin in the center, thicker at the end, brick oven crisp. The buffalo mozzarella is much more flavorful and delicious than the cow kind we have in the US.

Naples is the birthplace of pizza, and it does not get any better than this. I cannot recommend this place enough. The entire bill for the three of us was 31,39 Euro. That includes the service charge (15%). Remember NOT to top a lot in Italy as 15% is already figured in.

This chapel in the old section of Naples houses some fascinating statuary. It used to be a church, but is quite clearly now a museum, with an entrance fee of a few Euro.

Getting to the chapel is part of the fun; you walk through the streets of Naples where people live, where you see grocers with their produce out on the street, kids going by on scooters and skateboards, women hanging wash from 10th floor clotheslines, which run from building to building over the street.

There is public art and statuary around the neighborhood, and several interesting other churches nearby including the Duomo.

Capelle Sansevero can be a tad difficult to find. We found Rick Steve's map and directions the easiest way to use, walking from the main train station. There are a couple closer stops, but we wanted to walk through the area, where my grandfather spent the first 16 years of his childhood.

Once inside the Chapel you are presented with an amazing baroque chapel. You are immediately drawn to the center of the room where you'll find the highlight, the statue of the Veiled Christ. This is Christ off the Cross, covered with a translucent, or possibly wet sheet, rendered in marble. The skill of this sculpture is amazing, the veil is so lifelike on the body, at places conforming to it so we see the body clearly underneath in some places, while in others the line of the body is blurred a bit by the light sheet over him. Walk around this sculpture slowly a couple of times and see how it changes, especially the face of Christ, as you walk. From some angles you will see pain, from others, peace.

After checking out the Christ, look at the other sculptures. These were done by a different artist, but they reflect a similar level of skill. Despair, who struggles with a net carved in great detail from marble, is a highlight almost as amazing as the Veiled Christ, but the others are as well rendered, if not as unusual.

Finally, as you leave, look up on the ceiling. This incredibly hopeful fresco, centering on the Holy Spirit, provides a hopeful balance to a chapel that is really about the death of Christ.

Before heading out on the street, make sure to go downstairs. You'll exit a door on the right side of the chapel (from the entrance) and pass over a floor which is tiled with a slight optical illusion. It looks like Escher built it. Down at the bottom of the stairs there are some strange mummies who have had their circulatory systems preserved. And their eyes. It is a tad wierd.

Alas you cannot take photographs here, so I have none. You can buy a book, which I did, of the chapel as a memento.

This museum is hard to define. While I called it a Cultural Museum, it is also a History Museum and an Art Museum for Ancient Art.

This is Naples' big world-class museum. Its collection of ancient art is unparalleled. Upon entry you can visit a great collection of Roman artwork, possibly the best in the world, save that of the Vatican.

At its core is the Farnese Collection, which contains some amazing art which was excavated from the Baths of Caracolla in Rome. Indeed some of this sculpture was excavated while Michelangelo was working on the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and he commented on it in letters home to Florence. If you spend some time looking at the Farnese Hercules, make sure, later that you look for similar figures on that ceiling.

Besides Hercules, the Farnese Bull is a wonderful statue. Room-sized, it is a depiction of a woman being chained to a bull as a punishment for disrespecting another woman. After you've been awestruck by the grandeur of the piece as a whole, make sure you check out the incredible detail of the sculpture, the animals and objects and the plants sculptured on all sides of this incredible work.

Also on this floor is the jewel collection which includes some incredible cameos including the Farnese bowl, an amazing large cameo bowl, which is ancient and delicate, carved with amazing skill on both front and back.

Upstairs, an extensive Art Collection from the excavations at Pompeii and Herculeum sits. There are wonderful mosaics, most of which look like paintings. One of the most notable of this is the huge battle scene with Alexander the Great, which came from the House of the faun in Pompeii. Remember this mosaic when you visit Pompeii.

If you want, and if you ask when you come in, you can get access to the "Secret Cabinet" in the museum. This is a room full of erotica, from rough phallic sculpture to a detailed sculpture of Pan with a she-goat, to frescoes of the "menu" on the walls of Pompeian bordellos, to vases and mosaics, even wind chimes, all manner of erotic art is here. I'll put up my photo of the painting of the three graces, which is the tamest of this. Much would be inappropriate for public consumption.

Everyday cookware and various implements, including jewelry from Pompeii and herculeum are displayed, and there are innumerable other exhibits.

Another highlight are couple large depictions of the Pompeii site; a diorama and a map on the wall.

The museum has a well-stocked bookstore, and a beautiful open garden in the center (closed when we were there) with much beautiful sculpture.

Getting there via the subway, the closest stop is Piazza Cavour. There are also a number of busses and the like which stop there.

Tip: I recommend doing this museum BEFORE you go to Pompeii. It provides and excellent introduction.

Catch the Circumvesuviana train, on the lower level of the main train station in Naples. This is reputedly a place where pickpocketing is likely, so be careful.

It took about a half hour to get to Pompeii Scavi on the train, which stopped at every stop along the way.

We arrived in Pompeii and entered using our Art Card. Be careful to ge in the right line if you have the card, it's the GROUP line.

I think the regular entrance fee was 14 or so Euro. If you don't have the Arte Card, go in the regular line.

Pompeii disappeared on August 24, 79 AD when Mt. Vesuvius erupted and spewed hot rocks and mostly ash all over the coast of the gulf of Napoli for miles. Fewer people were killed than was once thought, since an earlier earthquake did scare some folks out of the area, but it was still a natural disaster of horrific proportions. Because of the nature of the ash that enveloped everything, much of the town was preserved extraordinarily well, and it is a huge education in what life was like in the Roman Empire around the time of Christ and the early Christian church.

Once you get there, there is a huge amount of interesting stuff to see. You have a very long day ahead of you. I recommend highly against the tour. They provide a small tour book and a good map; you can also usually buy a more involved tour book. But use them and lead yourself around. You will find that the tours do a smallish set of places which are overrun with folks when they are there, on your own you can explore. Don't worry about getting to THE baker, there are a dozen bakers, some better, etc. So find your own way around, especially if you have the day.

Some of the highlights for me were the Forum area, which was very interesting, some of the houses with existing murals, the mosaic floors, especially the "Beware of Dog" floor (very very cool) and the very elaborate large floor with many small patterns (including a woman's silhouette) on the Via Abondanza, the theatre quarter and the hose of Venus, with the wonderful large mural of Venus. IN the necropolis, the large circular benches built to memorialize women was neat, too. It was clear this was a culture in which women were active. It was a very full day.

The weather was incredible, with blue skies and few clouds, even over Vesuvius. We got some wonderful pics with all the light.

If you are heading for Italy and you just stay in the big cities (Rome, Naples, Florence, Milan, Venice) and the touristy places, you will miss a lot. Visit a small town if you can.

We visited the city of Solofra, because my grandfather's parents had met there, and his "Uncle Canon" Carmine Troisi was one of the town's "Illuminati."

We had a troublesome train trip there, missing connections and all, but were helped greatly by the conductors (who all wear green jackets.)

We rode the train through the most beautiful and fascinating mountain geography. When I get home I will have research it a bit. The mountains were unlike any I had ever seen, lush, but sharply folded. In the evening with the setting sun on them they were lovely. and they often had fortresses on the top. It was great.

Now is a good time to note that every person we asked about Solofra asked us to repeat it, or gave us a look like "What on earth do American Tourists want with Solofra?" They don't get many.

Solofra, Campania, Italy

Now the visit. This was an extraordinary experience for me so I will try to cover it in detail. First my goals. I had two goals here. The one landmark I knew about was the Church of Michael the Archangel, where my great grandparents were married. The second was to try to find a cemetery and find Troisi graves for Lisa. I will say that I failed utterly in the second aim; there was no cemetery in sight, and my Italian was not up to asking about it. But in the first goal we succeeded tremendously.

The train station in Solofra is run down, to the point of looking abandoned. The sign is torn off, and it looks like it has not been maintained for years. Don't ask me why, the town could not be more lovely. It's set in a broad valley between a number of smallish mountains of this eccentric folded variety. We exited the station to the left, since that way headed downhill, and it was clear we needed to be down on the other side of the tracks. I had glimpsed what looked like the church from the train window, based on a picture I had gotten from their home page on the Internet. The tracks follow a grading along the hilltops. We went down the hill and sure enough we went under the tracks. No sidewalk here so we went carefully. It's one car narrow, and we'd seen enough of Italian driving to make us very cautious. Upon coming out the other side (short tunnel) we followed the same road for a few blocks until we came to a crossroad that pointed us to Solofra Centro. We headed in that direction.

Just about at the point that I was getting worried that I might be going the wrong way (Mark was not worried, he knew where I thought I had seen the church and thought we were going in the right direction, there it was in glorious view. )San Michele is white, and has a shape in the front like those mission churches in the southwest, although somewhat more decorated on the outside. There is a square bell tower and on the other side a yellow monastery. I knew that our connection here, besides the marriage of my great-grandparents, was Carmine Troisi, so I was looking for information on him specifically.

We next visited the Church of San Michele in Solofra. I have reported on our two visits to the church of San Michele in a separate report. Look for San Michele, Solofra.

Upon leaving the church, we were met by a policeman who directed us to the large building across the street, which had been a palace of the Orsino family, a duke who ran the town. It is now some kind of government building. The policeman was very happy to see American Tourists, and told us a lot (in rapid fire Italian) about the duke. There is a little more on the duke on the Solofra web site.

After spending about 15 to 20 minutes appreciating the ducal palace, we continued on, deciding to return to the station for the 5:30 Train. We crossed the street where we were greeted by an Italian man. He was a very Italian looking man, with dark wavy hair, a bit taller than I. He started talking about the church (again in Italian) telling us about the frescos on the ceiling, which were done by a single artist, who he named (the name is on the videotape.). He led us back toward the church and we paused as he explained about the church (San Michele) and the monastery next door (Santa Chiara).

Again we visited the church, which is detailed in a separate entry. After this second visit we needed to say farewell, and head back to Naples at the end of a wonderful day.

We entered the church quietly because some kind of event to pray for world peace was going on. I wanted pictures, but was hesitant to take them in a church that was being actively used at the time. A few people were praying and saying the rosary, there was a priest saying confessions in the reconciliation chapel. I asked Mark to take picture with the digital camera, because he can do so without making any noise, whereas mine makes a pronounced click.

The church is beautiful. You enter through beautifully carved wooden doors, past all the informational things on modern racks and posted. This church does not have an entry way or Narthex you enter directly into the Sanctuary. The main altar is old, and was covered with flowers and candles (unfortunately electric). It rises to the ceiling, with the building continuing behind it a little ways. There are two side chapels on the left, a reconciliation chapel, which we did not enter, because the priest was saying confessions there, and a holy sacrament chapel with a very bloody rendition of a dead Christ in a little alcove in the wall. Along the walls were another six altars, two on the side with the chapels and 4 on the other side. All were dedicated to someone or given by someone and I searched these for mentions of the Troisi family, to no avail.

This was a very moving experience for me, much more than I expected, to be in the church of my ancestors. I felt like there was some kind of a connection to the past. Lighting a candle for my mother, who I remember numerous times in her life lighting candles for her parents and for others she cared about, living or dead, and saying a prayer, felt like she, and her father and Troisis back generations were watching. It was being somehow connected to the spiritual heart of my family. All I could find of their life here, all I knew of the in Solofra was this church, which the Troisi family had supported for generations; indeed there had been, in my grandfather's childhood, an endowment so that a member of the Troisi family in every generation could be a priest. Our family has a tradition, therefore, from as far past as we can remember, of being deeply involved in their churches, and of those churches being the center of their lives. It's a tradition I am glad to try to uphold!

I lit a candle for Mom, and after thoroughly checking out the church, we went outside. There we found a big marble panel to memorialize Carmine Troisi, right out side on the facade of the church (or possibly actually the monastery.) This was very cool. I continued to walk around the church to see if there was a nearby graveyard, which there did not seem to be one of, so I walked across the street to get a better picture of the church.

On the outside of the church, a plaque commemorated Carmine Troisi. There have been 2 canons since him.

After visiting the Ducal Palace, we ran into a man at a bus stop who invited us back to the church. We were standing with him beside the marble memorial to Carmine Troisi, and Mark managed to communicate that we were interested in Carmine Troisi. Eventually, with my Italian dictionary and my copy of Domenic's story we were able to explain that we were from the Carmine Troisi family. This guy became even more enthusiastic. He led us back into the church, and we paused while a short service, related to their peace weekend or whatever (it may have been a novena, since it had public events planned for this Saturday and Sunday and the next Sunday) finished. Then he led us around the church explaining stuff as we went. We found out that the statue with the wound on his leg was St. Rock (sp?) We saw St. Anthony and St. Felipe, and St. Giovanni. He showed us the relics, which I had seen before. However on the wall there is a marble relief of a man in a casket. He identified this as Carmine Troisi. He spoke to someone briefly, and as he did so I drew a little family tree, so I could show him how I fit into the Troisi family, using my Italian-English dictionary.

A statue in the side of the wall was presented as being Carmine Troisi. Since he is buried elsewhere, I assume this is just an effigy. He asked permission and took us to the vesting chamber for the priests, and on the way to it he showed us marble plaques on the floor, and after much confusion back and forth we came to understand that the sacerdotes/canonicos were buried under those marble slabs; including Carmine Troisi. We took pictures of all and then into the monastery proper, which appears to be now used as a school. There were some teenagers there, and he explained excitedly who we were, as the teenagers, like teenagers anywhere gave us a kind of big deal look, but they were friendly.

He showed us the places in the wall where the (presumably cloistered) monks could talk to visitors. There was also a place in the wall, a small door opening into a small space, maybe 18 inches by 3 feet by a foot deep) where their food could be placed, without them coming into contact with regular people.

After returning back through the vesting room (which also had frescos by the same artist who did the ceiling in the church itself, Guarino) (this is if I remember correctly, when he showed us the place of internment for the Sacerdotes) he then took us to the choir loft, which is behind the altar. We had to genuflect and then walk up around the altar (or rather both altars, the more modern, post Vatican II one, and the old one that my great-grandparents were no doubt married at) we entered the choir section (essentially a separate room. Clearly the effect on the people attending mass would be amazing; the music would seem to come out of nowhere, but for the choir members, it was like not being in the church.

We got an unusual look into the Sacristy at San Michele. Carmine Troisi is buried near here. There was, however a lovely fresco here. and the gentleman told us (I think) that the collegiate church used to be associated with a school of some sort and that the choir was full of fine musicians. (pointing to the seats he said "Maestro, maestro, maestro" at three successive seats, indicating this.

As time for our train back to Naples approached, we excused ourselves and left, but not without a memory that will last forever.