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We have to thank Andrew Graham Dixon the historian, the Italian cook Locatelli his friend and Di Mosta the Italian historian for us venturing into Naples . Whether I shall praise them and thank them for the tip to come here or curse them remains at the moment open ended. We hoped for the best as we had read some dreadful reports on Naples and its filthy streets in Rough Guides and blogs and were aware of its mean and edgy feel but as we had souls we hoped that deep down we would find something worthwhile in the city.
And so we left our overnight stop. Our Bangladeshi friend did indeed open up for us and we hit the road heading for the big city. All the while hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
So where is Suzy parked today? We had chosen a family run campsite in the area of Quarto. To get there we had to negotiate the urban sprawl that is Naples . We had always avoided Naples and now we could see why. The streets are still full of litter and rubbish. No-one empties the bins. The walls everywhere covered
in graffiti and we are in the land of the white plastic chair in every laybye or lane. Complete with long legged, dark skinned, dark haired young lady who sits in a provocative pose sometimes showing her knickers if she wears any underneath her belt like dress. The only thing missing the come and get me sign and a price list . The houses are dirty, clothes hang across the street. We feel as if we coming into the mean end of town.
We were not even sure that we had not got speeding tickets . The speed cameras are everywhere not that the Italians took any notice of them and the speed limits jumped up and down every few hundred yards. We contemplated we might have six of them by the time we get home. We may need a mortgage to pay for them. And yet the Italians fly past us. They don't seem bothered by speeding tickets .
The campsite we had chosen was a family run one in the neighbourhood of Quarto . We missed it as we sailed past the sign and found ourselves going round in circles trying to
find our way back. Sally Sat Nav had a hiccouph. With a mind of her own she ignored the fact that the campsite was just a few hundreds yards away. Instead she took us round the houses and back the way we had come. In all 7 miles out of our way and with a sense of déjà vu we got back to our camping spot for the night. When we arrived we were guided to one of the last remaining plots and were given a space that would have pleased the Caravan Club with room for the awning to come out. Not that it did – It poured down overnight and for the next two days. We are getting rusty not sun tanned.
We bought four jeton at 1 euro each for the showers and four tickets to get us into and back out of Naples. I fell into conversation with a Danish tour guide who was taking 19 motorhomes for a whistle stop tour of Southern Italy before they dispersed either to carry on travelling independently or going home. He called round later that night and brought me a Camperstop book for Scandanavia. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
. How nice was that. Sometimes you meet up with some lovely people on your travels .
We slept well despite being in the heart of a big city and the next morning set off for the train station for the big journey in. We had directions from the campsite to get to the station. There was a short cut but the directions had been lost in translation as we found ourselves in someones garden. They directed us back and we found the nearest station to the campsite 300 m away. Our information sheet told us we could get the train from here to Pozzuoli and then change for the tram into Naples but to come back we needed Quarto Officiano the next station 900 m away. This did not really make sense so we opted to walk the dingy streets full of litter to the dingy train station at Officiano where the trains ran every 20 mins to Naples . My God what filth. Do the natives not see the dirt, the dog dirt, the cartons and cans thrown about? Do they like the graffiti or just don’t they notice it any more? It felt like
a third world country and a lifetime away from the richer north . It is said the northern Italians don’t like the southerners . Perhaps seeing all this made it easy to understand why.
The train trundled in on time . And what a train . You have to imagine a train that was taken out of service as it had reached the end of its shelf life at least 40 years ago . It had been resurrected and repainted by the local graffiti artists. And they were not Banksy by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn’t just this train but every train and every station between Quarto and Naples was the same.
The main station was grubby and dark and we entered central Naples in the Monte Santo area the hub of the centro storico. The buildings are all high rise. Four or more stories and block out the light. The walls are grubby with age , rain, moss and dirt. The streets below bereft of any sunshine which cannot find a way in. Washing lines stretch across the city streets. the small shops spill out mostly selling fruit and vegetables and others fast food. If you want pizza on the go then this is the place to come. The streets radiate in all directions but feel claustrophobic and have a mean edge to them. So far nothing nice to say about them . I held on to my handbag. This is nothing like any Italian city we have ever seen before . And the verdict is still out . They say you need to get beyond the dirt and grime and we are trying to do that . Perhaps it gets better.
Eventually after crawling through the back streets we found the first open piazza. A dull and dismal affair with dirty baroque churches all with locked doors and a huge statue of Mary adorned with lamps and bulbs and all manner of bling . From the piazza the narrow dirty streets fanned their way out. Normally with a map you can you find what you want but here it was a like a maze without any possible way of getting to either your destination or getting the hell out of it. Our necks were creaking from looking up hoping for divine inspiration, a bit of sunlight and a street name. Italy is not a grey place but Naples bucks the trend.
Second square with same old baroque churches and same old Virgin Mary blessing the square . The church we wanted to see was closed. Our guide Andrew the historian had waxed lyrical about a tomb with a fantastically real life carved woman deep in sorrow . Shame we couldn’t see it . We couldn’t find the Duomo either in that maze of filthy streets . I always say Italy is like a nut and in the middle is something fantastic but Naples is losing me .
We did find the chapel with the veiled Christ . Cost of entry 8 euros each. Beggars outside with plastic cups trying to earn money by telling us where to buy our tickets from . Sadly inside no tocare and no photographs. In this chapel was the first sign that there could be something wonderful hidden in Naples . The beautifully painted ceilings in vivid colours , an amazing sculpture of Christ painfully thin with his ribs showing through the veil that was carved over him. How the sculpter .could produce a veil out of stone was beyond me. Above this an even more fascinating Christ fisher of men . I Think it was Christ covered in a fishing net . From a distance this looked like a rope fishing net . Upon closer inspection ti was all carved from stone. The work was exquisite .
In the underground chapel two anatomical figures with the circulatory system embalmed in some way and preserved . The plaque said no-one to this day knows how this was done but the arteries and veins were all there , all connected and all looking as if they would work if the blood still ran through them. Rather gory but I like gory .
This was up to now the best thing we had seen. Back though into the rough streets to St Maggiore when there is an underground Naples. I had got muddled up here I had wanted to see the burials beneath Naples which De Mosta had told me about . Instead I ended up in Roman streets with roman houses and shops beneath modern Naples . Fascinating but I wanted skulls and bones . I never found them.
In the end we sat in a pavement café eating bruschetta and tomatoes , simple fare , nicely laid out and perfect . But no skulls and bones .
Our final stop was the Castle , not inspiring and the the Royal Palace set in its own square. We walked to the port and took the obligatory photographs of brooding Vesuvius from above the Bay of Naples . Very much a workaday port the cruise ships were in town. No wonder it was heaving. And Vesuvius looked menacing.
Last thoughts which put the whole trip into perspective for me was the long public building adorned with a banner and on that banner 102 photographs. They were mainly men some in uniform and some in civilian clothing, a handful of women and about 10 children. The oldest man 82 years of age and the youngest child 10 years old . All the victims of criminality. I guess although it was not stated that what they really meant was that they were all victims of the Mafia . Now this is what Naples and the deep south is all about. Still not cleaned up. Politics still dirty and corrupt . No wonder the graffiti , little wonder the bins don’t get emptied and so many lives lost and just remembered by tiny photographs on a building in the heart of a dirty disgusting city.
I don’t often say that a city insults my soul . I have a soul and can see through things to something better but Naples - well it is a city if anyone asked me should they go I would have to say I hated it , I hated what it stood for, I hated the conditions, the filth and the grime and I just couldn’t for once in my life see through it and find one good word to say about it.
I was glad to catch our train home and get the hell out of there. It held nothing for us.
Our hosts at the site though were fantastic. We paid our 15 euros fee and were given free electricity by father who shook my hand as I left the site reception. His daughter smiled when I told her we were from Wales and she said Diana Princess of Wales . She was rather well liked in Italy apparently Do we have good memories of Naples - yes we do . The Danish group and the nice young lady and her father who made us most welcome. We will take away no memory of Naples but a bucket load of memories of that family. .
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Carolyn Taylor
non-member comment
WOW!
I share your view of Naples. I went there 2 years ago in January (traveling solo as a 70 year old). I had heard so much about how beautiful it was. I guess if you come in on a cruise ship on a sunny day and only walk through the tourist shops by the bay that can be someone's idea of beauty. I had booked a B & B near the archeological museum. Even the taxi driver couldn't find it! Finally, he dumped me in front of a dingy old door, threw my suitcase out of the cab and left. It turned out to be a lovely place. That's about all the only positive thing I can say about Naples.