The Mystery Tower

Nook of Naples: Driving along the autostrada past the Naples Financial District, a tower pokes its head out of the hills. It's reddish and from the freeway it looks crumbling -- or, medieval to be exact. I always thought this was an Arab tower.

But it's no such thing. The Arabs may have traded with Naples, but they didn't settle in these parts. In fact, no mosque that I know of exists in the city -- and I've looked. Still, I wanted to find out more about this strange tower and one afternoon I simply followed the horizon. I ambled, circled, asked, and outright got lost in the congested streets of Naples, but I finally landed at the Torre del Palasciano.

Located a few blocks away from Capodimonte, the tower was designed to look like the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence. Antonio Cipolla directed construction that builders completed in 1868. Today, private residents live inside the tower, which is surrounded by high gates.

The surgeon Ferdinando Palasciano (1815-1891) once owned the entire complex. When he provided medical care to both sides in Messina during the riots of 1848, the king considered his care of the enemy an act of treason. Palasciano served one year in prison. His case gained international attention and provided the basis for the Geneva Convention of 1864 that gave life to the Red Cross. The good doctor thereafter lived in this abode, which included a large garden of fruit trees.

Today, the Hotel Villa di Capodimonte is located next door, touting wonderful views of the city as well as the tower.

Drink Coffee -- It's Good For Your Health

The Espresso Break:   Neapolitans have a strongly held cultural belief that coffee is good for your health.  Perhaps this notion dates back to The Code of Health of the School of Salernum, a manuscript written by anonymous physicians around the twelfth century:

Order of Supping

Begin with meats, with coffee then conclude;

Eschew such drinks as toper hands have brewed,

Which burn our flesh, yet palate all delude.

Be bread the last of anything you eat,

And after meals shun fires that give much heat.

But supper over, then give time beguile

With rest, or gently strolling for a mile.

-- and --

Coffee to some gives sleep, to some unrest;

Headache relieves, and stomach when oppressed; 

Will monthly flow and urine too procure.

Take it slow-roasted, each grain picked and pure.

Because the manuscript is a compendium of dietary recommendations, the Code of Health demonstrates that at least some people within the region used coffee as an everyday beverage.  If true, the dark brew in Campania pre-dates the introduction of coffee to the whole of Europe, traditionally given as 1615 when merchants brought the drink to Venice.


Today, modern day medical researchers also find coffee to be healthy.  The pan-European Coffee Science Information Center cites the following:

• A study of 72,284 Italians showed that there was an inverse association between intake of coffee and the prevalence of asthma.  Risk of asthma fell by 28% when three or more cups of coffee were drunk everyday.  Therefore, caffeine is an effective bronchodilator.
• Coffee possesses greater in vitro anti-oxidant activity than other beverages due to photogenic acid and the meanoidins created during the roasting process.  Hence, it may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
• Moderate consumption of coffee may lower the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
• A control study in Italy showed an inverse association between coffee consumption and ultrasound documented gallstones.
• Coffee may also protect against liver cirrhosis.
• Studies say that there is a 31% less chance of developing Parkinson’s disease if one drinks coffee.
• Portuguese and Canadian studies have shown coffee intake may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
• Coffee may be an ergogenic aid that improves the capacity to do work and exercise, prolonging the time of exhaustion and enhancing performance.
• Coffee improves alertness, which in particular helps car divers, thereby reducing the number of accidents.

In spite of these health benefits, Italians actually drink less coffee on average than other EU countries.  The small-portioned espresso shot may be the reason.  And because water touches the coffee grinds for less time in an espresso machine, the caffeine content in an espresso shot is a mere 100 mg in comparison to a 7-ounce cup of brewed coffee that has 115-175 mg of caffeine.  So if Italians hold the key to 'best coffee intake practices', temperate portions also play a role in the dark brew's health benefits.


With that, I say, to your health -- Drink Espresso!

The Roasters (Torrefazione)

The Espresso Break:  What makes Neapolitan coffee so distinct?  The answer:  a fine blend of roasted coffee beans.

In a world where Starbucks doesn’t exist and large companies are viewed with skepticism (their products considered shoddy), the small Neapolitan coffee roaster is hailed.

Before the 1960’s when people made coffee at home, they also roasted their own beans.  With the invention of the tin can, coffee beans stayed fresh for longer periods and could be transported over wider distances, so coffee roasting became the domain of specialty businesses.  Today more than 600 coffee roasters compete on the Italian market.

In Naples, café owners use three main criteria in choosing their roasters:   1) they tend to buy local;  2)  roasters should be family owned & run; and 3) the company should have a long history -- being in existence several decades is coveted.

Café owners usually have placards both inside and outside their establishments telling customers which roaster they use.  The roasting company then supplies the cups, saucers, and bean grinders that display their logo.

Neapolitan roasters pride themselves on having a taste unique to the South.  Most make the generalization that southern Italian coffee is darker, stronger, richer, and tends to taste like semi-sweet chocolate.  More specifically, Neapolitan roasters say that while they use up to 70% of the sweet Arabic beans (more often found in South America), they also add a mix of the bitter tasting Robusta beans found in Africa.  They also maintain that their beans aren’t oily (like the French), aren’t acidic, and are roasted both evenly and longer.  Finally, Neapolitan roasters deliberately leave out the medium notes in their coffee.

Roasters generally own companies located in the suburbs so that trucks can more easily access the highway.  Their roasting machines also work behind security manned gates.  Because competition is so fierce, their blends are proprietary and visits by the public are generally not allowed.

I have found at least fifteen roasters within the region.  Caffe do Brasil is the most well-known, holding third place in the whole of Italy for coffee roasting market share.  Here are some of the others I've found:

Tico, 

Castorino, 

Caffe Toraldo, 

Caffe Kenon, 

Caffe Izzo, 

Caffen, 

Passalacqua, 

Caffe Borbone, 

Caffe Moreno, and 

Caffe Greco

Most of these roasters only sell to cafe owners, so you'll have to make a visit to Naples in order to enjoy their flavors.  Mmmm.  It's well worth the trip!

Artemisia Gentileschi

The Odious Women Tour:  Raped at nineteen by her art tutor in Rome and running up high debts with her husband in Florence, Artemisia Gentileschi moved to Naples as a single middle aged woman in about the year 1630.  She hated the city "because of the fighting, and because of the hard life and the high cost of living."  And yet, Gentileschi would spend most of the next twenty-six years of her life in Naples.


At that time, Naples was the largest city in southern Europe (three times the size of Rome) and the second largest city in Europe after Paris.  Having established an excellent reputation for herself in northern Italy, Gentileschi found more abundant art commissions in the South.  Many books and articles have been written about this exceptional artist, so for today I leave additional comments about her life to the experts.


But important for Naples, several of Gentileschi's works can be found at Capodimonte (specifically, on the second floor in room 87):  Judith Slaying Holofernes, The Annunciation, and Lucretia.

Capodimonte is worth mentioning also as one of the finest museums in Italy.  Built as a royal palace for Charles of Bourbon starting in 1738, it sits on a hilltop overlooking the Bay and Vesuvius.  In 1742, the Baroque Italian architect, Ferdinando Sanfelice was put in charge of laying out the forests to cater to Charles of Bourbon's hunting passion.  Today, the gardens cover 130 hectares and feature over 400 varieties of trees.  Whether you want to stroll along the hilltop, see Caravaggio and Gentileschi, or enjoy the vast modern art section that includes Andy Warhol originals, Capodimonte is a wonderful destination in Naples.

Book Recommendation:  Artemisia Gentileschi by Mary D. Garrard

Where To See Caravaggio In Naples

Galleria di Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano

Nook of Naples:  Known for his love of prostitutes, young boys, and brawling, in 1606 Caravaggio killed a young man in Rome and fled to Naples.  The Colonna family gave him protection and in that year Caravaggio painted The Seven Acts of Mercy.


A few months later, he left for Malta where he found wealthy patrons, but soon was arrested and imprisoned for another brawl that left a knight seriously wounded.  Caravaggio escaped to Sicily where he received more well-paid commissions while displaying strange behaviors such as sleeping fully armed in his clothes.  After nine months, he returned to Naples to ask the Colonnas to protect him once more while he waited for a pardon from the Pope.  He then painted The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, his last picture.


Today, at least three important Caravaggio paintings are in Naples.  Seeing them can make for a charming day-trip through the city:


Galleria di Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano
Via Toledo 184

Built by architect Cosimo Fanzago in the 17th century, the Banca Commerciale Italiana bought this Palazzo in 1920.  When you first walk inside, you enter a stunning courtyard with a glass roof and opulent balconies.  Climb up two flights of marble stairs and a gallery houses Caravaggio's Martyrdom of Saint Ursula.

Pio Monte della Misericordia
Via Tribunali 253

An important charitable organization in Naples, this church houses Caravaggio's The Seven Acts of Mercy.

Capodimonte
Via Miano 2

Once the Bourbon Royal Palace, Capodimonte is one of the finest museums in Italy.  The museum collection includes Caravaggio's The Flagellation of Christ, painted in 1607 for the di Franco Family and meant to be displayed in the Naples church of San Domenico Maggiore.  (The family, incidentally, was connected with the Confraternity of the Pio Monte della Misericordia.)

In 1610, Caravaggio took a boat from Naples to Rome in order to receive the Pope's pardon, which would be granted thanks to his powerful friends.  But he never made it, apparently dying of a fever during the journey.  In 2010 researchers exhumed remains found in a church in Ponto Ercole and, setting them to DNA and carbon dating analysis, they found that the remains were definitively Caravaggio's.

Capodimonte

Santa Maria Maggiore della Pietrasanta

Santa Maria Maggiore della Pietrasanta was built by Cosimo Fanzago. The adjacent Cappella Pontano, is a chapel commissioned during the Renaissance and based on a pagan temple design.

The Naples Underground:  While wandering Via Tribunali, I came to this church named after a holy stone (pietrasanta).  Built over the ruins of an early Christian basilica, I spotted a young spelunker going inside and asked if I could speak with the custodian about the history of the Church.  Instead, she briskly told me to follow and suddenly I was walking down steep steps into the belly of the church.

There, stones lay scattered everywhere and researchers bustled through an airy space.  Excited, I forgot about the Church history entirely and asked about the history of this space.  An enthusiastic researcher introduced himself as Rafaele Iovine and immediately gave me a tour.

He explained that the Church of Pietrasanta is the most ancient church in Naples, built in 566 A.D. by Bishop Pomponio.  It was constructed over a Roman villa, which in turn was constructed over the Greek foundations of Neapolis.  Rafaele took me over to an enclosed area where he showed me the slanted Roman bricks and the Greek walls underneath.

Most amazing of all, this space has a massive Greco-Roman aqueduct dating back to 500 B.C.  The aqueduct is 3 kilometers long and begins with this 400 meter deep water tank (cistern).

This underground area isn't officially open to the public, so needless to say, my private tour was divine.  Rafaele, however, did say that anyone interested in Naples' Parallel City can go to La Macchina Del Tempo where you can find lots of current information as well as upcoming events and lectures regarding the underground world.

The campanile of the church belonged to the older basilica dating from the 10-11th centuries and is the sole surviving example of early medieval architecture in Naples.

Well -- that's it for my Naples Underground.  Hope you've enjoyed the tour.  To see the list of places I've covered, you can visit my Table of Contents.

Two extra notes on The Parallel City:  I was unable to visit the Cimitero delle Fontanelle.  They remain closed indefinitely, including during the May of Monuments.  I did, however, trek over to the entrance and found that the road going there is narrow, windy, and like plunging into the darkest depths of the city.  (The cemetery is located in the Sanita district, known for its seediness.)

Second, guidebooks say you can visit the San Severo catacombs -- you can't.  The San Severo Church is located several blocks away from the San Guadioso Catacombs.  There is indeed a small catacomb, but it hasn't been maintained.  The custodian at first told me that there was nothing to see and that they are always closed.  Upon prodding, he let me in to see a dilapidated fresco with planks and dirt.  I also had to do some crouching maneuver to get inside.  I wouldn't recommend this site, even though it's listed in guidebooks, such as Lonely Planet.

Getting There:  Santa Maria Maggiore della Pietrasanta is along  Via Tribunali next to Piazza Miraglia.

A Walk Through Posillipo

Nook of Naples:  Known to the Greeks as Pausilypon (respite from pain) and said to be the area where Virgil lived while in Naples, the Spanish aristocracy began building seaside villas in the district of Posillipo during the 17th century.  In the 1950's property development intensified and many claim that this destroyed the beauty of the district.  Others maintain, however, that Posillipo is the posh area of Naples.


Walking from the tip of the Chaia district along the Bay, a slope goes upward past many villas, some converted into elegant restaurants.    Search for Villa Grottamarina (once home of Maria Anna, sister of King Philip IV of Spain in the 1630s), Villa Cottreau (built by French engineer Alfredo Cottreau in the late 1800s), Villa Bracale (with its Pompeiian red color), and Villa Rosebery (the Italian President's residence when he is in Naples).

A stroll past the villas lead to Piazza San Luigi:

A hike further along the road takes you to the Santa Maria del Faro church:

Here, stairs go down to Marechairo, a fishing village:

Posillipo has many fine gems to discover.  This walk only skims the surface, but can be done on a casual Saturday afternoon.