Naples - a city that will surprise you

Think birthplace of pizza and home of Sophia Loren. And its worst - home of the Camorra family of organised crime. It is brash, vibrant, gritty and abrasive, but there is a raw beauty amongst the chaos. It is wonderfully unpretentious, full of energy and safer than you think. Look beyond the pollution and the graffiti and open yourself up to having possibly one of your best Italian experiences ever!

The third largest city in Italy after Rome and Milan was once the wealthiest and most industrialised centre in the country. Naples has the largest historic centre in Europe which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating back to 470 BC, made up of layers upon layers of civilisations.

With all the rich history, there is so much to see and appreciate, so one must experience the beauty and magnificence of Naples before one dies, hence the common saying “see Naples and die”.

Neapolitans are full of life and passion and the warmest, friendliest Italians I have met. My first experience was trying to find my way in the Spanish Quarter. Within minutes there were people coming out of their shops and restaurants to help me and then walk with me until I found the accommodation. It was a scene reminiscent of the part in ‘Love Actually’ when Colin Firth is walking through the village on his way to propose to Aurelia followed by her family and the whole village.

Quartieri Spagnoli

The most densely populated part of the historic centre and the most characteristic neighbourhood is the Spanish Quarter. The streets were laid out in the 1600s when the Spanish ruled the Kingdom of Naples. It was the district where the troops were quartered.

Scooters speed crazily up and down the tight grid of streets; shopkeepers yell animatedly with each other; walls are covered with religion, art and graffiti; washing is strung out across the streets and music drifts down from the small balconies. Pictures of Maradona, considered one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, are everywhere. He is an icon of Naples and a symbol of pride and unification of an entire city.

To wander the Spanish Quarter is to feel the true heart and soul of Naples.

There is no better pizza than one that comes out of a Neapolitan oven!

After all, it is where pizza was invented. History tells us that following the unification of Italy in 1861, King Umberto and Queen Margherita visited Naples. To honour their visit, baker Raffaele Esposito, created a pizza. He took red tomatoes, white mozzarella cheese and a few leaves of basil to reflect the three colours of the Italian flag and gave birth to the modern pizza industry. Pizza Margherita is still the best pizza you will eat in Naples.

An underground city

During the Second World War, Naples was the most bombed city in Italy, but the existence of secret hiding places lying 40 metres below the earth saved the lives of more than 200,000 people who used the tunnels as bomb shelters.

Hidden under the streets of Naples, Napoli Sotterranea holds the key to understanding the city’s history. Originally dug by the ancient Greeks for material to build Neapolis in the 4th century BC, these underground tunnels were later used by the Romans as aqueducts to supply water to the city. Expanded over 2.5 millenia, this subterranean network stretches for 450 kilometres under modern Naples.

Having been home to so many people during the war, this labyrinth of tunnels was left in disrepair, filled with rubbish and abandoned until around thirty years ago, when it was restored and converted into a tourist attraction. Climb down more than 1000 steps into the belly of Naples and explore the city from a new perspective. Walk through thousands of years of history seeing aqueducts, sewer tunnels, cisterns, caverns, catacombs and chambers built out of rock.

Brooding Mount Vesuvius

Less than ten kilometres away is the every threatening presence of Mount Vesuvius. There have been eight major eruptions in the last 17,000 years. The 79 AD eruption is one of the most well known ancient eruptions in the world and is said to have killed more than 16,000 people.

Ash, mud and rocks from this eruption buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Pompeii is famous for the casts the hot ash formed around victims of the eruptions. They suffocated on ash in the air, which then covered them and preserved amazing details of their clothing and faces. Archaeologists continue to make incredible discoveries in Pompeii.

Although the volcano’s last eruption was in 1944, it still represents a great danger to the cities that surround it, especially the busy metropolis of Naples. Perhaps because of this, the Neapolitans joy at just being alive spills over with enthusiasm and generosity.

Sophia

Sophia Loren was born Sofia Villani Scicolone in 1934 in a ward for unmarried mothers in a hospital in Rome. Her mother, Romilda, was a piano teacher and would-be actress. Her father, Riccardo, refused to marry Romilda and did not give her any financial support. Four years later, they had a second daughter, Anna Maria, but still Riccardo refused to marry or support Romilda. Out of desperation, Romilda took the little girls to Pozzuoli in the commune of Naples where they lived in near poverty.

Pozzuoli was not a safe place to be during World War II due to the harbour and munitions plant, both of which were constantly being bombed. During one raid, Sophia was hit by schrapnel which scarred her for life on her chin. After the war, times were so hard that Sophia’s grandmother made cherry liquor in the kitchen and opened a bar in the living room. Romilda played the piano, Anna Maria sang and Sophia waitressed.

Life began to change for Sophia when she was 14 and developed quite rapidly from a skinny, plain child into the voluptuous, beautiful woman that she became. She entered a local beauty contest and came second. She enrolled in acting classes and began getting parts in films as an extra. In 1952, aged 18, she changed her name to Sophia Loren. In 1953, she got her first starring role in a film called Aida. From there it didn’t take long to become famous in Italy.

She met her husband, Carlo Ponti, in1950 when she was just 16. He was 22 years older and married. He got divorced and they married in 1957. She was 23 and he was 45. However, Italian law didn’t recognise divorce and they had their marriage annulled in 1962 in order for him to escape charges of bigamy. He finally got an official divorce in France, so they remarried in 1966. They had two sons, Carlo Ponti Junior, who became an orchestra conductor, and Edoardo, who became a film director like his father.

They remained married until Carlo died in 2007 aged 94. Sophia never remarried because he was the love of her life.

Ci vediamo la prossima settimana,

Deb