The Goan visits Italy’s most-bombed city during World War II and is fascinated by its rich treasure trove of history
Naples, meaning new city, is the capital of Campania and thethird-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. It is one of theoldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and according to a touristbrochure, “Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the region in the2nd millennium BC.”
Listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Naples has beenthe capital of duchies, kingdoms, and one empire and that explains theabundance of castles, old churches, palaces and also the Roman ruins of Pompeiiand Herculaneum. For someone seriously interested in how the past of a cityshapes its present, Naples is where you should be. The main city square or‘piazza’ is the Piazza del Plebiscito which is bounded on the east by the RoyalPalace and on the west by the church of San Francesco di Paola, with thecolonnades extending on both sides. Nearby is the Teatro di San Carlo, which isthe oldest and largest opera house in Italy and directly across from San Carlois Galleria Umberto, a shopping centre and social hub.
However, a tourist visiting the historic sites without aguide wouldn’t find them so interesting. You need to have someone to provideyou with an interesting account of the various incidents associated with theplaces. Here’s an example. When you visit the seaside Castel dell’Ovo, at firstappearance it didn’t look so enchanting until we were told that the name means ‘EggCastle’ which comes from a legend about the Roman poet Virgil, who had areputation in medieval times as a great sorcerer. In the legend, Virgil put amagical egg into the foundations to support the fortifications.
Another such place with a legend is the Cathedral of Naples,the city’s premier place of worship. We missed the day by just a week or elsewould have been witness to the miracle of Saint Januarius on September 19. Itis said that on this day the dried blood of Januarius is said to turn to liquidwhen brought close to holy relics.
However, to turn to lighter things, Naples is also thebirthplace of the pizza. Cooked traditionally in a wood-burning oven, theingredients of the Neapolitan pizza have been strictly regulated by law since2004, and must include wheat flour type ‘00’ with the addition of flour type‘0’ yeast, natural mineral water, peeled tomatoes or fresh cherry tomatoes,marine salt and extra virgin olive oil. Once you have tasted this pizza, what’sserved in our pizza joints may seem to be nothing but a fancy Indian parathawith an Italian name.
