Napoli photodiary

 

“the most macabre of cities 
[where] the dead are played with 
like big dolls.”

The Necrophiliac, Gabrielle Wittkop

Non ho mai visto una città in cui la devozione religiosa sia così presente nella vita quotidiana. Ciò che è Sacro si mischia al Profano senza intento blasfemo, ma con la naturalezza dell’accettazione del macabro. Ecco quindi trovare ad ogni angolo della strada altarini dedicati a santi o morti, espressione di un culto quasi morboso e al limite del superstizioso comune a tutti gli abitanti.

Evento cardine della storia della città fu la peste del 1656, le miserie e gli orrori di questa epidemia segnarono indelebilmente la città e il modo di vivere degli abitanti. Tutt’oggi splendori e miserie, squallore e bellezza, morte e vita convivono placidamente l’uno affianco all’altro.

Vesuvius from Posillipo

Villa Pignatelli 

Villa Pignatelli

Cassa Armonica by Errico Alvino (1877) made of cast iron and glass inside Villa Comunale

view of Amalfi Coast from Posillipo

detail of Cassa Armonica by Errico Alvino, 1877

Castel dell’Ovo from Chiaia

Palazzo Reale outdoor

Palazzo Reale insidoors (more pictures here)

Palazzo Reale outdoors

a liberty poster outside Gambrinus Café

Ponte di via Chiaia

Galleria Umberto I outside

Galleria Umberto I inside

Royal Theatre of San Carlo

Palazzo Cellamare, detail of the magnificent gate by Ferdinando Fuga

Palazzo Cellamare

 Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano

The Palazzo is owned by the bank Intesa San Paolo and it has been restored few years ago. It’s a beatiful example of art nouveau and eclectic style in Naples, both for the outdoor gallery and for the indoors rooms. Today the Palace hosts some paintings of the bank’s art collection, whose most famous one is The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, the last painting by Caravaggio.

Lady with a fan by Domenico Morelli, 1874

Selfportrait of Francesco Paolo Michetti, 1877

I’m sorry but I don’t remember neither the name of the artist nor the title of these two

one of the rooms

Caravaggio’s “The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula” and the ceiling of the room

art nouveau gallery of the palace

detail of Castel Nuovo

Church and Convent of the Girolamini

amazing wunderkammer-shop in via dei Tribunali

Church and Convent of the Girolamini

Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco

just one of the skulls inside Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco, a unique place with a macabre story. More here.

entrace of Cappella Sansevero

This is the only picture I took inside Cappella Sansevero, wonderful and mysterious place commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero and full of masonic and alchemical symbols.

wonderful antique dealer in via dei Tribunali

Santa Maria maggiore alla Pietrasanta

view of San Gregorio Armeno from the narrow alley of via S. Gregorio Armeno

via S. Gregorio Armeno is full of this kind of shop

Naples Cathedral in honour of San Gennaro

Naples Cathedral in honour of San Gennaro (inside)

Ospedale delle Bambole

Piazza Bellini

Facade of Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo

Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo inside

just a detail of two imposing side Reliquaries, with 70 busts of saint martyrs in golden wood, made in the most part in 1617 by the Neapolitan woodcarver Giovan Battista Gallone.

a little chapel completely covered of ex voto. I never saw something similar before.

bedroom and studio of San Giuseppe Moscati inside Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo

Guglia dell’Immacolata

Piazza Dante

antique dealer in via S. Sebastiano

Santa Chiara

Santa Chiara. Unfortunatly I missed to visit the amazin majolica cloister in rococò style.

one of the many shrines one can find along the streets

Nisida island from Parco Virgiliano in Posillipo

Capri island from Parco Virgiliano in Posillipo