My high-school was so close to the main station, that it would have been a huge waste to never using a trip to the town of food, sea and amazing people. (I do realize it may sound as a cliché but.. ehy, have you ever met an annoying Neapolitan?).
Here I wanted to take some pictures at the modern ruins of the ex-Italsider, a steel mill abandoned in 1991. The view was astonishing, with a cloudy sky contributing to set the atmosphere.
Then we headed to the seaside, to see some industrial buildings on the bay: the panorama was astonishing!
Getting closer to Naples, the road became less peaceful but the view didn’t get any worse. We drove across the posh neighborhood of Posillipo, admiring the decadent charm of its liberty villas, the view over the bay and the volcano at the horizon.
We stopped to try a glass of local wine at the Mergellina harbour, just in time to meet our local friends for lunch.
By the time we ate our pizza, it was raining again and we had to leave the Sanità neighborhood without further explorations.
And so we went to the Contemporary Art Museum MADRE in the San Lorenzo neighborhood. The current exhibition is an overview on Vettor Pisani, a Du Champ-kind-of-crazy artist from last century.
Later we went for a walk around the old town centre, where we found those old-style shops where tailored suits and expensive ties are still stored in wooden, elegant drawers. Here you can spot the time passing by in every little, old fashion, detail.
I’ve also loved the several Almodovar-ish courtyards; entering them, you’ll expect that some dramatic, loudly characters is coming down by the stairwell!
(and -likely- it will happen, that’s Naples after all!).
Even when the rain got harder, we didn’t want to give up and we kept walking around, marveling at the beauty of this town.
Naples can be both regal and folk, elegant and messy, in the space of a block. That’s why I’ve always found it so charming!
We went to the Spanish Quarters, a poor but very central area of Naples well-known for its high rate of prostitution and criminality.
It is a very hip area, full of street art by the popular duo Cyop&Kaf who, in this disadvantaged neighborhood, undertook a creative project involving local children in a colorful make-over of Spanish Quarters’ walls.