alice - Naples Fabulous

Fabulous Aperitivi in Naples

Posted on September 10, 2019November 11, 2020 by alice

Naples is a social city and any evening is fair game for catching up with friends and meeting new ones.
This city is never lacking in fun places to go. As this summer season officially winds down, the city is actually winding up. Residents are returning with their golden tans from seaside villages and visitors are milling about, taking in the late August energy of our favourite city.
There are many spots popping up and of course our standard favourites that we’ve been going to for years.

Shall we share our secret and not-so-secret bars? Oh yesss!!!

Naples is hot in the summer and as always chaotic, crazy, stressful, never banal, unique and fabulous. From Monday to Sunday our city’s streets are full of people and bars are the perfect setting for a quick coffee and then later on an aperitivo. Never boring, these spots often feature live music and always offer a great opportunity for people watching.
Other than the “baretti” –little bars- in the Chiaia area and the busy piazzas of the historical centre, we much prefer to go to the off the radar places that aren’t necessarily trendy or chic but are tucked away in places where we can relax and enjoy the moment.
Drinking a fabulous glass of Fiano, Greco, Pallagrello, or a Spritz made with Campari (strong, red and a bit bitter), Aperol, (sweet and orange) or Limoncello (nice and fresh) served with Neapolitan kindness from all the colourful people who guarantee a fun and welcoming time between their story telling and joie di vivre.

Here’s the short list of Naples Fabulous’ favorite places:

Cantina Sepe – Via Vergini – open till 20/2030 most days. On Thursday until around midnight they offer some of the best local musical and DJ talents and home-cooked food at their now well-known Aperi-Sepe. Come ready to meet lots of new people and be prepared for standing room only-or get there before 8pm to grab a seat around their outdoor wine barrels.

Stà Ben – vico Due Porte a Toledo – Tucked away on a little vicolo just off of Via Toledo, Stà Ben is quite inexpensive, very friendly, lively and you will most likely share a bench or table with a diverse group of people while listening to music oozing out of this tiny gem. No food is served (you can buy chips) but there are plenty of trattoria and pizzerias just around the corner if you get hungry.

Fahrenheit winebar – via San Sebastiano – This lovely modern-design bar offers good music, comfy sofas and a really friendly owner/bartender. Each quite affordable cocktail is served with an array of the evening’s offering of snacks such as olives and cheese. It’s a laid-back place to catch up and watch the world walk by.

Cisterna Cafè & Bistrot – via Cisterna dell’Olio – The atmosphere is warm, artistic and welcoming with lovely lighting and delicious cocktails. On some evenings it offers an extensive Milan-style buffet so there’s no need to eat dinner! It gets busy for dinner after 9pm so come early to grab a table. A perfect place for a pre or post-cinema drink.

Superfly – via Cisterna dell’Olio – This is an all-time favorite of Naples Fabulous. Gianni, the ever-talented, stoic owner and bartender extraordinaire will also serve some of the best music in the city. Superfly is understated and original, full of music collages, funky décor and was the first real cocktail bar in Naples.

Berisio – Port’Alba – One of the more unique places to get a drink is this bar which is at Port’Alba. There you’ll sit on stacks of books among a collection of literary works as you sip a beverage from a great range of delicious international beers, Italian wines, and cocktails.

Canapa Bistrot – Via Bellini – This bar is nestled in a little tree-lined piazzetta which offers great beer and small plates based in hemp as well as wines and cocktails. You can also taste delicious Greek and Sri Lankan food from restaurants next door.

Nam 43 – via Costantinopoli – A lovely spot which has a great wine list and yummy, fresh vegetable-based bites offered with each glass of wine or Spritz. You can also dine here with creative, local dishes both outdoor and indoor.

Sciò – Vico Buongiorno – One of our most favorite places just opened this summer in Vico Buongiorno -what a fabulous name! – and we’re hooked. The outdoor seating are framed with street art with glowing candles and fun music. The service is excellent and each time you’ll be sure to have a generous and delicious array of snacks with your drink. It’s affordable and quaint and the indoor space is also lively.

caffè freddo, please!

Posted on July 30, 2019November 11, 2020 by alice

Alice: Fiorella, I’m craving a fabulous coffee in the shade. Is it possible?
Fiorella: Bar Marino! Not trendy at all, but Salvatore makes an excellent, strong coffee and we can sit in the shade of Porta San Gennaro, the oldest door of the city.
Alice: I love Bar Marino. It’s just enough out of the bustle of the crowds and it a perfect postcard of a typical Neapolitan street scene. But it’s hot, it’s so hot… I don’t think I can manage to drink a hot espresso.
Fiorella: You can get a caffè freddo! It’s a perfect Neapolitan drink for the summer. Forget about Frapuccinos. It is just cold, iced espresso with sugar. Perfect for the nearly 100 degree heat. And Bar Marino has such a nice breeze under the arch of the great door of the city.
Alice: Yes, please!
In Naples coffee is the great connector. Wherever you go, in any situation, you’ll share a coffee. In tragedy, happiness, stress, in everyday life, there will be coffee. You can have it delivered anywhere -even just one coffee and even to my apartment with a five floor walk up. Most people have their favourite bar to start their day and Bar Marino is one of the places that carries on the Neapolitan tradition where the coffee is good, strong and served hot (or cold, if you prefer). Architects, teachers, tourists, students, artists and plumbers all crowd around the chrome of this old school establishment.
This not-so-swanky bar sits in front of one of the most historical pizzerias in Naples -Pizzeria Capasso- with the original marble doorway where many people have passed through, including the cast members of the acclaimed show “Gommorra”. Some of the staff were even featured in the series.
At the foot of Porta San Gennaro, which tells the story of the old Naples, the passing scooters, prams and groups of chattering people set the scene below.
Fiorella: If all the tables are occupied it might happen that an old lady with bags of food for Sunday lunch asks you to share the table with you… it doesn’t mean you have to have a conversation, it is only the fabulous Neapolitan humanity and friendly attitude.

Porta San Gennaro is the oldest gate of Naples, already documented in the 10th century. It was the only entrance in the city from the North, where the hill of Capodimonte and the catacombs of San Gennaro are…hence why it’s called Porta San Gennaro.
It was also known as the tufo gate because through it the tufa stones from the quarries of the Sanità entered the town.
It was originally next to the fabulous Baroque church of Gesù delle Monache (enter the church to admire the airy stuccoes by Lorenzo Vaccaro and Troise!!!). In 1537 because of the expansion of the walls under Don Pedro de Toledo Porta San Gennaro was moved to the nearby via Foria, it’s current location.
After the horrendous plague of 1656, Mattia Preti was commisioned to do the fresco including the Saints of Gennaro, Rosalia and Francesco Saverio imploring the end of the epidemic. The marble statue in front of the fresco represents San Gennaro and St Michele. Three years later the bust of San Gaetano was added inside the gate on specific request of the Theatini.
The niche with the Virgin surrounded by silver ex votoes was placed under the arch in 1887 in memory of the cholera outbreak in 1884 and is still worshipped by the locals.

Walking Naples. Craftsmenship, art and food

Posted on April 3, 2019November 11, 2020 by alice

Alice: Hey, Fiorella! Do you know what one of my absolute favourite things to do in Naples is?
Fiorella: Does it involve food and walking in the side streets of ancient Naples?
Alice: Of course it does, you know me so well. One of the best things about Naples is going food shopping and preparing local dishes with the absolute freshest local ingredients. And while I’m checking out the best produce, fish, bread, and vegetable stands in the historical centre, I love taking in the beautiful streets of this fabulous city and its local artisans. Here I feel that there is always a vicolo to be explored, a conversation to be had. Don’t you love those bodegas where time just seems to have stood still?
Fiorella: Naples is a place where people use their hands a lot, not only to gesticulate (body language is so Neapolitan!) but to create crafted items and to work any type of material from terracotta to metal, from cloth to food! And what is amazing to me is to see them at work literally in the street as it used to happen in small villages decades ago.
Take for example Talarico. This store and small factory has been operating since 1860 and after five generations it still makes some of the most artistic and resistant umbrellas I’ve ever used.

It is a great experience to visit the tiny workshop in vico Due Porte a Toledo where you can see the small worn out wooden desk where umbrellas for internationally known people have been custom made.

Let’s stop by and have a chat with lovely and enthusiastic Mario, junior.

Alice: Sure! I have to thank him! Last year that umbrella saved me with all the terrible weather we had. Today I saw someone in the street with my same Talarico umbrella and we both looked at each other as if to say: we know, this is a fabulous umbrella. What I love about this shop is that you can take your time looking at all the different kinds of umbrellas and Mario is always proud to tell you about the history of his family that I am never tired of hearing.
One of his ancestors was a painter of the Royals, another member of the family a violinist at the San Carlo Opera House, then umbrellas became the frontrunner in the current chapter of the family history.
Fiorella: He talks while both smiling and working on a new piece, but always finds a moment to open a box or a drawer to show you 100 years old handles and knobs in silver, crafted wood or ivory or the silks and fabrics hand painted for a custom made umbrella.

We like these fabulous local spots. While in the Spanish Quarters we have got to stop by the little croissant factory just a few vicoli away from Talarico. Handmade delicious cornetti filled with custard cream and black cherry that just melt in your mouth.

Alice: That would be one of the best starts to a morning of sightseeing and food shopping. Cornetto alla crema, per favore! And the guys of the laboratory are also so nice.

After a cornetto and a coffee we are ready to start again and go shopping at Pignasecca, a must see on our food tours to taste some of the best mozzarella and cheese at our favourite grocery store or fried fish at the Pescheria Azzurra.

A mandatory stop for the ones who like tripe is Fiorenzano. We are not so keen about tripe, but tripe-experts say this is one of the best tripperie in the city (the other Kingdom of Tripe is the Tripperia O’ Russ near Piazza Carlo III).

The Tripperia Fiorenzano is also a Trattoria (family run restaurant) named le Zendraglie. The word zandraglia or zendraglia most likely derives from the French word ‘les entrailles’ which was yelled by the servants of the court when they threw the remainder of the King’s dinner from Castel Nuovo (Maschio Angioino) to the people down below.
Common women would crowd beneath the castle to collect the food scraps, thus taking on the name zandraglie.
The word zandraglia in Neapolitan is quite offensive because it means a sloppy, vulgar, noisy and dirty woman but don’t let the name put you off-if you like tripe then you’ll love this spot!

While walking in Pignasecca and buying some food for a late lunch we will definitely end up in piazza Santa Maria la Nova, which is such a special piazza.
Fiorella: I love the cloisters of Santa Maria La Nova.

The small one in particular is a fabulous hidden spot.

The monastery of Santa Maria La Nova was founded following the wishes of King Charles I of Anjou but the complex was reconstructed by G. Cola di Franco (1596-99) and included two cloisters.
The Grand Cloister, today the seat of the Provincial Council of Naples, is named San Francesco after a long since lost series of frescoes dedicated to the saint.
The light invades the lawns and reflects onto the arcade supported by white marble pillars and the Small Cloister opens like a precious box in front of your very eyes, revealing the many images which all refer to St. Giacomo della Marca. The series of frescoes attributed to A. de Lione and assistants (1627-28), opens with a scene of San Giacomo in the womb before his birth. In the frescoes he is reassuring his mother, urging her not to be frightened of thieves. The life of the saint is told over nineteen scenes, each very elaborate.
Four gates give access to the centre of the small garden where the well is found. This fabulous Franciscan cloister is further enriched by the tombstones and funeral monuments of the illustrious members from the Court of Aragon.

Alice: This is also near a place where I buy the best produce. Let’s go to get some tomatoes, olives and capers to make linguine alla puttanesca.

Apart from fresh produce, the best thing about this place is the father and son duo. The father runs the shop and the son makes hand-woven goods. Did you see those baskets? Of course I had to buy one for myself but I’ve been noticing them all around Naples. He’s a self-taught artist who is carrying on the old tradition of basket weaving. All while working right on the street like in old times.

Fiorella: In Naples you can discover things like this and realize how people invent their job every day.
After a fabulous walk in the many wombs of bella Napoli it is time to go home to cook our linguine. Pasta alla Puttanesca, in Neapolitan aulive e chiappariell (olive and capers) is one of the easiest-but no less fabulous-pasta to prepare. We would like to share our recipe with you.
There are a number of stories about the origins of this zesty sauce, the raciest being that a puttana, or Lady of the Night, could cook it in the time it took her to take care of a client, and then enjoy it afterward while recovering from her exertions. Whatever the story, it is good and a classic here in Naples.
Do you want to know how we make it?

Serves four: once you cook it, invite a couple of friends as we always do!
INGREDIENTS:
2/3 cup pitted black olives,
sliced 4 boned anchovy fillets
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons extra vergin olive oil
1 tablespoon rinsed salted capers
Three or four ripe plum tomatoes, finely sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
A pound pack of linguine (or spaghetti) preferably from Gragnano

PREPARATION:
Chop the garlic and sauté it in the oil with the anchovies, stirring the mixture about to break up the anchovies.
When the garlic is lightly browned, add the olives, capers, and tomatoes. Check seasoning to taste.
Simmer the sauce for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cook the pasta. Make sure you salt the water first! Stir the sauce into the pasta after it has been drained and serve with a nice glass of wine.
White? Go for a Fiano di Avellino, a Falanghina dei Campi Flegrei or a Coda di Volpe
Red? Aglianico del Taburno, Falerno del Massico or Piedirosso
The end of a fabulous walking tour of our ever-beloved Naples.

A Fabulous Musical Street

Posted on February 6, 2019November 11, 2020 by alice

Alice: I remember when I came to Naples eighteen years ago. It was a dark and rainy January and I would walk the historical centre, making friends with the people I’d meet at the shops and bars I spent time in to keep warm. One of the friends I made was working in a CD store on via Sebastiano I had stumbled upon because I was too shy to visit the stores, although I was fascinated by their instruments, especially their mandolins. He introduced me to local musicians like Pino Daniele, Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare, Almamegretta and 99 Posse. Along the street named after the once-present San Sebastiano Monastery and with its proximity to the Music Conservatory which has been visited by Rossini, Alessando Scarlatti, Bellini and Donizetti (among others), it is still the home to the biggest concentration of music instruments and equipment in Naples.

Fiorella: You are right! It is always nice to walk by the Conservatory and hear the musicians and singers practising.

Neapolitans are never tired of visiting this fabulous place.

The Royal Conservatory of San Sebastiano was established in 1807 by King Giuseppe Bonaparte. In 1826 it was named Royal Conservatory of Music of San Pietro a Majella. It originated by fusing together three conservatories founded in the 16th century in the churches of Santa Maria di Loreto, Sant’Onofrio in Capuana and Pietà dei Turchini. The aim of the three institutions was to rescue children from the streets of Naples by housing them and educating them through music.

The conservatory and the adjacent church are part of the 14th century monastery of San Pietro a Majella, built at the end of the 13th century and dedicated to Pietro Angeleri, who became Pope as Celestine V in 1294.

The church is also a must-see! The transept is decorated with valuable frescoes dating from the 14th century, baroque marble inlays and a cycle of paintings by Mattia Preti, amongst the others. The fabulous 17 th century cloister with palm and banana trees and a monument to Beethoven by Francesco Jerace, leads to a second cloister and to the Conservatory.
The Conservatory library houses important manuscripts of the numerous composers who lived and worked in Naples.

Alice: Also Neapolitan-by-adoption like me love to walk down the narrow, tree-lined street and hear notes from guitars, violins and mandolins waft in and out of the doors of the stores. Music lovers will truly appreciate this corner of Neapolitan history. Don’t be shy like I was initially!We visited Giuseppe Miletti store as well as others the other day to buy a speaker and a mixer for upcoming concerts. Two hours and an impromptu concert later, we walked out smiling and in appreciation of Manuela’s patience for all the models she happily let us try!

When you leave via San Sebastiano, turn left at Spaccanapoli to check out the artisan street vendors and street musicians performing for the throngs of people walking by. If you’re looking for something to please your sweet tooth, there is Gay Odin which has some of the best chocolate and gelato in town.

In the late 19 th c. Isidoro Odin, a young chocolatier from Alba, come to Naples, one of the most important and populated European capitals. Naples was a melting pot where artists, aristocrats, scholars and food-lovers from all over Europe spent their time in the already colorful and busy streets of the city. The first classy and wonderfully smelling factory was opened in Chiaia, the area where it is still today. Isidoro worked day and night to create delicious new delicacies and surprise the Neapolitan fine palates. Gay Odin chocolate was and is still today considered one of the best in town. All phases of production are handmade, from chocolate roasting to packaging. Packaging is still the original from paper with vintage images to fabulous boxes representing Naples’ vedutas and guaches. One of the reasons why it is in the registry of Italy’s historical places.

Fiorella: Hungry for something more substantial? Try out the pizza at historical Pizzeria Lombardi.

Pizzeria Lombardi a Santa Chiara is a 5 th generation pizzeria, decorated with majolica tiles inspired from the next door cloister of Santa Chiara. The first pizzaiolo in the family started in 1892 in his bare basso (street level home) in vico Limoncello where calzoni with ricotta and maybe cicoli or simply tomato sauce were coming out from a frying pan and sold for few liras to the neighbours. Four generations have made pizzas every day in the historical center.

A coffee is also mandatory in 70s original style Settebello bar, a bohemian spot where whoever desire to play the piano is welcome…be advised though that the owner, Pino, is an expert in classical music. Also, his fabulous nephew is a musician who studies music and plays piano between serving one espresso after another. Intellectuals, street artists, old professors, street vendors and students are all sitting at the tables of this welcoming corner, where table service is not charged.

Fabulous Festival in the Sanita’

Posted on January 5, 2019January 5, 2019 by alice

We’ve written about the Sanità before because it is near and dear to our hearts. It’s a thriving market in the middle of street art and historical landmarks. It’s a place where people call you by name and it has an uncontaminated charm full of artists wanting to be off the radar, families, tourists and students. Naples is a very unique city in many respects as it is a city which welcomes people in the same way that a small town might do so. The Vergini, an area of the Sanità right off of Piazza Cavour is seems like a town within a city and since 2016 they’ve been hosting bi-annual street parties which the whole city (and tourists) love to go to. Although many neighborhoods in Naples have their own form of festivals, often connected to food, the parties at the Vergini is something a bit out of the ordinary. It feels like a sort of Homecoming party/Carnival where the normal shops host budding DJs, stages are set up where normally market stalls would be to host actors, dancers and singers

and food shops cook fresh fish and fried pizza outside of their doors for all the passersby. You might find yourself in the middle of a spontaneous street karaoke session or a dance party in front of a church or a wine bar.

On your way to the party, you cannot miss the famous Porta San Gennaro. Look up to the arch whose fresco by Mattia Preti represents the Immaculate Conception holding the baby and surrounded by angels. At the sides of the Madonna we see a kneeling St. Francis Xavier and St. Gennaro offering her his blood, a haggard woman on the steps in the lower section of the fresco symbolizes the plague and the two marble statues represent St. Gennaro and Michael. The artist was charged with painting tributes to the Madonna on all the city gates after the plague epidemic in 1656 and this is the only fresco that has survived.

On the other side of the gate is a bust of St Gaetano and under the arch we see a shrine showing the Virgin, located here since 1887 to remind us of salvation from another epidemic (Asiatic disease) that shook Naples in 1884.

Originally located in proximity of via Settembrini, at the beginning of the 16th c, under the Vice-Kingdom of Don Pedro de Toledo, the city walls were enlarged and the gate was moved to is present location. The name remained the same as the gate gave access to both the catacombs of San Gennaro and the church of San Gennaro extra moenia (outside the city walls).

Porta San Gennaro and the permanent light installation dedicated to Totò the famous actor who was born in the Sanità district

Take in the art of this historic part of the city wall before getting your fill of food and music in The Vergini at today’s much-anticipated event of The Sanità Ta Ta featuring many artists such as Galera De Rua, Tartaglia Aneuro and Tommaso Primo.

If it’s late enough when you finish celebrating, you can return to right below Porta San Gennaro to check out the all night stands along Via Foria who are open for the Epiphany tradition of candy-filled stockings that the children will find in the morning.

Art of Writing

Posted on December 23, 2018November 11, 2020 by alice

Speaking and writing is the most common way of communicating and expressing ourselves.

Poets, singers and talented writers have a sort of a mission in writing and giving joy to the others through their words. But what about somebody who didn’t have a formal education and yet made their way of writing an art as well as a job for three generations?

Learning from his grandpa and his father how to write prices on wooden signs for sellers in the markets of Naples. This is perhaps how his art of writing became a job.

Pasquale De Stefano works in a tiny room in a vicolo of the Borgo di Sant Antonio market (better known as O Buvero amongst Neapolitans). He learned from his father how to use rulers, pencils and acrylic coulours to make the signs.

To arrive there, you pass by the Renaissance marble arch of Porta Capuana

and walk in the chaotic market Borgo of Sant Antonio

untill you reach a dark alley where on the ground floor Pasquale is hard at work. Recently he has been noticed beyond the markets by shops or simply by people who want to advertise their actvities…and maybe his work will soon become trendy.

While steadily concentrating on his work, he wastes no time as he both writes and talks kindly to those who come to visit him.

When you leave this old post war corner of Napoli and as soon as you go back in the market you realize that there is no stall without one of his signs. He is a Neapolitan star without even knowing it.

We all appreciate some street art and graffitti artists (not on monuments and historical buildings!)

and what about using English to express what a UK or US citizen would never understand?

English is the international language and apaprently very trendy on clothing…but maybe in certain cases people should use their own language.

We still find it fabulous, though.

Naples IS Fabulous

Posted on December 13, 2018November 11, 2020 by alice

You can watch and you can listen to realize that Naples IS Fabulous!

Follow the red thread in the Royal Palace

Posted on December 12, 2018November 11, 2020 by alice

The hanging garden of the Royal Palace has been reopened to the public after a long restoration last November.

The Japanese artist Uemon Ikeda (residing in Rome), along with 12 students from the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples, has installed An Enchanted Garden to the East of the Sun in occcasion of the garden’s reopening. The red wool and silk thread that leads from the courtyard of the Palace through the fabulous marble staircase and the rooms of the Royal Apartment is still present.

We can follow it along the halls displaying the famous and delicate tapestries from the Royal Factory of Naples, the amazing rococò stuccoes decorating some of the ceilings, furniture, paintings and the fabulous doors of the royals.

The thread weaves a connection among art, arhitecture, the flora of the garden and of course the enchanting view of the Bay.

After a tour of the Royal Apartment a coffee at the Gambrinus cafè is mandatory. This 19th c. historical caffetteria is at the corner of via Chiaia and Piazza Plebiscito, in front of the San Carlo Opera House.

Neapolitans stand by the counter to sip the espresso surrunded by the original Liberty Style stuccoes, paintings and decorations.

Three fabulous doorways

Posted on December 1, 2018November 11, 2020 by alice

Fiorella: Sometimes I walk in the same streets where I have been so many times and I still appreciate the fabulous details. All the staircases, balconies, walls or portals that you can only find here. Other times I am horrified by illegal remodels or additions.

Alice: Any street that you walk on holds so many surprises. I really love the Neapolitan portals. When I came here many years ago I would get lost looking at the details of seemingly hidden places that had so many stories to tell. There are innumerable incredible doorways in Naples that it is very hard to choose which ones I love most. Let’s try to pick two or three of them.

In a shabby but charming corner of our fabulous Naples Antonio Penne, the secretary of King Ladislao di Durazzo built his palazzo in 1406. Some ashlars of the façade are sculpted with the French lily, symbol of the Royal family, some others show feathers. Penna in Italian means plume, feather so the symbol refers to the name of the family and the role of Antonio Penna as the King’s Secretary. The façade is a mix of central Italian and Catalan style with its depressed arch.

Among the centuries the building was owned by different noblemen, an ecclesiastic order and a volcanologist. More recently it has been purchased by the Regione Campania.

What make this building (who desperetly needs restoration) fabulous is the sober, geometric façade. It shows some unexpected symbols and the inscription above the portal carved in what looks like a marble ribbon is especially of note. It is an epigramm by the poet Marziale «QUI DUCIS VULTUS NEC ASPICIS ISTA LIBENTER OMNIBUS INVIDEAS IN-VIDE NEMO TIBI» You who grimace, you poisonous who does not read gladly these verses. May you be jealous of everyone and may no one be of you. Antonio Penna uses Marziale’s verse to tell passers-by that he knows his beautiful home can generate envy, but envious people are stupid fools to be ignored…

For an unknown reason some unique Neapolitans put ceramic tiles with a similar meaning outside their bassi (street level homes) or shops and, in addition, a horn of good luck. However, facade of their buildings are not so classy though the sentiment still prevails that others can still envy their status. Not so fabulous, but…

Alice: Speaking of fabulous, I would definetly mention the doorway of Palazzo Zevallos.

Fiorella: I am with you darling… In via Toledo at n.185 stands the impressive façade of the 17th c. Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano, commissioned by the Spanish merchant Giovanni Zevallos to Bartolomeo Picchiatti.

Alice: His son Francesco Antonio was an archaeologist, antiquarian and architect and had renovated the church of the Pio Monte della Misericordia. They had good genes!

Fiorella: This is a Palazzo where I always go to admire the very interesting collection of paintings and sculptures, with some emblematic 19th c. examples and of course the indisputed star of the museum, the Martyrdom of Saint Ursula which is known to be the last work by Caravaggio. The palazzo itself is a work of art, but let’s focus only to the portal that impresses all the passers-by.

Zevallos commissioned the building and when he died from the horrendus plague in 1656 his heirs sold it to his financier agent Jan Vandeneynden. Vandeneynden was a merchant and an art dealer. He was close to Flemish artists and restless collectors such as Gaspare Roomer. Thus Palazzo Zevallos housed amazing artworks for two generations of the Vandeneynden family. One of Jan V.’s granddaughters married a Colonna prince of Stigliano thus continuing the amazing role of the residence as a house museum under the Colonna di Stigliano.

The fabulous doorway shows the coat of arms of the Colonna di Stigliano family which had displayed in the residence works by Luca Giordano, Titian, Anton Van Dyck, Poussin and many others and hosted musicians such as Farinelli, Scarlatti and Pergolesi. In the 1830ies one of the Colonna sold the 1st floor to the banker Carlo Forquet who redecorated it with the stuccoes and frescoes that we can still appreciate. By the 1920ies the Banca Commerciale had bought the whole building and run a quite theatrical Art Nouveau renovation of the courtyards and the internal loggias. In 2007 the Palazzo became a museum housing a permanent art collection well displayed in this fabulous architectural framework.

The majestic portal opens these wonders and memories to visitors. It is impressive with its geometric and at the same time eccentric pillars in marble and piperno. They are decorated with diamond-shaped elements and end with two vases. A rich garland and curls in white marble support the crowned coat of arms.

There are many other portals which deserve to be mentioned, but in talking about geometry, ashlars and diamond-shaped elements we cannot forget a walk we did in the side streets of Quartiere Sanità. Here we noticed many bizarre balconies and doorways.

One of them-not the craziest-perhaps has the ambition of recalling the façade of Gesù church or the pillars on the sides of Palazzo Zevallos’ portal. Who knows…these are only some of the mysteries of our fabulous city

pillar of Palazzo Zevallos’ portal

detail of the façade of the Church of Gesù.

Picture by Raffaele Lello Mastroianni

Rococò or roccocò?

Posted on November 25, 2018November 11, 2020 by alice

Fiorella: Christmas is coming and the dilemma is Rococò or roccocò. Why don’t to do both?

Alice: We all know that the Rococo style originated in France in the early 18th century but spread in other European countries such as Austria, Germany and of course Italy. Furniture, porcelain, decorative arts, paintings, stuccoes and architectural elements started to be shaped as asymmetric, curly, gilded or pastel colored: exuberance became the key word.

The world rococo comes from the French rocaille, a shell-covered rock that was used to decorate artificial grottoes.

What does roccocò mean then? It is not soft or light as the rococò 18^th c. stuccoes. It’s not popular in the rest of Europe, yet it is really famous in Napoli and there is no Christmas without it!

Fiorella: This biscuit made with almond, honey, candied and Neapolitan pisto (mix of spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and coriander) was invented in 1320 by the nuns of the Real Convento della Maddalena and was called roccocò for its semi-round but irregular, asymmetryc shape.

We love to go around Naples at Christmas time and walk through the halls of the Royal PalaceRoyal to admire the rococò doors and stuccoes,

enter the fabulous church of San Gregorio Armeno to be raptured by the two fabulous, extravagant wooden choir-lofts and then

get some Christmas calories at our beloved Borgo dei Vergini. Here between the tarallificio Poppella and the local gluten-kingdom bakery we can snack on a roccocò while immerging ourselves in the fabulous rococò staircases of Palazzo dello Spagnolo and Sanfelice.