Tag: Alice Venessa Bever food tours

Coffee as a trait d’union

Posted on by alice


Often we think of Naples and London as polar opposites but you’d be surprised that they actually have something pretty big in common. Not the sun, not the sea, not the river but coffee, ‘o cafe’ as it is called in Neapolitan dilect, or maybe I should say language! Though I live in London, coffee will always be my favorite go-to in the cold months, as well as in the summer.

Alice:
It’s no surprise that my love for coffee began over 20 years ago in Naples, almost exactly at this time of year. The weather was rainy, gray and cold – though nothing rivaling a UK January. It’s no surprise that my love for coffee began in Naples. About 20 years ago, while spending a month in the city researching Eduardo De Filippo, the famed Neapolitan playwright, I learned more than I’d anticipated about the culture of coffee that permeated the city (as well as the plays of Eduardo). I’d meet a director or interview an actor and inevitably they’d offer to buy me a coffee. I’d go to change my Travelers checks at the bank and the teller would offer me some of the coffee he’d just been delivered from the bar. It took me a while to see how Naples and coffee were intrinsically linked – the gesture of hospitality that we associate with Naples along with the everyday, perfect ritual of standing up at the bar, chatting with the barman and the strangers next to you for a few minutes while you start that day. It might have taken me even longer to get used to the ease with which people would offer to buy each other coffee. Now that I am mainly based in London, it’s a beautiful thing that I miss because it wasn’t particularly tied to how well you knew a person. Just a moment, a gesture of belonging.

With Naplesfabulous, we do a lot of food tours about coffee in both cities, Naples and London, and never tired of finding new spots or uncovering fresh stories about this ubiquitous drink, that we always like to combine with delicious pastries, historical and daily-life episodes about these two metropolises.

Spending so much time in both places, it is fascinating to notice the similarities and differences each city has in its relationship – both actual and historical – it has to this everyday drink. We cannot help but connect Napoli with London and search for ways to incorporate Naples into our tours here as well as a little London in our tours over there. In fact, to understand Neapolitan culture, you must get to know its relationship with coffee. Equally, in order to understand London as an economic power, you need to be familiar with the role coffee played in trade, banking, and insurance.

The best place to start in order to do that, is to head first to the City in the heart of the most ancient London (Londinium), at the Jamaica Wine House, site of what is believed to be the first coffee house in London and perhaps England. We’ll wander around the alleys around the Royal Exchange where coffee houses like Jonathan’s, Lloyd’s, and Garraway’s used to be, head to the Bank of England while we learn how the existence of these coffee houses were intrinsic to how politics, law, banks, insurance, commerce, the postal system and newspapers were shaped.

We’ll discuss how coffee came to England, why the coffee house culture here was strikingly different in comparison to other European countries and how these spaces laid the foundation for establishing hotspots where major global players could meet, receive post, participate in auctions and decide how they were going to invest their rapidly growing wealth. As we travel along the storied streets of the Golden Mile, we will visit the lost legacy of former coffee houses scattered around the City as well as contrast the coffee houses with historic pubs which were also important in London’s role as a superpower. We may have to stop for a chocolate break along the way, not only to taste some of London’s best but to also discuss how chocolate emerged in London at the same time as coffee and how it had a much different history and influence on London’s elite.

As we wind around the city streets, we will focus on the new and old coffee traditions that can be found in London. To understand how coffee made its way back to London after tea took its place as the number one hot beverage, we’ll need to go to Soho which was once an area known for its high population of immigrants who, unlike typical English folks, were used to drinking coffee. The neighborhood was primarily Greek, Italian and French and you can still see evidence of this in some of its shops and restaurants (Maison Bertaux, Bar Remo, The Life Goddess). This last part of the tour will include a visit to one of London’s newest and most trendy cafes where coffee pouring is art and you can choose your roast from an array of different countries. We must go to Bar Italia for London’s best cannoli and to see the first Italian Gaggia coffee machine in England which is still in use (and chat about the Swinging Sixties and Bar Italia’s connection with the iconic jazz club across the street, Ronnie Scotts). After that cannoli, we’ll turn the corner to visit the iconic Algerian Coffee Stores from 1887 which has more coffee and tea than Fortnum and Mason in about 35 sqm.


We might even get a chance to visit William Curley for some of the best chocolate as we head to end the tour at the Old Coffee House pub (one of the few remaining coffee houses turned pubs) for a pint because after all that walking and coffee sampling from places around the world, you can try yet another beverage at one of the most homely and quintessential icons of UK culture, the corner pub.

Elevated in Sanità Neighborhood

Posted on by naples

Walking across the bustling Ponte della Sanità on a sunny October Sunday morning, you can look ahead of you towards Capodimonte, behind you towards Vesuvius and next to you the tops of buildings in the neighbourhood below. You might not know that the bridge is actually named Ponte Maddalena Cerasuolo, a heroine of the Neapolitan resistance.

You may also wonder how a bridge seems to have been built right on top of the densely populated borough, one of the most ancient parts of the city

 

 

Basilica di Santa Maria della Sanità and Resis-tiamo by Francisco Bosoletti 

 

which was home to the famous actor Totò and the delicious taralli and pagnotiello!

 

 

The bridge began as an ambitious project by Giuseppe Bonaparte at the beginning of the 1800s to connect Naples with the Royal Palace and Park of Capodimonte and was finished by Gioacchino Murat who called the new thoroughfare “Corso Napoleone”. The bridge needed to bypass the Sanità neighbourhood which was all but an easy landscape to navigate – it was full of ancient necropolises, beautiful buildings, churches and cloisters. Not an easy task, to say the least.

The architect Nicola Leandro found a bold solution for supporting the bridge: completely raze Santa Maria della Sanità’s large cloister and permanently disfigure the small cloister with one of the bridge’s supporting structures.

Years later the wound was redeemed during the Four Days of Naples (27 September to 30 September 1943). The bridge became the symbol of the liberation of Naples when a group of partisans, among them the 23-year-old Maddalena Cerasuolo, protected it from the Germans. Defeated by the popular uprising, they hoped to destroy the elevated road in order to block all northern connections with the city but on 29 September Maddalena (Lenuccia) Cerasuolo and a other partisans defended the bridge and subsequently the city of Naples.

In 2011 the bridge was renamed and dedicated to the heroine.

 

 

Another feature of the bridge is the elevator which connects the major entryway into the city with the buildings below it. The elevator was built in 1937 and is now adorned with a stunning mural by the artist Jerico Cabrera Carandang entitled in Neapolitan dilect “Tieneme Ca’ Te Tengo” (“You’ve Got Me and I’ve Got You”). Named by local youth, the artwork image is of two young people hugging – a symbol of the strength and warmth of the Quartiere Sanità.

And do you remember our post about our beloved Ria Rosa? Check out one of our favourite songs –Non mi seccare– which immortalises this bridge in which she chastises an ill-fated suitor for attempting to want to date her.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWe3YhqnFyA

 

 

Next time you might find yourself in the neighbourhood, grab a pagnotiello at Poppella, a savoury sandwich stuffed with cheese, cicoli, eggs and seasoned with black pepper and take the elevator up to one of the most iconic bridges in Naples which looks over one of the top twenty neighbourhoods in the world!

 

Lello Poppella and his satisfied client

 

If you want to walk all the way up to Capodimonte fabulous Park and Museum, feed your pace with Lello Poppella’s always warm taralli, frittatine di maccheroni and genuine smile.

 

A true world in a glance – Jasmina Trifoni

Posted on by alice

We are very proud to open our Artist Window with the work of Jasmina Trifoni.
Jasmina Trifoni is a journalist living in Rome who specializes in travel writing and narrative journalism. She works for Italian and International magazines including National Geographic and Meridiani, among the others. In a world where the “big frames” have almost all been discovered, she loves to find those small stories that can make the difference in the perception of a place. She has traveled extensively in all the continents (with the exception of Antarctica, and with a preference for everything that is “south”) but she doesn’t like to just check the country off the list and move on. Instead, she prefers to return to the same place several times to deepen her research. She has written several books which have been translated in many languages (100 Adventures of Our Lifetime, World in Danger, Patrimonio mondaile dell’Unesco, 80 Islands to Escape to, among the others).

 

The word that comes to mind when looking at Jasmina’s photos is spontaneity.
An avid traveller originating from Rome, she seems to truly have Naples in her eyes.
Our first encounter with Jasmina was by way of her photos. As it often happens, we’ve found her to be the exact embodiment of what her camera illustrates – a curious, inquisitive, impassioned woman who is in love with the most extravagant sides of life.

She’s always ready to laugh authentically at all that she sees in her surroundings. For her, she looks at the world and from the first glance she is categorising everything that interests and fascinates her – or what does not, in an instance! It’s true, we are all a little like that though few people blend integrity and flamboyance so seamlessly.
What is more extravagant that the human spirit – be it in depictions by talented artists or in the unbridled exuberance of people in the streets?

If you try to compliment Jasmina on her photos, she will squint her eyes and look at you as if you are saying something strange. Even if she is prolific in her photography, she doesn’t consider herself a photographer and doesn’t want to hear that her lens has immortalised a portrait of society in a precise – and fabulous – way.
What we love about Jasmina’s photos is her simple but earnest staging of life. Through her lens, a nameless street becomes the backdrop for neorealist theatre full of faces captured in their most honest moments.

Unique to many, Jasmina does not try to photograph dramatic or intense moments. Hers is a different approach: through the faces and bodies she shoots – quickly and without creating any kind of set – all of the depth of a moment is immortalised. In that moment lies all the complexity of life which her humour and exaggeration can render solemn and powerful.
In Jasmina’s photos, the landmarks, architecture and cities disappear and become irrelevant. Her objective concentrates on the representation of the souls narrating a psyche. Often you discover that her instant snapshots of faces precisely express the inner life of that person. What sets Jasmina apart is that she doesn’t stage a situation around the person in order to get a good shot. She doesn’t prepare the scenery in any way yet magically the realness of life reproduces a detailed biography in one quick click of the camera. This spontaneous process results in telling a deeply resonating story of the life of a stranger that seems to be someone that Jasmina has already known.

 

The harbor of Naples and the entire seafront stretching from the Castel Nuovo to the eastern extremity of the town, offer extraordinary exhibitions. This was the region of the Lazzaroni: the finer-looking or merrier vagabonds than those who are now found in it, it is not easy to meet. The streets that they frequent, and in which they may be said to live, lie in this quarter, and are altogether unique. Brawling, laughing, cooking, flirting, eating, drinking, sleeping, together with most of the other concerns of life, are all transacted here beneath the canopy of heaven
James Fenimore Cooper From the letters describing travel undertaken in 1828-1829

 

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The large stage of the world

 

Around every corner of the city you’ll hear someone singing, you’ll catch the tune of a Pino Daniele song or notes from the posteggiatori going trattoria to trattoria, encouraging the crowds of diners to sing along to traditional songs. Music is at the heart of the city and the greatest artists started in the neighborhoods we love, the number one being the Sanita’, well-known recently for its street parties with all kinds of musical performances going into the early hours of the next day. One of our favourite Neapolitan singers and icons, Ria Rosa, quotes the bridge of this neighborhood in one of her incredible tunes recorded in New York.

 

One of the most popular theatrical traditions of Naples is the commedia del’arte dating from the 16th century whose origins go back to the ancient Roman Atellan Farce (Fabule Atellane).
The main character of the commedia dell’arte is Pulcinella, now one of the most popular souvenirs from bella Napoli.

Pulcinella has a strong and contradictory personality, like the characteristics Naples is known for: exuberant and lazy, reliable and crazy, cynical and happy, funny and sad. He is a great representative of that emblematic cunning spirit for which Neapolitans are – or maybe were – famous.

 

 

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Being Neapolitan it’s wonderful

 

The Patron Saint Gennaro was martyred in 305 AD. Three days a year the saint is celebrated in the cathedral of Naples where believers and curious folks wait for the miracle of the liquefaction of his blood secretly and securely kept in a vial.
On September 19, New York celebrates the San Gennaro Feast in Little Italy. All began in Mulberry Street with the building of a small chapel dedicated to the Saint where offers for the poor people of the neighborhood were collected. Now it’s a party complete with fried zeppole.
San Gennaro is becoming more and more popular in Naples, not only as an historical and religious icon, but also in the design and top-quality arts market.

 

 

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The black gold of Naples

 

Coffee in Naples means espresso and the traditional caffè is ristretto, very short and dense.
Neapolitans consider coffee a necessity, something you cannot live without. This explains why the Suspended Coffee started in Naples, maybe after WWII. You drink a coffee at your favourite bar, and you pay a second caffè for someone who may not be able to afford it. The bar holds on to the “suspended” cup until someone comes and requests it. Why coffee and not bread? Because caffè in Napoli is considered as important as primary food. In a Neapolitan bar you always chat with the busy barista (coffee-maker) so it’s like sharing kindness, friendship and much more.
In his Neaplitan song Tazza ‘e café parite Giuseppe Capaldo compares coffee to a desirable woman, strong but with the sugar that once melted will make the drink beautiful!
We Neapolitans think our coffee is the best, and we are pretty sure to be right!

 

 

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Naples is synonymous with food

 

Red like lava, the piennolo tomatoes grow in volcanic soil. These small round-shaped tomatoes with a pointed tip and a thick skin are called “Piennolo” after Latin pendulus (hanged)  because of the system adopted to preserve it in bunches similar to grape and hanged in dry and ventilated places. The piennolo is represented in the traditional Neapolitan nativity scenes as well as tripe which is also sold as a street food and dressed with lots of lemon and salt.

The King of the Neapolitan snacks is the tarallo ‘nzogn e pepe (in Neapolitan dialect).  Some of the traditional tarallifici, where taralli are baked daily are in the Sanità neighborhood, but the tarallo was probably invented in the densely populated area of the Port of Naples in the 18th century. Due to poverty, bakers were mixing the leftover bread and dough with lard (“nzogna” in Neapolitan) and pepper.
In the past, taralli were sold by the “tarallari”, a man or a woman walking along the waterfront of Naples with baskets filled with warm taralli for people strolling along the coast.

 

 

 
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Art in the Art

 

From the murals and the masterpieces within Naples’ stunning museums to the hidden workshops of the tireless Neapolitan craftspeople, this is what Jasmina creates while capturing art with her immediate glance.

 

Artists like Turner and Warhol have flocked to Naples’ from all over the world to experience its energy and depict its landscape in their works. More and more, there are international artists coming to Naples to paint Naples itself. When touring the historical center, it is not unlikely to see a new colorful work pop up just around the corner.

The features of our face are hardly more than gestures which force of habit made permanent. Nature, like the destruction of Pompeii, like the metamorphosis of a nymph into a tree, has arrested us in an accustomed movement. Marcel Proust

 

 

 

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A bustling and struggling humanity

 

Mark Twain during his Neapolitan stay in 1867 wrote: “It is Broadway repeated in every street, in every court, in every alley! Such masses, such throngs, such multitudes of hurrying, bustling, struggling humanity! We never saw the like of it, hardly even in New York, I think. There are seldom any sidewalks, and when there are, they are not often wide enough to pass a man on without caroming on him. So everybody walks in the street–and where the street is wide enough, carriages are forever dashing along. Why a thousand people are not run over and crippled every day is a mystery that no man can solve.”

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

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The vertical city

Naples is a vertical city and from its belly to its hills, two cities cohabit in harmonic chaos with elegance, deterioration, noise, and silence. The diametrical oppositional humanity lives under the same sun and breath of the same salty breeze.

 


Mr Giancarlo Maresca, Gran Maestro of the Guardian Knights of the Nine Doors

 

Everyone in this city follows the sun. In the summer, people from all neighborhoods flock to the seafront to get a chance to soak in the rays. Every corner will be covered with those looking for a relaxing moment of sunshine.

 

 

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Piety and superstition in the womb of Naples
The Fontanelle Cemetery

In this ancient quarry where tuff rock was extracted, the remains of 40,000 victims of epidemics -and not only- are displayed in a very artistic way.
Fontanelle is located at the bottom of the hill of Materdei, where once streams ran down to the valley (thus the name fontanelle, little fountains). Despite its 54,000 square feet, this cavity has a very intimate atmosphere due to the soft lighting and the warm affection that Neapolitans express to the “poor souls” who live here.
Candies, toys, plastic flowers, written messages, a soccer shield, next to bus tickets and coins to pay Charon for the journey to the other world, are offered to those “little beggar souls” as the tradition calls them. They implore a prayer in exchange for who knows? Maybe one of the generous legendary skulls will appear in a dream providing a couple of lucky numbers to be played at the lottery.

The use of the quarry as a cemetery has stopped, but piety, mercy, love, superstition and devotion go on.

 

Some might lament that I were cold,
As I, when this sweet day is gone,
Which my lost heart, too soon grown old,
Insults with this untimely moan;
They might lament—for I am one
Whom men love not,—and yet regret,
Unlike this day, which, when the sun
Shall on its stainless glory set,
Will linger, though enjoyed, like joy in memory yet.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley
(Stanzas Written in Dejection, near Naples)

Walking Naples. Craftsmenship, art and food

Posted on 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.

The Miracle of San Gennaro

Posted on by alice

Three Days of the Feast

The Feast of the Patron Saint Gennaro falls on September 19 in memory of the the martyrdom of San Gennaro which presumably occurred in 305 AD.

There are two other feasts of note during the year:

On the Saturday before the first Sunday of May (in memory of the transport of the remains of the body of the Saint from Montevergine to Naples) a similar celebration is held. Followers crowd the Cathedral and pray that the miracle of the liquefaction of San Gennaro’s blood is repeated. The first known occurrence of the blood phenomenon was in 1389.

Both in May and September, the celebration is followed by the “octave”: a period of eight days during which the casing container of the blood is exposed to the public for the traditional kiss.

The third celebration is on December 16th which dates back from 1632, the year following the terrible eruption of Vesuvius. According to tradition, San Gennaro saved his beloved Naples from the eminent tragedy.

The Spectacle of the Miracle

The ceremony of San Gennaro is a perfect snapshot of Naples with its contrast and social complexities that coexist and come together for this unique event. The cathedral is filled to the brim with believers, onlookers and tourists while the highest ecclesiastic authorities, the mayor, the noble Delegation of San Gennaro and representatives made up of illustrious descendants of the Bourbons and San Gennaro’s ancestors are there to directly witness the miracle.

 

The Parenti di San Gennaro (Relatives of St. Gennaro), seated on the first pews soberly and somberly recite their rituals and prayers in the Neapolitan dialect. This congregation of women exalt the saint, praying in a respectful but also personal and familiar way:

San Gennaro mio fa tu ca io nun ne pozzo proprio cchiù and arrimmierece chisti guaje (I cannot take it anymore..fix my troubles…). Naples is forever in a state of emergency or in disarray so the ritual is always relevant, unfortunately!

The cardinal holds the vial with the blood and shows how it is still coagulated.

For the relatives waiting is not a good sign so the prayers become even more insistent as if they were yelling from their balconies to call to their child playing ball in the street below. San Gennà… Facci ‘a grazia…Faccia gialla fa ‘o miracolo.

San Gennaro…have mercy on us, Yellow Face give us a miracle. Faccia gialluta-Yellow Face is the nickname of the saint, referencing the golden bust representing him. Even if the sound of the nickname might be offensive, it is also is quite personal and informal.

When the blood liquifies a distiguished member of the Delegation waves a white handkerchief towards the applauding crowd.

Naples-New York

On the same day Little Italy in New York celebrates San Gennaro as well. How did it begin? The Neapolitan immigrants who were owners of a bar on Mulberry Street built a small chapel dedicated to San Gennaro where they collected offers for the poor people of the neighborhood. This is where the celebration began. Now the celebration lasts 11 days where the main theme is food: the zeppole pastries which remind the descendants of the immigrants of the sweet Neapolitan flavor.

In Naples, in addition to the torroni nougats sold on the stands between Via Duomo and Via Foria, in the last few years a pasticceria has invented a new pastry: the hat of San Gennaro!

 

 

If you are not able to be in Naples on one of the three days but you would like to witness the miracle of the liquefying blood in a streamlined way, every Tuesday morning at San Gregorio Ameno church you can observe the liquefying of Saint Patrizia. Believe it or not, it is a great excuses to visit a fabulous late Baroque style church.

 

The story continues … The day after the miracle of San Gennaro people play numbers at the lotto.

Fabulous San Giovanni a Carbonara

Posted on by alice

Fiorella: Apart from pizza and pastries, Naples is famous for archaeology and lots of Baroque…one of the many interesting contrasts of this city. And if you look hard enough, you can find gems of the Renaissance in this fabulous città d’arte.

Alice: I love the Baroque in Naples but it is so great to find those rare places that are examples of other styles. Do you have some favorite spots?

Fiorella: The church of Sant Anna dei Lombardi, the sepulcher for Cardinal Brancaccio by Donatello and Michelozzo in the church of Sant’Angelo al Nilo, the Succorpo in the Duomo and the marble arch of Castel Nuovo are some of the best but I think one of the most notable examples of the local Renaissance is the church of San Giovanni a Carbonara.

Only a few minutes walking from the Duomo and the MADRE museum, in via San Giovanni a Carbonara you find this amazing site where I lead tours to visitors who want to stay away from the typical tourists routes.

Alice: Sometimes off-the-beaten path is the best! I want to know more about Napoli Renaissance. Can we walk there together for a short guided tour? We should also specify that Carbonara has nothing to do with the famous Italian pasta dish that I love so much. However, let’s promise our readers that after the visit they can have a break at the close-by Rescigno bakery, a gluten (and not only) paradise.

Fiorella: Exactly! Carbonarius, indeed, was a place outside the city walls where refuse was collected and burned…not inviting at all.

Alice: By refuse, do you mean trash? But San Giovanni is so pretty!

Fiorella: The complex of San Giovanni was built in the 1340s in this restyled area and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. During the reign of King Ladislao di Durazzo it became the Royal cemetery. Damaged during the earthquake of 1688, it was restructured in the 18th c. by Ferdinando Sanfelice, our beloved Neapolitan architect famous for its spectacular double flight staircases.  Remember our post about the 5 Fabulous Things of Naples?

Climbing the stairs, half way up, we see the Chapel of Saint Monica with its 15 entrances. Continue up the steps-

Alice: Wait, how many steps exactly?

Fiorella: Do not complain-a fabulous surprise is waiting for you. Plus, you are a pro at stairs, I know you live on the fifth floor with no elevator! Anyway, after a little bit of a walk upstairs, you will finally reach the church of San Giovanni. So worth it. And remember we are going to Rescigno afterwards for some of the most delicious snacks ever!

The courtyard is also the entrance to the Cappella Seripando, called the chapel of Crucifix after Giorgio Vasari painted the Crucified Christ (1545) now in the presbytery of the church of San Giovanni.

Suppressed as religious order, the complex was used by military and then bombed in WWII. It was later restored and returned to its origin. The XV century portal, once a side entrance, leads into the church.

Alice: This place is fascinating. Another example of the layers of history around every corner of this city.

Fiorella: The first monument we see is the Miroballo Altar (second half of the15th c.) that reminds us of the arch of Castel Nuovo.

 

Alice: That arch is another one of my favorites as well…anyway, go on!

Fiorella: The Sepulchre of Giovanni Miroballo is a round arch, decorated with statues of saints ending with a tympanum on which St. Michael stands. The central niche, in the arch shows St. John the Evangelist by Giovanni da Nola, and the virtues: Temperance, Strength, Prudence and Justice.

In the tympanum you see the founders of the chapel with the Virgin Mary, Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. The chapel, is considered to be the work of Lombard artists. Probability Jacopo della Pila, Tommaso Malvito, G.T.Malvito and may be Pietro da Milano, in Naples to work for King Alfonso of Aragon at the Arch of Castel Nuovo which is the triumphal arch celebrating his accession to the throne.

Walking towards the altar, amongst sculptures and paintings, you reach the 15th c. Chapel of Caracciolo di Vico (to the left of the presbytery) with a concentric square marble floor and a white cupola which repeats the same geometric motif. The chapel shows the work of the most important sculptors working in Naples between the 15th and 17th c. Giovanni da Nola, Girolamo D’Auria and Annibale Caccavello amongst the others.

Bartolomé Ordóñez and Diego de Siloe are the two foreign artists who realized the altar in around 1516. Active also in Rome, they were familiar with classical sculpture and Raphael’s work. More decisive and dynamic is Ordóñez style, fluid and softer de Siloe’s. The Epiphany in the center, indeed, is attributed to Ordóñez. Here the draperies and the features of the Magi and the other characters are well defined. While Saint George who kills the dragon and the other figures dressed in light fluid drapes would seem to be by de Siloe as well as the flat sculpted Christ on the frontal altar.

Leaving this exquisite space we reach the apse where the impressive Sepulcher of King Ladislao di Durazzo dominates the scene. It was commissioned by his sister who inherited the throne as Giovanna II and it is dated 1428. On the first level of the gigantic monument are the frescoes by Leonardo da Besozzo and statues representing the Virtues with their iconographic elements: Temperance, who pours water into wine; Strength with the column of Samson; Prudence with the snake; Magnanimity who holds a shell with a cherub.

On the second level we see Ladislao and Giovanna II on the throne. At the side of them we can see Military Virtue with the globe and Hope with cupped hands and Charity with a horn of plenty and two maidens and Faith with a goblet.

There is also Giovanna the Queen who descends from a valorous brother and royalty continues on top of the arch where Ladislao’s parents, Carlo III and Margherita di Durazzo are found. Can you see the bishop blessing the king, the Madonna and child together with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Augustine, protecting him?

An opening between the statues of the Virtues leads onto the Chapel of the Caracciolo del Sole family, commissioned by Sergianni Caracciolo, lover of Queen Giovanna II.

 

Alice: Wait, a lover? Scandalous! I guess that is nothing new.

 

 

Fiorella: Yes, he was not a very faithful lover however. Appointed by the Queen as Great Seneschal, he was an ambitious man, ready to do anything in order to obtain office and riches, he betrayed even Giovanna and this eventually led to his murder in 1432.

The chapel is circular and completely frescoed (15th c.) with Stories of the Virgin’s life. Look at the scene in which St. Anna gave birth to Mary: there is a woman looking out of the window with washing hung up outside; another, on the ground floor, is cleaning a chicken.

Alice: Not much has changed in Naples in terms of the washing hanging outside although I don’t think I have ever seen anyone cleaning a chicken! Yet.

 

 

Fiorella: The fabulous floor of this chapel dates back to early 15th c. Local craftsmen created these zoomorphic motifs, vegetable elements and portraits. In some tiles, you see a sun, symbol of the Caracciolo del Sole (Caracciolo of the Sun) family.

Sergianni’s sepulcher was commissioned by his son about ten years after his assassination to celebrate the power of the Seneschal.

 

Alice: There is so much here to take in. A perfect place to wander, explore and take in art and architecture without the hustle and bustle of throngs of tourists. I am getting hungry, though…

Fiorella: Ok, ok, I know just the place to take you. But before you leave the church, take in what remains of the 15th c. fresco of the Annunciation and if it’s sunny don’t miss the little balconies next to the church with washing and a Naples-style panaro (basket) hung up outside.

 

 

Are you ready for a coffee and a Naples-style snack? You know we are not  yogurt-and-an-apple type snackers and the near-by Rescigno bakery offers a wide selection of savory and sweet treats to commit an understandable sin!

 

Alice: I mean, didn’t we earn it? All those stairs! I will take two taralli, please!

Fiorella: Just two taralli? They are so delicious but there are so many choices of wonderful things to go for. You can taste a frittatina di maccheroni (pasta and béchamel which is breaded and fried), a focaccia with so many perfect toppings to choose from. But have you tried their primi piatti?

Alice: Yes, of course! You know I love my carbs and this place has so many choices. One of my favorites first dishes at Rescigno is sartù di riso which takes a while to make but only minutes to devour. Sartù is the Neapolitan elaboration of the French word sur tout (above all). Sartù comes from when chefs created this fusion dish to please the Bourbon nobility. It is a perfect blend of ragù meat sauce, rice, and tiny meatballs (sometimes salami) and then baked with breadcrumbs to perfection. I think I will take one tarallo for the road and enjoy this amazing dish.

 

 

p.s. Thanks to Raffaele Lello Mastroianni for the photo of the Crucifix by Vasari

 

 

 

Limoncello Fabulous

Posted on by alice

Recently I was staying in Procida for a few days and there was a lemon tree just begging to be picked. I added those lemons to ones from Capri my student had given me and voilà! After a few weeks I had a delicious liquer that now I need to make a second batch of because it was such a success (and quite strong). This time maybe I can use lemons from Ischia as well!

You have probably heard about limoncello, the after dinner drink that leaves your palate feeling fresh and your mood a little lighter!

How about impressing your friends with your own homemade version?

Before you fill up your house with the refreshing fragrance of the lemons, remember to only use organic, locally grown lemons (best if picked right from the tree).

In the heart of the Naples historical centre, at piazza San Gaetano you can find the Limonè factory. This family run business is a well-kept secret and you can even see how it is made while you are tasting it!

Fiorella: it is a place where I always go with my clients. I love it!

Why it is so fabulous? Apart from smelling the freshly peeled lemons by the lovely Roberta, the location of this small factory is unique. It was built on the site of the Church of San Gaetano, once the 1st-century temple of the Dioscuri in the Roman forum (formerly Greek agorà). The façade of the church shows two of the six Corinthian columns, at one time on the front of the temple and the basement of the church highlights a section of an opus reticulatum wall.

A similar structure can be seen in the factory, behind boxes, corks and glass bottles while an even older Roman well is visible in a corner of the room where the limoncello with lemons from the Phlegrean Fields is made. This place is a true gem to discover.

Alice: Fiorella, do you want to share your recipe? I am dying to try another way of making my favorite local digestive.

Fiorella: I can share my friend’s Enrico and Donatella recipe as I don’t make limoncello, I only drink it!

1 litre of pure cane alcohol

1100 ml water

600 gr sugar

You will need a large glass jar.

Peel 10 still green lemons (or 7 big ones) with a potato peeler and place them into the jar.

Avoid the white pith of the lemon skin under the yellow zest as it will make your limoncello bitter.

Add the alcohol to the jar with the lemon zest.

Cover the jar with plastic wrap and store it in a cool and dark place for 10 days

After 10 days add the sugar to the water by mixing it with a wooden or steel spoon until the sugar is fully dissolved. Strain the lemon peels from the alcohol and eliminate the peels.

Mix the sugar syrup into the glass jar with the alcohol.

Before serving your masterpiece, chill it in the freezer. Drink it. And feel fabulous.