Tag: Naples Renaissance

A Fabulous Musical Street

Posted on 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.

 

Art of Writing

Posted on 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.

 

                      

 

Sant’Anna dei Lombardi – A gem in the heart of Napoli

Posted on by alice

Fiorella: Don’t you love that fabulous gem in the heart of Naples, near Piazza Monteoliveto?

Alice: I do! Honestly, I just discovered how amazing this place was last year. I think our readers would love Sant’Anna dei Lombardi as well. Tell us about it!  

The church and the monastery of Monteoliveto were founded in 1411 by the Protonotary of King Ladislao of Durazzo. The name was changed into Sant’Anna dei Lombardi, when the Lombardi Confraternity was transferred here at the beginning of the 19th century after their church had been demolished after an earthquake.

This religious complex was beloved by the Aragonese Kings, in particular by King Alfonso II.

Thanks to the relationship the Aragonese had with the Medici and the Estensi families, some talented artists from Tuscany and Emilia worked on this structure.

In 1475 the Florentine Antonio Rossellino was entrusted with the the sepulcher for Maria of Aragon, daughter of King Ferrante and wife of the duke of Amalfi Antonio Piccolomini. The elegant monument was completed by Benedetto da Maiano.

The softly carved Nativity on the altar and the putti with garlands are delicate details one can appreciate in this fabulous Renaissance chapel.

In the 16th century Monteoliveto was enriched with many other masterpieces such as the marble altars by the local artists Girolamo Santacroce and Giovanni da Nola at both sides of the entrance.

To the right of the apse is a room with the fluid frescoes by the Spanish Pedro Rubiales (16th century) and the fabulous and theatrical terracotta group of the Lamentation over the dead Christ by Guido Mazzoni from Modena (1492).

Alice: I always loved the facade and although I had walked by this building so many times, rushing to lessons near Piazza Carità or to meet friends in Piazza del Gesù and it wasn’t until I went to a choir concert here last year that I actually saw the incredible beauty from the inside. Incredible.

Fiorella: Did you see the Sacristy? Once the Refectory, it might possibly be the highlight of the church. Look at the fabulous wooden stalls by the monk Giovanni da Verona with intricate prospectives, musical instruments, animals and lovely small statues brought to life with unusual clothing!

The paintings frescoed in the vault by Giorgio Vasari (in Naples between 1544 and 1545) with virtues, allegories and grotesques dominate the room and you cannot forget it once you take it in.

Alice: Those frescoes are unforgettable.

 

Fiorella: And before you leave the church, notice the sepulcher on the left hand side of the pronao. Here rests the architect Domenico Fontana who died in 1607. The monument was moved here from the church of Sant’Anna dei Lombardi.

Alice: After spending your time taking in the details of this masterpiece of a church, you might get hungry. Actually, I definitely am.

Fiorella: You fed your eyes so it is time to feed the stomach.

Alice: You are so good to me, Fiorella! But, I am not feeling a sfogliatella today and it is too early for a meal…

Fiorella: If you want a savory snack go for a potato croquette or a panino napoletano (a soft dough with cheese and cured meat) in the pizzeria Giuliano in Calata Trinità Maggiore, only a few minutes from here. And since you love the Neapolitan panino, I can give you the recipe I like.

Alice: Dangerously fabulous. Yes, please.

Fiorella: The recipe is for no more than five panini -to be shared with your friends or family. Don’t go overboard, I know how much you love these and you need to save room for dinner.

Alice: Fabulousness has no limits, Fiorella!

 

Ingredients for 5 panini napoletani:

20 gr of flour, type “0” or “00”

50 gr water

50 gr milk

6 gr bread yeast

1 spoonful of lard (if you want to go old school-traditional) or butter/margarine/shortening (for a little lighter option)

Salt

10 gr of Parmesan cheese

40 gr of pancetta (or bacon if you can’t find pancetta)

40 gr of ham

80 gr of provolone

Pepper (feel free to put a lot)

Oil

Dissolve the yeast in water and warm (tepid) milk and slowly add the flour.

Lovingly mix the salt, pepper and lard until the dough is soft and elastic without lumps of flour.

Let the dough rest for two hours, covered by a slightly damp cloth.

Roll out the dough with your hands or a rolling pin to about 3 mm of thickness.

Press the pieces of ham, pancetta, and provolone into the dough and add the Parmeasan.

Loosely roll up the dough in order to form a roll and cut it into slices of about three fingers width.

Place the panini napoletani on a greased cookie sheet, cover them again and let them rise for two hours.

Once they have proofed, cook them in an oven preheated to 180°C for roughly 20 minutes.

 

And you can also prepare a vegetarian version with margarine instead of lard and eggplants, peppers or friarielli instead of cured meat …not traditional but still fabulous!