Sorrento and Naples

Sorrento is a Treat

Living anywhere can be an adventure. But living away from home is one, for sure. 

In Italy. Today was another reminder of the dramatic contrasts of Italy.  Sorrento was our reward after our grueling stay in Matera during an unexpected snowfall (see blogpost). Nothing could be more of a contrast than our experience of this morning in Matera and this evening in Sorrento. 

We continue to think of Sorrento as a "reward" city when we want a respite from more challenging travels.  What a lovely and welcome site it is, even in winter, to come from harsher weather to this sunny seaside town filled with orange trees. 

A bit broken by our recent adventures in Matera, we decided to rest in the luxury of La Minervetta a  little boutique hotel in Sorrento. Here's looking out our huge window at Vesuvius. 

Vesuvius through hotel window (Janet Strayer photo)

                                     

                                      View of Vesuvius, Naples and Seagull over bay (from our window) 

             

The  Minervetta is a small and beautifully architected modern white house standing several stories along the slope lining the sea. The interior and all rooms are individually decorated with professional but also delightfully eclectic care, with wonderful art pieces and good books and magazines in all private rooms and in the hugely comfortable lounge and corridors. It's a feast for eyes and senses.

Unruly Naples: I Like It! 

We stayed in Sorrento but took the train daily into Naples --a city that eats cars, among other things. Every guide-book screams NOT to take your car into Naples if  you expect to get it back intact. Driving in the city is lawless. Every guide-book, as well as some city notices, also warns of pickpockets. We know: we'd been hacked by nimble fingers on previous trips.

But I like Naples. It's an overwhelmingly noisy and grungy city that has too much of everything unrefined. Since reading Elena Ferrante's books, starting with My Brilliant Friend,  which conveys the often brutal but very human life there, I felt a bit more of a  personal connection to Naples . Not that I'd take anything for granted as a visitor here.

Touring the Sights in Naples

It was just going to be a "look-around and make it easy" kind of day.  We ended up just strolling busy old streets, with construction repairs going on all over the city center. It was fun window-shopping along the main streets from the train station, no visible signs to guide us. 

Each of the main streets branched into many little side-streets, each devoted to different products. One was filled with presepi, originally Christmas manger scenes in miniature, now extended to include whole village populations, political commentary, and activities involving moving parts. The sculptural quality of some of the work depicted was really quite good. Another little street was fitted with lovely old chocolate shops, another with embroidery and sewing shops. Outside stalls sold varieties of small items from keys to candy.  Probably anything could be found, if you knew where to look. Except maybe your car.

Santa Chiara

                Cloister, Sta. Chiara, Naples (photos Janet Strayer)

We ended up at the massive complex of Santa Chiara (monastery, church, tombs, archaeological museum, cloisters), built in early 1300's by the Queen of Majorca and her husband, King Robert of Naples. Too much, too big, and the architecture, well, just too heavy .... so we settled for a visit only to its famed cloisters. 

The cloister, transformed in 18th C. grand Rococo style, has a brashly colourful floral decor. The  huge frescoes that remain visible (damaged by time and war) are religious in theme , but the tiles decorating the perimeter foundations of the pillared cloisters show bucolic scenes of  country life beside the sea (see above). You'd think the nuns who strolled there might have come from the Follies Bergère. The decorations seem so gay and frivolous.  Every inch of unplanted area is filled with decorated majolica tiles. What kinds of contemplative thoughts did this lavish decor inspire in cloistered nuns? 

photos Janet Strayer

Pizza Napolitana

Walking down from Santa Chiara we came to our final destination of the day in Naples: one of six top-rated pizzerias (by Michelin) in a city famous for its great pies. We ate in the last room of the plain, white-tiled L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele. This place serves just two types of wood-fired pizza (red sauce, white sauce), but there's no need for more. We had one of each.

We walked back to the train station, having walked about 6 miles in Naples that day.  It was winter but the orange trees bloomed. The train was packed with commuters. It was dark outside by now, with the train travelling through tunnels and above ground. Every now and then the train doors opened and, though you could not see them, you could smell the scent of oranges in winter.  

It was a good trip. Car and wallets intact, and so much more to adventure to bring home with us.

More Creative Life News

You can read and see more recent posts about Italy, plus other travels and creative adventures by this itinerant artist at my  Creative Life News site here.

A River Runs Through It: How an Ordinary House in Puglia Became a Treasure Trove

The House a River Ran Through 

Walking within the walls of the old city of Lecce, we come to a house. From the outside it looks like the other old stone houses lining this street. Perhaps not as fancy on its exterior as some others we've seen on our walks in this gracious city, but a solidly constructed part of this ancient street. Its door is open... and we enter.

Wow!

terracota artifacts, found at Faggiano house

 The Faggiano Legacy

The house is named after the Faggiano family who own it. By accident, it was found to be a treasure trove of archaeological finds, all coming from beneath its floors and within in its walls. And it's true: a river runs through it!

Tuffa deposits underground, Faggiano house/museum

peek trough walls, Faggiano museum (Janet Strayer photos)

The story of this house and the remarkable findings under it was written about in the New Yorks Times in 2015.  Even more remarkable when the story is told to you, first-hand, from one of the boys (now an adult) who did the digging... seven years of it! 

Andrea Faggiano told us the story that brought history to light. He had worked with his father and brothers to fix the water problem, and ended up bringing this "museum" into being. His enthusiasm and respect for the archaeology and history of his house are infectious.

Andreas Faggiano (standing on one of the glass supports allowing you to see below (Janet Strayer photo

Is Dampness a Problem in Your Home?

The story begins with those who occupied the house repeatedly complaining of dampness. Some years ago, Luciano Faggiano (the father) decided to take a shovel to the situation and explore the piping and sewage system below the house. He had intended to make the house a trattoria when he started digging to repair the pipes.  He and his young sons encountered far more than wet dirt, (though there were masses of that). In fact, they discovered an underground river that runs eventually into the Adriatic. More than this: as they dug, successive layers of tunnels were found, each deeper than the next, with artifacts of different civilizations found at each levels.The finds go back at least to 2,000 B.C. The family just had to stop digging by this time!

looking down into cistern (Janet Strayer photos)

one level Faggiano museum, stone steps up

It was just Mr. Faggiano and his sons doing the work until the State archaeologists were called in. One archaeologist was sent to supervise, but the digging remained a family affair, with most of the artifacts carted off to museums to be analysed. I've included some photos that may give you a feeling for it, from my eyes, anyway.

reclining female, Faggiano Museum (Janet Strayer photo)

Museo Archaeologico

What is now called the Museo Archaeologico Faggiano is a wonderful tribute both to the Faggiano family's efforts and to the civilizations that lived here before them. Visit this website link and make it a unique  part of any visit to southern Italy. In this ordinary-from-the-outside house setting, you feel like an explorer, yourself. Spiral metal staircases lead down to the lowest chambers. You can walk on sturdy mirrored floor coverings to see historical excavations beneath the current floor and, in other places, walk the stone steps yourself.

jumble of terracotta remains found in Fabbiano house (Janet Strayer photo)

A World of Cultural History Beneath an Ordinary House

It is the surprise of this apparently "ordinary house" setting that makes everything unique. Within it, you walk through layers upon layers of history -- made very accessible through years of work. You are walking upon this region's earliest settlements, Greek Messapian culture, ancient Roman, Medieval to Byzantine cultures, and onward. Serving as places of worship, ancient burial rites, convents, hiding secrets within it. There is an underground system of caves clearly visible and partly open to exploration, which continues in different directions, including one ending at the ancient Roman amphitheatre in the center of Lecce.

The Knights Templar are a most active presence in the hidden tunnels and cisterns (now unearthed) that go down farther than I wished to. Templar  etchings are visible on the walls, and the tower they used to scan for trouble remains intact.The chambers unearthed and other discoveries are numbered, along with informative explanations. Climbing to the top of the tower of the house, you would once have spotted possible invaders from the east (Ottoman invasions occurred). Now the view it is surrounded by the rooftops of other houses.

Though it is now called a 'museum' (for all the museum-quality artifacts and architectural remains in it), the outstanding feature of the Faggiano is that is was, and remains, a living house. It just happens to be a house that goes down to reveal layers upon layers of human history. It is an extraordinary experience to wander within it and through time. It was a great afternoon's adventure to travel thousands of years within this one private house. The invitation remains open. Thank you for our visit!

More Creative Life News

You can read and see more recent posts about Italy plus other travels and creative adventures by this itinerant artist at my  Creative Life News site here.

Regards, Janet @ https://www.janetstrayer.com