NAPLES | Art & Culture 40°51’05.8”N 14°16’05.3”E Lucy King, Elliot Cox, Allaster Grant & Dana Al-Khammach
OBSCURE
REVEAL
OBSCURE 1. not discovered or known about; uncertain. “his origins and parentage are obscure” 2. not clearly expressed or easily understood. “obscure references to Proust”
OBSCURE underground architecture ancient architecture myths and legends theatre masqurade neapolitan traditions
REVEAL 1. to make known; disclose; divulge: to reveal a secret. 2. to lay open to view; display; exhibit.
REVEAL piazzas baroque literature film festivals food music painting art galleries football
OBSCURE unnoticeable dark hidden faint shadowy unknown apart vague dim isolated undefined wispy unsung
REVEAL bring out unveil unwrap let on bring out produce divulge expose get out let out release uncover
ART & CULTURE | Architecture Naples boasts many architectural delights, from ancient ruins to a volcanic landscape, and breath-taking Baroque buildings to the underground world of catacombs lacing below the city.
ART & CULTURE | Piazza Architecture Piazzas are common in Italian architecture, and there are multiple across the city of Naples. The largest public square in Naples is the Piazzo del Plebiscito that was built by the Bourbons, Ferdinand I in 1793.
https://www.napoli-turistica.com/piazze-di-napoli/
ART & CULTURE | Underground Architecture There is an invisible side of Naples that sits over 20 meters down, formed over thousands of years, with many different uses throughout their time. From bomb shelters to house storage, and graves to an unfinished metro.
Catacombs
Greek and Roman Aquaducts
Greek Tufa Quarries
The catacombs that sit underneath Naples are arranged over two levels. They are characterised by their larger spaces in comparison to Roman catacombs and this is possible due to strength of the tuff used in construction.
The longest Roman aquaduct can be found in Naples, and they span to the suberbs of the city. There are over 200 kilometers of aquaducts sitting underneath Naples. They are geothermal and were used to heat peoples houses.
Tufa comes from volcanoes when they erupt, it is mined as it is extrememly strong. The tufa quarries were carved out by hand, and converted into storage. They are now all connected via tunnels, to create an underground maze.
ART & CULTURE | Ancient Architecture The ancient ruins of the temple at Paestum are some of the oldest Greek remains that are in mainland Italy, and in one of the best conditions. The temple was built to honour female godesses. The remains of Pompeii are what survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD.
Paestum, 6th century Greek temple.
Paestum, 6th century Greek temple.
Pompeii.
Pompeii.
ART & CULTURE | Baroque Architecture Baroque Architecture can be found all over Naples, as it is its most representative artistic impression. Baroque architecture is characterised by grand stairways, soaring domes, quadratura (ceiling painting), large columns and unfinished elements.
Soaring domes.
Quadratura.
Undulating and colossal columns.
Unfinished elements.
ART & CULTURE | Myths and Legends of Naples Partenope 2 | The Sea and the Fire, Partenope and Vesuvius “According to a nineteenth-century myth, Partenope was a mermaid who resided in the Neapolitan gulf and one day met a centaur named Vesuvius. They fell madly in love but Zeus, jealous and possessive, turned the centaur into a volcano and so Partenope, torn apart by an irrepressible pain, could only see his beloved without being able to interact in any way. Destroyed by sadness, she committed suicide and, perhaps thanks to some heavenly gods, was transported to the coast of Megaride. The coast assumed her features and she became the first form of the Neapolitan city. Finally, she could rejoin Vesuvius, forever sanctioning a timeless pact of love.”
La Bella ‘Mbriana
The Legend of Castel dell ‘ Ovo
La Bella ‘Mbriana is one benevolent spirit who lives in the houses of the Neapolitans bringing their fortune and lives with the Munaciello, of which he is antagonist. Its appearance is not known precisely because it appears in passing during the brightest hours or in the early afternoon and when it is sighted magically turns into a gecko, an animal considered lucky. According to legend, Bella ‘Mbriana was a beautiful princess who lost her love and, alone and desperate, began to wander the city. The king’s father asked his subjects to open the doors of their houses to welcome her. That’s why the spirit is considered to protect the house.
The Castel dell’Ovo on the waterfront of Naples owes its name to an ancient legend that involves Virgilio. The Latin poet, also considered a magician in the Middle Ages, would have hidden one magic egg in the dungeons of the castle to make sure that it never collapsed. In fact, its eventual break would provoke its destruction of the fortress and of the whole city. The egg has never been found, but it is said to be in a container of water in an iron cage hanging from an oak beam in an underground room. In the sixteenth century a collapse of the arch made the panic spread among the inhabitants and Queen Joan I was forced to swear to have replaced the egg.
ART & CULTURE | Literature Elena Ferrante’s quartet is set in Naples. The books follows the lives of two perceptive and intelligent girls, Elena Greco and Raffaella Cerullo, from childhood to adulthood and old age. They live in a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples, Italy where they try to create lives for themselves amidst the violent and stultifying culture of their home.
ART & CULTURE | Theatre in Naples The Teatro di San Carlo is the oldest working theatre in Europe, and is located off the Via San Carlo in central Naples. The original building was constructed in 1737 but this burnt down in 1816 and was reconstructed in the 19th century. The new building was finished extravagantly with velvet and large quantities of gold leaf. In the 1700’s, Naples was the world’s opera capital and the Teatro di San Carlo still hosts many opera’s alongside theatre productions.
PASSIONE | 2010
L’ORO DI NAPOLI | 1954
EAT PRAY LOVE | 2010
IT STARTED IN NAPLES | 1960
GOMORRAH | 2014
ITALY UNPACKED | 2013
ART & CULTURE | Films set in Naples
ART & CULTURE | Festivals in Naples Festivals in Naples and The Amalfi Coast are spread throughout the year, with the locals taking each event seriously by decorating the city beautifully. Each month consists of many different festivals, and when visiting the city many tourists focus their trips around these events/festivals.
JANUARY 6th Jan: Early Jan: 17th Jan:
Epiphany Capri, Hollywood - International Film Festival O Cippo ‘e Sant’Antuono
MAY 1st Sat in May: Festa di San Gennaro May: Maggio dei Monumenti Mid-May: Wine and the City
SEPTEMBER 8th Sep: 1st Week: 19th Sep: Late Sep:
Festa di Piedigrotta Settembrata di Anacaprese Festa di San Gennaro Festival Ethnos
FEBRUARY 3rd Feb: Mid Feb: 14th Feb:
Saint Biago Day Carnival Sant’Antonino in Sorrento
JUNE Every 4th year: Regatta of the Maritime Republics, Amalfi Jun & Sept: Pizza Village in Naples Jun-Sept: Ravello Festival Throughout: Napoli Teatro Festival
MARCH 19th Mar: End Mar: Mar - Apr: Mar - May:
San Giuseppe - Eating zeppole is traditional Settimana Santa Festival MANN Festa della Primavera
APRIL Early Apr: Easter Early Apr: Piano City Naples Late Apr: Gran Premio della Lotteria di Agnano
JULY 16th Jul: Festa di Madonna del Carmine 26th Jul: Sant’Anna Ischia Throughout: Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
Throughout: Classical Music at San Carlo Mid-Oct: Sagra Della Noce Late Oct: Naples International Film Festival
1st Nov: Day of the Dead Early Nov: Mushroom Festival at San Giuseppe Vesuviano 11th Nov: La Festa dei Cornuti
AUGUST Early Aug: 10/11th Aug: 15th Aug: Late Aug:
Sagra del Tonno La Notte di San Lorenzo Ferragosto Ischia Jazz Festival
DECEMBER Throughout: Early Dec: 16th Dec: 31st Dec:
Christmas Markets Natale Festa di San Gennaro New Years Eve
ART & CULTURE | Festivals in Naples The Ravello Festival celebrates all things music and takes place from July to September, in Ravello, a small town about an hour away from Naples. The festival was founded by Robert Wagner, who visited Ravello and then proceeded to use it as inspiration for his opera Parsifal. Now, the music festival is filled with a wide-range of different artists from pop artists to solo performers of classical music. Most of the town turns into a stage, with the most famous being the overhanging terrace at Villa Rufolo.
ART & CULTURE | Masquerade Everyone knows that Venice has a famously enchanting Carnevale season. All masks and pageantry and secrets- so befitting of the misty canals and darkened back alleys that dominate this unlikely island city. Notably though, Venice is not the only Italian city that boasts uniquely traditional pre-Lenten festivities to usher in the 40 days of fasting and abstinence before Easter. Naples, as the former capitol of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, is home to countless carnivalesque rites and rituals that date back over 1,000 years. Many of these traditions, like those of Naples' sister cities to the North, feature fertility rites and gluttonous feasts as a way to stave off or counter-balance the stark period of Lenten fasting to come before Easter.
ART & CULTURE | Pulcinella Commedia dell’arte is a traditional early form of theatre, that originated in Italy. Pulcinella is a classical character that originated in the 17th Century in commedia dell’arte. The character went on to become a key character in Neapolitan puppetry. Since the 18th Century, Pulcinella has symbolised the comedy element in Neapolitan theatre. Pulcinella typically wears a black half mask with a long nose matched with a long white garment with a black leather belt.
ART & CULTURE | Neapolitan Traditions The “suspended coffee” If you happen to walk through the alleys of Naples or stop at a bar for a break, do not be surprised if you hear a customer order two coffees: “one immediately, and one suspended”. It is a paid coffee and not consumed, but intended as a gift to the next customer. This custom, which rightly underlines the friendliness and generosity of the Neapolitan people, has been handed down over time as an expression of altruism (coffee in Naples is sacred, and is not denied to anyone!) or more commonly to celebrate good news or reward a fate that on that day proved particularly generous.
PIZZA
THE CAMORRA The Camorra is an Italian criminal organisation dating back to the 17th Century which originated in the region of Campania, still operating to this day. Unlike the pyramidal structure of the mafia, the Camorra is much harder to define - it is an amorphous grouping within Naples composed of over 100 independent clans, prone to feuds and alliances between one another. Each district typically has a criminal family that controls the territory which will recruit and form alliances with smaller clans to gain power. It is an underground society with its own means of justice, referred to by Neapolitans as ‘the system’. Its main businesses include drug trafficking (close relationships with South American cartels), money laundering, racketeering, as well as arms trafficking, loan sharking, etc. It is not unusual for local clans to infiltrate their respective political groups. Children are often recruited into the Camorra with offers of money as a means to escape poverty. Baby gangs – with many Camorra bosses now in prison, some clans are now run by teenagers, these are less organised but very violent.
CAMORRA
TOXIC WASTE
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ART & CULTURE | Music in Naples Music has been a key part of Neapolitans history, with it becoming the worlds opera capital in the 1700’s. Music is still a prominent sound when walking around the streets in Naples, and a visit to Piazza Bellini is imperative to hear musicians performing and serenading on the street.
1700’s | Naples was worlds opera capital
1800’s | Naples La Canzone Napoletana was created
1943 | American Allies arrival sparked Jazz, Rhythm and Blues
1970’s | A fusion of styles of music
ART & CULTURE | Painting & Drawing Naples is one of the main European cities of art. A style that you could difinitively be described as Neapolitan emerged in the 1600’s. The cosmopolitan nature of Naples brought the city a great amount of artistic exchange with and influence from elsewhere, first from Siena and from what is today the region of Emilia Romagna.
ART & CULTURE | Painting & Drawing Painting is also extremely common throughout buildings in Naples, particularly on the walls and ceilings of architecture built in the Baroque period.
https://www.stripes.com/worthy-of-praise-naples-church-
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-naples-napoli-
https://www.livitaly.com/?src=pinterest
https://www.picfair.com/pics/08940922-painted-ceiling-of-castel-capuano-capuano-castle-naples
1400’s & 1500’s Naples was taken from the Angevins by the Aragonese dynasty. Naples had become a Spanish vice-realm and during that vice-realm painting was secondary. This had to do with Spain’s military ventures on the larger European stage. What’s more, the city was in the midst of urban turmoil that greatly affected the work of artists. Simone Martini was called to the court in 1317 to paint San Louis of Tolouse Crowning his Brother, Robert of Anjou, particularly important because it was the first painting of a person who was still alive. The arrival of Giotto from Tuscany was an important step in that it set in motion the first school of master plus disciples, primary of whom was Roberto d’Oderisio, that would lead to local tradition.
Neapolitan Painting from the 1300’s
1435-42 Naples became the main center of Flemish painting in Italy and in southern Europe. it introduced new painting techniques from throughout Italy. The most notable, Colantonio, who was a Flemish Primitive.
Fabrizio SantafedeThe first of the painters who would carry over into the following century and the great artistic wave that was to come was Fabrizio Santafede (1525-1626). He was called the “Neapolitan Raphael” and his style (termed Mannerism or Late Renaissance) marks the transition to the Baroque.
Flemish Primitivism he style is “realist” in that it attempts to represent physical appearances precisely; it is complex and often laden with religious icons. Antonello da Messina was born at Messina around 1429–1431. His name may also be Anglicized as Anthony of Messina. He has dozens of extant works spread throughout Europe and America. He studied in Naples under Colantonio and his works show that influence and commitment to the Early Netherlandish style of painting. Madonna with Child
Titled the “Neapolitan Raphael”, he was so respected that they say that during the sack of Naples in 1647 by insurgents under Masaniello, two houses in which Santafede had painted frescoes were spared out of respect for the artist.
The individual Mannerist who stands out in Naples is Marco Pino or Marco da Siena (1521–1583). He worked in Siena, Rome and, primarily, Naples (from 1557 until his death). His work clearly shows the graces of the Renaissance and also the colorful excesses of Mannerism. His works are found at a great number of Neapolitan sites, as well as near Naples: the churches of Sant’Angelo a Nilo (which holds the work shown here on the right: San Michele Arcangelo, oil on Canvas 325x237 cm (c.11x8 ft) (1573), Mannerism (also called Late Renaissance), a style that overlaps with the later Baroque to a certain extent, in that many of the same names occur. The most spectacular Mannerist work of art within the city — is the magnificent 46-panel gilded fresco on the ceiling (image shown) of the church of Santa Maria la Nova. The fresco dates back to 1600 and is the collective work of a number of artists, including Luca Giordano. Neapolitan Baroque
The style may be said to have run from around 1530 to the end of the century in Naples. It is stylistically influenced by the harmonious ideals associated with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and early Michelangelo. Although the reference to classical High Renaissance art is clear, High Renaissance art emphasizes proportion, balance, and ideal beauty, but Mannerism exaggerates such qualities, often resulting in compositions that are asymmetrical or “unnaturally elegant.” Mannerism is known for its elongated proportions, highly stylized poses, and lack of clear perspective. The style is said to be artificial as opposed to naturalistic.
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio) (1571 - 1610) His last selfportrait — of himself as the severed head of Goliath.
ART & CULTURE | Painting & Drawing Exploration into Painting vs Drawing in The Wedding Feast at Cana Do you draw (sketch) it first and then paint over the sketch? That is, are you essentially filling in a sketch with color? Or is there another way? Can you just go at it with no sketch at all? Just slap on the color and let color form itself into the figure. The debate was said to be between the relative importance of colorito (Coloring) versus disegno (Drawing or Sketching). This has particular importance when it comes to the person of Caravaggio. The division in Italy was early on between Florence and Venice, the former being the artistic home of the great masters of the High Renaissance such as Leonardo and Michelangelo; the latter, Venice, was the home of color, where it was customary to invent new pigments.
ART & CULTURE | Art Museums in Naples Around Naples there are multiple art museums, all showcasing different styles and eras of art.
Novecento a Napoli | Modern Art
Cappella Sansevero | Baroque Creativity
Palazzo Reale di Capodimonte | Neapolitan Painting
MADRE | Contemporary Art
ART & CULTURE | Street Art All around Naples there is lots of street art. Many street artists have made their mark all over the city. One of the most famous is by Banksy, the Madonna with a pistol. Madonna with a Pistol is an artwork by one of the most famous street artist in the world, Banksy. Just like other works by Banksy, this one is full of irony: it represents a Madonna in ecstasy with a gun over her. This piece of art wants to represent the connection between religion and organized crime in Naples.
https://www.visitnaples.eu/en/neapolitanity/discover-naples/7-great-pieces-of-street-art-in-naples
ART & CULTURE | Street Art Street art litters the streets in naples, with many of the great pieces of faces/people.
https://www.visitnaples.eu/en/neapolitanity/discover-naples/7-great-pieces-of-street-art-in-naples
ART & CULTURE | Sport - Football The City of Naples is very close to it’s football team - the results of Napoli Football Club are lived vicariously by the city and the stadium is loved like a church by its people. Napoli is a club that “brings people together from all walks of life – rich and poor alike. It is the people’s team.” - Domenico Carratelli, Italian sports journalist. After playing against Napoli in the Champions League, Yaya Toure described the relationship between the teams as visceral - comparable to the love shown between a mother and child.
ART & CULTURE | Sport - Football 10 May 1987, a deathly quiet fell over the city of Naples as the team played the game which could win their first league title in 61 years. “The world had changed, the noisiest, most crowded and most chaotic city in Europe was deserted.” - Italian anthropologist, Amalia Signorelli. After a 1-1 draw with Fiorentina secured the title, days of partying began. “During the celebrations, Napoli fans displayed all the classic traits of what has become known as the Neapolitan ‘character’: irony, parody and a sense of the macabre, obscenity and blasphemy.”
2020-21 S.S.C. Napoli team captained by Lorenzo Insigne
1987 Title winning team captained by Diego Maradona
Stadio San Paolo, now the home of S.S.C Napoli, the stadium was constructed in 1959. While in the third tier of Italian football Napoli drew a record crowds of over 50,000 fans, while today the entire city seems to come to a standstill on Champions League nights.
ART & CULTURE | Sport - Football Naples isn’t exactly loved by the cities in northern Italy because they view the city through the frame of Camorra, mafia, pollution, etc. – seen as a violent city. The Napoli team is one of the main motivating factors for the city – their supporters see it as a way to deal with the super powers from the north and set themselves free from society. The football team seems to reflect a sentiment within Naples that the city stands apart from the rest of the country.
ART & CULTURE | Sport - Maradona Diego Maradonna - a Demigod to the people of Naples to this day. His passion, volatility and footballing genius reflected Neapolitan character. Napoli won their only two Scudetti and a Uefa Cup during his seven year spell at the club. At a time when the hostile, antisouthern politics of northern regionalist parties such as Lega Nord (a political party who have advocated northern Italy’s succession from the south) were taking hold in the terraces of northern clubs, Maradona restored pride to the city of Naples - he was a symbol of change.