Impressions of Napoli

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05.10.2011

Put short, Naples could easily be described as a characature of Italy. Take for example and especially the motorcyclists on the Tangenziale; one sitting upright at the handlebars in order to have both hands free for his mobile phone, another gesticulating whilst talking into his (at least hands-free) helmet headset. The cars jockeying for position in the clogged city arteries (using my Milan driving mantra of knowing where everything is, but pretending that you don't). The wonderful weather, the port smell and the smog over the city. The sheer number of people out and about in the centre - the life - on a Tuesday evening. The wonderful dinner (fish and fruits of the sea) in an unassuming restaurant near our hotel in Pomigliano. The 'man bags' (handbags for men) and the big sunglasses. It was all there.

From the strucutre of a typical blog, I would now normally explain here all the very good reasons why Naples isn't a characature of Italy; there simply aren't any, though. None at all.

And that's brilliant.


Comments

dioniso said…
Wasn't it fascinating? And there are many other interesting peculiarities of this city. One of them is the huge production of local music and local singers extremely popular in Napoli, but that no one else knows anything about in the rest of Italy. Additionally I find the Neapolitan popular music tradition outstanding. Have you heard of Passione from John Turturro? This is an interpretation of Tammurriata nera from the movie: a very ironic (typical Neapolitan humor) song written at the end of the war. Tammurriata is also a local dance which I recently learned. Two examples: one more popular and the other more "academical".
Sorry for my intrusion, but I have a sort of passion for that city as well.
Now you might have a better understanding of the saying "Vide Napule e po' muore" :-)

Ci vediamo il 18
9 October 2011 at 19:55
Penfold Manifold said…
As all too often on a business trip, I simply had too little time in Napoli to really appreciate it; but my impression is one of a lively, complex, chaotic city.

I know of Naples' rennaissance music tradition ("sacred operatic"), but not of anything more recent.

Overall, I don't think I'm ready to die yet, as I can't really state that I've "seen" Napoli!
10 October 2011 at 12:28
dioniso said…
I think that your impression is quite close to reality and that your reasonable dispensation could be accepted.
10 October 2011 at 12:39
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