main index © Jeff Matthews
2002-2012
Naples Miscellany 36 (early May 2011)
Links to
all Naples Miscellany pages
- (May 1) - The
island of Ischia reports that it is expecting a 100%
increase in the number of those gigantic cruise
ships to dock at the island during the season just
underway. Last season, nine docked at Ischia; this
season there will be 18. "Gigantic" usually means
that they are too big to move into such harbors as
Ischia, Capri, and Sorrento; they may be as big as the ship described here. In
terms of size and capacity, they are comparable to
modern aircraft carriers. They anchor off shore and
send the consumer zombies ashore in smaller craft.
- (May 8) - The
annual Monuments in May
cultural festival has started. I've noticed a
greater number of those red double-decker
sightseeing busses moving around the city. Depending
on the current state of rubbish removal (precarious,
at best) and the part of town, sightseers may enjoy
what they see. Most museums and monuments are open
for visitors. One of the best for concerts and
exhibitions is the 23rd annual Festival of the Vesuvian Villas, hosted
in some of the historical residences east of the
city in the so-called "Golden Mile" along the coast.
(See that link for a general entry on the villas.)
As usual, there will also be a regatta in the waters
off of Vesuvius. The Vesuvian Villa Foundation
sponsors the yearly event. Their events office is in
Ercolano. Their
website has a complete itinerary.
 (May 12) -
The papers announce that "the" Goodyear blimp will
be over—and even moor in—Salerno today on its way to
Reggio Calabria as part of a Goodyear publicity
campaign to hype safe driving on the roads of Italy.
The phrase "Safety together" will be emblazoned on
the side of the craft beneath the familiar Goodyear
logo of the winged sandal. By all means, if you are
driving on the autostrada and you see this thing
overhead, take both hands off the wheel, roll down
the windows, look out, point up and shout "Hey! The
Goodyear blimp is advertising driving safety!"
Though the paper says the Goodyear blimp, I imagine the
craft is simply "a"—i.e., one of those that Goodyear
has purchased from ABC (American Blimp Corporation),
two of which are stationed in Europe: The Spirit of Europe I
and The Spirit of
Europe II. The Goodyear corporation no
longer makes the craft although the company had an
impressive history with air-ships in the 20th
century. (See "Whatever
Happened to the Goodyear blimp?" Those with
nostalgia for the grand behemoths of the sky of the
1920s and 30s may see "Zeppelin
Attack on Naples".)
 (May 20) - The
hydrofoil
service
from
the
small
port of Mergellina
(photo, right) to Capri, Ischia and elsewhere was
suspended earlier this year. I have not heard a
single opinion that it was a good idea to drop that
service. The port is well served by the nearby Mergellina train station;
whether you were a visitor to Naples or a local from
almost anywhere in the area, Mergellina was the most
convenient place to embark for the islands. The
small port was clean, well-managed and easy to get
to—and you
avoided the grime and chaos of Molo Beverello at the
main port of Naples a mile to the east. Now, all
hydrofoil service is from Beverello. Just getting to
the main port is a pain in the neck. (The adjacent
Piazza Municipio and portside roads are still torn
up for Metro construction and will remain so for
another few years. You'll probably take a cab.
Cabbies may be the only ones who approve of the
whole idea.) Local comment also points out that
tourists are not the only people who go to the
islands; there is significant movement of
Neapolitans and even residents of the islands, who
were served by a convenient port in the western
section of Naples. It is also a grind to come into the main
port and then get anywhere else. If you want
to go west (left, coming out of the port), say, to
get to the Mergellina, Chiaia or Posillipo parts of
Naples, you have to turn east (right) and go halfway
to Sicily before the cock-eyed one-way streets let
you turn around and go back. No matter how you slice
it, you are stuck with the main port of Naples, and
it is a mess.
 (June 1)
I note that at least one composer without honor in
his own land—the Neapolitan, Saverio
Mercadante (image, right)—enjoyed a successful
revival this year of his last opera, Virgina, at the
Wexford Opera Festival in Ireland. The work
premiered at San Carlo in Naples in 1866. Mercadante
can be said to have had a successful career with a
number of his works premiering at San Carlo, going
back to Didone
abbandonata and Ipermestra in 1824. Yet,
Mercadante was almost an exact contemporary of Rossini, and Mercadante's
music from 1840 until his death (1870) was also
running head-to-head with that of Verdi. That's
tough competition. Mercadante was also head of the Naples Music Conservatory
for a while as well as the musical director of the San Carlo Theater. There
is also a Mercadante
theater in Naples.
- (June 15) Many are
surprised that there is an organization called
ex-Don (ex
detenuti napoletani organizzati)
[Organization of Neapolitan ex-Convicts]. Even more
surprising is that fact that some of them who have
done their time and paid their "debt to society"
have come forward with a plan they will offer to the
new mayor, Luigi de Magistris—to wit, they have
offered to serve tourists arriving at the infamous
port of Naples. This means they will tell the sheep
to take the damned €5,000 Rolex watches off their
wrists and then shepherd the visitors where they
want to go—a local restaurant, the historic center,
etc., all the while keeping an experienced eye out
for pickpockets and purse-snatchers of the non-ex
variety. They are not trying to replace the police
at the port, says one of the planners, but "we need
jobs and this is a valuable service we can do." All
of this is in the interest of avoiding a repetition
of the tragedy a couple of weeks ago when a tourist
was mugged at the port for his watch, fell and hit
his head, and then died in a local hospital.
- (June 18) Tomorrow
sees the Naples leg of the FINA (Fédéracion
Internationale de Notation) [International
Swimming Federation] Open Water Swimming Grand Prix
2011. It is one of 11 stages in this year's
championship and is the only Italian leg of the
event. Like its 45 Capri-Naples predecessors, the
course is 36 km/22.4 miles of open water from the
isle of Capri to the breakwater and beach along via
Caracciolo in Naples. The first Capri-Naples race
was in 1954 and with a few years off now and then
has remained a fixture in the athletic life of the
city. One favorite tomorrow is the Italian (from
Florence), Andrea Volpini, currently leading the
rankings after four events; he finished third in
this same race last year. He says he's afraid of the
cold but not the distance; after all, he won the
Hernandarias-Parana race in February in Argentina.
That was 88 km/55 miles. Yes, you say, but that was
in a river going downstream, so maybe you can float
along sometimes. No, they swam in the Parana river!
That sounds too much like the Piranha fish for me.
You'd better not float along if you know what's good
for you.
- (June 19) The race
was won by Rotislav Vitek of the Czech Republic in
7h 05' 49'', just 11 seconds ahead of the Italian,
Volpini. After 7 hours in the water, it came down to
a sprint. Vitek won this race in 2009, as well. The
winner of the women's division was Pilar Geijo of
Argentina; time: 7h 34' 21.
- (July 27) I am not
sure why a strike of a union named FIALS
(Federazione Italiana Autonoma Sanità) [i.e.
Independent Italian Federation of Health Workers]
should cause the San Carlo orchestra to be unable—or
unwilling—to play, but that is what happened last
week at the San Carlo Theater. Whatever it was,
instead of calling off the performance of
Leoncavallo's I
Pagliacci, the company performed only with
piano accompaniment. It was unorthodox but very well
received.
- (July 30) The
seaside town of Monte di Procida at the western end
of the gulf of Naples has renamed the main square in
the Cappella section of town after Michele Sovente,
hometown poet who passed away a few months ago at
the age of 63. He was considered one of the most
original dialects poets in Italy in recent decades.
He started publishing in 1978 and then wrote books
of verse and criticism. He has been translated into
Greek, French, English, and, of course, Italian. (It
bears repeating that some Italian dialects are so
different from the standard language that Italians
from other regions require translation.) Remarkable
about Sovente was his mixing of dialect (his Monte
di Procida/Cappella brand of Neapolitan), standard
Italian and what he called a "synchretistic Latin,
more dreamed and imagined than really existed...".
(Readers should note the importance of dialect
literature in Naples and elsewhere in Italy—see this link.)
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