4 September 2023 Naples
Walking Tour #2
Today we finished our tour of Naples, with its many
historical and beautiful buildings, fountains, unique churches, caves and
underground catacombs, and layers upon layers of history. We started at the Naples Cathedral. Commissioned by King Charles I of Anjou, the
church was built between the 13-14th centuries. The Naples Cathedral, also
known as the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, is the main church of Naples
and southern Italy. However, to the
locals, the church is commonly referred to as the Cattedrale di San Gennaro in
honor of St. Januarius (the English translation of San Gennaro), the city’s
patron saint. Because of its many
restorations and additions, the fusion of architectural styles of the church
include Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque.
It was built over previous paleo-Christian churches, and excavations
have unearthed many Greek and Roman artifacts underneath the Cathedral. Adjoining the cathedral is the Archbishop’s
Palace.
The outside façade is dominated by a large central tower and
many ornate sculptures.
Inside the church are three naves separated by over 100
ancient granite columns and a gilded coffered ceiling. There are several
chapels, including the Royal Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro. This baroque chapel is the most lavishly
decorated chapel and contains beautiful frescoes, a high altar, the
paleo-Christian baptistery, and mosaics from the 4th century and is
separated from the Cathedral by a bronze gate.
It is said that if you strike the gate with a coin, it will emit real
musical notes. Surrounding the sculpture
of St. Januarius, located on the main altar, are18 statues of other
saints. All told, there are 54 silver
busts depicting the patron saints of Naples.
There are seven altars within the chapel with the main altar containing
two ampules of the presumed blood of San Gennaro, believed to have been
collected by a woman named Eusebia immediately after his death, and San
Gennaro’s skull. The urn containing the
rest of Gennaro’s body lies under the main altar of the Succorpo Chapel, which
is the crypt of the Cathedral.
Just a little history about San Gennaro. According to records he was born in 272 AD,
but his birthplace is unknown. At some
point in his young life he became a Christian and the Bishop of Naples. During
the 4th century persecution
of the Christians by the Emperor Diocletian, Gennaro was beheaded in the
year 305. For many years his body lay
buried in several places – first in Capodimonte, then in Benevento and finally
to the Sanctuary of Montevergine. His
remains were then returned to Naples and placed in the Catacombs of San
Gennaro. In the 9th century,
his remains were moved to the crypt in the Cathedral of Naples. One three days annually – the Saturday before
the first Sunday of May, September 19, and December 16 – the vial of his blood
is shown to the faithful. The blood,
which is a solid substance, is said to liquefy.
While no one knows why, this phenomenon has been tested and seems
genuine and to the faithful in Naples, this is the true miracle. They believe
that if the blood does liquefy, disaster will befall Naples.
The left nave of the church leads to the archaeological
remains of the nearby original palaeo-Christian church of Santa Restitura
(built in the 4-5 centuries AD). There
you can see a Greek wall that belonged to the temple of Apollo and under the
apse are a section of the Roman aqueduct and a portion of a Greek road. The church also contains the 6th century San Giovanni in Fonte baptistery, the
oldest baptistery in Europe and decorated with 4th century mosaics.
From the Cathedral we
walked down Tribunal Street, Naples’s main east-west street during Greek
and Roman times. Only about half a mile in length, it contains many of the
city’s most important monuments and churches including the Naples Cathedral –
20 churches are located in this half-mile
stretch. Although the street is narrow
and cobblestoned, cars are allowed to drive here. The street is lined with not only the
churches, but the decaying and crumbling palaces of the city’s nobility from
years past.
Our next stop was the Basilica di San Paolo Maggiore. Built
over the ruins of the 1st century Roman Temple of Dioscuri
(dedicated to Castor and Pollux, the Basilica di San Paolo Maggiore has
undergone many restorations and renovations since its original
construction. The current church was
almost entirely rebuilt following a devastating earthquake in the late
1688. But one thing that has remained
constant are the two Corinthian columns that are the only remnants of the
original temple. Today they are part of
the front façade of the Basilica.
Adjoining the front façade is a double staircase that is flanked by the
two Corinthian columns. Also found along
the edges of the front façade are statues of St. Peter (on the left) and St.
Paul (on the right). The church was not
open when we arrived, so we opted instead to visit the Naples Underground whose
entrance was right next to the church.
Over the past 2500
years, a labyrinth of passageways, tunnels, aqueducts cisterns have been built
under the city (known as the Napoli Sotterranea). In the 4th century BCE, the Greeks
built a 280 mile-long network. When the
Romans took over Naples, they added aqueducts to this network. Today we walked down 120 feet into this
infrastructure to see the aqueducts, cisterns, catacombs, caverns, roadways,
and rail tunnels. The first couple of
rooms that we visited were more modern – they were constructed at the beginning
of WWII to be used as shelter from air raids.
After the cistern system ceased to be used as a source of water, people
began throwing their trash down into the rooms.
To create the bomb shelters, the city poured concrete over the trash to
make a floor, so what we were standing on was years and years of trash! These small rooms each held about 4,000
people. As we walked through several of
these rooms, we saw abandoned toys that Mothers had brought for their children
to help ease the anxiety of an air raid, a room that was lined with tiny stalls
all the way around – you guessed it – a bathroom, and several tiny little rooms
with one stone bed that was used by newly weds for at least one night of
privacy. There was also an on-going
experiment by the local university to see if plants could grow without
watering. Judging by the looks of the
plants, the humidity of these rooms and tunnels was providing them with enough
water.
Then the exciting (or
terrifying) part of the tour began. This
was not for the claustrophobic or faint of heart. We had to walk through a very small tunnel
which was about 18” wide and very dark.
We literately had to side-step our way using our cell phone
flashlights. I did learn something – if you
try and take a picture with the flashlight one, you lose the flashlight. I am still trying to find it on my phone –
oh, where is Caitlyn when I need her! The
tunnel (which at least was tall enough that you did not have to duck walk)
opened up on a large cistern of water that was fed by river in Naples. We walked to three different cisterns and
then had to walk up 132 steps to reach the surface.
At the end of the tour,
we visited a Greco-Roman theater where it was said that Emperor Nero had a
private dressing room. He fancied
himself a very good singer, but most historians that that was only his inflated
ego telling him that! We started this
part of the tour in a small apartment that had been owned by an eighty year old
woman. Archeologists new the theater
existed as they could see an outline of it from images taken from space,
however finding it was another matter.
They were able to convince the woman to move and let them have her
apartment for their research. Upon
exploring, they found that in the woman’s basement, she had a wine cellar that
was actually part of the theater’s dressing rooms. One reason you can only see this small
evidence of the theater’s existence is that over the hundreds of years, people
have built their homes on top of the ruins or made the ruins part of their
homes. Our guide pointed out several windows
at the top of the ruins that were windows of an existing B&B.
After a relaxing lunch
of margarita pizza and soda, we then walked over to another of Naples
ancient street – Via San Gregorio Armeno.
It was once home to a temple dedicated to the Roman Goddess Ceres where
her worshippers would bring little figurines made in nearby shops. Today, that tradition continues on this
narrow alleyway as workshops make figurines for Nativity scenes. In addition to the nativity figures, artists
also create modern figures such as sports stars, celebrities and politicians. The street is not very wide and was crowded
with people and the occasional car or motor scooter.
We wound our way through the maize of streets and alleys
until we came to our final stop, the Church of Santa Chiara. Built by King Robert of
Naples and his wife between 1310-1328, this complex of religious buildings
contains the 14th century Gothic Church of Santa Chiara, a
monastery, royal tombs of the Anjou rulers, and a beautiful and peaceful
garden. Today it also houses an
archeological museum which contains the ruins of a 1st century Roman
spa and sauna. King Robert is buried in
one of the tombs.
Except for a rose
window, the outside of the church is rather plain. The interior, which is the largest in Naples,
has ten chapels containing Gothic monuments.
But perhaps the most
stunning section of this complex is the cloisters surrounding the garden. 72
columns line the walkways within the garden and a series of benches connect
these columns. These columns and benches
are decorated with 18th century hand painted Majorca tiles, each
unique and showing various scenes depicting rural life and fishermen with their
catch. Tiles of flowers and vines appear
to climb up the columns. The ceilings of
the cloister’s porticoes are decorated with 17th century
hand-painted frescoes. The gardens
themselves are filled with citrus trees and roses. Considering this was once a place of solitude
for the nuns who had vowed to remain silent during their lifetime, some of the
scenes depicted would today probably not be “politically correct.” Some of the scenes depicted on the tiles
include boar hunting, bowling, dancing, and “horrors of horrors” – a Carnival
revel!
The mosaics were truly
beautiful and the garden was so peaceful and relaxing. I was very tired by this time so I just sat
on one of the benches and enjoyed the colorful mosaics. Bill visited the archeological museum with
its Roman ruins. A fitting end to our
stay in Naples.
Tomorrow is a travel day
as we leave Naples and head for Puglia and Matera.
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| Naples Cathedral |
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| Altar of the Cathedral |
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| Ceiling of the Cathedral |
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| Crypt of San Gennaro |
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| San Gennaro |
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| Baptistery in Cathedral |
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| Royal Chapel in the Cathedral |
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| Royal Chapel in the Cathedral |
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| One of the Rooms in the Underground |
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| Abandoned Toys in the Underground |
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| Plant Experiment in the Underground |
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| Tiny Tunnel in the Underground |
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| Cistern in the Underground |
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| Old Buildings On Way to Roman Theater |
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| Ruins of Dressing Rooms |
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| Ruins of Dressing Room (window on top is bathroom window from B&B) |
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| Via San Gregorio Armeno |
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| Small Workshop on the Street |
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| Mosaics in Santa Chiara |
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| Mosaics in Santa Chiara |
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| Mosaics in Santa Chiara |
