Yep, folks. We’ve been spending a bit of time outside the Eternal City and we’ve been snapping photos as we walk the streets of such European metropolises as Paris and Naples. Knowing that our audience appreciates all things Italian, today we bring you some Neapolitan street scenes - all shot while roaming Via dei Tribunali in search of una vera pizza.
In comparison with Rome, Naples is another planet. In many ways, it is a city with two personalities - one mired in despair and disrepair (see the egg vendor above) and the other consumed with the exuberant celebration of life’s simple pleasures.
What produced this bipolar approach to life? Throughout the past 2500 years, Naples has been a trophy passed from one invading culture to another - first from the Greeks to the Romans, then from the Byzantines to the Normans, and then from the Angovins to the Bourbons, before finally becoming part of the newly formed country of Italy in the mid-19th century.
Such hot-potato handling of the city has made the population inventive above all - a trait clearly displayed when a white car pimped out with a loudspeaker and boxes of battery-operated toys blared its way up Via dei Tribunali announcing, “Toys for sale! Only two euro! Dolls! Cars! Batteries included.” (see below)
And then there’s the craziness of Naples. People, cars, and motorini swirl at rapid pace and in traffic patterns unseen elsewhere on the Italian peninsula. “See Naples and Die,” they said during the city’s Golden Age during Bourbon occupation, making reference to the drop-dead beauty of this city’s architecture and its geographical location. Today the words mean something else entirely. One dares not traverse a Neapolitan street in a distracted state of mind, as pickpockets, scooters, and cars all threaten your well-being.
Yet, amidst the chaos, there’s also a stillness to Naples. Time stops here - or at least it proceeds according to its own schedule. Swarming streets aside, one is led to believe that nothing has changed for centuries and that nothing will ever change, for the weight of history hangs heavy here, affecting everyone and everything.
