Naples
Miscellany 21 (early April
2009)
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 A relatively new
museum has been open in Naples since 2006. It is the Museum for
Contemporary Religious Art. It is on the ex-monastic premises
adjacent
to the church of S.Maria la Nova, just
into the old city from the east side of the main post office. It is
part of an umbrella Franciscan cultural organization, "Beyond the
Cloister," the aim of which (as stated in its literature) is to
"promote culture beyond religious and ideological differences."
- An article has appeared in the local paper about the
disgraceful condition of the colonnade at the church of San Francesco di Paola in the largest
square of the city, Piazza Plebescito. The defacement by graffiti is incredible, as it is elsewhere in
the city, but this is one of the most visible sites in the city. The
closer you get to the entrance to the church and columns (if, indeed,
you decide to hike across the square from the Royal Palace) the worse it gets; you get
beyond the two statues in front of the
church (themselves defaced) and up the stairs
to the church, and it is very ugly, indeed.
- Eighty-seven
brand-new busses, bought, paid for and ready to roll, have been sitting
at the
ANM (Azienda napoletana
mobilità—Neapolitan Transist Authority) garage in the
suburb of Agnano forever. They were bought in 2001 and have never been
used. No one seems to know why. Mechanics report that the busses are
excellent sources for scavenging spare parts, though. Maybe that's
something.
 Signs such as "Institute
for Medieval Studies" grab my attention. The institute was founded in
2005 on the premises of the monastery and church complex of Santa
Chiara. It is a collection of scholars whose aim is to study
medieval
Franciscanism, specifically as it relates to the person for whom the
institute is named, William of Alnwick
(1275-1333), a Franciscan friar
and theologian mentioned (though less prominently) in the same broad
group of scholars as Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, and Duns Scotus.
Alnwick was in Naples for a number of years under the protection of
King Robert the Wise. Alnwick had fled to Naples after a
disagreement with Pope John XXII's position on poverty. (Alnwick was
for it; the Pope was against it!) In 1330 King Robert appointed Alnwick
bishop of Giovinazzo (on the Adriatic, near Bari).
 Currently running (through
July 5) at the Pignatelli museum is a
grand exhibit of the works of
sculpture Vincenzo Gemito (1852-1929)
sometimes referred to as the "Neapolitan Rodin." (The photo shows his
own
version of himself.) There will be 70 pieces of sculpture and 80 works
on paper in the exhibit. Among Gemito's larger works on permanent
display in
the city of Naples is his statue of Charles V of Hapsburg, one of the eight statues arrayed along
the west façade of the Royal Palace.
 The Cumana railway. Sooner or later,
tourists discover that there is another
narrow-gauge railway in Naples besides the Circumvesuviana
(which runs to points east such as Pompei and Sorrento). Traffic to the
west,
that is, to Bagnoli, Pozzuoli, and the Campi Flegrei depends on the
Cumana-Cicumflegrea railway, called, simply, the "Cumana." The Naples
terminus is at Montesanto (photo); there are then two lines: the
"outside" coast route through Fuorigrotta, Bagnoli, Pozzuoli and Baia;
and the "inside" line through Soccavo and Quarto. There are about 15
stops on each line, and they both terminate at the same station,
Torregaveta, at
the extreme west end of the Gulf of Naples. The two routes are
essential for students and workers getting into the city from the west.
They may become more important for visitors as tourist trade picks up
with the new Campi Flegrei museum in Baia
and recent emphasis on archaeology in that area. There is, indeed, a
Baia station adjacent to the lower echelons of the Baia Archaeology
Park—if
you are prepared to leap from the window of the flying train as it
passes through that station, currently under rebuilding in anticipation
of increasing tourism. (It's somewhat of a chicken-or-egg thing.)
- After the first exhibit in Paris in 1957 and the second one
in Venice in 1964, this Third International Exhibit for Restoration and Preservation
is currently running at the Royal Palace
in Naples. It is an astonishingly
complete display of about 270 film-poster-sized panels, each dedicated
to some aspect of the preservation and restoration of cultural
artifacts currently underway in 40 countries around the world. These
include everything from grand palaces to small churches to "vernacular
architecture," meaning structures built by ordinary people not to be
grand, but simply to be lived in. There are sections devoted, as well,
to the preservation of gardens and "cultural landscapes" (things such
as terraced hillsides). The exhibit is, as might be expected, heavy on
Italy, with a separate section devoted to each region of the nation.
Naples has its own separate display, including a section devoted to the
life and work of Prof. Roberto Pane,
local
urbanologist,
whose
3-volume work, The
Historic Center of Naples
(1971) was a ground-breaking and exhaustive inventory on the monuments
of the inner city and their needs in terms of restoration and
preservation. Runs through May 19.
- The Royal Palace at Caserta
hosts an exhibition entitled "At the Court of Vanvitelli," celebrating the life and work
of this famous architect, active at the royal Bourbon court from 1750
until his death in 1773. Sixty paintings are on display as well as a
selection of sculpture by Giuseppe
Sanmartino, creator of the remarkable "Veiled Christ." Runs through
July 6.
 The State Archives of Naples
are located in the ex-monastery of Saints Severino and Sossio It is one
of the largest and oldest buildings in the city with origins going back
to the original structure in the year 902 AD. It is occupies 25,000 sq
meters and has 50,000 linear meters of shelves, many of which contain
unique documents crucial to the study of the art and history of
southern Italy. According to the director, 80 million euros are needed
to prevent a "tragedy" due to humidity and water seepage. A proposal
has been made to transfer the contents of the archives to the old Castel Capuano at the east end of via
dei Tribuali, a building that used to house the city courts until they
moved to the new Civic Center. Castel Capuano is
large enough and now mostly unused.
 In late April, the Spanish
Quarter of Naples is due for a "radical cleaning," according to
sources at the city hall. That area is the intimidating labyrinth of
streets north of Piazza Plebiscito on the west side of via Toledo. All
streets will be closed to traffic from 9 p.m. until 3 a.m for four days
and there
will be no parking during those hours not even for residents, as
clean-up crews go through. They are not just going to
clean the streets. The major focus will be on clearing away the great
amount
of cumbersome refuse—things such as abandoned wrecks of motorscooters
and discarded furniture—in this area
where normal clean-up by standard crews and equipment is often very
difficult during normal morning working hours.
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