Napoli & Capua
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The 1279 medieval castle stands where Piazza Municipio meets the sea. It was the royal seat for the kings of Naples, Aragon and Spain until 1815.
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Darsena Action, in the old Port, near the Molo Beverello ferry terminal. Named after a British admiral who was Prme Minister of the Kingdom of Naplkes in the 18th Century. It was originally a cuystoms house and later used by the Italian Navy.
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Over our many times in Naples, the Galleria Umberto I just keeps looking better and better. Opened in 1890 as the cornerstorn of the the risanamento - the rebuildingt - of Naples.
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Naples is a city for walking. There are endless scenes on the streets of Naples.
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Oh the streets of Napoli are a visual treat. Graffiti, street art, whatever - be ready for bold colours. I particularly enjoyed the area around Via San Sebastiano is famous for its concentration of shops specializing in musical instruments and sheet music.
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On most trips to Napoli I make time to visit the Complesso Monumental Santa Chiara with its stunning cloister covered in majora tiles.
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We stopped at the city of Capuo to visit the second largest Roman Amphitheatre built by the Romans. They also established their first school for gladiators here.
Our apartment in Napoli had a patio with a view of the medieval Nuovo Castle which was built in 1279 and was the royal seat for the Kings of Naples, Aragon and Spain until 1815.
We arrive on Thursday of Easter Week. Thursday is the start of the Easter weekend, with Maundy Thursday, being a day to not eat meat but rather mussel soup. The other tradition we had read about is to visit seven churches: San Nicola alla Carità , Spirito Santo, San Liborio alla Pignasecca, Santa Brigida, Madonna delle Grazie, San Ferdinando di Palazzo and San Francesco di Paola. Good Friday is a day of processions and another day to pass on meat. Codfish is a regular item. Holy Saturday is dedicated to walking and discovering the streets of the city in anticipation of Easter. Easter Sunday has special masses at the churches of Naples. That is what we read, but our experience in the city over the Easter Weeks did not follow that scenario.
Good Friday is not a holiday and we had made arrangements to visit our friends at Leonard Pen located not far from Naples. Great visit, the traffic was reasonable. I believe we had piazza that night. The other days seems very much the normal flow for Naples. I visited areas that included churches. Everything was pretty much like it was on previous years.
I discovered few new areas of Napoli - and enjoyed the street art and activity in the city.
The weather was a bit cooler than we expected so while we enjoyed morning coffee on our patio, in the evening, once the sun went down, the evening temperatures were brisk. No lounging around the patio in the evening.
Photo: Capua Amphitheatre
Capua was very interesting and a short drive from Napoli. Outside of the town, in Santa Maria Capua Vetre stands the remains of a roman amphitheatre that was built during the reign of Augustus. It was later restored by Hatrian. There were 80 doric arcades, four stories in height. Today two of the arches remain. But in terms of size this was one of the largest amphitheatres built. .This is the location of one of the major Roman gladiator schools. It is relatively easy to part close to the amphitheatre, purchase a ticket and walk around and then within getting a pretty good vibe. No crowds, no line-ups.
