ENGLISH * MERGELLINA
THE
SIGHT OF VESUVIUS AND ITS TERRIFYING LANDSCAPE WAS SO AWESOME THAT WE HAVE
DECIDED TO GO AND EXPLORE THE OTHER VOLCANOES WHICH SURROUND NAPLES. WE HEAD
NORTH-WEST. WHILE FLYING OVER THE BAY AND REFLECTING ON THE STRANGE DESTINY
WHICH PLACED THIS CITY BETWEEN TWO FIRES, VESUVIUS ON ONE SIDE AND THE PHLEGREAN
FIELDS ON THE OTHER, SUDDENLY THE PLACID HARBOUR OF MERGELLINA LIES BENEATH
US.
"MARGELLINA MARGELLINA
/ CARA VITA 'E MARENARE / SI PARLASSE CHISTU MARE / QUANTA COSE AVRIA A CUNTA'..."
("MERGELLINA MERGELLINA / A SAILOR'S LIFE IS A GOOD ONE / IF THIS SEA
COULD SPEAK / HOW MANY THINGS IT COULD TELL US !"). AND INDEED ONLY THE
SEA REMAINS TO TELL US OF MERGELLINA, FOR ON THIS STRETCH OF BEACH, WHICH
MUST ONCE HAVE SEEMED LIKE THE UNIVERSE SMILING, THE MARCH OF HISTORY HAS
CERTAINLY NOT LINGERED. YET, IF HISTORY HAS NOT DONE SO, MYTH HAS.
ACCORDING TO THE MYTH,
PARTHENOPE, HAD FALLEN DESPERATELY IN LOVE WITH ULYSSES AND SOUGHT TO BEWITCH
HIM WITH HER SINGING AND DRAW HIM DOWN WITH HER INTO THE SEA. THE HERO RESTISTED,
HOWEVER, BY ASKING HIS CREW TO TIE HIM TO THE SHIP'S MAST, AS THEY SAILED
BY THE ISLANDS OPPOSITE NERANO. IN DESPAIR, THE YOUTHFUL SIREN TOOK HER OWN
LIFE, AND HER BODY WAS BORNE ON THE CURRENTS TO THE ROCK OF SAN LEONARDO AT
MERGELLINA. THE NEAPOLITANS, WHO HAVE ALWAYS LOVED THE SEA AND EVERYTHING
THAT LIVES IN IT, BUILT THE CITY ROUND HER TOMB AND GAVE IT THE NAME OF THIS
UNHAPPY FIGURE, PARTHENOPE.
TODAY THE ROCK WHERE THE
SIREN'S BODY CAME TO REST IS PART OF THE REEF, BUT UP TO THE BEGINNING OF
THE PRESENT CENTURY, AND UNDER THE NAME "SCOGLIO DI FRISIA" (AFTER
THE NAME OF A DUKE WHO HAD A HOUSE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD), IT WAS A POPULAR
SPOT FOR COURTING COUPLES THERE WAS EVEN A RESTAURANT.
YET EVEN WITHOUT THE ROCK,
THE SIREN'S MEMORY AND HER NAME LIVE ON, UNAFFECTED BY NATURAL CATASTROPHES
AND HISTORICAL VICISSITUDES. PARTHENOPE CONTINUES TO BEWITCH THE SAILORS WITH
THE SWEETNESS OF HER SINGING: ON MOONLIT NIGHTS, IT IS SAID, ONE CAN STILL
HEAR HER GRIEFSTRICKEN LAMENT.
IN GREEK, "PARTHENOS"
MEANS "VIRGIN". ATHENA WAS ALSO A VIRGIN, AND A TEMPLE IN HER HONOUR
MUST ONCE HAVE OCCUPPIED THE SITE WHERE NOW WE FIND THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA
DEL PARTO SO NAMED, PERHAPS, BECAUSE WORD "PARTO'S" SIMILARITY TO
THE GREEK "PARTHENOS". THIS CHURCH HOUSES THE TOMB OF JACOPO SANNAZARO,
THE GREAT NEAPOLITAN POET AND HUMANIST, WHO MUST HAVE FELT MORE KEENLY THAN
ANYONE ELSE THE ENTHRALLMENT OF THE SIREN'S SONG AND FALLEN UNDER ITS SWAY.
IN THE LARGE PIAZZA NAMED AFTER HIM, WE CAN SEE VERY CLEARLY THE SPLENDID
FOUNTAIN IN THE MIDDLE. IT SHOWS THE MARBLE STATUE OF THE SIREN, HER HAIR
STREAMING IN THE WIND, AND HER ARM RAISED AS IF SHE IS DANCING. IN HER OTHER
ARM, SHE HOLDS A LYRE.
WHAT BETTER PLACE FOR
THE ETERNAL REST, THAN BETWEEN THE ARMS OF A SIREN? "MANTUA ME GENUIT,
CALABRI RAPURI. TENET NUNC PARTENOPE. CECINI PASCUA, RURA, DUCES". ("MANTUA
BORE ME, CALABRIA CARRIED ME OFF, NOW PARTHENOPE HOLDS ME; I SANG OF FLOCKS,
FIELDS AND HEROES. THIS IS THE INSCRIPTION ON THE TOMB OF THE GENTLE POET
VIRGIL, NOT FAR OFF, NEXT TO THE "QUATTRO GIORNATE" ROAD-TUNNEL.
HE HIMSELF DICTATED THESE WORDS, SHORTLY BEFORE DYING IN BRINDISI. HE WANTED
HIS BODY TO BE LAID TO REST HERE, IN THE LAND HE HAD LOVED AND CELEBRATED
IN HIS POETRY. LET US TAKE A CLOSER LOOK.
NOW WE ARE FLYING ABOVE
THE PONDEROUS, NINETEENTH-CENTURY RAILWAY STATION OF MERGELLINA. OPPOSITE,
THERE IS THE RESTORED WHITE CLASSICAL FACADE OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF S. MARIA
DI PIEDIGROTTA. IT IS NOT KNOWN EXACTLY WHEN IT WAS FOUNDED, BUT THERE ARE
REFERENCES TO IT IN BOCCACCIO AND PETRARCH. THE KINGS AND VICEROYS OF NEAPLES
HAD A PARTICULAR VENERATION FOR THE HOLY IMAGE OF THE VIRGIN MARY WHICH IS
PRESERVED HERE, AND ON 8 SEPTEMBER, THE ANNIVERSARY OF HER APPEARANCE, THE
PEOPLE OF NAPLES CREATED THE WILD FESTIVAL OF PIEDIGROTTA. IN REALITY, ORGIASTIC
RITES MUST HAVE TAKEN PLACE HERE IN THE LONG-DISTANT PAST: IN THE "QUATTRO
GIORNATE" ROAD-TUNNEL (THE ANCIENT GROTTO WHICH WAS SAID TO HAVE BEEN
BORED THROUGH IN A SINGLE NIGHT BY THE "MAGICIAN" VIRGIL, BUT IS
MORE A VIRGIL, BUR IS MORE PRBABLY THE WORK OF THE ROMAN ENGINEER COCCEIUS),
THERE WAS A SMALL TEMPLE IN HONOUR OF PRIAPUS, THE PROTECTOR OF VIRILITY.
IT IS EASY TO IMAGE OF THE VIRGIN, BUT THE COMMON PEOPLE REMAINED BOUND TO
THE OLD RITES. THE CHAPEL WAS THEREFORE CLOSED DOWN. THE FESTIVAL OF PIEDIGROTTA
CONTINUED, HOWEVER YET IT TOO HAS NOW FINISCHED.
BETWEEN THE TUNNEL AND
THE CHURCH, CLOSE TO THE WALL BUILT AGAINST THE HILLSIDE THERE IS THE PLACE
WE WISH TO VISIT, THE "PARCO VIRGILIANO", WHERE THE GREAT POET IS
BURIED. AN ENCLOSURE RISING STEEPLY ON THE HILLSIDE, IT ALSO CONTAINS THE
TOMB OF ANOTHER GREAT ITALIAN PORT, GIACOMO LEOPARDI, WHO DIED IN NAPLES IN
1837, BUT WHO, UNLIKE VIRGIL, WAS NOT HAPPY IN THE CITY.
IT IS MOVING TO TOOK
DOWN ON THIS QUIT AND SECLUDED PLACE IN THE HEART OF THE CITY; ITS EVOCATIVE
POWER IS GREAT, LIKE THAT OF MERGELLINA. YET NOW THE GODS HAVE ABANDONED NAPLES
AND TRITONS AND SIRENS NO LONGER INHABIT THE SEA; THE SMALL HARBOUR IS FULL
OF PLEASURE CREFT, AND HYDROFOILS LEAVE FOR THE ISLANDS. THE SHORE, WITH ITS
BARS AND FISH-STALLS, BUSTLES WITH ACTIVITY.
THIS MINIATURE HARBOUR
SHOWS US WHAT A PORT MUST ONCE HAVE BEEN, BEFORE THE ADVENT OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
TURNED THE PORT OF NAPLES INTO THE HUGE COMPLEX WHICH IT IS TODAY. MERGELLINA
IS ON A HUMAN SCALE, AND PERHAPS WILL REMAIN SO FOREVER, JUST AS THE ENCHANTMENT
OF THE SIREN'S MELTING SONG WILL LINGER ON. THIS IS WHY NEAPOLITANS LOVE MERGELLINA
AND FLOCK THERE FOR THEIR SUNDAY STROLLS.
