ENGLISH * NAPLES
- POSILLIPO 1
THE
WORD "POSILLIPO" MEANS "RESPITE FROM PAIN": THE GREEKS
GAVE THE AREA THIS POETICAL NAME. AND NAPLES WAS GREEK, BEFORE THE ROMANS
CALLED IT NEAPOLIS (THE NEW CITY): ITS MYTHS, ITS PHILOSOPHY AND ITS LANGUAGE,
AS THE CARVED INSCRIPTIONS WHICH HAVE COME TO LIGHT IN THE OLD CENTRE REVEAL,
WERE ALL GREEK.
POSILLIPO
HAD NO NEED OF CREDENTIALS: ITS NAME WAS ENOUGH. SEEN FROM ABOVE, FACING THE
ROUNDED FORM OF VESUVIUS AND THE MELANCHOLY VIOLET-COLOURED LINE OF THE SORRENTO
COAST TO THE SOUTH OF THE BAY, THE ENCHANTING HILL SEEMS LIKE AN ARM LAZILY
STRETCHED OUT TOWARDS THE SEA.IN THE DISTANCE, TO THE NORTH, WE CAN MAKE OUT
FAINTLY THE HILL OF CAMALDOLI AND THE GREAT VALLEY OF THE PHLEGREAN FIELDS.
POSILLIPO DIVIDES THE CITY IN TWO, EACH PART CONNECTED BY TWO TUNNELS BORED
THROUGH THE HILL.
GAZING
DOWN ON THE DELIGHTFUL LANDSCAPE OF POSILLIPO, ALL DARK THOUGHTS DISAPPEAR:
IT IS EASY TO UNDERSTAND WHY THE ANCIENT ROMANS CHOSE THIS SPORT TO LIVE,
FREE FROM ALL CARE. UNFORTUNATELY, THE CREST OF THE HILL IS TODAY ALMOST ENTIRELY
COVERED WITH APARTMENT-BLOCKS, BUT THE GENTLE SLOPE DOWN TO THE SEA IS STILL
MIRACULOUSLY GREEN, WITH, HERE AND THERE, ELEGANT AND ISOLATED VILLAS TO REMIND
US OF BYGONE TRANQUILLITY. THE FRENETIC BUSTLE OF THE CITY'S OLD STREES SEEMS
SO FAR AWAY THAT ONE ALMOST BEGINS TO DOUBT IT WAS REAL. YET THE HARMONY OF
THIS CITY IS COMPOSED ABOVE ALL OF SUCH CONTRASTS.
IT
IS EASY TO THINK OF NAPLES, SEEN FROM POSILLIPO, AS THE BIRTHPLACE AND KINGDOM
OF HARMONIOUS PROPORTION. THE ARCHITECTONIC DESIGN OF NATURE IS SO PERFECT
HERE THAT ONLY SOME GOD COULD HAVE CONCEIVED IT.
LET
US EXAMINE THIS PERFECTION MORE CLOSELY.
AFTER
THE LARGE PALE-RED VILLA GUERCIA, THERE, ABOVE THE WATER, IS THE IMPRESSIVE
AND LEGENDARY PALAZZO DONN'ANNA. NEAPOLITANS TALK OF THE POSSIBLE LIAISONS
AND INTRIGUES WOVEN THERE BY QUEEN GIOVANNA.IT IS SAID THAT THIS RESTLESS
QUEEN WOULD TEMPT YOUTHS AND STRAPPING FISHERMEN TO PASS THE NIGHT WITH HER,
AND THEN PLUNGE THEM THROUGH TRAPDOORS INTO THE SEA. WHATEVER THE TRUTH, IN
THE PERIOD WHEN SUCH ROYAL ENTERTAINMENTS WERE PRESUMED TO BE TAKING PLACE,
THE PALACE MUST HAVE HAD A VERY DIFFERENT APPEARANCE FROM THAT OF TODAY, AND
CERTAINLY TOOK UP A LARGE PART OF THE MAINLAND BEHIND AS WELL. IN THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY IT BELONGED TO THE SCHOLAR DRAGONETTO BONIFACIO, AND IN THE SIXTEENTH
TO THE RAVASCHIERI FAMILY; IT THEN PASSED INTO THE POSSESSION OF THE NOBLEWOMAN
ANNA CARAFA, THE WIFE OF THE VICEROY MEDINA TORRES, WHO CHANGED VERY LITTLE
BUT DID GIVE THE PALACE ITS NAME. IT WAS PLUNDERED DURING MASANIELLO'S UPPRISING,
AND HALF-DESTROYED BY AN EARTHQUAKE AT THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
ITS PRESENT APPEARANCE, WITH THREE FLOORS AND THREE MAIN ENTRACE-DOORS, DATES
FROM THE TIME WHEN IT BELONGED TO A DESCENDENT OF MEDINA TORRES, WHO DIED
WHEN THE EARTHQUAKE HIT THE PALACE. THE "COUP DE GRACE", HOWEVER,
WAS FERDINAND VI'S DECISION TO WIDEN THE ROAD BEHIND: HE DID NOT HESITATE
TO DEMOLISH THE PART OF THE PALACE ON THE MAINLAND. AFTERWARDS, THE PASSAGE
OF TIME BEGAN TO TELL.
MOVING
ON TOWARDS CAPO POSILLIPO, WE CAN SEE VILLA PAVONCELLI, VILLA MARINO AND VILLA
COTRAU, SURROUNDED BY GREEN VEGETATION. THEN THERE IS THE SMALL BAY OF SAN
PIETRO AI DUE FRATI, SURROUNDED BY PICTURESQUE NATURAL CAVES, WITH THE ELEGANT
PAGODA OF VILLA ROCCAROMANA, WITH VILLA MARTINELLI IMMEDIATELY AFTER IT.
IF
WE SHIFT OUR GAZE FROM THE PALACES FURTHER UPHILL TO CONCENTRATE ONLY ON THE
SHORELINE, AN EXTRAORDINARY SCENE GREETS US, WHICH, IN ITS RADIANT, SMILING
BEAUTY, MUST RESEMBLE THE EARTHLY PARADISE. WE CAN BELOW US, HALFHIDDEN BY
TALL TREES, VILLA MARINO, VILLA D'ABRO AND THE SPLENDID VILLA D'AVALOS, WHERE
SOME DECADES AGO THE PRINCE, AN OLYMPIAN, JOVE-LIKE FIGURE, USED TO INVITE
HIS FRIENDS TO LISTEN TO CLASSICAL MUSIC ON HIS STEREOPHONIC EQUIPMENT.
NOW
THE COASTLINE BECOMES MORE INDENTED, MORE PICTURESQUE AND MYSTERIOUS. ONLY
FROM THE SEA OR FROM AN AEROPLANE IS IT POSSIBLE TO ADMIRE ITS WILD BEAUTY;
ITS FASCINATION HAS BEEN PRESERVED, PERHAPS, BECAUSE OF THIS INACCESSIBILITY.
AT EITHER END OF A SMALL INLET, FACING THE SEA, THERE IS VILLA CAMPIONE AND
VILLA PIERCE, SO NAMED AFTER THE INDUSTRIOUS ENGLISH FAMILY WHO BUILT IT.
GARIBALDI STAYED THERE IN 1860.
THEN
COMES THE GENTLY CURVING BAY OF CENITO, POPULAR IN THE SUMMER WITH INNUMERABLE
PLEASURE CRAFT.EVEN DURING A FEW HOURS' WORK-BREAK, IT IS POSSIBLE TO SAIL
HERE FROM MERGELLINA OR SANTA LUCIA AND SUN-BATHE OR SWIM IN THE CRYSTAL-CLEAR
WATER. A HUGE CAVE WITH A TRAPEZOID-SHAPED OPENING BESTOWS AN EXTRAORDINARY
MYTHICAL ATMOSPHERE ON THE SCENE. TWO BEAUTIFUL VILLAS, VILLA RAE AND VILLA
GALLOTTI, CROWN THE LANDSCAPE.
THE
GREY BUILDING WHICH STANDS OUT FURTHER UP THE HILL IS THE MAUSOLEUM FOR THE
DEAD OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR. IT WAS BUILT BY A MEGALOMANIAC JEW, MATTEO SCHILIZZI,
AS HIS LAST RESIDENCE. THE EGYPTIAN-STYLE BUILDING WAS DESIGNED BY ALFONSO
GUERRA, WHILE THE BRONZE DECORATIONS ARE THE WORK OF GIOVANNI BATTISTA AMENDOLA
AND EPISCOPIO DI SARNO AND WERE CAST IN THE CHIURAZZI FOUNDRY, ONE OF THE
MOST FAMOUS IN NAPLES. AFTER VARIOUS INTERRUPTIONS IN THE BUILDING WORK, THE
CITY COUNCIL DECIDED TO PURCHASE IT AND TURN IT INTO A WAR MEMORIAL.
SLOPING
DOWN TOWARDS THE SEA, IN THE BAY PROTECTED BY A SMALL JETTY, KNOWN AS RIVA
FIORITA, WE CAN SEE THE HUGE VILLA VOLPICELLI, BUILT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,
BUT IN RENAISSANCE STYLE. OPPOSITE, THERE IS THE WELLKNOWN RESTAURANT "GIUSEPPONE
A MARE".
NEXT
COME THE LARGE VILLA BARACCO AND THE HISTORICAL VILLA ROSEBERY, IN PERFECT
NEOCLASSICAL STYLE, BOTH RIGHT ON THE SEA ITSELF.IT IS A PITY THAT FROM OUR
HEIGHT WE CANNOT SEE CLOSE TO THE CENTURIES-OLD TREES WHICH SURROUND THE VILLA
ROSEBERY, OR THE MAGNIFICIENT GREENHOUSE FLANKING THE STEPS DOWN TO THE SEA.
THE VILLA IS DIVIDED INTO SEVERAL PARTS: A LARGE GUEST-QUARTER, THE CENTRAL
PART THE ROYAL CASINO AND A SMALL OUTBUILDING. AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY IT BELONGED TO A FRENCH NOBLEMAN, BUT WAS LATER ACQUIRED BY THE PRICESS
OF GERACE, WHO IMPROVED IT AND TURNED INTO ONE OF THE MOST FASHINABLE SALONS
IN THE CITY. DURING THE 1799 REVOLUTION, THE VILLA BECAME THE CENTRE OF CONSERVATIVE
OPINION. HERE LADY HAMILTON AND HER LOVER HORATIO NELSON STAYED AS GUESTS,
THE LATTER RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HANGING OF THE LIBERAL FRANCESCO CARACCIOLO.
IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, IT BECAME A CENTRE OF LIBERAL
THOUGHT: THE COUNT AQUILA, A BROTHER OF THE KING AND, BY SOME IRONY OF FATE,
A LIBERAL (AND LIBERTINE), BOUGHT IT.
WHEN
THE HOUSE OF SAVOY SUCCEDED THE BOURBONS, THEY IGNORED THE COUNT'S PLEAS THE
CORNT'S PLEASE FOR THE RETURN OF HIS VILLA, IT WAS BOUGHT, INSTEAD, BY THE
ENGLISH FOREIGN MINISTER, LORD ARCHIBALD PRIMROSE, EARL OF ROSEBERY, WHO SOUGHT
TO PRESERVE THE VILLA'S "BRITISH CONNECTION" BY LEAVING IT TO THE
BRITISH CONSULATE IN NAPLES.
