I am back everyone. After the Beatification of John Paul II, there were closing festivities of the Institute. Monday morning, we celebrated Mass with the Rector of the seminary, Msgr, James Checcio. The Mass was followed with a reception and special pranzo. The rest of the day, I spent packing, practicing a couple of hours, and out to dinner with some of the men.
Tuesday was my departure day. We celebrated Mass at 9:00am. I did my final packing. I met Deacon Riley for some breakfast. He was on his way to class and I needed to get a haircut before leaving Rome. I boarded a train to Naples at 3:00PM. I must say one thing about Italy. If anything is on time and efficient, it is the train system. I arrived at the Stazione Centrale exactly as scheduled - 4:10. I was in my hotel room at 4:30.
Since there is no piano at my disposal for a coupole of days, I logged onto YouTube where there are several perfomrnaces of all the pieces that will perform next week. I need to listen to the pieces with all three instruments playing. I've done well playing them, but now comes the ensemble part. After listening to a few performances of each of them, I went to a little trattoria across the street for one of the famous Napolitani pizzas. I could smell it from my room. I could also smell the wood smoke from the oven. Wonderful aroma! Great Pizza!
Wednesday, I went out to the harbor to purchase my tickets for the hydrofoil that will sail to Ischia on Friday. I have a noon departure. That will give me leisurely morning and a quick cab ride to the pier will get me there on time.
The harbor is also the site of the Palazzo Real, or the Royal Palace. Today, much of it is government offices, but there is also a great museum there. I took in the museum, but no pictures unfortunately. The museums that have published guidbooks, do not allow photography of anything. This is because of copyrights of the art work. The royal private rooms and the private chapel are beautiful. There are many churches in Naples which have been abandoned or have been taken over by the state. The art work from these churches are in the city museums now. Its sad not to be able to see them in their intended locations. Often times, the art was created with a certain setting in mind, with specific lighting conditions, and visual vantage points. These are usually lost in a museum display.
Here some of the highlights of things I have seen in the past couple of days.
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| This is the church where Scarlatti, a great 18th century Italian composer studied as a boy in the choir school. This is an important find for me. I love the music of Scarlatti and play a great deal of it on the piano. It was a real treat to find this place. It is not the most beautiful I have seen in this experience, but even many of the less than ideal churches from an artistic point of view has some amazing history attached to it. |
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| Santa Maria Del Aiuto. A wonderful church with the marble inlay that I remember at MonteCassino. The red posts in the center of the nave are supporting mirrors to enable you to see the remarkable ceiling without straining your neck. |
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| The beautiful ceiling of Santa Maria del Aiuto |
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| The traditional Neapolitan "praesepio". or the nativity scene as we would call it. The scene includes not only the traditional HOly Family, 3 Kings, and shepherds. It also includes a host of medeival townspeople, craftsmen, trades, merchants, children, and all sorts of characters never mentioned in the gospel account of Jesus' birth. I blogged about this a few weeks ago. I saw back on the street where there are dozens of shops where craftesmen make these figurines. I gave serious thought to buying some, but with two months of expenses left, I thought twice. Maybe someday I will come back to Naples and invest in a beautiful Neapolitan creche. |
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| The facade and bell tower of the Basilica of Santa Chiara (St. Clare) is in the center of Naples. It is staffed by the Franciscans. It is a mix of building periods, but mostly in the medieval style. The original church dates back to the 11th century with many additions since then. |
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| The simple clean lines of the interior of Santa Chiara. |
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| Is it a church or a fortress? A bit of both actually. The stones are shaped into these small pyramids protruding out of the facade because they deflect canon balls more easily. The exterior does nothing to indicate what one sees inside. |
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The nave of the Church of the Nuovo Gesu |
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| The altar of the Nuovo Gesu,the church of the Jesuits in Naples. |
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| A view into the dome. |
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| A wal of reliquaries. This bronze panel features a relief of the bust of many saints from the Neapolitan region. Below each of the figures is a small glassed in compartment holding the bones of the saints. |
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| The oposite wall of the reliquary chapel. |
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| At noon all the churches close for siesta. I found myself in this charming little piazza, Piazza San Pietro. Not exactly similar to the one in Rome. Today was very warm but this piazza had a very comfortable cool breeze blowing through it. Enjoyed a nice lunch here. |
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| The basilica of San Domenico. Here is the Dominican Church in Naples. The Gothic style is highlighted with the gold leaf on the details of the arches and vaults. |
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| The main altar with the pipe organ behind. Between the altar and organ is the choir where the friars chant the office. |
After visiting the basilicas of the three major religious orders, Franciscans, Jesuits and Dominicans, I returned to the hotel and took a rest. I headind out to find the little seafood restaurant I happened upon on my last trip to Naples. I found it more easily than I thought. I sat at the same table. Beside me were three young English speakers, two from the UK and one from California. Because of the waiter, we ended up striking up a conversation. It was a good dinner, the food and the company.
Here I am back at the hotel completing the blog for today. Its up at 8 to prepare to catch the ferry over to Ischia. The adventure continues.
