I seem to have read about one book for every day we are going to Naples, as a way of preparing myself and returning to more Italian mindset...
I read Norman Lewis's "Naples 44" which I enjoyed very much at first, until the sheer fuckwittedness of the military miindset and the British and US behaviour in connexion with the Neapolitans, began to depress me. The description of the Vesusvius eruption was interesting, not one of the more drastic ones, mercifully. Accounts of how people were starving unaccountably surprised me. I don't know why. Obviously they wouldn't have anything to eat. It must have been a while before food supplies returned (they do during the course of the book). I wish i knew more, about how people recovered after the war. I don't suppose those much lauded Elsa Ferrante books tell you that, otherwise they might be worth reading (yes, I know, everyone's reading them, says they are brilliant etc).
Then I began to read "Gomorrah", the journalism on which the film was based. It was depressing, and would probably make me think it wasn't worth going there, or even frightened to go there. It's ludicrous, I haven't been to Italy for 8 years, in my 20s I went virtually every year. I didn't realise I hadn't been to Naples since 1978! It was a bit of a hustle, but we coped. I am sure that it is now a bit less ground down and impoverished, and that I am more savvy, so there really shouldn't be a hustle. And no one has ever tried to steal my handbag from a Vespa.
I bought a book called Joanna, Queen of Naples on the Internet. It is excellent, but I haven't got very far with it. The medieval history of Naples is tricky, a lot of discontinuity. I believe it was part of the Holy Roman Empire for a while (possibly Frederick II hung out there?) Then there were the Angevins, Charles of Anjou et al (how did they get hold of it?) Then the Aragonese had it (they couldn't get hold of any more Spain - so they conquered it? Or was it inherited in some way?). Eventually it became a Bourbon kingom, the Kingdom of the 2 Sicilies, which is the era I am more familiar with. Perhaps once I've read the Joannna book I'll be more au fait with the situation.
I also bought a short novel by Alexandre Dumas about Queen Joanna - which I have not yet started.
Then there was Route AD66 - an interesting book about tourism in the Roman Empire. That was very interesting, but I decided to stop reading it after it left Athens. The book retraces Tony Peroettet's tour around the favourite Roman tourist itinerary with his girlfriend and intersperses nuggets of information gleaned from classical writers. A lot of this is familiar stuff, but quite enjoyable, not sure how reliable a lot of it is. I was a bit mystified by the author, although he presents us with a lot of erudition, he says some remarkable things about the Roman's cotton tunics - the Romans had cotton, imported from India and China, but it was hardly an every day fabric, although I suppose those rich enough to take the Grand Tour could probably afford it. He also described someone choking on polenta in a Greek inn - unlikely given that maize didn't arrive until the 16th C, there were a couple of other questionable references, which made me think that perhaps he was not exactly steeped in the Classical world, but had simply done a hack job on the source materials. Still, it was amusing enough.
Tim Parks "Italian Rails" is not strictly about Naples, but it was an excellent way to remind me of the Italian mindset and the important words furbo (cunning) and pignolo (a jobs worth). It wasn't as funny as some of his other books, but very recognisable. His conversations on trains, and attempts to avoid them are very true to life.
The first book in this set that I read was Bepe Sevignini's "La Bella Figura" which was a very kindly view of Italians. It explained them in a better way, and made me understand that perhaps they really were better, more Christian people than, say, Brits., It was a good way to read about them, from the inside, rather than the outsider view (however well established Parks is he still knows he's an outsider).
Oh, that's only 7 books, I expect I can count the Lonely Planet Guide, the Eyewitness Guide and other materials, to say nothing of all the websites.
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| A view of Vesuvias, across Naples |
I read Norman Lewis's "Naples 44" which I enjoyed very much at first, until the sheer fuckwittedness of the military miindset and the British and US behaviour in connexion with the Neapolitans, began to depress me. The description of the Vesusvius eruption was interesting, not one of the more drastic ones, mercifully. Accounts of how people were starving unaccountably surprised me. I don't know why. Obviously they wouldn't have anything to eat. It must have been a while before food supplies returned (they do during the course of the book). I wish i knew more, about how people recovered after the war. I don't suppose those much lauded Elsa Ferrante books tell you that, otherwise they might be worth reading (yes, I know, everyone's reading them, says they are brilliant etc).
Then I began to read "Gomorrah", the journalism on which the film was based. It was depressing, and would probably make me think it wasn't worth going there, or even frightened to go there. It's ludicrous, I haven't been to Italy for 8 years, in my 20s I went virtually every year. I didn't realise I hadn't been to Naples since 1978! It was a bit of a hustle, but we coped. I am sure that it is now a bit less ground down and impoverished, and that I am more savvy, so there really shouldn't be a hustle. And no one has ever tried to steal my handbag from a Vespa.
I bought a book called Joanna, Queen of Naples on the Internet. It is excellent, but I haven't got very far with it. The medieval history of Naples is tricky, a lot of discontinuity. I believe it was part of the Holy Roman Empire for a while (possibly Frederick II hung out there?) Then there were the Angevins, Charles of Anjou et al (how did they get hold of it?) Then the Aragonese had it (they couldn't get hold of any more Spain - so they conquered it? Or was it inherited in some way?). Eventually it became a Bourbon kingom, the Kingdom of the 2 Sicilies, which is the era I am more familiar with. Perhaps once I've read the Joannna book I'll be more au fait with the situation.
I also bought a short novel by Alexandre Dumas about Queen Joanna - which I have not yet started.
Then there was Route AD66 - an interesting book about tourism in the Roman Empire. That was very interesting, but I decided to stop reading it after it left Athens. The book retraces Tony Peroettet's tour around the favourite Roman tourist itinerary with his girlfriend and intersperses nuggets of information gleaned from classical writers. A lot of this is familiar stuff, but quite enjoyable, not sure how reliable a lot of it is. I was a bit mystified by the author, although he presents us with a lot of erudition, he says some remarkable things about the Roman's cotton tunics - the Romans had cotton, imported from India and China, but it was hardly an every day fabric, although I suppose those rich enough to take the Grand Tour could probably afford it. He also described someone choking on polenta in a Greek inn - unlikely given that maize didn't arrive until the 16th C, there were a couple of other questionable references, which made me think that perhaps he was not exactly steeped in the Classical world, but had simply done a hack job on the source materials. Still, it was amusing enough.
Tim Parks "Italian Rails" is not strictly about Naples, but it was an excellent way to remind me of the Italian mindset and the important words furbo (cunning) and pignolo (a jobs worth). It wasn't as funny as some of his other books, but very recognisable. His conversations on trains, and attempts to avoid them are very true to life.
The first book in this set that I read was Bepe Sevignini's "La Bella Figura" which was a very kindly view of Italians. It explained them in a better way, and made me understand that perhaps they really were better, more Christian people than, say, Brits., It was a good way to read about them, from the inside, rather than the outsider view (however well established Parks is he still knows he's an outsider).
Oh, that's only 7 books, I expect I can count the Lonely Planet Guide, the Eyewitness Guide and other materials, to say nothing of all the websites.
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