Fashion and Family in Napoli

Fashion & Family in Napoli

About to have pizza in Aversa with family

Despite spending half of my Italy trip in Venice wearing opulent historical fashion of the 18th century and looking very regal to boot, I had another focus for my trip and that was to meet family that I share a great grandfather with in Naples for the first time. A few of my other cousins in the USA had already made contact or have spent extended time visiting with the family, but we only had a few days, and it was also the middle of the week and the last day of Carnivale, so we did our best to meet up with my cousin Maria Pia when she got out of work and she picked us up at a train station near her mom's multi-faceted boutique, Zane Abbigliamento.​ Yes that's right. My family in the Naples region owns their own women's fashion boutique. This really came full circle for me, as I have been so passionate about fashion all my life and have just started learning to sew to make my own fashion pieces and accessories. Perhaps that passion has been rooted in my ancestry all along.

A street near our hotel in Naples

After being in the quiet water city of Venice with its mysterious pathways and ever encroaching mist and rain, Naples was definitely a complete opposite experience. As soon as we exited the train station we were hit with a blast of excited people speaking loudly, a huge line of white taxis at the front of the station, and constant honking. We were not accustomed to having to haggle for taxi rates, so we went with the third one we found, who charged us extra for “our luggage” to get to our hotel in Centro Storico. The taxi driver adroitly navigated his way through narrow one way streets while constantly honking at pedestrians in the roadway.

​I didn't understand the honking at first, but it's for two main reasons. One is to tell pedestrians that a car is coming, and two is to tell someone you are turning. There are very few traffic lights even in the center of Naples. And while there are zebra crossings for pedestrians, you might as well just go for it with the confidence that the Virgin Mary is walking by your side because even if you have the right away, people driving scooters will still go but navigate around you.

Centro Storico Map

The inner sanctum of our hotel, which I believe also used to be a castle at some point. They gave us our own apartment which had 3 different physical door keys.

We lodged at Hotel Piazza Bellini, which is located about 3 blocks from the Museo Archeologico, one of the only museums open on a Monday. If you don't have time to go to the runes of Pompeii, go there instead. They have basically everything that survived Pompeii from ancient well preserved frescoes, to larger than life sculptures and even domestic stuff like furniture and kitchen ware of the time. It is a huge museum, so that's about the only thing we did when we arrived in Naples after our 6.5 hour Frecciarossa (high speed train) ride from Venice to Naples. And we did walk to and from that museum at night and it was a bit sketchy for sure. Pahl said it reminded him of what people say NYC was like in the 1960's. People in the street were assertive at asking for money and some were setting up sleeping arrangements outside the front and side doors of churches.

The next day was the last day of Carnivale. In Naples, they dress up children in costumes and there's confetti in the streets, and businesses are open a little later than usual. But that's the extent of the fanfare for the occasion. This was the day I was meeting my family, so our travel goal was to get to Napoli Centrale to take a regional bound train by about 4:30 pm.

We first stopped by the Capella Sansevero Chapel to see if we could get tickets to see the Veiled Christ. Tickets were already sold out until 17:00 that day and they told us we could come back later, but we could not as we were already bound to visit my family at that time. We decided to spend the day stopping at whatever looked interesting with the the goal of walking in an Eastward direction towards the train station. Other than this museum, at no point did we encounter any other lines or pre-purchased ticket requirements to enter any of the churches we visited on our way to the train station. I guess a Tuesday in February is really the off-season in Naples.

Outside the Entrance to Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore

The first place we decided to stop at was the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Pietrasanta. The building was originally built in the 6th century as a Paleo-Christian Basilica on the ruins of the temple for Diana. The current church was erected between 1653 and 1678 on the design of Cosimo Fanzano that rebuilt it in the Barocco style. In 1803 the complex was used as a firehouse. The bombing of the Second World War severely affected the religious building and its restoration was completed in 1976. The church remained closed for decades; but today it is functions as an auditorium. It was called “della Pietrasanta” because inside there was a stone that when you kissed, it gave you the indulgence. According to tradition, Pope Evarisco was buried here.
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When we went inside, they had two different things going on, a Joan Miro exhibit and an underground water museum. We really wanted to see the inside of the Basilica, as its last remodel had been done in the 18th century and we could fully imagine ourselves with our Carnivale costumes inside of it, but they told us we had to buy tickets to the Miro exhibit in order to see the actual building.

My Favorite Miro piece in the exhibition, which is a reproduction of his work, Personnage

Two blocks away from the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore della Pietrasanta, we stumbled into the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco, which was framed by a small bronze statues of cast human skulls and crossed tibias. While some people might have shuddered and moved on with their day, I have always been intrigued by the gothic and somewhat morbid aspects of life so I immediately felt a keen interest in the place.

Bronze cast skull and tibia's out front

The 17th century was a disastrous time for the residents of Naples. In 1631, there was a second eruption of Mount Vesuvius, along with a series of earthquakes and famines. Then in 1656, the Black Death killed half of the city's population. Churches and cemeteries were overwhelmed, and the poor and homeless could not get proper Christian burials. To alleviate the suffering of the Neopolitans during this period, a group of wealthy nobleman formed a humanitarian society called Congrega di Purgatorio ad Arco. They built this little Baroque-style church in the heart of the city that provided an adequate place for burying the dead as well as a holy place where grieving relatives could pray for their departed in Purgatory. For those who are not familiar with Catholic lore, Purgatory is where departed souls go who aren't bad enough for hell, but not quite good enough for heaven. A big part of Catholic prayer is praying for departed souls stuck in the interim, which apparently only people who are still alive can do. Almost every Catholic mass ever is said in honor of someone or an organization, pay attention next time you find yourself at one.

Once you cross the threshold of the church, there is an unique experience in Neapolitan culture between art, faith, life, and death. The small and beautiful church of the 1600's, which has deftly preserved the precious marble and winged skull of Dionisio Lazzari and other fine art masterpieces, contrasts starkly with the hypogeum, or underground church. The underground church hosts worship aimed at anonymous human remains that become special intermediaries for invocations, prayers, and requests for intercessions. Through a hole in the floor of the upper church, one must descend a steep staircase where there is an anonymous tomb surrounded by black chains at the center with barely any electric lights. Along the walls are small niches, altars, shrines, and letters preserved from the time of the cult of the Veneration of the Dead. Through an even smaller corridor, one can reach the burial ground of the church with the remains of a woman known as Lucia, a young woman whose veil and some accessories are well preserved in a sophisticated and fascinating altar. Most of the underground church it is forbidden to take photos as respect for the dead, but I have just the one from the top of the staircase.

The entrance to the underground church

Detail of the outside facade of the building

This church and museum really blew my mind. There was a sign at the front that said that the people of Naples are still using the lower church to remember their loved ones, but at the same time, attending masses in the upper church held once a week. I like that the two forms of worship can co-exist.

In the Courtyard of San Lorenzo Maggiore Basilica

After a brief lunch break, we carried on and ended up at San Lorenzo Maggiore Basilica. This is one of the oldest churches in Naples. One can journey back in time both above and below ground at this one! It is located in the exact center of the historic city, and is considered one of the city's finest Medieval era buildings. Inside the church, the Gothic architecture has been restored, and additional museum showcases frescoes, paintings and artifacts from its lengthy history. Below the church, lies the remains of an ancient two-story Greco-Roman market, the city's original Macellum. There are millenia-old bakeries, wine shops, and laundromats just a couple of meters underneath the bustling streets of Naples.

Walking around in the ruins in the basement with its uneven flooring

An Ancient staircase that I guess you could ascend at your own risk

Gothic windows and architecture frame the first floor

A better angle of the restored frescoes on the ceiling in this room. The walls still need some work.

Our last stop before boldly going straight to the train station before an impending thunderstorm was Pio Monte della Misericordia, a church and museum that is famous for housing “The Seven Works of Mercy” by Caravaggio. The unusual chapel, which still holds mass daily at 9:30 am, is octagonal shaped and is also the venue for theater productions, musical concerts, and symposiums. The noble palace which is attached to it also houses the art gallery, a historic archive, and a library. At the end of it, there's even a little cafe, which will give you a free coffee if you manage to hold onto your ticket!

Detail of the Octagonal Floor Cross

The Seven Works of Mercy, by Caravaggio

The Caravaggio was incredible to see up close and from above in a small prayer chapel. They also had a cast of the main subjects and motifs in the painting that you could touch. I saw details in the cast that I had not perceived in the painting alone nor the very small photograph of it in my college art history textbook.

Looking down from above in a small chapel at The Seven Works of Mercy

Also, stunning, yet modern, circa 2019 were coral sculptures from Belgian artist Jan Fabre. Jan Fabre created four ornate coral sculptures that feature complex symbolic and iconographic associations, built around a heart, and aim to stimulate dialogue with the seventeenth-century paintings already conserved inside the church. Each sculpture is 110 cm high, weighs approximately 50 kilos, and is completely covered with red coral, in the shape of small roses, pearls and half pearls, and traditional Neapolitan horns which symbolize knowledge, faith, and salvation. The thematic focus of the work, the heart, represents the central wisdom of thoughts and feelings, physicality and spirituality.

The Liberation of Passion, by Jan Fabre

The Liberty of Passion by Jan Fabre

A storm is brewing in the sky, so we walked as quickly as we could towards the train station

Amazing and colorful street art just a few blocks away from the train station

Carnevale confetti on the street. This was everywhere in Venice, but only in certain places in Naples.

We are so so close now!

We managed to get to the train station before the sky opened up. We had difficulty with the ticket machines, so we used the ticket counter and help desk inside Napoli Centrale to buy our tickets for the local Regionale train.  It wasn't too far from Napoli Centrale, but it definitely went a lot slower than the Frecciarossa train and there were a lot of short local stops. Eventually we emerged out of a train station in a quiet suburban area with very little parking spaces for vehicles and no additional public transportation listed anywhere.  We had to wait a little bit, but Maria Pia picked us up. Her dad was with her in the car, and we got to meet him a little informally. She was dropping him off somewhere as well, but he wanted to meet us on the way. Then we went straight to Zane Abbigliamento, her mother's boutique. 

Pahl with two of three doggies

Inside, we were immediately greeted by their three maltese dogs. They immediately took to Pahl, who gave them tremendous levels of attention. 

Eventually Pahl used his whole body to pet all the dogs at once

While this was going on, they also had customers coming in (as they were open a little later for Carnival), and another cousin stopped by just to say hello randomly. He had a dog with him too and immediately all the little dogs were very excited and would not stop barking until he left. We had also been using Google translate to help talk to each other. Meanwhile, I had mentioned that I was looking for a coat, because the winter coat I brought with me was 18 years old, and I wanted to update it. I tried on a couple of coats, and then they straight out gifted me this gorgeous tweed coat. Mind you, it was the only coat that would fit me in the store (see Venice blog post for why I'm large/XL in Italian sizing).

Tweed coat from Zane Abbigliamento

The 18 year old coat I brought with me, while wearing it in Venice. I also bought the scarf 18 years ago, in Rome.

The new tweed coat from Naples (but made in Milan), along with my amazing new waterproof leather boots from Venice

A few hours later, Maria Pia and her mother gave us a driving tour of their hometown, Aversa. It has 29 Catholic churches, and we had another cousin who was a priest at one of those churches. He had just passed last year in his mid 90's.  Maria Pia was the only bilingual one in this adventure, so she was doing a lot of translating back and forth from Italian to English. Eventually we ended the evening with amazing pizza at a restaurant in Aversa. I don't think anyone in that restaurant spoke English, so we would have been entirely lost without Maria Pia. 

Going to Naples and meeting my Italy family for the first time was exciting and new but also not that surprising. A lot of the mannerisms and way people communicate with each other outside of the language barrier are exactly the same as with my mom's side of the family in the USA. The random family visits with no prior notification, the passionate talk of politics and history and culture and the five things going on at once at any given time were all very familiar situations for me.

It made me really want to go back and study Italian in more depth, so that I could communicate better with everyone, whether it be other 18th-century fashion enthusiasts in Venice or my family in Naples.  Next time I go to Italy, I will have waterproof shoes, a custom sized 18th-century dress, and a better command of the spoken language.