Mercoledi Musicale

I was introduced to the folk and street music of Napoli by Marco Beasley, Guido Morini and their group Accordone during the 2008 Whitsun Festival in Salzburg.  To my ears it is music that has all the passion and colour of that incredible city.  I was surprised last year when the winter season line-up for the Ottawa Chamber Music Society included a concert with a group called Vesuvius Ensemble based in Toronto (?).  They performed with the renowned Tafelmusik Ensemble* in a program that wedded Neapolitan music of the baroque with music of the streets.  It was a remarkable performance for its fluidity and originality.  Particularly effective was a call-and-response ballad between the two groups - again a wedding of the classical and the popular.

In their new album, to be released shortly, Vesuvius Ensemble celebrate another wedding: that of the Guarracino of Neapolitan nursery rhyme fame.  The Castagnola,  Guarracino in Neapolitan dialect, is a fish and the "hero" of an anonymous song from the 1700s that tells of his love for a sardine who is the ex-sweetheart of a particularly macho tuna.   The courtship leads to a feud which ends up involving all the inhabitants of the sea in the Bay of Napoli.  It ends rather inconclusively with the singer telling us of the thirst that the song has built up and how a few coins to wet his whistle would be appreciated.

A search suggests that O matrimonio do Guarracino is another episode in the song-story of this not particularly well-favoured chordata.

I don't normally advertise on here or shill for anyone however just a word that the first recording by Vesuvius Ensemble is available on iTunes and their new recording will be available shortly.

*This was to be  Jeanne Lamon's last concert after 33 years as leader of the ensemble.

September  17 - 1849: American abolitionist Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery.

Memories of... Napoli

This posting was drafted after a trip to Napoli in February 2009.  It had started out as weekend jaunt to see Peter Grimes at San Carlo, my favourite opera house in Italy, and a planned excursion to Herculaneum.  But there was so much to do and see in Napoli itself that the entire weekend was spent exploring the city including a visit to the world famous Il Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. My one regret is that I only got back to there once after that - and then only for an evening.  It is a city I longed to explore.

Sunday at the Colesseo

Roma - Tuesday, February 10th 2009

No I didn't go to the Colesseo in Roma again on Sunday, though I did go passed it several times in the last week but without going in. Now that I've been through it 8 times in the last 18 months I'm not sure I'll ever step foot in the place again. Famous last words! (Strangely I was to keep to those words and never did go into it again.)

However when we were at the Museo Archeologico in Napoli last weekend they had a special exhibition on Gladiators and the Colesseo in Pompeii.  Many of the items had survived the famous eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE and were in remarkable condition.  For me, at least, one of the most fascinating items amongst the swords, shields and general paraphernalia of the arena was this elaborately worked bronze helmet dating between 50 and 74 CE.

Found at the Quadriportico of the Theatres,  it is a stunning example of the artistry involved, and money invested, in garbing gladiators for battle. Unfortunately Christian mythology, Gibbon, Jean-Léon Gérôme and Hollywood has handed down this impression of the wholesale slaughter of the vanquished at the end of a contest. And though combatants did die, as I mentioned in my post on The Boxer, athletes and gladiators were highly skilled athletes who were too expensive an investment to allow for frivolous deaths. And many gladiators were prisoners of war but as many others were volunteers who had chosen fighting as their profession.  And even a gladiator who was past his prime could be valuable as a trainer for the young fighters entering the schools and arenas, as a bodyguard or even as a household slave.

Jean-Léon Gérôme's Pollice verso (1872) did much to influence 20th century ideas and ideal concerning Gladiators and the Roman Games.  The triumphant Murmillo stand over the defeated Thraex awaiting the pleasure of the crowd - who in this case seem to be calling for the blood of the vanquished.

The owner of the gladiator who wore this helmet must have spared no expense in outfitting his prize fighter.  The bronze helmet would have been worn by a "murmillo" as part of his equipment which would have included a broad sword, a loincloth, a belt, short greaves on his lower legs,  a linen arm protector, and the curved rectangular shield of a Roman legionnaire.  The murmillo derived his name from his helmet - vaguely fish shaped it appears to be a variant on the Greek word for a type of salt water fish.  Normally his opponent would have been a Thraex or Thracian - armed with a small round shield and a curved sword - or a Hopolomachus or Hoplite - using a spear, a sword and a small round shield in the Greek fashion.  The analogy was obvious to the crowd - the Roman legionnaire (murmillo) against a foreign enemy.  Perhaps it is more patriotic propaganda than actual records of combats but in early frescos, carvings and bas-reliefs the murmillo often appears triumphant!

This helmet is a large hemispheric dome with a grated visor and the broad brim surmounted by a crest which has holes on either side used to insert feathers and a horsehair plume to add further adornment to the elaborate relief work on the crown.  And no doubt it added a further fearsome aspect to the advancing combatant if not to his opponent then to the spectators.

The cap is decorated in relief with the personification of Roma Victorious, dressed as an Amazon, with her right leg slightly bent.  Fasces in her left hand - symbolizing power and jurisdiction - a sceptre in her left she stands in Imperial glory between two kneeling male figures.  Their tunics and trousers suggest they are barbarians who, having seen the error of their ways, offer tribute and homage to victorious Rome.

Two prisoners, their hands tied behind their backs, adorn the sides of the helmet.  A male on the right and a female on the left they are amongst the spoils of a battle won by the Empire.  Heaps of weapons form the traditional trophies of a triumph - armour, shields, spears, shin guard and banners.   Is it perhaps semi-biographical in nature - was the gladiator who wore this into the arena among the vanquished in a recent war?  Or was it just a reminder to the citizens of a fashionable resort town of Pompeii of the power and glory of their Empire?

It would be fascinating to know the story behind this amazing piece of metal work - the man who made it, the man (men?) who wore it.  How often had it been worn in triumph? Or in defeat?  Was the last gladiator to wear it one of the 16,000 who were buried in the lava flows and ash showers that reached temperatures of up to 700c.  Or as a valued piece of property had he been taken when his owner made his escape?  Or, in a more romantic vein, had he used the hysteria and confusion as thousands tried to leave the doomed city to make a bid for freedom and a return to his homeland?

The helmet reveals much about the rituals and craftsmanship of the time but reveals little of the people who made and used it leaving it up to our imagination to fill in the missing pieces.


A few other posts that actually made it up about that wonderful weekend in Napoli:

Of Cabbages and Kings

Sunday Stroll in Santa Chiara

Sharing - Napoletano Portals

11 ottobre/October - San Alessandro Sauli

The Presepe Maker

Its no secret that I have a fondness for Napoli and things Napolitani - even though the first visit there was a bit unsettling, the second time I came away from the city enchanted and wanting to go back. And another well documented fact is my love of presepe and there is nowhere in the world quite like Napoli for these incredible minature scenes. Divina, the restaurant we went to New Year's Eve in Madrid had the most wonderful presepe at one end of the dining room that was immediately identifiable as the work of Napolitani craftsmen.

As is this remarkable little tableau that was in the window of a small cafe on a side street off Piazza Fiume near our house. It is obviously meant to be only one element in a larger presepio. (Remember that a left click will open a larger version of the photos in a separate window)


Presepe were meant to position the Nativity in the world around the viewer and mirror events taking place in their quarter. And what would have been taking place in any home in Napoli as Christmas Day approached? Why a family presepio would be being created, of course.
The father - a Pulcinella, that most Napolitano of tricksters - puts the final touches on the family presepio. Mother sits with her knitting at her feet, waiting patiently - Pulcinella is known to be lazy so she perhaps expects this to take a while. Their son waits expectantly, a box with the figures for the three kings waiting to be put in their place. Pulcinella's lute has been left to one side, all thoughts of serenades gone until the last figure is in place.

Their dwelling is filled with the paraphernalia of any home of the time - cured meats hanging, dried herbs, knives, traps and even an old family candelabara that no doubt will be placed on the table come Christmas Eve.

One of the pleasures I find in searching out presepe is that they are filled with small details, often missed, that tell a story of a people, a time and a place. Yes the Nativity is taking place but as it does people go about their daily lives and if you look closely enough for a moment you can be part of it.

11 gennaio - Sant'Igino Papa

Quote ... Unquote

I'm sorry Walter, Marco, Vin, Simonetta I love you all but Italians are hard to understand. I don't mean when they speak - I mean they are HARD to understand. Of course I am not the first straniero to make that observation - that was probably some poor Hun who had come down to conquer and found himself totally confused. The red tape, traffic and hysteria going on around him made it almost impossible to rape and plunder with even a modicum of Hunish efficiency!

I'll give you an example of what I mean: our neighbour on the first floor can barely bring himself to say buon giorno and tends to hustle the children along if he sees us coming - now that may be a combination of us being stranieri and omosessuale. Yet the other evening when we had a power failure and discovered that there was no way to open the front gates he patiently explained about the key for the back gate, was indignant that we didn't have one - this was not right the Embassy should have given us one, what would we do if there was an accident we could be trapped in the compound - and trotted down the long back lane way to open it for us. This morning it was back to a curt nod and a muttered greeting!

But then as Beppe Severgnini explains in La Bella Figura in an emergency Italians come through! Severgnini's explanation of the Italian character is highly recommended reading for anyone visiting Italy and mandatory for anyone planning to live here. He addresses many of those questions that have been puzzling us stranieri since the first Gaul gawked in wonder at the Colesseo.

Take traffic and parking! Though he's talking specifically about the parking situation in Napoli, he could be addressing the Sunday morning circling for a spot near the door at IKEA here at Porta di Roma.

Italian motorists must - not "like to," not "want to," not "beg to," but absolutely must - park right next to their destination, with no thought for the consequences. It's true all over the country, but here in Naples, under pressure from the lack of space, stimulated by uphill gradients, and excited by the descents, drivers seem particularly creative.

Anyone arriving by car expects to park outside the front door. A couple of hundred meters away there may be a huge free parking lot, but that's irrelevant. Leaving the car there would be an admission of defeat. Our car user circles like a shark awaiting the moment to strike. If the individual concerned thinks he or she is important - a title that many in Naples like to acquire in the course of a brief, solitary award ceremonies - then irritation increases. Status is inversely proportional to the distance between destination and parking space. The closer the car the more important the driver.

And I think he may have come up with an explanation for that Mercedes that has been parked on a nearby street for the past six months. You may recall I wrote about it in September. Yes its still sitting there but that sticky mess of figs has dried up and is now covered by a lovely autumnal arrangement of dead leaves.



Severgnini's possible explanation? Again he's talking about Napoli but it could be Roma and it could be that Mercedes owner.

There's another category of motorists that deserve examination here in Naples. I'm taking about the Potential Driver, who has found a parking space - improbable, improvised or just plain impermissible - and has not intention of giving it up. This driver gets around on foot, on a scooter, or on public transport, defying the ticket inspectors and muggers. But the car stays where it is. Every so often, he dusts the vehicle off. Why should he move it? A car is a form of reassurance, proof of prosperity, and a place to listen to the radio or store wine. No one around here has ever parked so close to home before. The neighbours know this, and observe in admiration.

La Bella Figura
Beppe Severgnini

The Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group

Well of course, why didn't I think of that: once you've got a good spot why give it up? Makes sense doesn't it?

Okay even Severgnini can't always give reasons that make sense to us Huns - hey we are in Italy - but he makes a good stab at it. And its entertaining reading!

26 novembre - Sant'Umile da Bisignano

A Taste for la Pasqua

La Pasqua (Easter) is next week and as well as the observations across the river - I'm told Big Ben and boys have a real bang up series of events planned - Italian families will be celebrating the holiday gathering for traditional meals. Every region has its particular foods or dishes associated with Easter though most include lamb as a main course. Last year, at my friends Simonetta and Renato's we began with broad beans, pecorino cheese and sausage. I don't recall if this was a Roman tradition or just a household one, but I do know it was a traditional start to the Easter meal.

Renato is cutting the sausage to accompany the pecorino and broad beans. Simon, Simonetta, Alberto Testa (a renowned Italian dancer, choreographer and critic) and Renato enjoy the beginning of the meal.

Natale con i tuoi, la Pasqua con chi vuoi -- "Christmas at home and Easter with whomever you wish" is an old Italian saying but most people still try to spend Easter weekend with families. However given distances and time it is not always possible. Take for example my friend Marco - you may recall he's the Napoletano who was teaching us to swear a while back. His family is not able to be together this Easter so he's heading down to Napoli this weekend. And even though he may not be getting to enjoy a traditional Napoletano Easter meal, he is going to be keeping up at least one local tradition: La Pastiera. Though many families leave the making of this Easter pastry to their local pasticceria, he tells me that his mother has always made her own and for many years its been a tradition for him to work along side her.

When I asked about her recipe he shrugged and said: About the recipe, I think every Napoletano has his own. A check on the Internet revealed the truth in his statement. The variations in preparation time and measurements are many but the basics remain the same: wheat kernels, candied citron, candied orange peel, orange flower water, and fresh ricotta.

There are several versions of how the recipe began. First there is the old legend of the mermaid Partenope and her use of the gifts given to her by the people of the Gulf. There is another story that says, like many things Napoletano, the sweet was born out of a time of want and hunger. The city had been gripped in a long famine and just before Easter a grain ship arrived. People were so hungry that rather than grind the wheat for bread they threw it directly into boiling water. Still another story suggests a nun in one of the many convents in Napoli was making a dolci for Easter and wanted to capture the scent of the orange blossoms in the cloister - thus orange flower water became a main ingredient.

Whichever story you choose to believe I have been told that it is possible to taste spring in every bite. And my friend Jolka tells me you can only get authentic Napoletano Pasteria one place in Roma. However Marco scoffs at that thought - he assures me that it isn't Pasteria if it isn't made in the shadow of Vesuvius and then is really only authentic if it comes from his mother's kitchen!

Maybe I should just ask him to save a piece and bring it back for me? I just wonder what the chances are of there being any left at the end of Sunday's dinner.

Here are a few sites that have recipes for "Authentic" Napoletano Pasteria:

http://www.eat-online.net/english/habits/easter/pastiera_napoletana.htm

http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipes.recipeListing/filter/dianas/recipeID/128/Recipe.cfm

http://www.bakingobsession.com/2008/03/21/neapolitan-ricotta-and-wheat-berry-easter-pie-pastiera-napoletana/

And back in 1990 the New York Sunday Times published a Neapolitan Easter Menu that included a recipe for the traditional desert.

03 aprile - San Luigi Scrosoppi

Skate Italia!

We're in the middle of a Tramontana (a quick click over to GB's posting at Italian Notebook will explain the term)and it's been bloody cold all week long. Okay maybe not Canada cold but cold for Rome. For the Romans and those of us who's thick Nordic blood is starting to thin it's mittens, scarf and parka weather. Perhaps this leads to a bit of over-bundling in some quarters but it does make it easier to spot the tourists. They are the ones shivering in the polo shirts, light windbreakers and - believe it or not I did see this the other day - shorts. They are also the ones with that slightly stunned "but this is Italy it's suppose to be warm" look on their faces. Surprise!
The cold weather makes it a little more authentic now for the skaters here in Roma. I may have mentioned that we do have rinks here;the two I know of, and I've been told there are a few more, are at Castel San Angelo (left) and Parco della Musica (right.) For most of the skaters what may be lacking in Olympic points for style is more than made up for by points for enthusiasm.The big surprise was when we decided to investigate the cluster of tents on the hill beside il Castel Nuovo in Napoli and found not only an artificial rink but artificial grass and pine trees. There is definitely something surreal about watching kids skating in the shadow of Vesuvius. We all know that Nero had snow brought down from the mountain to serve with syrups at diner but I'm not sure even he imagined making ice to skate on.

21 febbraio - San Eleuterio di Tournai

Sharing

I haven't shared any of the postings that I've found particularly entertaining or informative in a while - and as we were reminded earlier this week in the Mom Song, sharing is important. And of course at the same time I have a few more photos to share from the trip to Napoli. These are various doors throughout the city - many on Via Toledo and the Centro Storico.

• In honour of last week's celebration of World Nutella Day, Michelle has done a Nutella Round Up. Its chock-a-block with links to recipes, articles, photos and ephemera concerning the world favorite chocolate and hazelnut spread. And apparently plans are already under way for next year's festivities.

• Though Sunday's here seem to be taken up with lunching with friends I've missed Sunday drives with Jeff. He hadn't done one in a while but at the beginning of the month took us down Saticoy Avenue of Boogie Nights fame.

• I've been come very addicted to Margaret and Helen, particularly since Helen has decided to take it upon herself to read the latest book by Ann Coulter. She gives us, and Margaret, a Cole's notes version of La Coulter's magnum opus saving us from having to buy it in the remainders bin and giving Ms Coulter so much as a red penny.
  
  And very thoughtfully she's posted pretty much by chapter:
  
  1. Ann Coulter Almost Failed Obedience School
  2. Come Ann Coulter or High Water
  3. Does Ann Coulter Have Opposable Thumbs
  4. If Ann Coulter falls in the forest and nobody hears her.. can we just leave her there?
  
  Thanks Helen, you should be writing book reviews for the New York Times. But you also raise the question: Should Ann Coulter be writing at all?

• My friend LotusGreen over at Japonisme has been featuring the work of Arthur Wesley Dow since the beginning of the month. Dow was an American painter, printmaker, photographer, and extremely influential arts educator. Amongst his students and disciples he numbered Georgia O'Keefe and he was a leader in the American Arts and Crafts movement.

13 febbraio - San Benigno di Todi

Sunday Stroll in the Cloister

The Cloister of Santa Chiara is only part of the monumental complex composed of church, convent and museum. Created as part of a Franciscan citadel in the early 1300s it has undergone many changes during its 700 year history.

The biggest change came when Abbess Ippolita Carmignano commissioned Domenico Antonio Vaccaro to redesign the garden. He left the original Gothic structure of 66 arches surrounding a square unchanged but transformed that square into a riot of yellows, blues and greens. Vaccaro set out two intersecting paths that divided the garden into four quadrants and lined them with 66 octagonal pillars linked by stone benches and walls. Not an unusual design of itself but when those pillars and benches were covered by Majolica it became one of the most beautiful gardens in Christendom.

Extensive work is being done to restore the Cloister - pillars strengthened, tiles cleaned (though not restored)and reattached, wooden pergolas rebuilt and the 17th century frescoes on the surrounding walls brought back to life. When it is finished it should be one of the most glorious sights in Napoli, as it is now it a wonderful place for a Sunday afternoon stroll.

There are two ways to stroll around the cloister. This smaller slide show gives some idea of the beauty of Santa Chiara.



Or a click on the wall below will take you to the larger, high resolution full screen version.

Either way enjoy the sunshine, the stroll and the Cloister.

And while you're strolling you might want to listen to Marco Beasley singing a snatch of a well known song about a sunny day and a person who brings more sunshine into his life. I particularly enjoy Guido Morini's introduction.



08 febbraio - Santa Giuseppina Bakhita

Of Cabbages and Kings

I thoroughly enjoy the books of John Julius Norwich - I must have reread his A History of Venice at least 6 times. At the moment I'm in the middle of his Byzantium trilogy - well more accurately I'm waiting for the middle of his Byzantium trilogy. Feltrinelli had Book I and Book III but Book II is out of stock. So I've read them out of sequence - its sort of like thumbing to the end of a murder mystery - I know who brought about the fall just not who all the suspects where. While I'm waiting patiently I've started on his The Middle Sea: a History of the Mediterranean.

Norwich freely admits he's no historian just a man who enjoys writing about history. His style is unpedantic, at times gossipy but always interesting. It is not his fault if I get confused with the Kings of the Two Sicilies and the Kings of Naples - sometimes they were one and the same thing - it depends on who owned what that week. I was even more aware of the confusion when I tried to identify the statues on the facade of the Palazzo Reale in Napoli.
The Palazzo is an enormous complex and has undergone many changes since the first palace was built on the site in 1600. The original was commissioned by Ferdinando Ruiz de Castro, Count of Lemos, Spanish viceroy in Naples in anticipation of a visit by King Phillip III of Spain. In one of history's little touches of irony - Phillip never made it to Napoli.

The west side, facing what is now the Piazza Plebiscito (the largest piazza in the city) has always been the main entrance. The large niches in the facade are a mini-history of the eight dynasties that have ruled Napoli: the Normans, the Hohenstaufen, the Angevin, the Aragonese, the Spanish, The Bourbon, the Napoleonic and finally, after the Risorgimento, the Savoy. Well I can see why they all wanted a piece of the property!
Well that looks after the Kings, and the cabbages? Sorry nothing really about cabbages, it was just an attempt to find a literate and amusing title. Failed on both counts but as they say here: BOH!

While searching the Internet - what did we do before the Internet, oh yes went to the library - for information about Napoli I came across Jeff Mathew's Around Naples. Its a mini-encyclopedia of facts, figures and stories of Napoli and its history. Definitely worth a detour as they say in Michelin.

07 febbraio - San Lorenzo Maiorano

Cats Amongst the Cloisters

I'm working on a slide show of the Cloister of Santa Chiara with its beautiful garden of majolica ceramic but I found this bench in the centre of the garden particularly delightful.

Every place you go in Italy you are confronted by stray cats, as I've posted often there are cat sanctuaries in almost every major city. And every neighbourhood has it's "cat lady," or even ladies, who leave out food and water for the strays in the area.

Well it appears this is nothing new - and what under the sun ever is? Back in 1739 a tile maker working on the adornments for the Cloister garden took inspiration from what he saw around him. This is one of the few benches in the garden that reflects convent life.I love how the unknown artist has capture a bit of a feeding frenzy in the felines as they head towards, what is obviously, their source of daily goodies.That one cat in the middle looks like he may have been in a few battles in the neighbourhood. They all look very well fed and is it me or do a few look more like rats than cats?

06 febbraio - San Paolo Miki