Napoli

We arrived at the Circumvesuviana station, from where it was a fascinating walk to the Duomo. The main station is best avoided, as it is currently a gigantic building site. The Duomo sits snugly between buildings in the Via Duomo, and though it is fairly unassuming from the outside, the interior is beautiful, particularly in the San Gennaro Chapel, which is dedicated to Napoli's patron saint, some of whose blood is kept in phials beneath the altar. Three times a year the phials are brought out before a packed congregation and by a miracle the blood liquefies. If the blood does not then this is a bad omen. It failed to liquefy in 1944 for example, and that year Vesuvio erupted. Never mind that WWII happened to be in full swing!

Napoli is unlike Italy's other great cities; it is sprawling, dirty and smelly in places but fascinating nonmetheless. there are scores of narrow streets, barely wide enough for two people to walk walk abreast at times and yet cars and the ubiquious scooters hurtle along amidst the washing lines (mind you don't get dripped on!) and debris.

Not all scooters are roadworthy.

From the duomo we walk to the Madre, Napoli's superb museum of modern art. Again, the building is modest and not easy to find, tucked away in a side street and the site of a former convent. Works include some by Jeff Koons, Warhol and Roy Leichstenstein. One of the best things about the place is that many of the exhibits are interactive, you are encouraged to sit on, walk into and touch some of them.

Another meandering walk brings us to the Cappella Sansevero, which is the tomb chapel of the di Sangro family. The decoration of the chapel is extraordinary in its colour, detail and beauty. Downstairs in the crypt there are two upright bodies on display in glass cases, one a man, the other a woman. The skeletons are encased by the hardened arteries and veins, which are coloured red and blue respectively. It is at the same time mesmerising and macabre.

Amongst the works of art in the chapel is the astonishing carving of a dead Christ shrouded in a veil and cut from a single piece of marble. The gossamer like veil is so thin you almost feel as if you could lift it, don't try anything though - there are two ecclesiastical bouncers standing at the main altar!

Below you is a picture of the 'ruota', the wheel.

Next to the now empty church of Santissima Anunziata is a building that was once an orphanage. In its outer wall is a small window through which unwanted babies were placed. These abandoned babies were put into the compartment of a wooden cylindrical drum and it is said that when the nurses heard a cry they would hurry to the drum, rottae it and pick up the new arrival. We are informed that these children then enjoyed advantages such as food, clothing, somewhere to sleep and an education. As you can see, the wheel is in good working order but the outside entrance has been closed and marked with the date that the last orphan was received, namely 27 June 1875.

No visit to Napoli is complete without a small pizza!