Posts written about Italy, particularly Naples, and other posts written whilst in Italy.
Christ Church in Naples, Italy
Music reaches into our memories and emotions, it filters through our brains to lift us to a new state of mind. It allows us to be more … and it allows us to remember.
In old churches, empty or full, there is space built to catch the echoes and harmonies of sacred music. It flows in careful patterns up the pillars, through and around the arches, on into the rafters and beyond … and it takes a part of us with it, it frees us from below.
I wrote this piece in March 2016. It gives the history of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, and covers the storm that raged over the threat to the city’s custody of the saint.
Mural of San Gennaro near the Duomo in Naples, Italy
A threat has been made to the heart of an old city, to a unique relationship between the people and their saint. The partnership has lasted through centuries of invasion, violence, disease and volcanic turbulence … but now bureaucracy wants its say.
The challenge is to the arrangements in place for the care of the patron saint of Naples, San Gennaro, and his glittering collection of treasure.
View original post 1,216 more words
2016 – spring skiing in Abruzzo
The news drifts through, fearful and frozen, from isolated villages in the mountains of Italy. I sit and watch on a device I can fit in the palm of my warm hand, in front of a fire in a well-lit room … at least there are no reports of casualties.
That was last night. Today is the news that a hotel in Abruzzo has been hit by an avalanche – 30 feared dead. A chill creeps down my spine … I read reports of the first, frantic, unheeded efforts to raise the alarm.
The Phraser 