Posts written about Italy, particularly Naples, and other posts written whilst in Italy.
Michael Aspinall photographed in Christ Church, Naples Italy in 2016
The trouble with being the king of a niche is that however impeccable your talents your kingdom may not be big enough for those outside the niche to notice your crown … which, if the king is a modest man, leaves the rest of us none the wiser … as it were.
I met such a king recently and it took two years to discover who he was.
A look back (first published 2 December 2015): a few months ago I visited the palace gardens and fell in love with the straight layers of water and fountains that run their length. Their miles of liquid gloss are a luxury above all others in the hot summers of Campania.
The Royal Palace at Caserta
Big is a little word that can’t quite fit all of this palace in. Size is everywhere but still the giant proved hard to find by car.
We knew we’d reached Caserta but even though we were within metres of the palace we couldn’t see it. The area was a strange, any-man’s-land of straight roads and plain buildings.
View original post 873 more words
A look back (first published 24 November 2015): this review is of the third of the four Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante. I read them all whilst in and around Naples, Italy.
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
This book, the third in the series, has an ache in it that grows as the story lengthens. It is about the absence of love and belonging, and the complications of motherhood.
The themes belong to us all and Ferrante intensifies them against the backdrop of Naples. She paints her story with the city’s colours, chosen for their truth from a palette that other cities struggle to match.
View original post 292 more words
The Phraser 