Category Archives: Italy

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Castel Sant’Elmo, Naples, Italy: built to last

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A look back (first published on 12 June 2015): Castel Sant’Elmo is a great starting point for any visitor to Naples. Stand on its ramparts and it’s like being part of an enormous 3D map of the city and its bay.

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

The Castel Sant'Elmo Naples, Italy The Castel Sant’Elmo Naples, Italy with coat of arms of Charles V and the double-headed eagle

If you find a castle in town you know there’s been trouble … and the bigger the castle the bigger the trouble.

Bump into Castel Sant’Elmo, with Vesuvius just there, and you realise that you probably have no idea what ‘trouble’ even is.

When we visited there was trouble.

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Capo Miseno, Bacoli, not far from Naples

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A look back (first published 3 June 2015): my thanks to Drusilla Gillen who, in the comments at the end of the original post, provided the following information: “… the current thinking is that the children of Cleopatra and Marc Antony, first twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, followed by Ptolemy Philadelphus, survived.
Cleopatra’s son by Julius Ceasar, Caesarian was a threat to Octavians inheritance, so was killed. But the others were sent to Rome and (bizarrely,) cared for by Marc Anthony’s previous wife, Octavian’s sister Octavia Minor.
Like the princes in the tower, the boys disappear from history, only Cleopatra Selene survived, appearing again, married to King Juba II of Mauritania.”

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

The light at Capo Miseno, Bácoli. The lighthouse was bombed in WWII and rebuilt in 1954 The light at Capo Miseno, Bacoli. The lighthouse was bombed in WWII and rebuilt in 1954

A couple of weeks ago, like moths to a flame, we set off by car to find the lighthouse at Capo Miseno, on the north-westerly tip of the Bay of Naples.  The dog in the back was beyond excitement.

Within a few miles he could smell the sea to our left and the fresh trees and orchards around the lakes, and down the hillsides to our right.

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The Royal Palace at Portici, Naples

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A look back (first published 30 May 2015)

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

Royal hideaway in Portici, near Naples Royal hideaway in Portici, near Naples

It was a warm day and we were on an old road in a corner of what used to be a royal park.  It is now university grounds but still has that swish of palaces, intrigue and celebrity at play.

In front of us a smallish red building curved its face to catch views of Vesuvius and the sea. This, we were told, was where the king entertained his mistresses. Instantly the Italian guide had our attention.

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