Posts written about Italy, particularly Naples, and other posts written whilst in Italy.
We know this young man – but we don’t – that’s why we remember
Paestum and its temples are suddenly there, on the edge of a Tarmac road in a sunny field close to the sea, just across the street from a couple of cafes and a museum.
It all seemed unreal until we met the diver …
Large tile mural by the entrance to Industria Ceramica Avallone in Vietri sul Mare
“No – no foto!” The small, elderly woman hustled through the piled plates towards us.
“Non posso fare …?” My bad Italian faltered.
“No!” Her finger flicked sternly from side to side as she halted in front of us, dark eyes flashing with suspicion.
“Who are you?” The slow English syllables were weighted with menace.
The lone bright light in the left third of the picture is the Mt Vesuvius Observatory. It is minutes before the end of 2014.
It was cold and seconds off midnight. A sub-zero wind fleeced coats, squeezed eyeballs and jumped camera shots into shaky blurs. Plenty of reason to go indoors but none of us did.
The view from our hill of steeply barked pines was incredible. We could see right across the night to the lights on the opposite shore of this mythical bay.
We stamped frozen feet as we stood suspended between geography, history, and two calendar years – Vesuvius to our front, Roman remains beneath and behind us, and Naples about to mark the annual switch.
