Posts written about Italy, particularly Naples, and other posts written whilst in Italy.
Vesuvius from the Castell dell’Ovo
We should have known better – nothing is obvious about Vesuvius.
The volcano has sat across the bay from us all summer – big, blue and balmy. It reclines like some artist’s prop, a balance to the curve of sea and islands, a backdrop for the scuttle of life on its slopes and down to the shore.
It looks benign, the perfect place for an afternoon stroll, perhaps even a villa or two.
Father and son – the third and fourth generations of the Squillace family of Omega srl (with the founders in the background)
Italy equals leather in the same way that England equals gardens. In Rome and Florence well-ordered workshops are easy to find on the main tourist streets – in Naples, amongst the best in business especially for gloves, there is no sign.
Naples never hands anything to you.
The maps app took us to the exact address and … nothing. No shop window, no big sign, no smell of leather, no sounds of tapping and stitching, no gloves. We were up in the top end of the city and Omega srl had vanished.
The Piazza Navona in Rome
In Rome at night the temperatures cool, the sky wraps itself around the warm yellow of the street lamps and the pace slows. Even the cobbles seem softer.
