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Interview: Bonnie Alberts of Napoli Unplugged

A look back (first published 11 January 2016): I have to declare an interest here … if it wasn’t for Bonnie Alberts and the power of Napoli Unplugged I know my writing about Naples would have fizzled into nothing. Somehow she, and Penny Ewles-Bergeron, found The Phraser and their encouragement keeps coming. So … how did I begin to find my way around Naples? One of my first ways in was with the website Napoli Unplugged and later with the book – the Napoli Unplugged Guide to Naples. Of course there were others but none of them had Bonnie Alberts based in the centro storico, keen to communicate (in English!), and passionate about the city. A top tip (and it’s not because of the debt owed) is that if you want to explore Naples, either in person or from your sofa, their guidebook is like a richly carved doorway into the hidden, and the un-hidden. It talks to you … so, you will find, does the city.

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

Bonnie Alberts - one of the four authors of the Napoli Unplugged Guid to Naples Bonnie Alberts – one of the four authors of the Napoli Unplugged Guide to Naples

“I don’t see how an American can ask me if Naples is safe!”

Bonnie Alberts is an American, a well-travelled American, who has lived in Naples, Italy for a decade.

“I don’t understand the reputation – it’s a breathing, working city.”

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A musical note from mezzo-soprano, Serena Malfi

Names are strange labels – some disappear on the wind, others lodge like shards of sunlight in the memory.  I met such a name, one that lingers, in an apartment in an old palazzo in Naples, Italy.

The apartment belonged to Michael Aspinall, and the name was Serena Malfi.

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Napoli wore pearls yesterday

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A look back (first published 7.1.16): Days without sunshine in Naples, Italy feel wrong … but when they pass the relief is like the burst of light at the end of an unexpected tunnel.

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

Vesuvius at the end of the Lungomare in Naples, Italy Vesuvius at the end of the Lungomare in Naples, Italy

When light bounces off the sea, then rises up through blue sky towards the sun it takes your heart with it … at least it does on the seafront in Naples, Italy.  It’s impossible to resist, like a balloon freed by the breeze, up and up it goes.

Yesterday was one of those days.

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