Unknown's avatar

The Royal Palace at Caserta, near Naples, Italy: it’s big

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.

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

The Royal Palace at Caserta 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

Unknown's avatar

Book Review: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante

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.

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante 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

Unknown's avatar

Book Review: The Day Before Happiness by Erri De Luca

The Day Before Happiness by Erri De Luca

The Day Before Happiness by Erri De Luca

This little book, which I met first in the bookstore at the airport in Napoli, dropped its hero into my life like a coin into a pool.  He span so deep and so fast that he was almost lost … until, from nowhere, a sudden current pulled him out of sight.

Continue reading