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The Certosa di San Martino: the jewel at the top of Naples

A look back (first published on 13 December 2015): I have made quite significant changes to this post – the skeleton is the same as the original but I have replaced much of the Angevin history with photographs. By the end of our two years in Naples I had visited this charterhouse so often that my library of photographs is more than my blog can hold. I hope you enjoy them, and that one day you’ll be able to visit the Certosa di San Martino yourself, because I know that my camera and I can’t do it justice.

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The Certosa di San Martino and Castel Sant'Elmo dominate the Naples skyline The Certosa di San Martino and Castel Sant’Elmo dominate the Naples skyline

There are two chunks of prime real estate in Naples, two properties that swagger largest when you look up at the city from the sea.  They’ve been together for centuries.

The highest of the two is Castel Sant’Elmo – the star-shaped fortress that looks like it’s been carved out of rock by a gifted sledgehammer.  Right next to it is the Certosa di San Martino, proud when seen from below, but less obvious when approached by road.

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Interview: Michael Aspinall – gentleman diva and ‘maestro di canto classico’

Michael Aspinall photographed in Christ Church, Naples Italy in 2016

Michael Aspinall photographed in Christ Church, Naples Italy in 2016

The trouble with being the king of a niche is that however impeccable your talents your kingdom may not be big enough for those outside the niche to notice your crown … which, if the king is a modest man, leaves the rest of us none the wiser … as it were.

I met such a king recently and it took two years to discover who he was.

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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.

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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.

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