Tag Archives: Naples

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A ‘sagra’ on an old Roman road north of Naples, Italy

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A look back (first published 19 June 2015): many of the villages in the countryside around Naples, and up into the mountains behind, have ‘sagre’ in the summer – food festivals where fresh food is served close to the land it came from.

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Bees swarming at the 'Sagra delle antiche taverne' Bees swarming at the ‘Sagra delle antiche taverne’

‘Sagre‘, and this was our first, are the right-in-the-thick-of-it festival celebrations that usually revolve around food.

Originally the meaning was linked to churches and the Latin word sacrum – holy.  Now they are still about expectation and celebration, but often with a local speciality centre stage rather than the church.

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Castel Sant’Elmo, Naples, Italy: built to last

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A look back (first published on 12 June 2015): Castel Sant’Elmo is a great starting point for any visitor to Naples. Stand on its ramparts and it’s like being part of an enormous 3D map of the city and its bay.

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

The Castel Sant'Elmo Naples, Italy The Castel Sant’Elmo Naples, Italy with coat of arms of Charles V and the double-headed eagle

If you find a castle in town you know there’s been trouble … and the bigger the castle the bigger the trouble.

Bump into Castel Sant’Elmo, with Vesuvius just there, and you realise that you probably have no idea what ‘trouble’ even is.

When we visited there was trouble.

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Capo Miseno, Bacoli, not far from Naples

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A look back (first published 3 June 2015): my thanks to Drusilla Gillen who, in the comments at the end of the original post, provided the following information: “… the current thinking is that the children of Cleopatra and Marc Antony, first twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, followed by Ptolemy Philadelphus, survived.
Cleopatra’s son by Julius Ceasar, Caesarian was a threat to Octavians inheritance, so was killed. But the others were sent to Rome and (bizarrely,) cared for by Marc Anthony’s previous wife, Octavian’s sister Octavia Minor.
Like the princes in the tower, the boys disappear from history, only Cleopatra Selene survived, appearing again, married to King Juba II of Mauritania.”

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

The light at Capo Miseno, Bácoli. The lighthouse was bombed in WWII and rebuilt in 1954 The light at Capo Miseno, Bacoli. The lighthouse was bombed in WWII and rebuilt in 1954

A couple of weeks ago, like moths to a flame, we set off by car to find the lighthouse at Capo Miseno, on the north-westerly tip of the Bay of Naples.  The dog in the back was beyond excitement.

Within a few miles he could smell the sea to our left and the fresh trees and orchards around the lakes, and down the hillsides to our right.

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