Naples and the South
Southern Italy is a land where myth has never stopped inhabiting places. In Naples the poet Virgil became a magician and protector of the city, a siren gave it its name, and an eighteenth-century prince turned a chapel into an enigma of marble. Beneath the streets lies a second city of tuff, peopled by souls, household spirits and skulls adopted by popular piety. Beyond the bay, the journey continues to the Phlegraean Fields, where Greeks and Romans placed the Sibyl and the entrance to the underworld, and then to Benevento and its witches' walnut tree, the octagon of Castel del Monte, the Sassi of Matera, the mosaic of Otranto and the trulli of Alberobello. In Sicily we meet Cagliostro and the Beati Paoli in Palermo, the magician Heliodorus in Catania and the Ear of Dionysius in Syracuse. Each article carefully separates documented history from legend, to show how the South has woven together faith, learning and imagination.
Raimondo di Sangro, the alchemist prince of Sansevero
The life, inventions and legends of Raimondo di Sangro, seventh Prince of Sansevero: scientist, freemason and reputed alchemist of 18th-century Naples.
3 min read2Naples and the SouthThe Sansevero Chapel and the mystery of the Veiled Christ
From Sanmartino's Veiled Christ to the anatomical machines: a guide to the symbols of the Sansevero Chapel, the Baroque temple of Raimondo di Sangro.
3 min read3Naples and the SouthVirgil the magician and the egg that holds up Castel dell'Ovo
How the poet of the Aeneid became, in the Middle Ages, the magician guardian of Naples, and why the city's fate was tied to an egg hidden in the castle.
3 min read4Naples and the SouthUnderground Naples, the city carved out of tuff
Greek quarries, Roman aqueducts, cisterns and wartime shelters: the history of underground Naples and the legends born beneath the city's streets.
3 min read5Naples and the SouthThe anime pezzentelle and the Fontanelle Cemetery
In the Sanità district thousands of anonymous skulls were adopted by Neapolitans: the story of the cult of the anime pezzentelle and its 1969 ban.
3 min read6Naples and the SouthThe Munaciello, the little monk of Neapolitan homes
Mischievous or generous, the Munaciello is the most famous household spirit of Naples: origins of the legend, from the well-men to Matilde Serao's tale.
3 min read7Naples and the SouthThe Siren Parthenope and the mythical origins of Naples
From the siren defeated by Odysseus to the city of Neapolis: the myth of Parthenope, her tomb, the games held in her honour and the images that recall her.
3 min read8Naples and the SouthBenevento, the janare and the witches' walnut tree
From the Lombard cult around a sacred tree to the witch trials: how Benevento became, in the European imagination, the capital city of witches.
3 min read9Naples and the SouthCastel del Monte, Frederick II's octagon of stone
Frederick II's castle in Apulia between geometry, astronomy and esoteric theories: what the documents say and what belongs to the realm of legend.
3 min read10Naples and the SouthMatera, the Sassi and the sacred carved in rock
Caves inhabited for millennia, frescoed rock churches and the Bruna festival: the ancient and symbolic face of Matera, the city of the Sassi in Basilicata.
3 min read11Naples and the SouthOtranto and the mosaic of the tree of life
Pantaleone's great mosaic in Otranto Cathedral: King Arthur, Alexander the Great, the zodiac and the cosmic tree in an encyclopaedia made of stone.
3 min read12Naples and the SouthCumae and the cave of the Sibyl
The oldest Greek colony in the West and Apollo's prophetess sung by Virgil: the history, myth and archaeology of the cave of the Cumaean Sibyl.
3 min read13Naples and the SouthLake Avernus and the Phlegraean Fields, gateway to the underworld
For Greeks and Romans the crater of Avernus was the entrance to the afterlife: myths, classical texts and Phlegraean sites linked to the realm of the dead.
3 min read14Naples and the SouthCagliostro, the count born in the alleys of Palermo
Giuseppe Balsamo, born in Palermo in 1743, became Count Cagliostro: healer, freemason and adventurer famous across the Europe of the Enlightenment.
3 min read15Naples and the SouthThe Beati Paoli, the secret sect of Palermo
Hooded avengers in Palermo's underground: the origins of the Beati Paoli legend, from eighteenth-century chronicles to the novel by Luigi Natoli.
3 min read16Naples and the SouthThe Capuchin Catacombs, the motionless people of Palermo
Friars, nobles and children preserved for centuries in the convent corridors: the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo and the city's relationship with death.
3 min read17Naples and the SouthCatania, Heliodorus the magician and the stone elephant
Why the people of Catania call the Piazza Duomo elephant «Liotru»: the legend of Heliodorus, 8th-century magician, and of Bishop Leo who defeated him.
3 min read18Naples and the SouthSyracuse and the Ear of Dionysius
An artificial cave with startling acoustics, a suspicious tyrant and a name coined by Caravaggio: the history and legend of the Ear of Dionysius.
3 min read19Naples and the SouthAlberobello and the symbols painted on the trulli
Crosses, hearts, planets and mysterious signs traced in lime on the roofs: the history of the trulli of Alberobello and the readings of their symbols.
3 min read20Naples and the SouthSaint Januarius, the blood and the pact with the city
The martyrdom, the phials, the dates of the liquefaction and the Treasure: the cult of Saint Januarius, patron of Naples, between faith and tradition.
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