The writer Norman Douglas described with passion very special sea currents which in the Mediterranean sea, are constantly moving towards the Campania: those currents also took with them the remains of the mermaid called Partenope, until the place where Naples would have born.
The Land of Mermaids
The writer Norman Douglas described with passion very special sea currents which in the Mediterranean sea, are constantly moving towards the Campania: those currents also took with them the remains of the mermaid called Partenope, until the place where Naples would have born. From de panoramic street “via Petrarca”, to Posilippo and from the noble heart of today’s metropolis, the blue currents ripple the contours of what is both a guache and a novel: the near and far contours of Ischia, Procida, Capo Miseno, Capri, the Sorrentine peninsula; and the “postcard” of the Vesuvio, the urban labyrinth revealed by the eastern tours of the city, the palaces, the monuments and the churches of a huge old town with its fortified offshoots, from the “Certosa di San Martino” (Charterhouse of San Martino) and the Castel Sant’Elmo to the Maschio Angioino (Castel nuovo), to the Castel dell’Ovo (“Egg Castle”). The contemporary traveler’s imaginary is lost in the alleyways, after having crossed Piazza Plebiscito, slightly touching the Royal Palace, the San Carlo theatre, and via Toledo, aiming to the surprising green spaces of Capodimonte, the gardens, the parks of Posilippo and the yellow tuff cliffs. The moving photography of a “seaside town with inhabitants”, emblematic definition of Luigi Compagnone, tells the story of a mermaid finally adult and Europan who found in her sea, the impulse to feel the “crossroad” of progressive routes. Naples is linked to the world, with the help of the incredible creative, handmade, classy, non holographic heritage of the “Neapolitan style” which has crossed the borders. It is the sign of an originality which does not renounce, however, to reflect on the reconquered seafront with its well-known beaches and the evening walks in Mergellina. Last but not least: the mandolin and the serenade; and, of course : the coffee, the “sfogliatella” and the “babà”, celebrating the best pizza ever. Beyond the stereotypes, time in Naples is not always the same, and the quick changes is the sign of an activism that we can clearly notice in the versatility of the universities of humanistic culture and scientific research, in the literary excitement and in the artistic impulse showed in the stations of the new subway, and in the modernity of the classical style kept by theatrical, musical and worldly events.
