entry
Apr. 2003
Monuments in May
This weekend will mark the beginning of the "Monuments in May" festivities in Naples. It's a month-long bath of culture, an attempt to open everything in the city that can be opened—all the museums, churches, and archaeological sites. The larger ones are usually open all year round, but in May the city makes an extra effort to put the city's considerable cultural wealth on display for tourists.
Many of
the sites are separated into "itineraries,"
broken down by centuries, with maps and markers
indicating that this or that church is part of the
"17th–century route," for example. The ancient
archaeological sites outside the city, such as
Herculaneum and Pompeii, of course, need no
introduction; lesser known ones, such as Oplontis
(near Pompeii) and the excavated Roman market below
the church of San Lorenzo at the crossroads of
the historic center of the Naples, itself, can expect
tourist traffic much heavier than usual. Unusual
sites—the Bourbon Poorhouse, for example—what
was to be a self-contained and self-sustaining
institution for the indigent in the 17th and 18th
centuries, and is today a five-story, 300-meter-long
white elephant dozing in the sun at Piazza Carlo
III—will also be open. This is the month you can get
in to walk through the ancient Seiano tunnel
beneath Posillipo from the Bagnoli entrance all the
way through and up onto some wealthy gentleman's
private property on the Posillipo side, which features
the ruins of a Greek amphitheater that, 2,000 years
ago, belonged to Vedius Pollio, a wealthy Roman
gentleman in his own right.
The papers
are already complaining about the confusion. A
reporter from Il Mattino claims he stood in
beautiful wide-open Piazza Plebiscito in front
of the Royal Palace for one hour and counted 119
motor-scooters racing across and around the square,
nominally a pedestrian zone. The front page featured a
photo of one young punk, reared up on the back wheel
of his bike and doing a "wheelie" across the square.
Not a cop in sight, said the paper. Piano wire
stretched at neck level might help make up for the
city's lack of commitment to make Naples more
visitable. The reporter didn't say that; that's just a
friendly suggestion.
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