The streets round about us are medieval in their squalor as well as their layout. Dog excrement is everywhere. We watched a Mary Beard documentary about Pompeii last night, and she drew a comparison between shops in Roman times and shops in modern-day Naples. Like the shops in Pompeii, the shops round here have their wares hanging down and spread out in front, there not being much space inside.
An historian Mary was talking to remarked that today the streets of Naples are cleaner than the ones in Roman times. Mary disputed this. At least the Romans put stepping stones across the roads so people could avoid the dung left by animals. (I wonder how the Romans coped with their rubbish).
We now realise, though, that we are living in a poorer part of town. Today we visited the Palazzo Reale, one of the palaces built by the Spanish when they ruled Naples. The streets around there are wider and cleaner, the buildings are in better condition and the pavements are laid with two colours of stone, as opposed to one.
The Palazzo Reale is huge and we wandered through the rooms looking at the frescoed ceilings and wall hangings, as we were directed to by the audio guide.
A couple of unusual things stand out.
Tortoise Travel 
Looks like a fascinating tour of how the Italians really live as opposed to the tourists view! With regards the mess on the pavement you could always take a leaf out of our neighbours book and spray each one with a blue dye ! You certainly can’t miss any and it hopefully shames the owner into clearing it up (the human one not the dog!)
Looking forward to more views of Naples. Xxx
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Glad you’re enjoying the blog. I like the idea of the blue dye, but I think the locals would assume it was part of the fun of the Carnivale.
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