Thinking the weather was becoming more spring-like, I washed my winter coat yesterday prior to putting it away. However it seems I was premature as it is forecast to be three degrees centigrade here at midday tomorrow (but 12 for the same time in West Sussex). It’s all a bit topsy turvy. The Neopolitans have kept all their layers on through the milder days. I clearly have a lot to learn.
Walking up to through the Spanish Quarter and climbing the steps to the Museum of San Martino would be good warming exercise on a chilly day. The museum is housed in a beautiful former monastery dating from 1368 and has a terrace with what would be, on a clear day, wonderful views of the Bay of Naples. Today it was very hazy.
St Martin, whom the museum is named after, was a Roman soldier. When he met a man who was so poor he had no clothes, Martin took his sword and cut his cloak into two, giving the pauper one piece. The story goes that Martin had a dream that night in which Jesus was saying that Martin had clothed him.
The museum is well-known for its examples of nativity scenes. These are very popular in Naples and can be seen all over the city coming up to Christmas. They are not the simple scenes we may know with Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, a few shepherds, the three kings and a handful of animals, but include individuals you would find in any settlement such as a blacksmith, a butcher, a shopkeeper and so on. The scene could be set in any period of history and antique nativities provide an insight into fashion, housing etc. Ordinary folk often make their own nativity sets.
This set has 160 characters, 80 animals, 28 angels and over 400 miniature objects.
I wonder if anyone, outside the US, has heard of Rick Steves. An American himself, he owns a travel company which helps other Americans travel in Europe. Of particular interest to us are audio tours he has recorded that can be downloaded free and listened to via a mobile phone. We discovered him only last year and followed a number of tours he has done set in Rome.
We used one of his tours yesterday when we visited the Archeological Museum here in Naples. We just homed in on artefacts that have been taken from Pompeii to be displayed in a safe environment.
Of particular interest to us were the mosaics, most of which are made from incredibly tiny pieces, so much so that at first glance they look like paintings.
Better dig my hat and gloves out from the bottom of my suitcase!
Tortoise Travel 