Naples Off The Beaten Path

The shop is called "Waiting Lounge", the address is Via Santa Caterina a Chiaia, 19 (Piazza dei Martiri).

It's not only an hairdresser (both for men and women) and not only a beauty parlour.

Get a haircut, a massage, or any other relaxing treatment, enjoy the soft atmosphere and the lounge music while sipping a coffe or a Campari. Let the time flow and forget about it.
In the real centre of Naples an oasis of calm and silence.

An earthquake in AD 62, which shook Pompeii and damaged many buildings, was merely a prelude to what happened on a tragic day in AD 79 when Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the town under 6m (20ft) of pumice and ash. Although it was discovered in the 16th century, serious excavation began only in 1748, revealing a city petrified in time. In some buildings paintings and sculpture have survived and graffiti is still visible on street walls. But the most tragic and poinient reminders of what life in Pompeii was once like, are the bodies of the inhabitants cast where they died in stone.

Pompeii is easy to get to via road or rail for a great day out. Visit my Pompeii page for more details.

Mt. Vesuvius is the worlds most feared Volcano. This is because if it does erupt it will destroy so much. Also because according to local history the last eruption gave no warning just an explosion. They do have tours here but you will have to walk half way up to see it. But the view you will see from the top is extrodinary.

The sort of area you're likely to visit only as a business travel, it is adjacent to the main railway station and comprises loads of high rise buildings hosting offices of different companies.

A piece of America in Napoli!

Placed in the gulf of Pozzuoli (north of Naples), this village is typical for its alleys that give it the typical configuration of harbour and, above all, for the lights of the lampares (nightly lamps used for capturing tattleres and polyps), set on the boats of the fishermen.
The “village” is a charmant match between the port - where are rided at anchor ferries and hydrofoils which get to the islands of Ischia and Procida - and the refuge, situated near the "dock", where private boats are moored and also where fishermen mend their nets and prepare the necessary ones for the fishing.
The fished is then cleverly cooked by the nearby restaurateurs: a perfect binomial between the fruit of the job and the pleasure of the table. The gulf of Pozzuoli is famous for the preparation of typical dishes of sea: spaghetti with local clams; soup of clams and mussels; fried seaweeds; salads of polyps and so many other, that exhale in the alleys their marvellous perfume of sea; Everything is accompanied with typical local wines like Falanghina and Piedirosso. This last is so called because its color remembers legs of the pigeons: in Neapolitan dialect, it is called "pere’ ‘e palummo" (=legs of pigeon).
To the folklore of the seafaring village is tied up the Feast of the Yard Sea, on August 15th, the same day of Virgin Mary’s feast: this occasion melts sacred rituals, as the procession, with other profane ones, as the conquest of the yard, a sort of greasy pole soaped that sticks out on the sea.
Fishermen involve the tourists to the discovery of the village through nice activities of collective fishing on board of the typical boats (“chianchiole” and “paranze”). In some special occasions (and during the month of May) historical center, turns into a banquet where typical products can be tasted.
[Egicom05 - by Amaltea]
Highways: Tangenziale - exit Pozzuoli and follow indications to city center
Railroad: Subway Garibaldi square-Pozzuoli. Stop at Pozzuoli Or Cumana Montesanto–Pozzuoli

Dated back to the II century b.C., Rione Terra was opened one year ago but it’s still not well known. The excavations brought out to light new parts of the old Puteoli Acropolis (33 meters above the sea). Here you can take a walk through the streets of the old Metropolis, which was, during Roman Age, the only trading centre of Western Mediterranean sea. Rione Terra is an exceptional civilization cradle of all ages, englobed in the foundations of the XV century a.C., rebuilt after several earthquakes.
The sensation you feel when you enter in the old town walls is to live again the everyday life of 2000 years ago.
The city planning is the same of Roman age with the two main road axes (Cardi and Decumani). Walking through these streets you can find small ancient shops and above them you can see where once there were the houses of the shops’ owners. Going down a spiral stairway you’ll find yourself in the basements where you can see the shops’ storage once used to keep the wheat. Also, you’ll find some small rooms with stone beds which at the beginning were used as jails and later as gladiators’ shelters. In one of the rooms you can see some gladiators paintings and a verse of a Catullo’s poem that makes wonder this place of a brothel. Walking in these basements you feel to be in a maze. On the same level, there is a private altar, with wonderful mosaics, where were celebrated animal sacrifices.
To visit Rione Terra you walk on bridges totally realized in glass to make the areas below visible. To visit Rione Terra we suggest to wear a pullover or a jacket as for the fresh and humid temperature inside. We also suggest to reserve a conducted tour to recreate the atmosphere that the place excites.
ADDRESS: Largo Sedile di Porto, Pozzuoli (Napoli); DIRECTIONS: By Tube: line 2, By car: “Tangenziale di Napoli” exit Pozzuoli – Via Campana
OPENING HOURS
Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; the box-office closes at 6.30.
TICKET: € 3,00. Included in “Campania Artecard”
[Egicom05 - by Dreaming Naples]

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If you are looking for a suggestive way through hundreds of years of history, you can find it in a new part of National Archaeological Museum. This section of the museum is placed in a wide show-room (free entrance) at the exit “Via Foria” within the Tube “Museo” station (Linea 1).
We try to be your virtual guide.
During the excavations for the new Metro Station, parts of the old city were discovered. They date back to the Neolithic Age until the Middle Age.
A prehistoric discovery is a ploughed field. At the entrance of the museum there is a reconstruction of the original field. This archaeological find has survived years thanks to the muddiness of the soil.
Going forward trough the centuries, you find the Greek city. During the excavation, several fragments of vases of the VII and VI b.C. have been found. They are now placed inside a big and suggestive casket in the centre of the show-room. These vases testify the presence of handcraft workshop along the coast. These discoveries brought to light the line of the ancient harbour, the centre of the Mediterranean trade.
Roman elements are three boats that were used for trading and fishing, ruins of a temple that was used for the Isolympic Games (founded by Augustus), marble slabs that show the names of winners and a wonderful statue of the flying Goddess of Victory (the “Nike”).
The three boats are in an excellent state of preservation. After restoration, one of them will be exposed in a casket in the new metro-station. Several video displays are placed in the show-room to show the excavation phases and to explain the different techniques which have been used to preserve the findings.
A decorative fountain, which date back to the XIII a.C., has been found in a garden. On this fountain there is a design of a ship in procession towards the city, which is depicted as a bastion with towers. A plastic model is shown in the museum.
[Egicom05 – Dreaming Naples]

The Gesù Nuovo church is surrounded by a legend connected with the diamond carved stones of lava (piperno stones) used to cover the front side. These stones were worked by "Maestri Pipernieri" (piperno workers masters) a secret guild, that handed on the art of carving since the ancient romans carvers. On every stone of the church, each maestro “piperniere” engraved a sign (those signs can even be seen today). The meaning of these signs is still unknown but some experienced professor in ancient alchemy found a strong likeness with esoteric symbol. According to the legend, every inhabitant of the buildng (that was built in 1470 as a private palace of Sanseverino prince, and only in 1584 became a church ) is destined to be driven out. The first owner, Antonello Sanseverino, was obliged to leave the palace by the aragona's ambassador; the second, Ferrante Sanseverino was driven out by the king Filippo II in 1580. Filippo II sold the building to Gesuiti priests, but in 1767 they were driven out and the church was presented to the order of Francescani monks. In 1821 the Francescani had to go away and let the Gesuiti go back in. Neapolitans are waiting for a new change of owner...