Naples Arrival

T.R.S…
At Naples we got in touch with Commander Tom Taylor, brother of Dick, Ted, Crit and Jane, stationed here as attaché of the U.S. Navy. Tom has learned some Italian and certainly knows his way around. His charming wife, Betty Ann, insisted on our dining at their home and seeing their two sweet kids.

The word Naples is a contraction of Neopolis, meaning new city - once, maybe, but now it is anything but new. A sizeable city has been on this spot for over 25 centuries - in fact, two ancient cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii lie buried here under the volcanic ashes of Vesuvius and the tedious process of excavating is still going on.

Ashore in Naples

T.R.S…
Naples is built entirely of stone, brick and mortar, and is living proof that these materials do not last forever. A spell of zero weather would crumble every structure in the city. The occasional light frosts have left their mark on the soft stone and brick surfaces and eaten into mortar joints.

With a guide we drove through the Clevelandish downtown district. Streets are jammed with crowds - some rioting by men carrying books, pretending to be students - police and army reserves sitting in jeeps and half-tracks, armed with rifles, alert for outbreaks. Yelling, cat-calling and sometimes brick-heaving mobs snarl up the traffic as they make faces at the tourists.

Our driver says the terrorists are people who have nothing, no belongings, no religion, no hope and are against those who have. City is over-populated and has large percentage of unemployment. Crime is rampant and courts function day and night.

Local Geography

T.R.S…
Naples is one of the great art centres of the World. We visited the National Museum, a vast public building filled with marble statues of Greek and Roman gods and heroes, some life-size, many heroic. Here also are fine bronze relics from the ruins of Pompeii, including statues, urns, vessels, lamps and weapons. Priceless paintings and tapestries adorn the walls. One could spend a week in this place and not see half the relics on display.

After stopping for a brief view of the Pompeii ruins, we drive over a high mountain pass and look down on the Mediterranean coast town of Salerno, the scene of the Allied invasion of Italy during the war. Scars of shrapnel and shells can be seen on the walls.

Except for the Salerno beachhead, the rocky, rugged coast is more suggestive of a strong leg-bone encased in an iron boot than of the “soft underbelly of Europe” mentioned by Mr. Churchill. At places the road is just a narrow shelf hanging on the cliffs high above the sea.

It wends its serpentine way through little mountain villages, past one continuous series of walled-up terraces planted with lemon trees and vineyards. These terraces extend from the water-edge clear up the cliff-sides like giant stepladders. Little cottages of the owners hang out on ledges.

Sorrento lies nearly midway between Mt. Vesuvius and the Isle of Capri and both can be seen clearly in the distance. After exposing ourselves for about an hour to the tender mercies of the avid merchants of Sorrento we drove back to Naples on the much shorter bay road.

Chariots perhaps once rattled along this road. Today the chariots are carts with wheels six feet or more in diameter, and with heavy timber shafts hitched to little donkeys and ponies with saddle-type harness. A well loaded cart is balanced on its axle so there is little actual weight on the beast - its job is to pull the load. Many buses filled with tourists dodge in and out among the carts.

On both sides of the road are lush vegetable gardens and vineyards, skilfully tended by experienced gardeners, working with hand tools. This soil has been producing vegetables for 2,000 years and yet they talk about our American farmland becoming sterile from over cropping. It doesn't make sense.

It is 50 feet down from the present ground level to the roof tops of the buried city and 50 feet lower to its pavements. The ancient walls and floors appear almost undamaged and even fabrics and loaves of bread have been found intact.

Many skeletons with gold rings and necklaces have been unearthed, also well-preserved frescoes, paintings and mosaics. Untold treasurers are still buried and it is said another city lies beneath the one now being uncovered. Entrance fees at the museum and the ruins are enough to keep a crew of men employed at the excavation work.

We walked thru 25 rooms, where the walls, panels and ceilings are decorated with historical and mythological paintings done by some of the all-time great Italian artists. The paintings are almost overwhelming in their magnitude and beauty and the original furnishings are gems of art.

In the baths are marble basins and gold-plated tubs and bowls. In the library are manuscripts, books, maps and globes. The crystal, bronze and gold-plated chandeliers alone represent an untold fortune of wealth. Unfortunately, the chapel was blasted by an Allied bomb during the war and the wreckage remains un-repaired.

Leading off to the north for a distance of two miles are the palace grounds, fountains and gardens. A system of water basins and terraced falls extends down the middle of these grounds. The water comes cascading down a rocky hillside, supplied from a colossal aqueduct, 27 miles long, that brings the water from a lake on the mountainside.

We enjoyed our visit to this great show place all the more because we had never even heard of it. The Taylors had not seen it before but had been told by friends that it was well worth a visit. Unquestionably, the Royal Palace of Caserta is the outstanding cultural attraction of our trip, and we feel deeply grateful to Tom and Betty Ann Taylor for taking us there.

Upon return to Naples we had the Taylors as our guests aboard the Caronia for a good American steak dinner, while we talked of friends and happenings back home.