Naples, Italy
Naples. A big city with cultural influences. Interestingly, because of the heavy Allied bombing in 1943, most of the city was rebuilt in the 1950's and '60s, but built to look like the old stuff.
We did a walking tour. The port lets you out smack dab in the city center so you don't have to go far. We visited an incredible Galleria that Umberto the First built in 1890. High glass domed ceilings, marble floors. Absolutely beautiful. Yes there are shops in it now. All of this is across the street from the opera house, which is adjacent to the old palace. It is the only place in Naples with a cannon pointing towards the populace and not the sea. Rulers feared the people more than invaders.
We also did an interesting tour of the underground WW II bomb shelters that were built in 1940 by Mussolini's army. This is more fascinating than it sounds since the shelter is really an expansion of the 2000-year old aqueduct and cistern system. Originally thought to hold a few people for a short period of time, the shelter ended up being the home for tens of thousands of people for 180 days in the first nine months of 1943. Not expecting this many people for so long, it is estimated 25,000 overall died in the shelters. Some were even born there.
Part of this underground system includes a wide and high tunnel with two bridges over the cisterns that were constructed in 1854 by the Bourbon king as an escape route from his palace to his soldiers by the sea; or vice versa, the soldiers could come to protect him. For better or worse he died before the tunnel was completed.
After the war this part of the underground was used by both the Mafia and the police to dump miscellaneous items. The police put impounded cars and motorcycles down there and many of these rusted relics are still seen there. An interesting footnote to this is that our underground guide spoke nearly accent free English. When asked where she learned it, she said "TV".
Afterwards we had a light lunch at a restaurant that accommodated "no flour, no sugar" and a cheeseless pizza. Extremely good homemade tomato sauce on the pizza. Even so plain it was quite good.
The port city of Naples.
In the foreground you can see ongoing restoration of archeological artifacts (they look like stone slabs).
One of the plazas in the downtown area of the city.
Inside the Galleria di Umberto, with its beautiful glass domed roof.
The shops extend in many directions, as does the glass dome.
Look at the beautiful marble flooring.
While the original entrance to the underground shelter was down 90 narrow steps, a modern addition was added for easier access.
You can see the massive limestone walls of the original aqueduct. These walls shed particulates, further contributing to the ailments of long-term residence in the shelter.
Here you can see some of the abandoned vehicles mentioned above, that were stored here later.
