I wrote this piece in April 2016 about the richness of the music in Naples. This is an updated version – improved I hope – with a range of YouTube links at the end.
A busker in Naples, Italy
History makes music … it carves out life’s edges for the musicians to find.
Little wonder then that Naples, full of passion and secrets, is carpeted with song, with great singers and orchestras, and with the drift of the mandolin, of the saxophone and of jazz.
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Christ Church in Naples, Italy
Music reaches into our memories and emotions, it filters through our brains to lift us to a new state of mind. It allows us to be more … and it allows us to remember.
In old churches, empty or full, there is space built to catch the echoes and harmonies of sacred music. It flows in careful patterns up the pillars, through and around the arches, on into the rafters and beyond … and it takes a part of us with it, it frees us from below.
I wrote this piece in March 2016. It gives the history of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, and covers the storm that raged over the threat to the city’s custody of the saint.
Mural of San Gennaro near the Duomo in Naples, Italy
A threat has been made to the heart of an old city, to a unique relationship between the people and their saint. The partnership has lasted through centuries of invasion, violence, disease and volcanic turbulence … but now bureaucracy wants its say.
The challenge is to the arrangements in place for the care of the patron saint of Naples, San Gennaro, and his glittering collection of treasure.
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The Phraser 