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 Guided by dott. Carlo Leggeri, president of Celanapoli Cultural Association, we started the morning near Piazza Cavour, taking a look at what remains of the northern city walls that functioned as retaining walls to separate the city from the acropolis below. We could still see the sloping curve of the wall as the upper portion leans in toward what was the hillside on which Neapolis was built.On these stones are Greek marks indicating which worker in which quarry mined the stone (ostensibly for payment). This is what remains of the northern city wall that stood for 2 millenia but was torn down to make way for an ugly 1950s apartment building (seen in the background). Now there's debate on whether to tear down the apartment building. That's progress!
Then, we went to see the exhibition of the archeological relics found during the works of the Neapolitan subway. Ever wonder why construction on the Naples metro system is so slow? They've discovered more than 3 million archaeological relics from more than 3000 years of history as they've begun work on each station. Fortunately Italian law protects the archaeological finds while enabling construction to continue.
The IAS group stopped for lunch at historic Pizzeria Capasso near the old city walls. We were unexpectedly joined  for lunch by a couple buskers who provided great entertainment!
After lunch we moved inside the old city walls to walk the historic Vico Giganti and explore under San Lorenzo Maggiore, trying to avoid getting mowed down on Vico Giganti (which is not so giganti).
On the way we were able to see a couple of arches which are the only remaining portion of the old Odeon theater that has been entirely surrounded and enveloped by modern construction. The rest of the theater is underground and inside the surrounding residential buildings.
The Gothic church of San Lorenzo Maggiore is at the precise geographic center of the ancient Greco-Roman city of Neapolis. The facade was designed by the famous 17th century architect Ferdinando Sanfelice. Underneath San Lorenzo Maggiore are 24 centuries of layered history... from neolithic times, to Greek, to Roman, early Christian and modern day ruins. We were able to see the Roman street (Vico Giganti) that ran through the city, with storefronts on either side. The area silted over and filled in during floods and earthquakes, and you can see the bases of early Christian columns built atop the the Roman walls on the left. There you can see Roman opus  reticulum brickwork underneath the rock & mortar foundations of the early Christian church. Carlo Leggieri pointed us a "boca di lupo" or wolf-mouth opening that allowed air and light into covered residential areas. Rather than tear down Greek ruins and build over them, Romans simply used them as the foundation for their own construction.
The chiostro (or cloister/courtyard) of San Lorenzo Maggiore church contains ancient openings where rainwater was directed to be collected in underground water cisterns. The Cacace chapel in San Lorenzo Maggiore shows inredible features Spanish Baroque work by Cosimo Fanzango painted on the ceilings of the earlier Gothic structure. San Lorenzo Maggiore contains a large collection of religious relics from the Baroque and Rococo periods. |
