Dopo oltre 20 anni, l’11 luglio scorso il Museo Archeologico di Napoli ha finalmente riaperto al pubblico in modo permanente l’area espositiva dedicata alla Magna Grecia. Chiusa dal 1996, la collezione rappresenta un unicum nel panorama museale internazionale: oltre 400 opere testimoniano le caratteristiche insediative, le strutture sociopolitiche, il retroterra religioso ed artistico nella Campania di epoca preromana. per ricchezza ed antichità del patrimonio archeologico. Tutti i reperti, dal Settecento ai primi decenni del Novecento furono convogliati nell’allora Real Museo Borbonico tramite acquisti e donazioni.

“Restituiamo al Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli una parte fondamentale della sua identità – ha affermato il direttore Paolo Giulierini – la collezione Magna Grecia, tra le più ricche e celebri al mondo. Nelle sale del primo piano che ospitano il percorso espositivo, – promette ancora Giulierini – un’esperienza unica attende il visitatore, che può  ‘passeggiare nella storia’, camminando, con le opportune precauzioni, sui magnifici pavimenti a mosaico provenienti da Villa dei Papiri di Ercolano, da edifici di Pompei, Stabiae, dalla villa imperiale di Capri, finalmente recuperati”. Al Mann sottolineano che la pavimentazione a mosaico delle sale che ospitano la collezione necessita di alcune precauzioni nella fruizione, tra cui l’utilizzo di apposite calzature (al costo di 1,50 euro) e l’ingresso regolamentato negli spazi espositivi.

Ecco le regole per accedere alla sezione Magna Grecia:
– Turni di ingresso di 40 persone ogni 20 minuti a partire dalle 9:00, fino a chiusura della sezione
– Per accedere alla sezione è fatto obbligo a tutti di indossare gli appositi copri-scarpe distribuiti all’ingresso della sezione, al fine di tutelare la pavimentazione musiva originale.
– A partire dal 22 Luglio 2019, si applica un costo di € 1,50 a persona (indipendentemente dalle agevolazioni previste sull’acquisto del biglietto di ingresso al museo) come contributo dovuto per la manutenzione e pulizia delle superfici musive
– Il turno di ingresso è acquistabile presso la biglietteria del Mann al momento dell’acquisto del biglietto del museo o anche successivamente, a seconda della disponibilità residua
– Il turno di ingresso alla sezione Magna Grecia è pre-acquistabile anche on-line sul sito museoarcheologiconapoli.it o telefonando allo 06 399 67 050
– E’ possibile accedere alla sezione Magna Grecia una sola volta per turno di ingresso.
– I copri-scarpe vanno lasciati all’uscita della sezione, nell’apposito contenitore.

Nel viaggio a ritroso nella storia, dall’VIII sec. a. C. sino alla conquista romana, è così ricostruito al Mann il  mosaico che definì l’identità culturale della Magna Grecia: si parte con alcune sepolture da Pithekoussai (Ischia) e Cuma (databili tra la seconda metà dell’VIII e gli inizi del VII sec. a. C.) per testimoniare le fasi più remote della “colonizzazione” greca del Sud Italia.

Tra i capolavori esposti spiccano la suggestiva e coloratissima opera d’arte del fregio in terracotta con lotta tra Eracle e il mostro marino Nereo e le Tavole di Eraclea.  Si tratta di una grandiosa iscrizione (rinvenuta nel 1732), che segnò una tappa fondamentale nella scoperta della Magna Grecia, affascinando il Settecento riformatore e illuminista per aver fissato nel bronzo il dettagliato resoconto dei lavori pubblici legati al riordino di alcuni terreni di proprietà religiosa.

Nella terza sala, si affronta il tema del significato ideologico del banchetto. È ricostruito, così, un convivio tra VI e V sec. a.C.: i vasi attici figurati riflettono un rituale consolidato per cui ogni recipiente (crateri, anfore, coppe, vasellame in bronzo) assumeva una funzione specifica.

Tra i maggiori acquisti che il governo borbonico riuscì ad assicurare al Museo, spiccano le coppie di frontali e pettorali per cavalli, provenienti da una sepoltura ruvestina di un cavaliere di rango principesco, così come i due crateri a mascheroni apuli dall’Ipogeo del Vaso di Dario di Canosa, vasi colossali la cui unica funzione doveva essere quella di costosissimi status symbol.

Raffinate testimonianze della moda del tempo sono le oreficerie esposte: collane, bracciali, orecchini e altri gioielli documentano così i preziosi ornamenti indossati per ostentare la propria appartenenza sociale. In questa stessa sala, si trova lo straordinario Cratere di Altamura (metà IV sec. a.C.), uno dei più monumentali vasi apuli pervenuti dall’antichità. L’opera, recentemente restaurata dallo staff del Getty Museum, è decorata da una rara ed emblematica raffigurazione del mondo degli Inferi con la dimora di Ade e Persefone, insieme a numerosi personaggi mitologici legati all’aldilà.

Tra le opere inserite nel percorso espositivo del Museo Archeologico, è da ricordare l’Hydria Vivenzio, uno dei vasi più celebri che il mondo antico abbia restituito. Acquistata nel 1818 per l’allora incredibile cifra di 10.000 ducati (una quantità d’oro corrispondente a circa 170.000 euro), l’opera è attribuita al Pittore di Kleophrades (490-480 a.C.). Sulla spalla del vaso si succedono in circolo scene della presa di Troia (tra cui lo stupro di Cassandra e la sanguinosa morte di Priamo), capaci di affascinare i moderni per il contrasto tra l’armonia compositiva e la violenza nella resa dei dettagli.

L'articolo (Italiano) Al Museo Archeologico si cammina coi calzari ai piedi sui mosaici della Magna Grecia proviene da Charme.

Dracula would, therefore, have died in Naples and his body would now be resting in one of the most evocative environments of the Monumental Complex of Santa Maria la Nova, the Franciscan citadel built in Naples at the end of the 13th century by the minor friars on a plot of land given to them by the king Charles I of Anjou and called “the Nova”, in order to distinguish it from Santa Maria from the Palatium, the monastery that once stood in the same place where, the Maschio Angioino was later raised.

The tomb of Vlad the Impaler, the dreaded prince of Wallachia, who inspired Bram Stoker’s imagination, is to be found just a few steps from Piazza Bovio and Piazza del Gesú, right on the edge of the historical center, which has been declared heritage of the humanity by UNESCO.

The Complex is an extraordinary monument which hosts masterpieces signed by the most famous Neapolitan painters of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In Santa Maria La Nova, thanks to the guidance of the experts of the “Oltre il Chiostro Onlus” Association, presided by Giuseppe Reale, it is possible to revisit the history of the former capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Faithful to the style imported to the South of Italy by the Angevin monarchs, the church and the adjoining convent of Santa Maria La Nova, originally had Gothic forms. Damaged by repeated earthquakes, the religious complex, which at the beginning of the sixteenth century, had acquired a new structure, that of the great chapel of San Giacomo della Marca (whose construction led to the demolition and modifications of various chapels) – went under a profound and revolutionary restyling work in 1596, that gave it its characteristic Baroque imprint. This restyling, respected the rigid canons of the Counter-Reformation, which still characterizes it today.

The church, with its austere Renaissance style facade, has a Latin cross plan and is equipped with a single tile-tiled nave and has a series of sparkling chapels which open wide along both its sides. It is accessed through a steep staircase in trachytic rock protected by a marble balustrade. The coffered ceiling, in gilded wood, is among the innumerable so-called “pearls” kept in the edifice. The ceiling is enriched by forty-six painted tables, which constitute a true anthology of pictorial art inspired by the last Neapolitan mannerism, before Caravaggio’s irruption on the European artistic scenes.

The adjacent convent – in which the upper rooms, once were the monks’ cells – is composed of a sacristy, a refectory and two extraordinary cloisters. Since 2008, the Oltre il Chiostro association has, here, set up the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (Arca).

The cloister called “maggiore”, also known as the cloister of San Francesco, was ceded some time ago to the Province of Naples. It has lost most of its frescoes which once adorned its walls (depicting scenes from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi).

The “minor” cloister, also called the cloister of San Giacomo, houses a series of paintings with scenes from the life of San Giacomo della Marca, attributed to Andrea De Lione and a series of tombstones and sepulchral monuments. This is where the legend of Dracula’s tomb leads us. Here, where history enjoyed itself by interweaving its occult plots. According to a study, Dracula, in fact,  rests right under the porticoes of the small cloister, in the sepulcher built in 1499 by the sculptor Jacopo della Pila, to house the mortal remains of Matteo Ferrillo. Some Italian scholars are convinced of the truth of this theory, also supported, in their thesis, by some colleagues from the Estonian University of Tallinn. Let’s jump back into time, in order to have a clearer picture.

In 1476 Vlad III of Wallachia, who had recently regained the throne of his country, disappeared in battle while fighting against the Turks. Vlad, belonged to the order of the Dragon (“Dracula” from the Romanian “Dracul”, which literally means “son of the dragon”) just like the then king of Naples Ferrante D’Aragona. He was declared dead and one of his daughters, Maria Balsa, who at the time was only 7 years old, was adopted by a Neapolitan woman and then taken to Naples, perhaps because of the common “militancy” of the two kings, to escape the danger of an Ottoman invasion of Transylvania. Once become a woman, the girl married Matteo, a noble from the Neapolitan family of Ferrillo. According to a first version, she brought the mortal remains of her illustrious parent to the city of Naples and then buried them in the sepulcher of her husband. According to another version, Dracula did not die during the battle but was imprisoned by the Turks. Maria would have paid the ransom and then have him reach Italy. At his death, the former king of Wallachia would have been buried in the family tomb. So far the story. But there appears to be other elements that would confirm this thesis: the bas-reliefs carved on the sepulchral tomb of Dracula’s “son-in-law”.

A dragon with two symbols of Egyptian matrixes are carved on the tomb, which were never seen before, on a European tomb and which seem to recall some elements typical of medieval Slavic culture. These two opposing sphinxes recall the name of the city of Thebes, that the ancient Egyptians called “Tepes“. Those symbols seem to read “Dracula Tepes” which, incidentally, are also the two nicknames normally given to the prince.

Furthermore, just behind the tomb of the Ferrillo family, stands an enigmatic incision. A sort of “La Nova Code“, as it was renamed by the members of Oltre il Chiostro association, written in an unknown language. The only certain element so far deciphered, in this mysterious fresco (in which  typical characters of the Latin, Coptic, Greek and Ethiopian alphabets have been identified), would seem to be the word “Vlad” that occurs several times. Vlad, like the name of the Count.

So far, the surprising coincidences of this story, appear to be no more that a novel. But, many historians do not believe this version of the story, because it is said that there is no concrete evidence of the permanence or burial of Vlad III in Italy or even of the existence of one of his daughters. And the reference itself to the city of Thebes is considered misleading since the epithet “Tepes”, normally flanked the name of Dracula, in Romanian means “pole”, therefore, “impaler”, which derives from the chilling torture that the “Vampire of Transylvania” was used to inflicting on his enemies. Doubts, perplexities and  mysteries abound, together with  signs and clues at will. In short, in the history of this monumental complex has everything to attract the attention of historians, art lovers and tourists. A monument that needs, care and maintenance, to the point that the Neapolitan association that manages it, has promoted the initiative “Restaura la Nova“, a collection of funds to be allocated to restoration  (see video).

SANTA MARIA LA NOVA MONUMENTAL COMPLEX
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS ART (ARCA)
Via Santa Maria la Nova, 44 – 80134 Naples
(near the University and Toledo stops, Line 1 of the Metropolitana
OPENING HOURS: Monday-Friday from 9.30 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. – Saturday and Sunday from 9.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.
CONTACTS: Tel. + 39 081 552 15 97 – Email: info@santamarialanova.info
web: www.santamarialanova.info

L'articolo Visit Santa Maria La Nova to discover the mystery of the tomb of Dracula proviene da Charme.

Eight centuries of art and history all enclosed in a stone casket. Visiting the monumental complex of San Domenico Maggiore, is an extremely suggestive experience. A jump back in time to rediscover one of the many faces of Naples. Here, halfway between the Lower Decumano and the Major Decumano, in the heart of the historical center of Naples, which has been declared World Heritage, many personalities have passed such as Giordano Bruno, Tommaso d’Aquino, Giovanni Pontano.

Philosophers, humanists, fathers of the Church. Each, has left his sign in one of the most important churches in Southern Italy. A multitude of  known and lesser known artists such as Tiziano, Caravaggio, Raffaello, Giuseppe de Ribera, Tino di Camaino, Francesco Solimena, Luca Giordano, Luigi Vanvitelli, Domenico Vaccaro, Cosimo Fanzago and Mattia Preti have all left traces of their art in this Church.

Built between 1283 and 1324 in Gothic style, at the behest of King Charles II of Anjou, who financed the project (then entrusting it to the care of the Dominican friars), from the Renaissance, the complex of San Domenico Maggiore, with its church and the adjacent Convent, has represented the fulcrum of Naples, one of the “privileged places” of the nascent Kingdom. This location in which the history of the young state was shaped, was also thanks to the choice of the kings of Aragon in  choosing to build the religious complex, the dynastic pantheon. In fact there are to be found some guarded arches on the balconies of the Sacristy which was frescoed by Francesco Solimena: 38 wooden boxes sumptuously covered with silks, brocades or other precious fabrics, arranged on two overlapping rows, containing a series of 45 coffins of royals and nobles linked to the historic Spanish family, are also to be found.

The majestic basilica, was transformed by Vaccaro, together with the adjacent convent, into one of the emblems of the Neapolitan Baroque. This edifice  has a particularity: the opening to Piazza San Domenico Maggiore is by the apse and not by the main facade of the building. This is because the open square with its famous obelisk was realized later. From the square, one can access the church through a large staircase wanted by Alfonso I of Aragon which connects the pre-existing Romanesque church of San Michele Arcangelo a Morfisa (incorporated into the complex too)to the building in which the Dominicans had found hospitality when they arrived in Naples in 1231. This ramp leads to the right transept of the basilica while another entrance placed on the street level, with the center of the rear façade, under the fifteenth-century balcony, where the Carafa coats of arms stand, is connected directly with the Guevara di Bovino chapel (or “Succorpo”) , right at the apse.

The main entrance of  San Domenico Maggiore opens up instead to the north, in vico San Domenico Maggiore, on the right side of the square, directly in the courtyard of the convent. It is advisable to enter from here to experience the majestic entry into the basilica. The inside of the church – in which stands a large organ with 1,640 pipes made by Neapolitan master violin makers – is in fact nothing short of glitzy: an authentic riot of well-assembled colors, with marble, blue and gold that stand out wonderfully, in perfect Baroque style. The coffered ceiling has in its center the emblem of the Dominicans and, at the four corners, stand the arms of the house of Aragon and the Spanish crown.

Under the three naves in which the church is subdivided, are to be found the noble chapels: twenty-seven in all. Among these, in particular, the second one, also called “The Chapel of frescos” or “Brancaccio“, is the only one in the whole building to preserve a cycle of frescoes dating back to the Angevin era and to the period of construction of the religious temple. Starting from 1308, they were realized by the Roman painter Pietro Cavallini. Also worthy of note is the sixth chapel, a sort of pantheon of the Carafa family, known as the “Cappellone del Crocefisso”. This space once belonged to the chapel of San Nicola and was an integral part of the old fourteenth-century church of San Michele Arcangelo a Morfisa. It hosts precious paintings and various sepulchral monuments and a reproduction of the original thirteenth-century painting of the Crucifix (today preserved in the convent) that, according to tradition, in 1273, seems to have spoken to St. Thomas Aquinas while he was praying , telling him the following words: “Thomas you wrote well of me. What reward do you want? “. “Nothing but you, Lord” was the response of the theologian who wrote in vernacular and was a point of connection between Christianity and classical philosophy, who finally wrote the third part of the Summa Theologìae.

In addition to the Sacristy, of the newborn Museo Doma, it is worth paying a visit to the seventeenth-century Sala degli Arredi Sacri, once known as the “Sala del Tesoro”, with its collection of vestments and sacred objects of great historical, artistic and cultural value. It also holds the precious clothes of the sovereigns and noble Neapolitans found in the tombs in the nearby Sacristy. It is also worth mentioning the “Muscettola chapel” where it is possible to admire an enigmatic “Salvator Mundi“ of Leonardian school, dating back to the first decade of the 16th century, very similar to the one recently auctioned for 450 million dollars (click here to booking online).

The convent, which is an integral part of the complex of the Dominican fathers, is accessed from the entrance of Vico San Domenico. Developed on three floors, the building tells, through its paintings, its furnishings and its works, events that have written not only the history of Naples, but also that of the whole of Italy. Stories that lead to the birth of the Neapolitan University, which has had its headquarters here for centuries, but also to more recent events (during the 1990s the monastery housed the rooms of the former Court of Assizes and here was “hosted” the boss Raffaele Cutolo during his trial).

In the convent, as previously mentioned, lived for many years the friar Tommaso d’Aquino, theologian and doctor of the Church, his cell of which can now be visited, with access to the Doma Museum, where sacred objects belonging to the Holy philosopher exponent of the Scholastic and defined Doctor Angelicus are on display.

Subject to several restorations, the convent of San Domenico Maggiore reopened its doors to the public in 2012 and today is divided into several areas, one part is still used by the friars, another hosts a high school and another, with the Hall of the Chapter, is of the City of Naples.

SAN DOMENICO MAGGIORE MONUMENTAL COMPLEX. DOMA MUSEUM
Piazza San Domenico Maggiore 8 / A
Doma Museum, complete route:
Aragonese Arches, 16th century clothing collection, Sacristy, Hall of sacred furnishings, Salvator Mundi, Corridor of St. Thomas, Cell of St. Thomas.
Full price: € 7.00 – Reduced price: € 5.00 – Groups and Schools: € 5.00
Click here to booking online: shop.visitaresandomenicomaggiore.it
Open every day (closed decembre 25th): 10.00am – 6.00pm with guided tours
Tel. + 39 081 459188 – +39 333 863 89 97
www.museosandomenicomaggiore.it
Email: domanapoli@gmail.com

PIAZZA SAN DOMENICO MAGGIORE
The Ground zero of the historical center

The back of the apse of the Basilica of San Domenico Maggiore overlooks the scenic Piazza San Domenico Maggiore. It is one of the most characteristic and romantic of  old Naples, with its obelisk surmounted by the bronze statue of the saint. The obelisk is surrounded, as in a magnificent setting, by the large palaces of the Del Balzo families (later inhabited by the famous animator of the Baroni Conjure, Antonello Petrucci), the Casacalenda, the Corigliano, the Sansevero (home of the di Sangro family, to which belonged the famous Raimondo di Sangro, to whom we owe the embellishment of the famous Cappella Sansevero, notable for his works of art)

Piazza San Domenico Maggiore is the gateway to the lower Decumano. It defines the exact center of the historic perimeter of Naples and revolves around the obelisk of San Domenico, ex voto of the Neapolitans for a plague epidemic averted in 1656. The spire, where two double-tailed sirens emerge at the top, inspired  the name of the Basilica which Charles II of Anjou erected between 1283 and 1324. It was decided to erect it on the occasion of the famous plague of 1656. The works began two years later according to the  sketches by Francesco Picchiatti (1619-94) or, according to others, such as Cosimo Fanzago (1593-1678). The works during its erection was interrupted, to be resumed in the times of Charles of Bourbon under the direction of Domenico Antonio Vaccaro (1681-1750), who brought them to an end in 1737. Rich in marbles, bas-reliefs, medallions and statues, the so-called spire of San Domenico ends with a pyramid surmounted by a valuable bronze statue of the saint, executed according to the design and assistance of the same Vaccaro.

The square is the crossroads of the ancient Neapolitan Center, where Spaccanapoli meets Mezzocannone, the university street. From here one can reach San Gregorio Armeno, the street of cribs. It was from here that used to pass Prince Raimondo di Sangro used to pass, to get to his laboratory, which was adjacent to the family chapel, inside of which, is the famous Veiled Christ. And it was here, in 1590, that the walls of Palazzo Sansevero witnessed a frightening and bloody story: the murder of Maria D’Avalos and her lover Fabrizio Carafa, caught in flagrant adultery by the husband of the beautiful princess, the madrigalist Carlo Gesualdo. From that day, the legend tells of the ghost of the woman who wanders, ethereal and suffering, between the obelisk and the portal of the palace in search of her tragically lost love.

L'articolo Visit to San Domenico Maggiore in Naples, 800 years of history, art and legends proviene da Charme.

The procession, which every year is held the Saturday before the first Sunday in May, will start from the Cathedral of Naples and reach the Basilica of Santa Chiara. The ceremony is held in memory of the historic transfer of the relics of the Holy place from the cemetery in the Agro Marciano (in theterritoryofFuorigrotta) to the Catacombs of Capodimonte, then later called, for this reason, “the catacombs of San Gennaro.”

The procession of May was once called “the infrascati,” from the custom of the clergy who attended to protect themselves from the sun by covering their heads with wreaths of flowers. It is the memory silver crown above the throne on which is placed the reliquary containing the blood of the saint, which leads to the center of a huge emerald.

L'articolo Naples awaits the miracle of San Gennaro proviene da Charme.

In the footsteps of the Neapolitan Metro dell’Arte, who found so much success in the world, now Napoli can claim the distinction of having the first Archeo the world Airport. With an exhibition theme that acts as conductor: the journey, flying on Italy. The brilliant idea born from GESAC with the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage of the Campania region, was made in agreement with the Ministry of Culture and with great effort, dedication and realization will on the part of the public and of the airport staff and organizations involved in the ambitious successful project. Which proves once again that, in Naples, good ideas for promozionare the territory, tourism and accommodate as best as tourists can be made (and good).

And so, in the airport of Capodichino (www.aeroportodinapoli.it), in the areas of departure and arrivals, travelers can get in immediate contact with the suggestions that infuse the history, art and archeology of our ancient land. A pill of the beauty and goodness of the immense range of Naples and Campania. In the departure lounge entrance area on the first floor, it starts with the headless Nike (goddess of Vittora), certified copy in resin, whose original (first century AD) located at the National Archaeological Museum (www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it), coming from Borgo Orefici (perhaps the Gymnasium area). The other five exhibitions are located inside the airport. In the area of the boarding gate, here is the original marble statue of Triptolemus, the dispenser of the art agricultural, from the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Capua. Also on the first floor of the gate, you can admire the Triclinum, original domestic instruments Roman era coming dall’Archeologico National. And still in the gate, on the side of the ladder in corian, it appears the original of Urania, muse of astronomy, in Pentelic marble statue of the first century A.D. discovered at Herculaneum, from the Archaeological Museum.

In the arrivals area, two installations proposals Archaeological Capodichino Airport to welcome the passengers. At the gate of international arrivals, travelers pass between two mosaics (reproductions in glass tiles of original Pompeian artefacts preserved all’Archeologico). And finally, in the baggage retrieval, just in front of the door of entrance of domestic flights, a bronze copy of the statue of Hermes, the winged messenger of the gods, whose original found in the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum is exposed to the Archaeological Museum . Five of the six accurate and modern installations are accompanied by impressive digital effects, which facilitates even more the goal Airport Archaeological Naples to impress, attracting travelers with the intent meritorious and mecenatico taste to promote the immense historical heritage , archaeological and cultural heritage of Campania. A modern, deep and friendly to welcome tourists.

L'articolo In Naples the first Archaeological Airport in the world proviene da Charme.

Are you a particularly curious type APP offers another service. You will have the opportunity to contact an operator who will answer your questions on additional information, directions, or assistance of various kinds. Itineraries of Naples also has a social channel. You may as well put in relationship and contact with other tourists and neapolitans curious who are experiencing Naples, to discuss or exchange not only information but also emotions.

To download the App, a simple search in Play Store on your phone, or click on this link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.itinerari_di_napoli&hl=it

L'articolo Itineraries of Naples, the free APP that tells the city proviene da Charme.

L'articolo Leavening rooms tuffaceous: born in Naples the first pizzeria geothermal proviene da Charme.

L'articolo In Casina del Boschetto live the Sea Museum proviene da Charme.

L'articolo Begins “Più tua Napoli” and on July 4 Il Volo in the Square proviene da Charme.

L'articolo Naples and the arts, two shows for the summer in the city proviene da Charme.