June 19, 2025: Lows and Highs

Every time that we leave our apartment, they are doing more construction.

We feel that we need a hard hat to leave the building safely.

This scaffolding has gone up in the two days since we arrived.

Rob is not thrilled … and neither is Diego Maradona.

Today we saw the Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino 1753 at the impressive Sansevero Chapel Museum. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but the experience took our breaths away.

The chapel was erected in the late 16th century, but the 7th Prince of Sansevero is credited with its marvels as this chapel was meant to be a family mausoleum.

We had to reserve a spot days in advance. It was like seeing The David. The statue is lauded as remarkable for its delicate tissue-like marble veil and lifelike depiction of Jesus’s body.

How can one make a veil over a person all from one piece of marble?

Next we went on a Subterranean Tour of Naples … for English speakers.

We walked down (and then again up) 132 steps. These tunneled rooms used to be a quarry. One can still see the chisel marks.

Then cisternas were followed by an underground aqueduct.

Cistern workers called pozzari had to be small to fit through the tunnels. They also were able to hear secrets that people thought were private and even enter homes. They became wealthy because people would tip them to not talk. Twice, they led enemies to hiding people.

Greeks and Romans used aqueducts until there was a cholera outbreak and contaminated human waste waters percolated through the ground.

Next it became a place to deposit trash. When it was decided to turn it into bunkers, it didn’t make sense to take the trash out so they just covered it with concrete.

There was an air hole that was near a church. Three bombs came through the air hole into the bunker at the same time. Incredibly, none of them exploded.

This WWII bunker consists of 4,000 tunnels. At one time it housed 150,000 people. There were around 200 bombardments. With their houses destroyed, they had no place to go. So they went into the bunkers.

There were mothers and children. Graffiti can still be seen on the walls. One says “Mama, don’t cry.” Another says, “Help!”

There is also a theatre underground that is rumored to be a favorite of Nero who considered himself an amateur actor. The window at the top leads to an
Airbnb apartment.

The Romans used this technique by realizing that earthquake tremors travel diagonally so this prevents structural damage.

After our tour we ran back to our apartment to start another load of laundry and to eat lunch. During that time, I dropped my glasses on the floor. The temple pieces on both sides came loose … and we leave tomorrow. The pieces were small, but we were able to find them. Rob found an optician five minutes away. We took it to them at 2pm, and they said that they could have them done by 6pm.

We started the afternoon by walking to the Castel Nuovo (New Castle) near the Bay of Naples.

This is a parking lot for the ubiquitous motorcycles.

Its scenic location and imposing size makes the castle, first erected in 1279, one of the main landmarks of the city.

Piazza del Plebiscito, a large public square, is near the Castel Nuovo.

Next we walked straight uphill to the Old Castle at the highest point of the city. There were many catch-our-breath stops along the way in the sweltering heat of the afternoon.