On my next visit to Naples, I decided to implement a long-standing idea of climbing the hill of Sant'Elmo, crowned with the fortress of the same name, clearly visible from the city. In front of the fortress-castle, just below it, is the monastery of St. Martin. It is believed that the name of the castle was transformed from the name of the 10th century church of Sant Erasmo.
The original building was erected here in 1329, but the current castle-fortress was built in 1537-1547 according to the project of the architect from Valencia Pietro Prati. Later, the Spanish governor Pedro Alvarez de Toledo ordered to further strengthen the castle after a strong explosion. It is star-shaped in plan. A powerful defensive structure served as a shelter for the Spanish Viceroy in 1647. during the uprising led by Masaniello, and in 1799. it became the symbol of the Neapolitan Republic.
You can climb the hill by funicular, but I was more interested in walking.
The streets are narrow and steep, only one car can pass. On the pavement, there is barely enough space for one pedestrian, there is no need to talk about a baby carriage. A young Neapolitan woman rolled it towards me along the roadway, walked slowly, followed by a line of cars at exactly the same speed without the hope of overtaking, and not one of the drivers even uttered a peep!
The attitude towards children here is touching. A dozen years will pass and the baby will join the ranks of the Neapolitan punks, but let's hope that this does not happen?
Soon I found myself in the position of the hero of the “Diamond Hand” Gesha Kozodoev (the unforgettable A. Mironov) in the maze of unpredictable dead-end streets, and ended up finding it useful to go to the intermediate funicular station that came across to me. With several tourists, we searched in vain where to buy tickets, a trailer approached, and everyone settled in it, giving up further searches.
The first thing I saw on the hill was a funeral procession. I don't know what that portends, but I avoided it. We had to go down a little to the entrance to the castle.
The ticket cost 3 euros. Recently I saw in I-those an offer to buy a ticket to the castle in advance without a queue for 8 euros! There was no queue, there were only a few visitors. We took the elevator upstairs, there is a spacious parade ground, administrative services are located in all rooms, which is typical for Italy with its huge bureaucratic apparatus.
Photos of panoramas of the city and the bay, views of Vesuvius - that's all, in fact, although I do not regret the long-planned excursion. It is believed that now there is a museum of art history, but in the exposition on Piazza d’Armi (fortress parade ground) there are only castle buildings - every attempt to enter the open doors of the buildings there was stopped by a message that this is not a museum.
I went down to the monastery, where you can also take pictures of the city and its surroundings, received an offer of a private guide in any European language, but not in Russian, however, it was time to go to the port, where the group was supposed to gather for a trip to Capri. I did not try to go down on foot, I immediately went to the funicular. Here, at the terminal, they carefully monitored the purchase of tickets by passengers.
Piñ a cones lay in abundance at the foot of the fortress walls. The nuts are already ripe in September. When I returned, I planted three nuts in a flower pot. Soon a shoot appeared, its rapid growth was unusual - in a week with a little, the plant grew a quarter of a meter. My Siamese hearth keeper suspected something was wrong and, seizing the moment, threw the pot off the windowsill. When I discovered it, the roots of the plant dried up, it was not possible to revive the strange pinya, but maybe this is for the best.
The original building was erected here in 1329, but the current castle-fortress was built in 1537-1547 according to the project of the architect from Valencia Pietro Prati. Later, the Spanish governor Pedro Alvarez de Toledo ordered to further strengthen the castle after a strong explosion. It is star-shaped in plan. A powerful defensive structure served as a shelter for the Spanish Viceroy in 1647. during the uprising led by Masaniello, and in 1799. it became the symbol of the Neapolitan Republic.
You can climb the hill by funicular, but I was more interested in walking.
The streets are narrow and steep, only one car can pass. On the pavement, there is barely enough space for one pedestrian, there is no need to talk about a baby carriage. A young Neapolitan woman rolled it towards me along the roadway, walked slowly, followed by a line of cars at exactly the same speed without the hope of overtaking, and not one of the drivers even uttered a peep!
The attitude towards children here is touching. A dozen years will pass and the baby will join the ranks of the Neapolitan punks, but let's hope that this does not happen?
Soon I found myself in the position of the hero of the “Diamond Hand” Gesha Kozodoev (the unforgettable A. Mironov) in the maze of unpredictable dead-end streets, and ended up finding it useful to go to the intermediate funicular station that came across to me. With several tourists, we searched in vain where to buy tickets, a trailer approached, and everyone settled in it, giving up further searches.
The first thing I saw on the hill was a funeral procession. I don't know what that portends, but I avoided it. We had to go down a little to the entrance to the castle.
The ticket cost 3 euros. Recently I saw in I-those an offer to buy a ticket to the castle in advance without a queue for 8 euros! There was no queue, there were only a few visitors. We took the elevator upstairs, there is a spacious parade ground, administrative services are located in all rooms, which is typical for Italy with its huge bureaucratic apparatus.
Photos of panoramas of the city and the bay, views of Vesuvius - that's all, in fact, although I do not regret the long-planned excursion. It is believed that now there is a museum of art history, but in the exposition on Piazza d’Armi (fortress parade ground) there are only castle buildings - every attempt to enter the open doors of the buildings there was stopped by a message that this is not a museum.
I went down to the monastery, where you can also take pictures of the city and its surroundings, received an offer of a private guide in any European language, but not in Russian, however, it was time to go to the port, where the group was supposed to gather for a trip to Capri. I did not try to go down on foot, I immediately went to the funicular. Here, at the terminal, they carefully monitored the purchase of tickets by passengers.
Piñ a cones lay in abundance at the foot of the fortress walls. The nuts are already ripe in September. When I returned, I planted three nuts in a flower pot. Soon a shoot appeared, its rapid growth was unusual - in a week with a little, the plant grew a quarter of a meter. My Siamese hearth keeper suspected something was wrong and, seizing the moment, threw the pot off the windowsill. When I discovered it, the roots of the plant dried up, it was not possible to revive the strange pinya, but maybe this is for the best.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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