DECEMBER 2010

BENEATH NAPLES

12012010 Before long, Duncan had worked his way through most of the school’s tunnel network, and he moved on to bigger sites, like the remnants of the High Line railroad in Chelsea and the so-called “Mole People” train tunnel. On the internet, he discovered a like-minded group of explorers in Minneapolis—“a bunch of college dorks like me having adventures and writing about them,” he says—and then found his way to an urban exploration forum in Toronto. There, Duncan learned about other groups wandering through the sewers of Naples and Melbourne, the catacombs of Paris, and the Stalin-era bunkers underneath Moscow. Urban Cowboys | GOOD
12022010 Farnese Atlas (c. 2nd century) sculptor unknown, marble, Naples, Italy. According to Greek mythology, after the Titans lost a serious royal rumble with the gods of Olympus, Zeus punished Atlas by sentencing him to carry the heavens on his shoulders for the rest of eternity. Nowadays, instead of a celestial globe, Atlas is portrayed as holding the actual earth, a common misconception that Atlas would have surely welcomed. Having the weight of the world on your shoulders is one thing, but the rest of the universe? Many manly props to Atlas. 10 Manliest Sculptures | Men's Health
12032010 King Ferdinand I was a host to Saint Francis of Paula (1416-1505) in Naples. Through a half-opened door he witnessed the monk in meditation, floating high above the floor of his room. Pre-historic Nuclear War and ancient Flying Aircraft uncovered | The Canadian
12042010 As the first recorded syphilis outbreak occurred in 1495 during Charles the VIII’s invasion of Naples, Harper says that syphilis probably arrived in Europe with Columbus, who had just come back from the New World two years before. Since the 16th century, debate has raged on the geographic origins of syphilis (Treponema pallidum), a spiral-shaped bacterium that causes cardiovascular and neurological damage. Syphilis: spoil of the New World? | Nature
12052010 In Naples, the spirit of festive excess is more apparent: on the strike of twelve, the city erupts in a barrage of fireworks and firecrackers making it sound like a battleground. And a walk down the street can actually be potentially risky endeavour as there is also a new year tradition of getting rid of the old. Some people, then, in a burst of euphoria to start off the new year on the right foot, decide to dispose of the TV or the sofa and quite literally, throw them out - through the window! Which accounts for the rows of cars parked on the outskirts of the city where they hope to avoid damage. New Year around the world | Hello!
12062010 Sometimes it’s not very relaxing to be somewhere new when you don’t speak the language. It’s an adventure, but it can be a bit stressful. Finding the places you go for the things you need regularly is key to relaxation… especially when one of those key places is a wellness spa. In a popular vacation spot, finding a good spa with reasonable prices is tough, so your best bet is always a recommendation. Having been to Aisthesis in Varcaturo, twice now, I feel very confident recommending their services. Aisthesis offers everything from massages, facials, tanning, body scrubs, Turkish bath, sauna, manicures and pedicures to cellulite reduction, slimming treatments, and couples retreat days with chocolates and champagne. Fantastic Spa Treatment and Wellness in Naples | Examiner
12072010 Capri is as seductive as ever (last summer it drew the likes of Mariah Carey and Eddie Murphy) and the newest hotel, J.K. Place opened to rave reviews last spring. The 22 spacious rooms boast antique and retro furnishings, and an overall air of exclusivity prevails—felt mostly when you're lounging by the garden-framed pool absorbing the breathtaking views of the Marina Grande and Bay of Naples. Vacation Hot Spots | InStyle
12082010 The singer sparkled in her sequined plum gown and white fur bolero at the 14th Annual Capri Hollywood International Film Festival. Is she gorgeous glam or channeling Mrs. Santa Claus too much? Love It or Leave It: Mariah Carey | Cosmopolitan
12092010 Congratulations to Paul Weller, who is now a married man. The Modfather tied the knot in a secret ceremony, marrying Hannah Andrews in Capri, Italy, last week with just a handful of his family as guests. Paul got engaged to the backing singer, nearly 30 years his junior and pictured with him above, in April this year. A source said: "Paul didn't want a public wedding. He and Hannah agreed to just invite a select few family and friends. "They didn't want to make a big deal about it." The boy done Well | The Sun
12102010 He's one of Australia's most explosive young back-rowers, but Beau Robinson has been forced to play in Italy after failing to secure a Super 14 contract next year. The 23-year-old openside flanker has signed an eight-month deal with the Benevento Gladiators club. Robinson off to Italy | The Daily Telegraph
12112010 Giro d'Italia. In this stunning image of Maiori, Italy, cyclists swoosh around a mountainous curve on the Amalfi coast—a region known for its beautiful vineyards, picturesque villas and historic architecture. The stretch was part of Stage Four of the 2007 race, which ran from Salerno to Montevergine di Mercogliano. 10 Picture-Perfect Bike Races | Woman's Day
12122010 When Giovanni Trapattoni talks about educating his Irish team, this might be what he means. Not for the first time, he is trying to explain the Italian mentality. In Naples, he said, when they changed the law to make wearing seat belts compulsory, thousands of shirts were printed with a black band diagonal across their chest. The Neapolitans could look like they were wearing seat belts when they weren't. These are the little details. Losing ugly has become the most unwanted habit of all | Indipendent.ie
12132010 Looking for the perfect holiday decoration to one-up that neighbor who synced his Christmas lights to Slayer? How about a statuette of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for your nativity scene. Seriously. Inspired by the silver-haired Australian's online escapades, a Naples creche creator has crafted an Assange figurine (holding a laptop, naturally) to go along with the more traditional Mary, Joseph, and Jesus ensemble. It's a Christmas miracle. Reuters: "I included him to poke a little fun at the world and have a good time," said Di Virgilio, 29, whose family has been making nativity statuettes and ornate creches since 1830. "In a sense, Assange is the man of the year," said Di Virgilio. Julian Assange: Coming to a Nativity Scene Near You | Mother Jones
12142010 The hike in the Valle delle Ferriere runs in the same valley as the one in the Valle dei Mulini, only several hundred meters higher. You do take a steep path (rather a stair) that brings you to Pogerola. As our hotel lies on the road to Pogerola and our hotel manager offers us a drive, we choose "the easy way" and drive to Pogerola by car. After all, the walk ahead of us is long enough ... Pogerola lies at an altitude of approximately 300 meter. The first part of the trail goes up considerably, until you reach an altitude of approximately 500 meter. Further on, the trail continues relatively flat. It winds around the slopes of the hills, once through a quiet forest, then under the cliffs, with magnificent views of the valley. Occasionally you pass a house, with the obligatory lemon trees and corresponding garden. In a clearing a few charred tree trunks still recall a single wood fire which some years ago devastated part of this nature. Luckily, nature recovers quickly. In some of the many valleys the water still flows down past splashing waterfalls. Valle delle Ferriere | amalfi-wandelen.be
12152010 In Fred Plotkin’s excellent guide to the regional food of Italy, Italy for the Gourmet Traveler (Kyle Cathie 1997) he includes in the information about each area, what he calls a “classic town”. This is a town or city which “... embodies the character, history and gastronomic personality of the region”. It is not hard to see why Plotkin used Amalfi as his “classic town” of the Campania region of Italy. All the delights of the southern region of Campania are indeed concentrated in this compact seaside town. Learning to cook in heaven | Cuisine
12162010 While holidaying, The Sunday Telegraph reporter Brittany Stack spotted former Home and Away actress Tammin Sursok in the small town of Praiano and discovered the identity of the mystery man she's been dating for the past four and a half years: relatively unknown American actor and director Sean McEwen. "My parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary here and they said it was beautiful so we had to come. It's definitely on the cards." Stunning Tammin Sursok's bikini atoll | The Sunday Telegraph
12172010 Talk about a spontaneous photo this year. We went to Naples - Diane Smith (Sports Illustrated editor) - and on to Pompeii. One day we were eating at a pizzeria by the water, and suddenly the model is sitting on a table in her bathing suit. We're in each place for two weeks, and a lot of the spontaneity comes from getting to know the people. In Naples, all the old widows call out, "Ah, come in. Bella, bella!" They just love these gorgeous girls. They have us over for dinner. Dream Job | New York Post
12182010 "Football Football," in which Bosnian director Haris Pasovic explores the phenomenon of football and its impact on ordinary people, is possibly the biggest theater production to be staged in the impoverished Balkan country this year. The play is a combination of story-telling, music, dance, drama and video, co-produced by the Sarajevo-based East West Center, Singapore Arts Festival and Napoli Theater Festival Italia. It is set in a guns-and-drugs-ridden ghetto of Scampia in Naples, the fiefdom of Camorra, Italy's second largest mafia group. The setting is similar to the slums where some of the beautiful game's greatest players, such as Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane, grew up. In the play, Scampia is home to a group of marginalized, soccer-loving young immigrants, suspended between a grim reality of their lives and unfulfilled dreams about football fame. They are played by professional actors, ball-juggling footballers and dancers from four continents. "Football dance" play a global soccer celebration | China Daily
12192010 As announced last February, primo ballerino Roberto Bolle was drafted into the Salvatore Ferragamo camp as the new face behind the lux design house. Fashion photographer of the gorgeous and glamorous, Mario Testino, built the new Ferragamo ad campaign around German supermodel Claudia Schiffer and Bolle. The motivation? Schiffer, in a retro era evocative of glamor, invites herself backstage to meet étoile Roberto Bolle. They were all shot in Naples' Teatro San Carlo with Bolle modeling Ferragamo in various states of dress & undress. Bolle's Ferragamo Ads Are Ehhhhhh | Opera Chic
12202010 Capri's Punta Tragara hotel—carved out of a rock face and once renovated by Le Corbusier—has long been a magnet for fashion types, artists, politicians and the rich and fabulous in general. And with the recent opening of the hotel's UNICA spa, jet setting guests now have even more reason to make a layover. The spa specializes in thelassotherapy, using sea water and algae to create a menu of treatments inspired by the ocean surroundings. Serene Getaway: Punta Tragara's New UNICA Spa | Modern Luxury
12212010 Italy fits nicely into our remit, not only are the properties of the highest caliber, but also the locations are some of the most picturesque to be found in Europe. Italy’s property market has increased in popularity in recent years with VIPs buying some of the most prestigious residences on the market. Our portfolio of properties in Italy will soon include ‘prestige resale’ properties, prestigious villas and luxury homes in Como (including Lake Como), Liguria otherwise known as the Italian Riviera, Amalfi, Penisola Sorrentina and Capri. The launch our wonderful Italian Portfolio | Unique Living
12222010 The moment of a volcanic eruption is so hard to predict it seems incredible that people continue to live near Vesuvius. Turner, who was not painting from life, imagined that volcano breaking into infernal fireworks forever; his painting could stand as a warning. But equally magnificent, and unexpectedly grand, is Andy Warhol's vast Vesuvius, in which the mountain is erupting in lighting-strike lines and explosions of irradiated colour that clash and repercuss. The volcano has become an icon, like Elvis or Marilyn or the Brillo boxes, but unlike them it remains vividly active. Volcano: Turner to Warhol | The Guardian
12232010 Casa Angelina is perched above the town of Praiano, between Positano and Conca dei Marini, and overlooks the sea with views of Capri and the smaller private island of Li Galli, once owned by Rudolph Nureyev. It is a contemporary five-star hotel, white-washed inside and out, a blank canvas for the view to fill. The sea is framed perfectly in the huge windows of the restaurant and downstairs bar, with vibrant local art and sculpture the only colour, apart from the splash of blue swimming pool. Indipendent Days | Business Traveller
12242010 Italian author Orietta Boncompagni Ludovisi has had her book “The Best Pizzerias In Italy” republished some five times since it first appeared in 1996. Each time a new edition of Boncompagni Ludovisi’s pizza book hits the bookshops of Italy, it sells like hot cakes. As Naples is reputedly the place where pizza was invented, it should perhaps not come as much surprise to see that four out of the top five pizzerias in Italy are in Naples. The Top 5 Pizzerias in Italy | Blog from Italy
12252010 OliO Pizza e Più (West Village) - Champion pizzaiolo expands from Naples home base to school NYC in artisanal pies. Master pizzaiolo with a shelf full of medals drops authentic Neapolitan pies on the West Village. Light crusts provide the base, artisanal Italian ingredients do the topping. Lemon and arugula on the Amalfitana, prosciutto and burrata on the Campagnola, over-the-top house signature combines cream of broccoli and ricotta with edible silver. OliO Pizza e Più | BlackBook
12262010 Well, one Japanese bloke makes the best Neapolitan pizza in the world. And that's official. UPI reports Akinari Makishima, 33, who works in Nagoya at an Italian restaurant, became the first Japanese person to win the international competition in Naples, Italy, for making the best Neapolitan pizza. The competition has been held for the last nine years, the Kyodo News said today. Mr Makishima trained a bit on the outskirts of Naples (so he did get some Italian help) before entering a field of 150 competitors from countries including Spain, France, the US and Italy. Japanese man Akinari Makishima wins pizza-making contest in Italy | news.com.au
12272010 In 1922, a talented young conductor from Naples decided that San Francisco paid far too much for opera -- bringing in travelling productions from other cities. He keenly observed that the city could sponsor its own opera company. This man was Gaetano Merola -- a visionary and gifted promoter of the arts. Merola founded San Francisco Opera without a theater -- assembling a troupe of singers, musicians, and set designer in Palo Alto at Stantford University's outdoor athletic stadium. The Curtain Rises | Gentry
12282010 Bibliopolis - Edizioni di Filosofia e Scienze was founded in 1976 by its owner and director Francesco del Franco, together with his wife, Nella Castiglione Morelli, an archeologist in classical antiquity. The focus of Bibliopolis on scientific and philosophical subjects is strictly related to the background of his publisher. Francesco del Franco, on the one hand, was awarded a degree in physics from the Theoretical Physics Institute of University of Naples, on the other he has inherited from his father Constantino, a bibliophile who cultivated humanistic studies within B. Croce's entourage, a genuine interest in philosophy and in classical world where it rose, as welI as a taste for publications conforming to high printing standards. History | Bibliopolis
12292010 Father Vesuvius, devising to punish the wicked cities of the Romans that lay beneath his flanks, erupted not in a vulgar Old Testament cataclysm but instead—as befitted a good Classical volcano—distributed his destruction with prim discrimination. He put forth first a lofty vertical column of ash which, as it spread out at the top, looked to all the world like an elegant umbrella pine. The folk of the Bay of Naples (such of them as had any sense on that fatal day in 79 A.D.) accepted this timely warning, and took to flight, a healthy impulse encouraged by the soot that began to drift like a heavy snow upon those downwind of the mountain. Mortal Remains | The Weekly Standard
12302010 In 1906 Maksim Gorky settled in Capri where other proletarian leaders, such as Lenin, used to come for a vacation. He fell in love with Capri and Italy at large; as a result of this love affair twenty seven Tales of Italy appeared in 1906 – 1917 presenting a strange mixture of socialist propaganda with stories of larger-than-life human passions and colorful sketches of Capri, the Bay of Naples, Sorrento and other romantic places, drenched in golden sunlight, with craggy cliffs and sweet scent of flowers wafting from the hills. He cherished the breath of antiquity which blurred the distinction between the past and the present. The Quark-Hadron Duality | International Workshop on QCD
12312010 Terry Gilliam is, once again, about to start production on a short film. According to a patchwork of info from various Little Bleeders, the film is due to shoot in Naples from January 10th to 16th, though some filming may have taken place in the week before Christmas; it’s based upon Eve Merriam’s poem The Wholly Family; we can expect it to run around fifteen minutes. Terry Gilliam Shooting The Wholly Family In Naples This January | Bleeding Cool