Hello and welcome back to another episode of Only a Bag and Italy Travel Podcast.

I'm Darcy Melton.

And I'm Nathaniel Mellor.

And today we are continuing to talk about weird, cool things in Naples, a bit like we did last on last Wednesday's episode.

And yeah, it Naples is weird, so we're going to tell you about it.

Yeah, we're just kind of picking up where we left off, as if there was really almost no time at all between filming these two episodes or recording these two episodes.

That's a fun wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

There's very little time in between.

Yes.

But before we do start talking about all of that weird stuff, we want to thank everybody who has been following us, leaving us reviews.

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So I guess without further ado, jumping into what to do and see in Naples Part 2.

Yeah.

So we've basically, we've talked about this, I think we've said this in several episodes.

Naples is a wonderful place to just walk around.

It's the best way to see things.

It's a very it's a pretty specific city, so just wandering around is a great way to experience it.

It's, I think it's a great way to experience it as well as like, I guess it's one of those things where it's hard.

I think Naples for me, it's always hard.

And I think I've said this in multiple episodes, it's always hard to tell people like what to do in Naples because so many other cities have a very specific checklist of three or four things.

And while I think Naples does, we've mentioned like the archaeological museum being like a must see kind of thing, I also think that it kind of gets this Rep of like, yeah, when you're in Naples, well, you should actually go to Pompeii and you should go and you should go copper.

It's like, yeah, there's often things taking you outside of the city when there's so much to see inside.

And I think that unfortunate part of it is just, and it's so hard, I think to especially as like a travel podcast, for example, I think it is it not not it's not hard to tell people just go walk around.

But it feels like a cop out.

It feels like we don't really want to do any research this episode, just go walk around.

But it's so hard to explain like what you will experience walking around.

And like, I think that when we hear people like, oh, I had a great time in Naples.

What'd you do?

Honestly, I just explored.

It's like, yeah, yeah, exactly.

You understand, We that's it.

That's that's what it's about.

So I think that is the when we say like a walk around explorer just, or just kind of just, you know, be out.

Basically what what we do mean is just simply that sometimes it's hard to explore while you're in like a taxi or if you're just shuttling yourself from site to site.

It's also hard in many cities to just explore.

We always use Rome as a as an example, and it's a wonderful place to wander around, but you, it's almost impossible to just idly wander around all of Rome unless you're there for a very long time.

And of course you're not going to wander around all of Naples.

But I think in Chantro Storico in Spakanapoli, which is a neighborhood that we're going to talk about a little bit.

Like a Rd.

Actually, a road.

Oh, it's just a road.

Just a road.

Oh, I think of it as a neighborhood.

That's so.

Do I think because I think OK, right of it, people still look we're basically back on that believe, but it's just a rude.

Okay, so there and then the Piazza Piazza Dante, so it's called Piazza de Dante.

Piazza.

Dante that's a pretty small area, but in that area you can just wander around and pop into odd shops and antique book shops and weird, just the weird antiquities places.

It's just a very funky little crafts.

Exactly.

Craftspeople, artisans we've talked about in Spa Monopoly in a previous episode.

Not that you'll necessarily be buying these, but you know, people just selling like cigarettes on the street and fried food and like probably their grandma's tort that she made, you know, it's just a very odd magical place.

So walking around, he's kind of the only and best way to see that magic.

For sure.

No, I think that's the thing.

And actually that does segue nicely too, in case you're listening to this thing.

OK, you've got me.

I'm gonna walk around.

Where do I walk around?

Yeah, the first one, as you mentioned, spa Monopoly, it actually means Naples splitter or the the street that splits Naples.

So it actually is.

So it's in chanter historical and it splits chant historical.

I looked this up for this episode because I was like, I've never, I've never really quite had a firm grasp of this because when you're in the chant historical, you know, you're in spa monopoly because there are signs everywhere.

And then kind of also to the left and right, though, there'll be a lot of like Spackanapolis.

Spackanapolis.

I'm like, maybe, maybe we're maybe it's a neighborhood, but it's like a weird peril.

Like it runs, you know, east to West rather than like in a circle.

But it's the lane, it's the road that sort of splits the old city, not the old city, but central historical.

And you can kind of just walk it.

I mean, it really is beautiful just to walk that.

Eventually it's sort of kind of, it does end, but you can kind of walk around a couple of buildings.

Skip to this train station.

So it's one of those straight direct ones.

I think it even brings you although to or something.

So it's a really straight road to kind of just get on and keep walking.

Absolutely.

If you're looking for one, the other one I think we've mentioned in maybe a couple episodes ago and where to stay.

I think it's the first time we talked about it is the Petrio.

It is the and we've talked about in all like a couple of last week's episode.

It is a basically one of the oldest footpaths in, in Naples in the sense that it goes up and down Vomero Hill.

So if you're looking, it's a little again, it's a hill.

So it is very much uphill and downhill.

It's only it's not stairs in the traditional sense of staircases.

It's more like a stair or two, a flat or slight incline stair or two flat or slight incline.

So it's a very meandering walk.

There are, it's a beautiful view all the way up.

You kind of, while a lot of the gardens on the way up are sort of cloistered or like hidden behind walls, some of them are not.

So they're actually quite beautiful because you do kind of feel like you're in a different, I don't know, different time kind of thing.

And I also, I think when we walked up, it was summer and it was not that crowded.

It felt more like Napolitano sort of people were were using it less so.

Yeah, it wasn't very crowded at all.

I mean, they were definitely.

I remember hearing people speaking not just Italian, but it wasn't crowded or anything.

But it also wasn't.

It wasn't completely abandoned.

We were the only ones walking up this road.

Exactly, no.

So I think that could be a really, you know, basically a beautiful place to explore.

And then of course there is always the classic Rungomare the the along the water.

I would recommend like the along the water kind of South of the Piazza del Publischito Publichito, which is like basically Opera House, which we'll talk about in a little bit.

And if you go West, yeah, I'm doing that right, you go West to the Kiya neighborhood, essentially.

That along the water is really beautiful.

Going east from the Piazza del Pochito is a bit more like a port.

It's also fundamentally hard to access, I think in the sense of you can kind of, but it's very much built for transportation vehicles, things like that to kind of get people in and out of the port.

It's less so like for walking along.

A lot of it is gated off.

But if you're if you even if like you're sort of after lunch or something like that, you're just kind of chill.

The Walking along the the Kia sort of waterfront is really beautiful or Pacifico if you want to go farther out.

But all of those are really nice walks.

It just kind of getting a feel for life.

But I think this Bakanapoli is the most like, yeah, that's like harvesting the soul kind of thing.

And and of course you can walk around, I mean, Spanish Quarter, things like that.

But these are just like walks in, in mind for like, I want to go somewhere.

I want to have a loose destination in mind.

I'm happy to get lost in the way there.

Just, you know, point me in a direction I'm going to go.

Those would be the three I would recommend.

Yeah, I agree.

And I think the Quartier Espanolo, the Spanish Quarter, I think, I hope I said that right in Italian.

Sometimes I listen back to the podcast I I do kind of pronounce Italian, well y'all, but sometimes I'll listen back to episodes and I'm like Darcy, that was the most American sounding Italian I've ever heard you say.

What's also, I think, if I may just give us some cover, I think it's, it's a what's a bit between the switching from English to Italian is always, I think difficult if we're not native in Italian.

It's also, it can kind of feel a little bit like performative because I don't know, I think it's one of those things, well, it's actually said this way.

I'm like, no, I, I know, but as an American, it's impossible to understand because I think when we first got here and people would say some words, I'm like, is there any confidence in that word at all?

And then they would say it in American accent.

I'm like, oh, OK, now I can actually picture that word and understand how I'm supposed to say it myself with an Italian accent.

But it's so I think sometimes there's a bit of a like, if I say stuff in a like, you know, American accent, it's a lot easier for to, I don't know, for people to understand it.

So I feel like that's sometimes I like to give myself a little like, no, it's not that my Italian's terrible.

It's that I'm doing it for you guys.

That's what it is.

So before I got a soft on that tangent, I was thinking that the the Spanish Quarter, of course, do you want to walk around there?

It's it's very Naples, but I almost think that Spakanapoli is there are there are regular Napolitano people living in both of these areas.

But Spakanapoli I feel like maybe has fewer tourists.

And again, it's not that big of an area or street, but it's just wild and weird.

Yeah.

So definitely Spanish Quarter is awesome and Spacanopoli has a similar vibe and.

Speaking of Spacanapoli.

Yeah, so Speaking of Spacanapoli, very close to it is what a lot of non Italians call Christmas alley, right?

Christmas lane, OK, Christmas Alley.

People who speak Italian would probably call it Via de Precipi.

Neither of those are its actual name.

It's actually called Via San Gregorio Armeno.

Which I guess if you're looking at Google Maps and you're trying to like Christmas Alley, where the heck it's not.

That is not what it's called.

Yes, it's via San Gregorio Armeno See.

That's what I'm saying, though, Gregorio.

It's like, OK, I don't know what you started with, but Gregorio, and you're like, Oh my God, the double GI.

Hear it now.

Thank you.

Greg St.

Greg St.

Yeah, I can remember.

Greg St.

So it's in general story code, it's nearest Spaka Napoli.

It's actually near the Napoli underground, which we're going to touch on very briefly in a second.

And in last Wednesdays episode and possibly in the the Catacombs episode, we'll kind of touch on it.

It's near the San Savero Chapel with the weird, creepy bodies that we talked about.

Yeah, so this is near that Christmas street is near the weird creepy bodies that we talked about.

Those things go hand in hand.

So essentially it is a it's like a one block St.

of where the people who build Presipe, which are the crushes, the nativity scenes, artisans have little shops all along the street where they are building.

They're creating these little terracotta figures and the nativity scenes, they are insane and incredible.

And so Naples.

So these are made and I had not exhibited, but they're in the shop windows.

And you can purchase them.

And you can purchase them all year round at Christmas.

It gets more festive, of course, but you can go down the street all year.

So it's kind of Christmas all year on this street.

And some people have described it as similar to like a Christmas village that you'll go to in other parts of the world.

Oh, yeah.

But there's no mulled wine.

There's no.

I mean, there might be chestnuts.

At Christmas time, a Christmas time for sure.

Oh God, yeah, I was thinking.

Not like in the summer.

No, not in summer, but I guess a lot of people will go to like specific places in Germany for the Christmas village at Christmas time.

So this has a bit of that vibe if you happen to be in if you're looking for Christmassy vibe at Christmas time in Italy, in Naples, this is a good St.

to go to and it has them all year.

So you can buy them.

They they basically the whole crash, the whole nativity scene can be anywhere from like 30 euros to like thousands.

Of euros.

Because they make giant ones.

Some of them have a water feature, some of them have electricity.

My favorite thing is that not only do these have the, you know, the classic baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, you got the shepherds, you get the Angel, all the classics, right?

But in Naples very specifically and in Campania and maybe all of southern Italy at this point, but specifically Naples started it.

And then Campania, they have other classic characters.

And so they set the Christ family inside like an urban Italian scene essentially.

So it'll be like the bread Baker and the person selling fish and lots of different classic characters.

If I mean it's classic characters from presseve making, not from like, not like Mickey Mouse, not necessarily.

Yes, not like.

Thank you.

IP protected characters.

No, no, no.

But more like, I mean, there's like actually.

Actually, no, but I yes, I mean Napolitano.

Like there are like there are lore attached to when you see the bread maker, bread Baker, that means something.

That's like there's lore attached to that.

Exactly.

There's also there they've mixed in like Pagan characters essentially.

So there's like a Bacchus the the God of wine character.

So it's just really cool there.

It's a mishmash and they do make these terracotta figurines that don't necessarily go in the crash, but they'll make like, pop culture characters, soccer players, the royal family anyway.

They're not going to get sued for making and then probably a lot of people to get sued for making, but.

Yeah, but they don't.

Just don't care.

Yeah, exactly.

So you can go buy these cool little odd figurines.

Plus I think if you haven't mentioned or you're not going to mention the presipe, have at least usually, typically one cheeky naked person somewhere in the presipe.

Yes, there's oh, I can't remember his name.

There's a I who's, I think he's weirdly like a Catalan character somehow.

I'm not sure.

I think I need to do I need to do a lot of research and do a whole episode on these weird little characters.

But there's one guy who has his pants down.

Yeah, I think you only see his butt.

I don't think you see anything.

I just like that that's like they're like, well, it's not a done impressive pay.

We don't see the guy's butt.

So we should, we should get on that immediately, I think.

He's in all of.

Them, I think he's in.

All of you haven't found them at all.

Of them, I think he's hiding.

So one cool thing, I think this is particularly interesting.

So essentially this this street dates back to the 3rd century BC when Greeks.

No, sorry, that's the different note.

I apologize.

It dates back to I.

Was like this is an ancient Christmas tradition like pre Christ Christmas.

Sorry but it is pre Christ.

No, it is Roman.

Sorry not Greek, it's Roman.

So basically there was a Roman temple to Chetes or Cetes.

I don't know how to say her name series of things.

Oh, series.

OK, so she was a goddess of fertility in the earth and people brought terracotta statues as basically donations to her to her temple.

And then of course, the street went through lots of different iterations up until I think the 18th century is when Naples really got their whole precipe making.

They don't know.

Yeah, but since since Roman times in the in the temple of.

I think Ceres, because it's as in like cereal is where we get the word.

Cool.

It's been going on.

People have been making those little terracotta figurines.

That is wild though.

I know.

Isn't that cool?

So if you're around for Christmas, y'all drop in, check it out, tune TuneIn, drop in, check out.

Yeah, it's really, it's cool.

We actually stumbled on it one year without realizing what it was.

And it was just kind of fun because it's like, it's weird.

Like we around Christmas time, I think it was, it was cold and it's remembered to be kind of a neat little place because while it is, especially for those of you who are not religious or not Christian, it doesn't have it's a lot more, I think Pagan under undertones and overtones than Christian specifically.

It felt very much like sort of, I don't know, Pagan characters, I guess, and just, I don't know, just non Pagan characters had a feel of more that like people just wanted to get together and make dioramas and needed to figure out a way to get paid for it.

And they thought like, if we do it with a Christian, I feel like it's like artists back in the day, you know, the Renaissance, like I just want to paint.

And they're like, you can't do that.

And like, what if I paint Christ?

And they're like money, just money right there.

So I feel like it's the same thing, you know?

So that's maybe probably, definitely not how they came about.

I don't know if that is actual historical fact.

But it's nothing else.

Historical fact.

You're welcome.

Please don't take that to the bank.

It's worth nothing.

Yeah, so that's that's Christmas alley.

And I think you had a one note on Puccinella, what I was curious.

About Yeah.

So Speaking of these different characters, basically Puccinella is a character in classic Napolitano history, and he is a person with essentially like a black plague mask is what we'd think of it.

A long beaked mask and a flowing gallons kind of overcoat thing.

So you can buy figurines of him.

You could also buy the a little corno.

I don't know why it's called a corno.

It's a horn is what that means.

But it's a little chili pepper, classic Naples symbol and it brings good luck and words off the evil eye.

So you can buy both of these little figurines, little tchotchkes in this alley, and really all over Naples.

I was gonna say like, that's probably all over the South.

You also mentioned as a fun segue this Soterania.

I think earlier this Soterania.

So very close to this Christmas alley is a Naples underground.

Napoli, Soterania, Soterania, Strania anyways, and I.

Believe we also mentioned this in the catacombs.

It's not the catacombs, it's what we said not so we're gonna put in this episode.

Yes.

And that is very confusing because all of that is underground.

Yeah.

It's also, I believe, not the same as what we talked about in last Wednesday's episode, which was the air raid shelters underground.

The Galleria Bourbon.

Yes, thank you.

Also not that.

Also not the same this.

I believe parts of this were also used as air raid shelters, but they're not the same location.

For the purposes of tourism, they're not the same location.

So yes, super cool.

Basically this is what started in the 3rd century BC.

Where Greece?

Coming to this note.

Greeks basically were quarrying for the tufa stone in order to build up the the walls of their city.

Sure.

Makes sense?

And then Romans eventually, after the Greeks came in and made this very complex aqueduct system in order to bring water up to all of Naples at that.

Point.

And then it was used, I think up until the 20th century as supplying water for all of Naples.

And then eventually they were like, yeah, we need more than this.

We got to figure something else out.

So it was kind of defunct in the 20th century.

And now you can go and explore the underground.

And it's a whole system of different areas.

There's a, a they, I don't understand it.

They found a Greek theater underground and I don't understand how if they were the Greeks were using it as a quarry.

Then I guess maybe they just built a.

Room in there saying acoustics.

Y'all, it still would have been underground at that point I think.

So that's really.

Acoustics, actually, now I'm saying that a lot as a joke, but that it really could be there like this is phenomenal.

Maybe it's like not not so echoey.

They're like, this is, you know, you get whatever, some guy with eight names that are all the same on the stage and he's just killing it and they're.

It was just quarrying.

One guy was singing and they were like, we need to make this a theater.

Y'all, he needs a great.

Acoustics.

Yeah.

And in fact, there's they recently found a small room off of this theater.

So excavation, to my understanding, is still continuing to find different bits of this area.

It's really cool.

There's a War Museum down there, which is why I say it's not the same.

It's visiting exactly.

OK, there's what they call an underground garden.

Really they're just growing plants underground.

I think for science, OK, it's interesting.

There's a contemporary Art Museum gallery.

It's not a whole museum, a gallery in there.

It's really wild.

Speaking of wild acoustic spaces, do you want to talk about the Napoli Opera House?

Why dare I say what a great segue.

First off, apparently garbage acoustics at the beginning, so it has been read.

Opera House, Yeah.

Some so the violinist, I I didn't write his name.

His name's like Louis something, Louis touché and Louis Tosca.

Anyway, after they built the Opera House, this guy comes in and he's like, this is garbage.

Like it's good here.

But up there he's like, nobody can hear you.

He's like, he's awful.

This is this is awful.

And they didn't think about that when they I.

Think they did I just think it wasn't necessarily for they don't get ahead of myself.

I wasn't he, I think they, he would had a bit of a particular desire for things and they're like, no, no, this is for those boxes aren't for people with money.

Those are for people who I just need to say they went to the Opera House, which by the way, and I will get in this in a second.

There is a listening only ticket if you actually going to the Opera House.

So Opera House, the Teatro de San Carlo, it was actually the real Teatro de San Carlo, the Royal Theatre of Saint Charles.

And then of course, they dropped the royal from mint when Naples after one of its many revolts was like, you know what, no, it's the people's theatre.

Obviously it's only for people with money, but you know, still the People's Theatre, it is actually the oldest operational, continually operational, operational in the world.

And I think last week's episode, week before I mentioned in Italy, which is also true, but in the world actually older than both Milan's La Scala and Venice's La Fenice, which are also quite old, but this is even older, which that was kind of fascinating.

And so in essentially just kind of speeding through it.

It opened in 1737, but a lot of that has been redone.

You're looking at me.

That's not that old.

It is not that old.

So we don't have very old opera houses in the world.

I wonder if, and I don't know enough about opera, maybe somebody who's listening to knows more.

I don't know how old opera is.

So this was also like a lot of famous operas were written around this time and like debuted here.

So so do I and I'm like looking into it.

Apparently they all autumn debuted here.

So I'm like, maybe they're not as I thought.

So that is just for what it's worth.

Yeah, I thought that was kind of fascinating little little tidbit.

But what was interesting is in 1844 is it was changed to what it's now essentially a very gilded gold and red sort of tapestry look basically that's.

Kind of what you think of as theaters.

Exactly.

It is really the quintessential theater.

It also had used to have a three thousand person capacity is now like 1314 hundred, which is only interesting because going back to the acoustics, I think after a couple renovations in a fire and that they did trim it down a little bit because it was like, OK, this is actually garbage in the back.

Maybe that guy was right.

So they actually went and and sort of made it so it's a little bit better.

And of course, thankfully in 2008 or so, 2009, they renovated it again, added in both air conditioning sort of more toilets.

Apparently there's only a couple toilets, things like that because they're like, we need to modernize.

We can't be the oldest and also the worst in the world, which I thought was interesting, fascinating, though I think there's more just a note kind of showing that sort of just, I don't know, I think Naples and art is kind of tied in an interestingly intrinsic way just in general, despite the fact that like, I think Florence is known as a very art city because it had a lot of wealth or Sienna, Venice, things like that.

Milan, I think it's interesting how Naples feels almost more like a ground floor from the art.

And I would say that because even in the 40s, it was bombed in 1943, I think an Allied air raid.

And in in October of 1943, they rebuilt it.

In December of 1943 is actually when they debuted Puccini's Laboem, not debuted to debut, but returned with Puccini's Laboem in December of 1943.

So they were like, from bombing to like, yeah.

They really got that thing up and running.

Yeah.

So I think it was interesting because it's kind of the there, there's a lot of that even like during the Renaissance, during wars, it was like how much money was still being pumped into art because they're like, yeah, it's, it's like the idea that even in the worst of times, if you can still have a sort of not even escape so much, it's just like focus on the arts.

It can kind of help.

No, you definitely knew something.

Else.

Fascinatingly, I also thought if you've heard of Enrico Caruso, he's a very famous Napolitano opera singer just in in the world.

He's late 1800s and was born, died early 1900s so oh.

OK, not a current.

Person not a current person, No, no, no, but very like fame in the sense of even still now people, I mean not still now, but obviously people know Crusoes.

But it's like that's that's like up there with the same kind of thing.

Like that's famous.

But interestingly, when his first ever performances at this Opera House, he was booed while singing Elisour de Amore.

I butchered that and I would hate that and playback, but it's elixir of love.

And he was booed by a section of the crowd, which I thought was just very Napolitano.

And he's like, you know what?

I'm never coming back to play for you people again.

And he didn't.

Born in Naples, died in Naples, played all over the world, performed all of the world, and genuinely very famous opera singer never again performed in Naples Opera House, which I thought was kind of fascinating.

And then for the practical aspects, if you are interested in this genuinely, you can still go see a show.

Opera season is November to July.

They do other shows and other ballets and things like that between dice's, like we're getting close to November, I know.

I just meant that I didn't know it had a season.

Oh, oh, it does.

No, I'm not fancy.

Oh I am.

No I don't.

I learned about opera season.

Like that's where I'm going now.

It doesn't have a dress code if you're curious.

So we've talked about it too.

You can visit the theater just on a tour if you'd like.

If you're just like, I'm not going to go to show, you can just visit on a tour.

There are tickets.

We'll put a link in the description, affiliate links.

You can also just book separately or go there and book a ticket.

It's just exploring it, checking out.

It's a very, very much a old world feel, if that makes sense.

It is gilded gaudy, just like just it.

I don't know.

It's like basically even at the time too, they had no, when it was first built and then even later, they had no curtains on any balconies because of the idea was if the the royalty, especially the king at the time wanted to see what people were doing, you were not allowed to hide.

So he was able to get in because they had it was connected at the time and I don't know if it still is, but it was connected to the royal palace of Naples, which is right next door, which I'll get into in a second.

And even though they it wasn't necessary for royal use in that sense, it was for still, I mean, it was called the royal palace and then very quickly became the peoples.

But I thought that was fascinating as they were like, no, no, no, if he wants to watch you, he's going to watch you.

I'm like, I just I'm not going to this opera.

Thank you.

However, opera season November to July, there is no dress code.

However, they do have like certain things, No flip flops, no shorts, things like that are banned.

There's no dress code.

How like, and I keep saying, however, but it's you only it's not like you're rewarded for a good dress code, but like if you want to rent a tux, you are more than welcome to rent a tux.

There will be people there in tuxedos.

I think it's one of those things.

There are a lot of season ticket holders that still are old money enable like an old Napolitano money who still go and who still dress up.

So you would not be out of out of like a place at all.

If you dress up, especially an opening night, especially like one of those first performances, you would definitely fit in well.

I really wouldn't do that.

It's also, it is money.

I looked at the price for some of the cheaper tickets.

It's a couple €100 per ticket for opening night.

They get cheaper when it's not opening night.

They get cheaper when it's not opera, when it's like ballet or something like they're like, no, no, no, this is not a ballet house.

But if we have to, we have to, I don't know.

They're very, I don't know, interesting about it, but I thought that was fascinating.

So if you are interested, that is still open and operational and there, yeah.

Yeah, super cool.

So if we take the secret passage over to the what is it The royal?

Palace, the royal palace.

That is something we haven't actually been to.

I've I've made honest it's I feel almost a little shamed running this podcast, partially running this podcast, not knowing that you could actually go inside.

We've walked past it like.

Doesn't look like a place you can go.

It's.

Not right.

It's in the Piazza del Publichito, and it actually looks very similar, not in like the Doja's palace in Venice, which is essentially when you go to the Saint Mark's Square, I believe all of that around you, the Doja's palace, it doesn't look like something you can enter.

That looks like just I don't know things.

To be fair, I think to me the Palazzo PT in Florence also looks like a building that you're not allowed to enter A.

100% but.

You obviously can.

No.

And I think that's the thing.

We're would not be very good back then.

We're like, no, we just can't enter it.

Why not?

We'll just, we can't enter it.

No, no, we're not.

This is not a building for us.

Yeah, we're like the peasant class.

It was not a building for us.

So that is, I just thought that was interesting in terms of solely just in terms of if you want to visit it is there.

It's fascinating gardens which are currently under renovation.

Unfortunately they have the royal apartments and this and that.

It was basically it.

I'm not.

I wish I knew more about Napolitan history and I want to, but then it's also like it's going to take too much time because the Castle Nouveau, which I don't have too many notes on, was built for the argonies rulers.

So they came in was like, we don't like any of these other castles you have built.

Built because they have many.

Right.

And then, but even later this royal palace was also used by ruling classes I believe partly the Bourbons and as well as I think earlier the Spanish and then even later the Bourbons built one in cassette.

So I'm like you guys just is it just you don't like old people's like other people's older castles?

Is it like you don't I don't understand.

And any part of it is obviously, you know, new, new styles and you don't want, you can't renovate an old castle to be a new style kind of thing.

And maybe also like a castle made sense when people might shoot a cannonball at you.

But once it kind of gets past a certain point, you're like, well, cannonball is going to tear through anything and they should not get that close.

So not entirely short, but it's interesting that you have currently though, because it's basically built in 1600s and then from essentially 18, thirties, 1837 specifically onwards, it was burned down in a fire and rebuilt.

So everything you see is 1800s.

And the eastern half actually is now the National Library of Naples, which you can enter if you're curious.

There's papyrus is from Herculean and all sorts of old things.

That's just a fun one.

Super cool.

Yeah.

There's, I mean, but it's open to the public, free to the public.

It's actual library.

It's the third largest in Italy, behind Florence in Rome.

And I believe we tried to enter the Florence one and we were turned away because we did not have a library card.

So I thought that was very interesting because you needed to like either be a student or a resident or something like that to get.

One, yeah, I think I'm pretty sure when we looked it up, maybe this is incorrect, but you had to be a student, a professor or some sort of you had to be in education or a researcher or a resident.

Yeah.

I don't think just anybody could go in or get a library card in order to go in.

I, I believe that's, and I think that's true.

And I with this one, though, thankfully it's open to the public, It's not necessarily attached to like a college that is super cool.

And that being said, to segue, what is attached to a college is the botanical gardens.

There are botanical gardens in Naples.

If you Google Naples botanical gardens, you will in fact see the Naples, FL botanical gardens.

What you think is fascinating.

It's a show of I don't know.

Why does the one in Naples, FL show up before the one in Naples, Italy.

I don't know the one that is literally hundreds of years older.

The one in Naples, FL was founded in 1995.

I don't think that's important, but I looked at that going I know and I looked at thinking that's interesting.

That's much Oh my God, in Naples, FL.

Oh my God, this is ridiculous information.

Point is in Naples, Italy also has one much, much, much, much older and it's it's it is open to the public is technically attached to a college.

It's the federal university federal, so it's technically attached to the College in the sense of it's mostly for college students and professors to do research.

They do research there.

They do a lot of like.

On the plants.

On the plants, but also like in in a lot of it is also like it looks like heirloom plants, especially in the Campania trying to figure out like what breeds are resistant to these things or not these things, but certain things essentially trying to figure out like this sort of basically is do any of these heirloom breeds that are currently that they have sort of saved, are they resistant to something that might wipe out like, you know, corn or that might wipe out?

Doing some Mendel pea research.

Up in there exactly so I thought that was really fascinating, but it it is genuine.

It's a filled with like exotic tropical desert plant.

It's really beautiful if you just need to kind of head to a green space that isn't a like isn't a park specifically, but it's like like a Botanical Garden kind of seems fun.

I would check it out, but I would not necessarily assume it's like the one in Brooklyn or something like that where it's it, it's very Italian.

It's very much, we have a park you want, we have a town garden.

You want to come see it, come look at plants.

But it's not like, it doesn't seem like full of activities and things to do.

It seems very much for the the teachers to kind of bring their their students.

You do have to pay to get in, right?

You do have to pay to get in just to.

Clarify yes, and that was I was speeding through it.

Y'all, I was hoping I didn't go too, too fast, but that that was we just went on a hit the ends of the the last couple things.

And if I may, it's just a last note before I'm done with my talking, is that this is just a really small portion of the things that are in Naples.

There are tons of galleries.

There are tons of museums.

We only chose a couple that were kind of interesting or at least not like one another.

We will talk about Cassetta later.

I mentioned this episode, we're going to talk about the day trip episode actually, because it is its own sort of thing.

We'll talk about Kumay, the Flagray fields, Campi Flagray, which are also has its own museum.

But essentially when people again, that idea of like, well, what do I do in Naples?

It's like, what do you not do in Naples is a better question.

And, and I think there's also that kind of thing.

I just, I guess throwing out there too.

When we went in Edinburgh and Scotland we went to the National Museum, I think it was.

I think that's what it's.

Called and it was such phenomenal museum.

Incredible.

I know this is not a Scotland podcast, but if you're going to Edinburgh definitely go to the, I think it's called the National Museum.

It's free enter, which that was phenomenal.

I mean, it was it was so many like a part of us interactive had a lot of information.

It was like we went I think four or five times because I mean, after a floor we were wiped out because we would just read everything until like it was just it felt like so much and it was so well curated.

And I will say with Italian stuff, it can be not that it can really.

And I mean that like, and with all love, it could just be kind of like not that like, like we put all the old stuff in room for you to look like, what am I looking like?

Oh, no, I have no idea either.

But like it's you want to look at it, it's there.

It's like some pots we found.

So it's a little like, OK, I, I mean that in a loving way.

We've been to a lot of museums and some of them there are some obvious that are very professional and do take time to meticulously detail what you're looking at.

But I think sometimes it's so many things that they're just like, I don't know, man.

Coin #4000.

OK.

We found that in the cracks of the, the, the grout when we redid the road via Toledo.

I don't know what to tell you.

So I think it's, I don't know.

I just hit it too, because it really is just like dripping in history.

And you can't really go wrong if you're remotely interested in history or in like anthropology.

I think honestly, if you're interested in people, it's a very people based thing.

There was a quote I read apparently that they they attributed to a classic Italian quote.

I don't know if it actually that sounds like something somebody made-up, but it was Rome is the heart of Italy, but Naples of the soul.

And I'm like, I love that for definitely sounds like it feels true though.

Yeah.

And then Milan's like the brain, I don't know, very analytical up there in the North.

Yeah, interesting that one.

That's a That's a heavy.

What's the word loaded?

Yeah, it's a.

Loaded one all righty.

So with all that being said, thank you all so much for listening to me talk and for Darcy talking, but I didn't want to thank you for listening to her talk that felt.

Weird.

Thank you for listening to me talk.

And what are we talking about next?

Episode we're going to talk about day trips.

In the next episode we're going to be splitting them up by day trips water and day trips ruins.

Oh, I like it.

Thank you, I thought it'd be fun all.

Right.

So we're going to talk to you about that on Friday.

Dante Bracci.