Postcard from Naples

I only spent one day in Naples, but do I have several stories to tell about that short sojourn. But, for now, I will just tell you one of my favorites.

To enjoy this story, you need to know three things: First, we were given a guided tour of Naples by our Italian friends who lived there for many years. So that made it easier to get around and understand what was going on. Second, understand that Naples was the most bombed city in Italy in World War II. Third, there are 27 centuries of history inside this amazing city.

To begin our tour, we took a streetcar from the railway station (we were catching a train to Florence in the evening) down to where the line ends at the waterfront. From there we could see the Isle of Capri, a famous vacation spot for Roman Emperors and today’s wealthier tourists.

From there we started our real walking tour along the oldest street in Naples, built by the Romans over 2,000 year ago. This would eventually take us back to the train station. Of course, the real reason was to take in some of most famous sites in this amazing city.

At one spot, there were two large churches across the street from each other…one was Gothic and the other Baroque. And you could not imaging two churches so opposite from each other. The Gothic church was extremely austere, almost sterile, in it architecture and decorations; while the Baroque church was as rich in decorations as any church or cathedral in Italy. It was stunning, to say the least…all quite normal for Baroque churches.

My story begins in this church. As I wandered with my Italian guide enjoying the marvels this church had to offer, we were approached by this very elderly woman, who clearly was headed right for me.

She started screaming at me in Italian and I had no idea what she was saying. I looked at my guide and friend for help and he just signaled me to stay cool. But this woman kept screaming at me, and attracting a lot of onlookers.

I kept hearing the word “Bomba” over and over. All I could think of was the word meant bomb. As for the rest of her diatribe, I did not have a clue. She finally finished and wandered off.

I turned to my friend and asked what she was saying and did the word bomba mean bomb? He said yes it did. What the woman was doing was chewing me out for bombing Naples in World War II. She obviously knew I was an American. But the kicker was she said that the Italian government had become so corrupt that she wanted me to fly my bomber up to Rome and bomb it!

Needless to say we all had a good laugh over this. How clever of her to spot me as an American but, of course, I was born after the end of the war in Europe. I still laugh when I think about that old woman. If I only could remember where I parked my bomber.

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To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.