Pizza Street

In Portland Oregon, just the threat of a dusting of snow can keep the superintendent up all night pondering whether to close down the schools.

In Napoli, school was cancelled by 7:00 pm the day before we suffered this weather catastrophe.

Ah, but there’s wind, a fairly strong wind, but nothing Portland doesn’t see regularly. And as it turns out, two years ago, a strong wind ripped a branch from a tree, which resulted in a death. And so, when there is wind, there is no school. And this is a very superstitious place. Why take unreasonable risks. For this I am wearing my good luck bracelet bought from a Senegalese man for the price of a coffee.

But I digress even before I gress.….

Pizza Street! That is what the Americans here (in the dorm) call Via dei Tribunali which divides the historic center of Napoli in half. A surfeit of pizza parlors account for its American name and its popularity, but there are all manner of shops, pastry shops, fish, fruit, and vegetable stands, gaudy trinket vendors, you name it. Given an unexpected day off, we decided to walk Tribunale, not in search of pizza, but in search of Caravaggio’s painting, The Seven Works of Mercy. Here are some of the visual delights of via dei Tribunali as we made our way to Pio Monte della Misericordia. You will have to imagine the smells (mostly pastries this time of day) and sounds (mostly motorcycles revving, cars honking) that accompany these images. This place is a seething, bustling, raucous town. We like it more every day.