May 26, 2008

We met for breakfast at 8 am in the dining hall. We ate quickly and had some time to kill before our ride arrived so we decided to head back to our rooms. On the way back up to our rooms after breakfast, Jason and Nick met a Polish student going for his master’s degree in Civil Engineering. They also learned that his roommate is Kurdish.

Paolo and AnnaLisa met us in the Denza lobby and we took 2 taxis to downtown Naples. Taxis + Naples = Adventure. On the way, we learned a few things: people from Naples speak a combination of Italian and Neapolitan; the last eruption of Mt. Vesuvius was in 1944 – as such, many people have forgotten the true threat of the volcano…so much so that 3 villages have sprung up on the craters from the 79 AD eruption and Paolo called their inhabitance there “crazy;” the Borbone had occupied Naples for over three centuries; the legend is that Naples will be destroyed if the alleged egg housed in Castel dell’Ovo is ever destroyed.

Also, in the city’s attempt to decrease the inane traffic, it has begun to build a new underground Metro system. However, digging revealed an ancient Greek port so the project was put on hold. After much discussion, the current plan is to put a museum in the metro station. Naples was originally called Neapolis by the Greeks, which means New City. To further protect the shores of their kingdom, they claimed Naples and used it as a port. Naples was appealing to the Greeks because it had a naturally protected coast and high vantage points to spot incoming ships. Naples proved to be so valuable a port that, within 5 meters below the street surface, evidence of 5 different civilizations can be found: Greeks, Romans, Borbone (Spanish), French and the Dutch (we think!).

Our first stop was the botanical garden, which was first built by the Borbone in an attempt to preserve all the plants in the world – even Eucalyptus trees! We then headed to a cathedral which shares space with the chapel of San Gennaro, the saint who protects Naples from Vesuvius. Underneath the church were ancient Greek and Roman ruins, which included a sophisticated water distribution system, fifth century mosaic floors, and Roman markets. Next, we visited the San Gennaro Museum, of which Paolo is the director. The museum houses treasures that, until it opened in 2001, were unseen by the public for four centuries. Some of the most amazing silver and bronze sculptures reside in this museum along with ornate gifts from every monarch that ever visited the city during San Gennaro’s tenure.

Every year, in May and September, hundreds of thousands of people visit Naples to witness the Miracle of San Gennaro. On one day in each of those months, his blood, which is in a solid state for the rest of the year, liquefies and is presented to the public for their viewing and prayer. We all hope our blood lasts that long.

For lunch, we went to Pizzeria e Friggitoria di Presidente and had our first official Neapolitan pizza. We talked with Paolo and AnnaLisa about politics and our beliefs were confirmed: all Italians want Obama to win.

After some touring in the city, we headed to AnnaLisa’s bookbinding shop, where they specialize in binding custom books…by hand. Amazing. We were lucky enough to see some bookbinding action. They use fish glue, flower glue, needle and thread. Sometimes, a hacksaw is necessary.

We left AnnaLisa and Paolo accompanied us on a taxi ride to meet up with members of the Naples South West Club: Bruno, Ellio and Manuela (not a Rotarian, but the daughter of the club’s president). Manuela came along for her excellent translation skills (she speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish fluently), unique insight on Naples and comic relief. We headed to a yacht club to get a nice view of the sea and get to know each other. Although the café was closed at the club, Ellio and Bruno worked their magic to get us some cold drinks. We were soon refreshed and decided to walk to Castel dell’Ovo. At the top of the castle, there is a beautiful panoramic view of the city and the sea. We took in the view for a while and headed down to the American Bar for some more refreshments while Ellio and Bruno headed back to the yacht club to get the cars.
Today was extremely hot and we were all pretty spent after the castle so we headed back to Istituto Denza, our home away from home. While Jane and Martina rested, Nick and Jason washed their unmentionables in the sink. Jason made some makeshift clotheslines for the window and, well, you know the rest.

Next, Franco picked us up to go to a dinner with the Naples South West Rotary Club. Our afternoon crew – Bruno, Ellio and Manuela – joined us and around 30 other people at one of the longest dinner tables we’ve this author’s ever been at. There was a presentation about a video made about the Commorra (the Naples mafia equivalent) and the House of Abraham, a proposed place of worship for Christians, Muslims and Jews.

After dinner, Franco brought us back to Denza and graciously took Nick’s and Jason’s clothes back home to wash for them. They are eternally grateful for that. Sleep soon followed.

Thank you and good night.

May 25, 2008

Jane went to the farewell breakfast while the other three packed their bags. Jason and Nick brought their bags to Jane and Martina’s room since check out was early but we were allowed to keep one room until 3pm. Jason and Jane then headed off into the shopping area we had located while Nick and Martina located some breakfast and worked on the blog. Jane did some shopping and then sat down at a café. Jason ordered an iced coffee, but was surprised to learn that, instead of ice, it contained ice cream. Martina and Nick saw Gianluca and Giuseppe while they were sitting by the pool. They stopped by to say goodbye at 2pm before they left Ischia. Martina jumped in the pool to cool off and realized the pool contained salt water. Jason and Nick remarked about the fact that everyone was wearing swimming caps or shower caps.

At 3pm, we put our luggage together to get ready to leave. We stopped for a quick bite at a café next to the hotel and then hailed a microtaxi; actually it was the size of, well, check out the picture. Somehow the driver was able to fit all of our bags plus the four of us in there, although bungee cords were involved. Martina and Jane watched out the back in case of dropped luggage on the way to the port. It turns out our driver has relatives in New Jersey and Canada. Nick and Jason went to get our tickets but got sidetracked when they saw food. Jane stayed in the shade waiting for the guys but became concerned when they did not come back quickly, figuring they had a problem with the tickets. Jason emerged first, eating his rucola and prosciutto sandwich, and Nick wasn’t far behind with his half-eaten pizza.

We boarded the boat and placed our luggage on the first floor. Jane, Martina and Jason stayed in the air conditioned indoors while Nick went to the upper deck to rest in the sun. Jane, Martina and Jason rested well while Nick was restless due to the hot sun. We thought the boat wasn’t supposed to arrive until 7:15 pm, however, we docked at 6:30 pm. Franco met us at the port and fit all of our luggage into his car and then hailed a taxi for us so we could head to Istituto Denza. Our taxi driver was very good at making his own lane and was able to get us to the institute very quickly. The Istituto Denza is a private school for students from primary school to post-graduate. We ate dinner in the cafeteria before heading up to our rooms. Jane has a beautiful view of the port. Tomorrow morning we will meet for breakfast at 8am.

May 24, 2008

Martina received an email from Jason at noon asking if she was awake. None of the GSE team was awake before 11am. We went to brunch with the conference guests and were able to see the project posters showing the activities of the different Rotaract clubs. They are a very active group in their communities and worldwide. Jason, Nick, and Martina went for a walk and by a roll of the dice we managed to find a shopping area and a great view of the castle. Jane went to the Rotaract Conference meetings so she could take some information back to her Rotaract members in District 7450.

We then got ready for the Gala. The scheduled time for the gala to begin was at 8:30, Jason and Nick arrived at 9:15 with the intention of being fashionably late, however they were among the first to arrive. There was a cocktail reception on the lawn outside of the dining room. The doors opened promptly at 10 pm. We sat with Tim and a band began to play jazz music. Dinner consisted of a shrimp cocktail, pasta, pasta, and then fish. Martina and Nick danced to two songs and got everyone on the dance floor. Once they sat down, the speeches for closing the conference began. Around 12:30 am Jane decided to head to bed not realizing that the main course, pork, would be served at 1:15 am. Dessert and Champagne was served at 2:15 am. At 2:30 am, Tim showed us how to juggle wine corks and gifts were handed out. Jason had difficulty explaining that we needed an extra gift for Jane and needed an interpreter. Jason’s inability to speak Italian resulted in two extra gifts. At 2:45 am, Jason, Nick and Martina headed out, even though most of the conference attendees were still there.

May 23, 2008

We checked out of the hotel and were picked up by members of the Ottaviano Club. They drove us to the International Instituto Vesuvius for Archeological Science. They are restoring two villas in Ancient Stabiae. The goal of the foundation is to open up an archeological park similar to Pompei and Ercolano. The Ancient ruins in Stabiae were discovered around 1749, but weren’t excavated until the 1950s because the King of Italy wanted it preserved. In the 1950s, a principal of the high school in Castellammare, pioneered the excavation with the help of some janitors and teachers of the school. The institute is partnered with the University of Maryland, and the RAS (Restoring Ancient Stabiae) Foundation was created in 2001.

We toured two well preserved villas, but learned that there are eight total, six of which have yet to be unearthed. The villas were not believed to be inhabited during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD; they were being rebuilt after the earthquake so the owners were probably in Rome.
The people who did the initial excavation in the 1750s were called the Borbone and they utilized a digging technique which involved digging a pit and then digging concentric caves to find treasures. The Borbone took many of the treasures away and are now stored in museums in Naples. Interestingly, the Borbone also destroyed or defaced many of the frescoes that remained so that the value of the ones that they took would be higher.

Alberto took us to the first villa which is named Arianna. The kitchen had an enclosed pool to keep fish so they would always have fresh fish. Jason had an epiphany of this being where the word piscina or pesce came from. Many of the rooms faced the bay and only had three walls allowing for fresh air indicating this was a summer residence. Our second guide, Maria, spoke English beautifully. The second villa was much better preserved and is named San Marco. Maria explained that Stabiae was an important town with a port. Wealthy people built their summer homes here facing the Bay of Naples. San Marco had a large atrium with cubicula, which were small rooms adjacent to the atrium. There was a large entryway big enough to accommodate a chariot and donkey for visitors from Rome. There was a large pool in the middle of the atrium to collect and distribute water to the rest of the house, but once they added indoor plumbing, these were closed off and the pool was only decorative. The atrium was used as a place of business and housed a large safe which held the family treasures to show clients that they could have confidence in their dealings with the owner of the villa.

Throughout the villa, etched graffiti decorates the barren walls. Archaeologists have to really study the etchings to date them because some were from the slaves of the Borbone and others are more recent. There were birds carved into the wall which they have dated to these slaves because they think the slaves wanted to be free and fly away. There was mosaic tile all over the floors except in the kitchen because the slaves were in there. Mosaic tiles were attached to the floor by fish glue or cement.

There was a single skeleton found near these villas and near the skeleton was a bag of treasures. They like to say this thief was caught red-handed by Vesuvius. They had a vomitorium so they could continue eating and partying. If they didn’t have a vomitorium available they vomited in a slave’s mouth.

We then had lunch in the cafeteria of the RAS foundation where we were presented with watches from our Rotary hosts. Next we went to a museum which houses many ancient artifacts from all the area ruins. We learned that many of the local people did not know that Vesuvius was an active volcano because 1,000 years had passed since the last eruption. The valley below Vesuvius was historically a place for wine cultivation. Pompeii was a port where they traded food and wine. We know that wine from Pompeii was transported to Spain and France. We saw iron tools that were used to cultivate food and learned that the local people of the time hunted deer and pigs. Before 1939, many of these ancient artifacts were sold to private collectors in America, during that time the Italy government created a law disallowing the sale of these artifacts so they would stay in Italy.

After the museum, our hosts drove us to the port in Naples so we could take the boat to Ischia. We met up with several Rotaract members who were also heading to the conference, including Nicola from Avellino. During the boat ride we could see Vesuvius, the city of Naples, Capri, Procida, and finally Ischia. We headed to our hotel by taxi and had to immediately get ready for dinner. We saw Giovanni and AnnaMaria outside of dinner. Once we were inside, Giuseppe brought over Tim who was visiting from New Zealand. Tim is doing a bit of a world tour visiting Rotaract conferences. After dinner, Nick, Jason and Martina headed to the club with the Rotaract Conference. We danced the night away and we were some of the first to leave at 3am.

May 22, 2008

We woke up early to catch the boat to Capri. Salvatore met us at the hotel to wait for the Rotaract members to show up. Domenico and Max came by motorscooter because there was bad traffic on the autostrada so motorscooter was faster than car. We picked up the boat in Castellammare, it made two stops before reaching Capri. We were joined on the boat by a number of German tourists. The Italian shipmate who was serving drinks came around with bargain deals of 5 euro hats and 5 euro bags. The sales pitch was, “Special Price 5 Euros” and he actually said it in English.

Once we arrived in Capri we waited for our guide, Sascha, at Dock Zero. He found us and told us we were going to try to catch a boat tour since the Blue Grotto was closed due to rough waters. While we were waiting for the rest of Sascha’s tour group to arrive, we went to Pizzeria Buonocore. Buonocore is Martina’s grandmother’s maiden name. After ordering some breakfast, she spoke to the person behind the counter to find out who had the last name Buonocore. It turned out to be him. She told him about her family and had her picture taken with him. Nick said that the guy looked like Martina.

We then caught up with Sascha and his group to take a tour by boat around the island. The tour group was made up of English speaking visitors and Spanish speaking visitors, so he had to translate everything twice. First spot on the tour was the white grotto which is a small cave in the island. Sascha then pointed out a very high cliff and told us that Titus used to push slaves, messengers, and ex-lovers over the edge. Titus was ruler for a period and lived on Capri so during that time Capri was the capital of Italy. There were a number of large beautiful homes along the cliffs. There is a natural arch which looks like an elephant. There is a cove where teenagers take boats and go behind the rocks, but Sascha wouldn’t tell us what they did back there and Jane emphatically stated she did not want to know. On the other side of the island is a harbor which was placed there by the Romans and the ruins are still there. Today it is a private harbor. In the coral grotto, there is a waterline along the wall and just below that is the red coral. Scuba diving is forbidden so that people don’t come and steal the coral. At this point the sea started to get a bit more choppy causing a few of us to get wet, luckily it was a beautiful sunny day so we dried off quickly once we returned to port.

Sascha then told us to wait a moment while he spoke to the person who was coordinating the buses. He explained that he’d be back in two minutes, but it would be two German minutes, not two Italian minutes since an Italian two minutes is more like fifteen or twenty minutes. He told us that there is a problem if an Italian tells you, “No problem, only two minutes.” We then took a bus ride up the one road to the top of the island to a place called Anacapri. We could see the Rolex Boat Race as we squeezed up the small streets past many other buses and trucks. Once at the top of Anacapri, we were left in a high end store while Sascha went to see if we could have an early lunch. Everyone managed to slip out past Martina and she was left in the store wondering where everyone went. Luckily the group came back to find her. We sat for lunch with Domenico and Max. We had pasta as the first course. Martina and Jane didn’t have the second course which was a choice of meat or fish. Instead, Jane had an apple.

We then had a few minutes of free time to shop before we headed to Capri, the next town down. We were given some free time in Capri which the team took advantage of to do some shopping. We decided to head back to Sorrento earlier than scheduled so we could see the city. Our guides, Domenico and Max, took us around the city center and we were able to do more shopping. Jane then treated us to drinks before she, Domenico, and Max headed back to Castellammare. Jason, Nick, and Martina stayed around Sorrento and did some more shopping. They took the 6:22 train back to the hotel and had a chance to walk through Castellammare, which is a lovely town.
Stefano picked us up to take us to the Ercolano Rotary Club meeting. Stefano is a member of Rotaract and a pharmacist. At the club meeting we were treated to a presentation about advertising by a professor who created all of the advertisements in his presentation. We then exchanged flags and gifts with Antonio, the club president. Then we headed downstairs for dinner where we were treated to pasta, fish, and fruit for dessert. Stefano drove us back to Castellammare.

May 21, 2008

With much sadness, we left our host families this morning and headed for Castellammare di Stabiae. We arrived at Hotel Montil and dropped off our bags. Ciro and Salvatore Iovenio brought us to a nearby city where we met up with another Rotarian who, along with Salvatore, brought us to Ercolano.

In Ercolano, we met up with Antonio (a gynecologist and president of the Ercolano club) and his daughter, Luisa, who is studying to be a judge. Martina joined Antonio on his scooter and Luisa brought the rest in her car. We all convened near the historical site of Ercolano and headed inside. Like Pompei, Ercolano was destroyed in 79 AD. Our tour guide, Salve, spoke perfect English and gave us an amazing tour. Ercolano was originally excavated in 1738. There is still a large portion of the city buried underneath the current city. Ercolano differs from Pompei in that Ercolano was buried in pyroclastic mud and Pompei was covered in lava. Much of Ercolano is better preserved because of this fact.

For many years, it was believed that most of the inhabitants had fled because they had only found 3 skeletons on the site. However, 300 more were recently unearthed at the port. Romans used to work from 6 am to noon and then spent their afternoons and evenings taking in the public baths, exercising at the palestra or just being their Roman selves. The word “siesta” actually comes from “sexta” which represents the 6 hours of work the Romans did daily.
In 62 AD, just seventeen years before the Vesuvius eruption, there was an earthquake which caused the city’s inhabitants to reinforce their structures brick and stone. The newer buildings show their advancement in architecture and building skills from the lessons of the earthquake.
While only 2 roads have been excavated, archaeologists believe there are 5 roads in total. Interestingly, these roads were built at right angles, were all one-way and provided space for pedestrians at crosswalks. Many of the villas have carbonized wood beams encased in glass to show the original structures. The wood survived because no air was able to reach it for so many years. Many of the villas still have original mosaic floors and iron grill windows. For apartment-type buildings where there was a second floor that was a separate family than the first, the higher floors were always the cheapest. For those searching for labor, they lined up outside the houses of the local businessmen and waited to be seen. The houses with the most people waiting outside were the richest. In ancient Ercolano, husbands and wives slept in separate rooms. Oh, how times have changed.

In these villas, some walls were covered with beautifully preserved frescoes. These were created by placing 6 levels of plaster on the wall, then they painted the fresco, and finally polished it with wax to further preserve them. It was very time-consuming but, if you had these in your home, then it was obvious you were a wealthy household. In a particularly large villa, there was an original bed still there in the bedroom. Bedrooms were actually very small by today’s standards because they only used them to sleep – any entertainment or socializing was done in the atrium or other areas of the villa.

After Ercolano, we headed to Antonio’s house for lunch. There, we met his wife Maria, who prepared a great lunch of mussels and pasta for us. We chatted for a bit over lunch then headed to Antonio’s roof where we could get a good look at Mt. Vesuvius. We had planned to climb Vesuvius in the afternoon but, once again, the weather trumped our plans. The peak of Vesuvius was closely guarded by some very large, selfish grey clouds, keeping the sight to themselves. It was an easy decision for to hold off climbing to the top of a volcano amidst some of the most ominous clouds we’ve ever seen. Next, we were given an impromptu musical performance. Antonio played guitar while Maria sang the lyrics to a classic Neapolitan song. It was a beautiful song and gesture. When asked if we had a traditional Philadelphian song that we could sing for them. We were stumped.

After the song, we headed to back to our Hotel for a couple hours before Salvatore picked us at for dinner and a brief tour at a local pasta factory. We were joined for dinner by Salvatore’s wife, Angela, his daughter, Anna, and her husband and daughter, Guido and Vittoria. Since we were at a pasta factory for dinner, it’s fitting that we had 4 dishes of past for dinner. They were all quite tasty. Vittoria is 4 years old and was one of the cutest little girls in the world. She got great pleasure out of making faces at Nick, drinking water one-handed from an adult’s glass, and clinking glasses with her mother. We were given some nice ceramic cups as gifts and headed back to the hotel.

Thank you and good night.

May 20, 2008

We woke up today planning on taking a flight. Ciro had worked hard to arrange for us a private plane ride for a few hours over Mt. Vesuvius, the Amalfi Coast, Pompei and the local terrain. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and the skies were painted grey. Quickly, Ciro and Maria coordinated a visit to a local abbey of the Holy Trinity, which turned out to be pretty amazing. Maria accompanied us into the abbey and we received a great tour by one of the abbey’s English-speaking museum attendant.

It was over 1,000 years old and had been built on and improved by many different inhabitants. In the ancient times, the monks made wine and sold grain. Until recently, there was a college located on the premises. Immediately after the Napoleonic wars, this abbey was one of a very small numbers of abbeys still in operation. Amazingly, the 1980 earthquake, which heavily affected many places in this region, did not harm one single little hair on this abbey. We visited the museum with several paintings, gilded ornaments, Gregorian chant sheet music, and maps dated well back into the 13th century. On our way out, we stopped in the monks’ meeting room, which had a beautifully painted mosaic tile floor (created in 1777 and representative of the Port of Naples) and frescoes on the wall (from 1632) depicting many different saints.

After the abbey, Maria delivered us to Ciro, who was waiting to deliver us to…a delivery store. We headed to Salerno and went to a shipping center to give Jane a chance to ship some of her many gifts – GSE Team Leaders get more than Team Members. Once we finished at the shipping center, Ciro took us through the municipal court building, in which civil and penal cases are heard. There are two levels of courts here – the tribunal and appellate courts – and the third (currently unknown by this author) is located elsewhere (also unknown) in the city. This was our first court with a security system that actually checked our bags so we felt a whole new level of security. Judges here have hall lockers where they store their robes.

We headed to a local pizza place, Pizza Margherita, and happened to be waiting to cross the street as a few police officers approached. It turned out to be perfect timing because they stopped traffic for us and we were sitting in the restaurant in no time. At lunch, we were joined by, Ermanno, a GSE Alumni (he went to Ohio last year with Stefano Alcaro’s team) who spoke excellent English. He is a lawyer who does zoning law. As we awaited our pizzas, Ciro explained the origin of the pizza style “Margherita” (it was especially made for the Queen of Naples, Margherita, and includes the 3 colors of the Italian flag – tomatoes are red, mozzarella is white, and basil is green) and that this particular place had the best pizza in Salerno.

After lunch, we headed to the hills. Ciro took us to Castello Arechi, a medieval castle on a hillside overlooking the sea. The Longobardi people, a group from present-day Germany, built the structure. We had some great views of the city of Salerno and the sea. We had a quick visit at the castle and headed back into Salerno to meet up with Ermanno again. On the way, we passed by a portion of a Roman aqueduct. He took us for a walk through Salerno to the Basilica Cathedral of St. Matthew & St. Gregory, which at one point was an abbey. The sarcophagi of the monks are located in the courtyard, prior to the actual entrance to the church. The cathedral was built by Arabs as trade for corn. As we exited the church and headed back to the city center, we saw a man pouring a white powder on the grates in the streets. We asked Ermanno what it was and he informed us that it was to keep the rats away – aka rat poison.

Next up was a fountain dedicated to St. Matthew, one of the Apostles, and is located at the site of his death. It was around 4:00 and most of the shops were closed for their afternoon break so we headed to the promenade and walked along the sea for about half an hour. After some discussion about law, iPods, and the internet, we headed to a café for a quick snack/drink. Post-café activity? Shopping. We spent some time looking at many different nice shops but the end result was that Nick and Martina ended up getting an extra bag for all of their gifts.

The nightcap was the Cava di Terreni Rotary Club Meeting, where we did a brief presentation for the group. Ciro’s daughter, Laura, did a wonderful job translating for us so everyone could understand. It was a very nice dinner and we were able to give gifts to the people who hosted us for the past couple of nights.