DOI chapter:
Chapter II: Naples - The Museum - Capo di Monte
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.59000#0062
Naples
tortoise-shell, of lace, or of coral, which most attract
them, are found nearer the sea-front. On this lovely
spring day the whole of the Neapolitan world seemed
out-of-doors. Such a day the Italian loves—when the
sun is not yet too hot and the deep shadows have lost
the chill of winter.
“ How little they care,
While the weather holds fair,
What Europe may do with to-day.”
The street is full of open fiacres, and in and out
from under the very wheels run the flower-sellers with
their large bouquets of stiffly-wired spring blossoms.
These they toss into the carriages, and adroitly catch
again if pitched out by irritated occupants. The
drivers have the greatest difficulty in keeping off the
small street arabs who cling to the backs of the
vehicles, and in steering a course through the foot
passengers, who walk anywhere rather than on the
narrow pavements. The noise of the cracking whips
and rattling of wheels over the uneven pavements is so
uniformly deafening that one ceases to remark it.
There is a natural love and need of bright colour
in this people. The soft tones that harmonise with
our northern climate would appear faded against their
brilliant sky. Their background is as often blue and
gold as ours is grey. The poor women wear gaudy
handkerchiefs around their necks ; the bodice and the
skirt are invariably of different tints. The well-to-do
also are fond of showy effect. Indeed, the Neapolitan
22
tortoise-shell, of lace, or of coral, which most attract
them, are found nearer the sea-front. On this lovely
spring day the whole of the Neapolitan world seemed
out-of-doors. Such a day the Italian loves—when the
sun is not yet too hot and the deep shadows have lost
the chill of winter.
“ How little they care,
While the weather holds fair,
What Europe may do with to-day.”
The street is full of open fiacres, and in and out
from under the very wheels run the flower-sellers with
their large bouquets of stiffly-wired spring blossoms.
These they toss into the carriages, and adroitly catch
again if pitched out by irritated occupants. The
drivers have the greatest difficulty in keeping off the
small street arabs who cling to the backs of the
vehicles, and in steering a course through the foot
passengers, who walk anywhere rather than on the
narrow pavements. The noise of the cracking whips
and rattling of wheels over the uneven pavements is so
uniformly deafening that one ceases to remark it.
There is a natural love and need of bright colour
in this people. The soft tones that harmonise with
our northern climate would appear faded against their
brilliant sky. Their background is as often blue and
gold as ours is grey. The poor women wear gaudy
handkerchiefs around their necks ; the bodice and the
skirt are invariably of different tints. The well-to-do
also are fond of showy effect. Indeed, the Neapolitan
22