DOI chapter:
Chapter III: Past and Present - Santa Lucia, etc.
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.59000#0109
Naples
were I not king ! ” The authoress not unnaturally
answered, “Were I not a journalist, your Majesty, I
would not refuse to be king I ”
With the erection of San Carlo, the building of
royal palaces about the kingdom (for which the
Tuileries at Versailles had revived the fashion), the
opening of the Via Chiaia and the Via Chiatamone,
which became the principal haunts for the elegant
alberghi of that day (as they still are), the journey
to Naples became more than ever the fashion. There
was much to attract at that time. Vesuvius was gain-
ing a second celebrity with a series of active and
beautiful eruptions, and with the discovery of those
cities it had long ago destroyed. The days of blood-
shed preceding the advent of the Bourbons was followed
by a hopeful lull. The Academy was thronged with
foreigners, and a revival of art and learning seemed
to throb through the unfortunate city. Of all periods
of Neapolitan history this is one of the most fascinating,
bringing with it as it did all the wit, the beauty, and the
learning of foreign countries. Alfieri came hither in
his prime, and with his ardent dreams of a future Italy ;
Goethe philosophised ; Angelica Kauffmann tried to
paint unsympathetic royalties with as graceful a touch
as the subjects allowed ; Madame Piozzi wrote her
raptures of “ dear, delightful Naples ” ; a whole world
of travellers rejoiced in its beauty.
The Bourbons were a poor lot, but the last chapters
of Neapolitan court life belong to them, and court
life covers a multitude of sins. In spite of all the
48
were I not king ! ” The authoress not unnaturally
answered, “Were I not a journalist, your Majesty, I
would not refuse to be king I ”
With the erection of San Carlo, the building of
royal palaces about the kingdom (for which the
Tuileries at Versailles had revived the fashion), the
opening of the Via Chiaia and the Via Chiatamone,
which became the principal haunts for the elegant
alberghi of that day (as they still are), the journey
to Naples became more than ever the fashion. There
was much to attract at that time. Vesuvius was gain-
ing a second celebrity with a series of active and
beautiful eruptions, and with the discovery of those
cities it had long ago destroyed. The days of blood-
shed preceding the advent of the Bourbons was followed
by a hopeful lull. The Academy was thronged with
foreigners, and a revival of art and learning seemed
to throb through the unfortunate city. Of all periods
of Neapolitan history this is one of the most fascinating,
bringing with it as it did all the wit, the beauty, and the
learning of foreign countries. Alfieri came hither in
his prime, and with his ardent dreams of a future Italy ;
Goethe philosophised ; Angelica Kauffmann tried to
paint unsympathetic royalties with as graceful a touch
as the subjects allowed ; Madame Piozzi wrote her
raptures of “ dear, delightful Naples ” ; a whole world
of travellers rejoiced in its beauty.
The Bourbons were a poor lot, but the last chapters
of Neapolitan court life belong to them, and court
life covers a multitude of sins. In spite of all the
48