Meeting ETSI ed ITU-T a Napoli (21

Neapolitan Nativity scene (the crib)

The Neapolitan nativity scene is a depiction of the birth of Jesus traditionally set in Naples, in the eighteenth-century Naples . Famous in Naples, in fact, is San Gregorio Armeno, the street of the cribs that offers all the local handicrafts to realize a nativity scene. In addition, there are numerous museums (such as the San Martino Museum or the Royal Palace of Caserta ) where are exposed historical masterpiece.
Maybe this tradition originated from a temple dedicated to Ceres at San Gregorio Armeno: citizens offered as a votive gift small characters in terracotta, bought in the workshops in the street. In the first two decades of the seventeenth century , the Baroque was born. The terracotta characters were replaced by wooden mannequins, whit their cloths. [...]

A typical form of Neapolitan painting: “Gouache”

The gouache is a picture on a sheet of paper. This French word originates from the Italian term “guazzo”, that is a small pond of murky and thick water. Colors are made by pigments and glue from plants; each painter uses different elements and proportions. The colors dry quickly, so the execution must be quick: this gives gouaches vivacity and freshness; the colors are opaque to give softness.
Gouaches became popular in the last quarter of 1700, thanks to “vedutismo”. Vedutismo comes from “veduta”, view, that is the image you have in front of you and you can embrace with your eyes. Vedutismo is the exact description of a landscape, so gouaches have the great value of maintaining the memory about destroyed sites, monuments, Vesuvius eruptions, scenes of a different life. At the end of 1700, gouaches were commissioned by educated upper class people, having refined tastes, during the Grand Tour

Origins of Naples: the siren Parthenope

Parthenope, the siren (Mermaid), is one of the most important symbols in Neapolitan culture. The story of Naples begins on the island of Megaride where, according to the legend, there is original nucleus of the city called Parthenope, taking its name from the young siren Parthenope [...]
The Sirens were expecting Odysseus’ arrival but Odysseus was prepared for the situation, so he told his companions to put wax in their ears and bind him strongly in the boat’s mast and to not obey to his request to free him. This way, Odysseus was able to escape from the temptation and continue his long journey to Ithaca. Parthenope, sad for her inability to make Ulysses fall in love with her, let herself die on Megaride.
Greeks initially represented the Sirens as half bird and half woman: they had the body of a bird, but their head was human-like. Later, but we can’t say when or why, sirens were represented as fish-woman. Among the hypotheses, there was a transcription error, from the Latin 'pennis ' (plumes) to 'pinnis' (fins) . Another hypothesis is that the myth of bird-woman was born in countries far from the sea and it changed into a woman - fish where the myth of the Sirens reached countries close to the sea [...]

Vesuvius is often present in Neapolitan art, showing the conflicting relationship between Neapolitan people and “a’ muntagna bella”, the beautiful mountain [...]

Meeting ETSI ed ITU-T a Napoli

21 - 25 ottobre 2013

Ogni giorno abbiamo offerto ai nostri ospiti alcune "pillole di arte napoletana"