Talking Location With … Barbara Boyle – PIEDMONT
For Explorers of the World – The Passenger: NAPLES
21st October 2024
The Passenger: Naples by various contributors
The concept of “The Passenger” series:
“For Explorers of the World”
The Passenger series collects the best new writing, photography, and reportage from around the world. Its aim is to break down barriers and introduce the essence of the place. Packed with essays and investigative journalism; original photography and illustrations; charts, and unusual facts and observations, each volume offers a unique insight into a different culture, and how history has shaped the place into what it is today.
Brimming with intricate research and enduring wonder, The Passenger is a love-letter to global travel.
Going beyond familiar stereotypes, each volume portrays the shifting culture and identity of a place, the sensibilities of its people, its burning issues, conflicts, and open wounds.
Produced by publishers Europa Editions in conjunction with Iperborea.
The book opens with a good map and then offers details on the make-up of the city, from population to the number of people speaking Neapolitan (5.7 million apparently), and if you have see Gomorrah on TV (which might be an interesting accompaniment to this book and, as it states in the book: “Since the success of Gomorrah, the television and film industries in Italy are increasingly choosing the capital of Campania for their stories and locations”), you will understand that that language is not Italian. I understood very little apart from tutt’a posto. In 1946 the population voted overwhelmingly for a return to the monarchy. 2004 the first Scampia feud broke out between rival Camorra bands, followed by another in 2012; tourism has now been truly embraced, particularly under Mayor Luigi de Magistris And thus the scene is set for an array of written pieces and wonderful photographs.
There are murals dedicated to young men, killed in all kinds of circumstances and – news to me – there is a Banksy titled Madonna with a Pistol in the San Lorenzo district. A map is included in the book, highlighting various artworks around the city.
There is an interesting treatise on the presence of the US armed forces, stationed in the city since WW2 and how their presence has affected the music in the city.
Photo: TF’s Tina
We discover that the culture of the dead is central to Neapolitan society and that crime is a thread throughout the city (a quip: “..in Naples there are more police inspectors in books than there are on the streets“) and that everywhere the blue of the Napoli football team is in evidence, Maradona is still massively mourned… I can attest this from my visit a couple of years ago.
This is an insightful collection of articles, with helpful maps and beautifully curated photos, which prove really transportive. I wish in many ways that I had had access to these pieces before I visited the city because it would have offered a depth of insight and learning that undoubtedly would have enhanced the trip.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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