Naples is the Soul of Italy

There were a lot of filmmakers from Naples at the Social World Film Festival. And they were sincerely concerned about conveying information to the humanity that Naples is not only about mafia and danger. They wanted to reveal to people the real Naples: authentic, unique, lively, chaotic, with very old culture and traditions.

At first glance, I didn't like Naples very much, I was upset and didn't know what I would do here for five days. But this is a city that you have to tune in to, feel its inner rhythm, its vibrations, and allow yourself to resonate with it. Then the magic starts to happen. Then you begin to feel and love it, more and more with each single breath. Not at first glance, NO! But after tuning, it resonated in one rhythm. After relaxing and accepting the city as it is, without criticism and condemnation, without negativity and comparison. At this moment Naples reciprocates and allows you to see its true face, the Soul of Italy, because Naples is a true Soul of Italy. And if you do not like Naples at all and cannot experience and feel it, then are you sure that you love Italy? Not tourist Italy! No! But real authentic Italy!?! Where chaos rages, which at first glance destroys everything, but in reality takes everything into a very clear picture of beingness, according to other rules, when there are no standard rules, but dolce far niente, the ability to enjoy life and the art of doing nothing. The art of doing nothing and at the same time living your life fully makes Italian men and women, as well as Italy, full of energy and desire to live. In the magical process of idleness (as other nations may call this process) we find ourselves and feel our inner voice/call and mission of our Soul. The Soul of Italy is really raging in Naples, nothing and no one can kill or slander it here. Unfortunately, many other Italian cities have become just pretty tourist pictures, losing themselves, where the real authentic Italy is hidden behind many doors and can only be seen nowadays in black and white photos because tourists filled them with consumerist, low-vibrational energy. But here, in Naples, this energy, this Soul is there, and the city constantly defends its borders, clearly demonstrating to tourists from all over the world that they are only visiting and they need to adjust and tune in to the city, or just leave….

I really liked the two German blogs about Naples that helped me to get to know it better, https://italien.portanapoli.de/kampanien/neapel/altstadt-besichtigung/ and https://derinternaut.ch/italien/napoli/neapel-altstadt/ which very clearly describes what to see, where to go, where to drink coffee, where to eat pizza, etc. So I won't write about routes here, just read this information in the blogs above. Here I will describe my feelings and emotions, which I will transform into the language of words and texts....

What is Naples about???

Dolce far niente.

The art of doing nothing and at the same time enjoying life in every moment. When I began to adjust to the rhythm of the city, it dawned on me, that I began to notice details, and there are a lot of them in Naples. Like, for example, the laundry hanging everywhere. Everyone associates Naples with laundry hanging from balconies. Even those who have never been to Naples have seen many such photos on the Internet. But I want to emphasize a very important factor that sits deeper than the laundry itself. I contemplated very tiny details of this seemingly routine and uninteresting process. They know how to turn every ordinary everyday and routine process into art. Hanging laundry for them is one of the forms of art, also like any other routine process. They do it very slowly, leveling each edge, with a smile on their faces and turning this very ordinary process, which would take other people five minutes on an unconsciousness level, into a pleasure for themselves and a spectacle for others. I watched with tenderness as the old father hung a laundry from the balcony of the second floor, and the twenty-year-old son on the street, managing the process like a conductor told which side to move where. They laughed and emotionally talked. They just had fun in the moment of ordinary things. I walked the long street there and back, and they were still hanging laundry. And this is an art - to turn the routine into an art performance and at the same time enjoy every moment. This is what everybody needs to learn - because this is exactly what a happy life is, to be able to do everything with joy and tenacity. Another component is the art of doing nothing at all, just relaxing from everything, and it turns out that for the vast majority of people, this is an extremely difficult task that requires superpowers and a lack of understanding of how?!?! And for Italians, it is a manifestation of their inner essence. When you just sit and drink coffee for three or four hours, you don't think about anything, you just enjoy the process of doing nothing. When you are on vacation, you rest both mentally and physically, and you don't think about anything, which is also very difficult. Another habit that needs to be developed to truly be a happy person.

Relativity of the concept of time.

Despite the chaos, which you immediately notice, no one is in a hurry here and the concept of time is very relative, you have to get used to it. But in fact, independence from time opens wings and makes a person freer, and not a slave of time, terms, and deadlines.

Everything goes at its own pace and without a plan.

You need to learn to live in the flow, not planning 100-500 goals and tasks per day, but simply to live. And here live real masters in this matter.

Food and Drinks

Temptation at every step. Ice cream. Sweets. Coffee. Pizza. I think that the tastiest pizza is really in Naples, you don't have to go to the famous restaurants advertised in movies and guides, you can go to any pizzeria in the historic center, where it will be very cozy and delicious. And the simpler the pizzeria is from the outside, the tastier the pizza will be inside. Ice cream is simply ecstasy, it is impossible to resist. Sweets - I have never seen such a choice and variety of flavors anywhere. Coffee is very fragrant, this aroma flys in the air, and everybody says that it is also delicious. Unfortunately, I did not drink it, only smell.

The inner life of the historical center.

Observing each street, and house, residents create an image of the real Naples, with its stories, aromas, sounds, and visual beauty. The endless little streets are filled with souvenir shops, artworks, coffee shops, boulangeries and restaurants, small stalls with sweets and fruits, ice cream at every corner, and of course white and blue ribbons and football flags hanging between the balconies, and laundry hanging from the balconies of all the streets and a huge number of basilicas (temples, cathedrals) everywhere. Italian basilicas have been my love and inspiration since my first trip through northern Italy to Milan, Bergamo, Venice, and Verona. They can be completely unremarkable from the outside, but exquisitely beautiful from the inside, when you feel that you are in another era, you have fallen somewhere between the spaces and now you will meet Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, Raphael and Botticelli, Brunelleschi and Alberti...

If you understand Naples and fall in love with it, then consider that you have known the real Italy, you have felt its Spirit.

July 21, 2023.