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tour n. 5

From the Spanish Quarters to Piazza Plebiscito
Women actresses, journalists and queens

 

Stages and women characters of the tour

 
 
icona tour 5
  • Teatro Nuovo: Titin de Filippo, Tina Pica, Tecla Scarano
  • Vico Tre Re: Maria Francesca delle 5 Piaghe
  • Church of S. Brigida: Brigida di Svezia
  • Salone Margherita/Galleria Umberto: Elvira Donnarumma
  • Teatro Augusteo: Francesca Bertini, Elvira Notari
  • Piazzetta Matilde Serao: Matilde Serao
  • Off-tour Teatro Metropilitan: Stefania Filo Speziale
  • Church of S. Ferdinando: Lucia Migliaccio
  • S. Carlo Opera House: Laura Beatrice Oliva, Maria Caniglia
  • Royal Palace: Sofonisba Anguissola, Maria Amalia Valpurga of Saxony, Maria Carolina D'Asburgo, Maria Carolina Bonaparte Murat Fondo women's subjectivity
 
 

Tour guide

This last tour is a series of contrasts. In the alleyways of the Spanish Quarters we find ourselves among memories of the 20th-century Neapolitan actresses, who brought the womenc characters of the people of Naples to life, as well as the patron saint of the quarters.
The area between Via Toledo and Piazza Trieste e Trento
is associated with certain protagonists of the Risorgimento, women stars of the theatre and of the city of the first part of the 20th century. When we reach the most prestigious centre of Naples, Piazza del Plebiscito and the Royal Palace, we are reminded of the past queens of the Bourbon era and of the brief Napoleanic era. The Royal Palace today houses the National Library whose connections with women have made it a reference point for enthusiasts and scholars of the history of women in Italy.
The tour begins in an important artery of the city, Via Diaz, which leads down to the left towards Piazza della Borsa away from Via Toledo.
Italian Unity did nothing to change the name to Via Roma: the Neapolitans continue to insist on calling it by the name of the viceroy of Naples Don Pedro de Toledo, the Spanish nobleman who laid the road which was to join the old centre of the city with the viceroy's palace and the outlying suburb of Chiaia, where more and more beautiful villas and aristocratic palaces were built.
After the opening of Via Toledo the area jut above it, where there had been nothing but monasteries, was quickly populated, so much so that the viceroy's government had military baccaks built there, or rather buildings to house the Spanish soldiers, and these came to be called "quarters", where there are still the narrow streets laid out in a characteristic chessboard plan. Around the military, who were almost all merceneries, there began to form a circle of pimps, prostitutes and brothel keepers so that the area very soon acquired a bad name because of the endless brawls, robberies and murders.
Over the centuries the Spanish Quarters have retained the negative connotation deriving from their origin and their history. It is commonly thought of as a very dangerous area where illegality is the order of the day.
There is, however, another side to the quarters, a place where the life of the people is seen in the street-level "bassi" or one-room hovels, whose inhabitants overflow into the streets, streets crowded with people, shops, typical bars and eating-places, streaking cars and mopeds - a whirl of voices, colours and smells which lave the passer-by with a striking image of their real identity.
Our tour takes us into this maze of sidestreets beyond the architectural façade of the noble palaces of Via Toledo and walk up Via Montecalvario until we come to the Teatro Nuovo.