Sunday, June 24, 2012

Crechè Cacaphony in Naples

Dave, Lawrence and I just returned from Naples and a longer post/report is forthcoming. However, in the meantime, I wanted to post a couple of images from a street sprouting off of Piazza San Gaetano, the square where our comfortable bed&breakfast was located within the city's old historic center.

One thing Naples is known for besides pizza is nativity crechès and we were at "ground zero" for such items and all the attendant accoutrement, of which there is--as I learned--an unbelievable amount. This cultural desire for visual abundance, to which I will return later, was a constant thread throughout our entire, fascinating 3-day visit to Naples.

Italian crechè scenes aren't just for the three Wisemen and Shepherds. Above, Dave points out German Chancellor Angela Merkel's statuette, which depicts her smiling and oozing Euros from her pockets and suit collar. (Three figures to her left is Pres. Obama, with his arms crossed) Incidentally, figurines of the former prime minister of Italy (and world-class letch), Silvio Berlusconi, were available at a steep discount.


Another stand's accoutrement...who knew that during their first nights together the Holy Family also had baskets of fruit, bags of legumes, trays of baguettes and crates of sardines?! It's either blasphemy or brilliance! I choose the latter.

A detail of 1 1/2" baskets from the pile-o-plenty above. The little girl in me that once owned a dollhouse wanted one of each!

The stalls that sold these items were endlessly fascinating...and visually overwhelming all at once.

1 comment:

  1. I totally wanted to buy up the baby Jesuses every time we passed by a religious store when we've been in Italy, for the sole purpose of hiding him around the house in honor of my sister and my own longtime tradition of stealing the baby Jesus out of the creche in our nativity scene at home and hiding him places. That was a huge part of holiday fun for me as a kid. My favorite thing about the Gaudi Sagrada Familia is the fact that there are two baby Jesuses in the nativity scene. That is brilliant to me.

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