In 2013, we embarked on an incredible journey to mark our 40th anniversary. Five years later, wanderlust struck again! This is a continuing series. Come along for the ride, will you?
REGION OF CAMPANIA | DREAM TRIP PART VII #dogladysden #travelogues #45thAnniversary
Our 5th port of call was Naples, the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city in Italy, after Rome and Milan. (It would also be the last one on the way back.) My best friend from high school has lived in this area since the 1980s. She met us at the dock and took us on a road trip to Benevento, Montefusco (her hometown), Mirabella Eclano, andTaurasi.
Of course, most people would have visited Pompeii (an UNESCO World Heritage Site, 24 km (15 miles) to the south), but we had been there years earlier, and wanted to see something new.
Founded by Greeks in the first millennium BC, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas in the world. Walking out from the port, we were greeted by the looming Castel Nuovo:
Castel Nuovo ( ‘New Castle’), often called Maschio Angioino is a medieval castle located in front of Piazza Municipio and the city hall (Palazzo San Giacomo) in centralNaples. Its scenic location and imposing size makes the castle, first erected in 1279, one of the main architectural landmarks of the city. It was a royal seat for kings of Naples, Aragon and Spain until 1815.
It is the headquarters of Società Napoletana di Storia Patria (Neapolitan Society of Homeland History) and of the Naples Committee of the IstituTto per la storia del Risorgimento italiano (Institute for the History of the Italian Risorgimento). The complex also houses the civic museum, which includes the Palatine Chapel and the museum paths on the first and second floors. – Wikipedia
Benevento (“good wind”), originally called Maleventum (“ill wind”), evolved from a Samnite settlement (until 314 BCE) to a flourishing Roman colony (314 BCE to 537), It later became the capital of a powerful Lombard duchy (571-1077), and eventually a papal state (1077-1860), before joining Italy in 1860.
Sculpted relief depicting a sacrifice.Emperor Trajan feeding the poor.
First stop: The Arch of Trajan
Built between 114 and 117, it was erected in honour of the Emperor Trajan across the Via Appia, at the point where it enters the city.
The arch has a single, barrel-vaulted archway, and is 15.60 m high and 8.60 m wide. It is built in limestone covered by marble slabs, with richly sculpted decorations on the two main façades.
On the left (from inside the city) is the Sacrifice for the opening of the Via Traiana, with the emperor flanked by lictors, while on the right is the Institution of the Alimenta (a beneficent institution created by Trajan to help children, symbolized by pieces of bread on the table in the centre.
It was restored several times due to ageing and earthquakes. In 1850, on the occasion of Pope Pius IX’s visit to Benevento, it was isolated through demolition of the adjoining buildings. –Wikipedia
Benevento Street Views [click on images to view original size and read the captions]
Montefusco stands on a hill, approximately 700 m above sea level, in the mountainous area of Surte, between the provinces of Avellino and Benevento. In the absence of written sources, many difficulties have been encountered in tracing its history prior to the Lombard age.
The Lombard Age in Italy refers to the period from 568 to 774 when the Lombards, a Germanic people, established a kingdom in the Italian peninsula, with Pavia as its capital. Their rule ended with the Frankish conquest led by Charlemagne.
Beautiful scenery en route!
Snapshots ofMontefusco [click on images to view original size and read the captions]
The Bourbon Prison
During the failed revolution of Naples in 1799, the dungeons of the Montefusco Castle were transformed into a prison. It became famous when political prisoners were jailed there by the Bourbons throughout the revolutions of 1848.
The notoriety of the cruel prison regime, in addition to the extreme hardships of prison life, led to the motto: “Chi trase a Montefusco e po se n’esce po di che nterra nata vote nasce” whose meaning could be translated this way “Anyone who comes to Montefusco and then manages to leave can say that he was born again”.
It remained a prison until 1923, when it was finally closed, then declared a National Monument in 1928. In 1997, it became a civic museum and houses the Montefusco Town Hall.
Mirabella Eclano is an ancient, historical town, but we didn’t have time for a tour. Instead, we visited its other claim to fame, as you’ll see below.
More beautiful scenery along the way!
A Yearly Spectacle
LaGrande Tirata (The Great Pull) is a popular religious event that takes place every third Saturday in September, in honour of Our Lady of Sorrows.
This folkloric activity involves a 25-meter (82 ft.) high obelisk completely covered in straw, hand-woven by local artisans. It is carried through the streets on a cart, pulled by 6 pairs of oxen (alternatively a tractor), and a multitude of men.
The “funaioli“ (men employed to pull the cart) must carry the obelisk along the streets without dropping it. According to superstition, if it falls, catastrophe ensues! In 1881 and 1961, the float struck the ground. Was it mere coincidence that a province-wide famine followed in 1882, and an earthquake in 1962?
It is one of the most famous events in southern Italy, lasting about five hours. On average, around 20,000 people, including locals and tourists, participate each year.
Taurasi boasts a rich history of winemaking dating back to 800 BC, with the area under Greek and Roman leadership. It is known for its Aglianico-based red wine, Taurasi DOCG
Taurasi Street Views [click on images to view original size and read the captions]
Dog Mom and (retired) Canine Innkeeper in suburban Toronto, Canada, known as The Doglady. Former corporate workaholic. Writer, photographer, digital creator. Animal lover, music fanatic, inveterate traveller. Eternal hippie/rockchick. History, literature and cinema buff. Hockey and soccer fan. Dedicated night owl. German/Canadian binational, multilingual. Let me entertain you!
Thanks, Denise! I’m glad you enjoyed it. 😀 It took me a couple of weeks, but I’m determined to finish recording the entire trip. Something to reminisce about in later years.
Wow!! Thanks for the tour, Deb! We never went to the south of Italy, only saw Genoa, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Sienna, and Rome. So I’m very curious about this part. Italy is so beautiful, with a lot of interesting historical sites and great culture and architecture. Not to mention, the art…
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it, Barb. 😀 You’ve seen some wonderful places as well, but then, all of Italy is magical! 💖 Of course, I’m a little biased, having married into an Italian family.
What an amazing job you did putting this post together! I know this took hours, days, perhaps weeks. It would me, anyhow. To be greeted by the sight of Castel Nuovo must’ve been amazing. I love seeing old architecture across the ocean. It’s so different from many of our historical buildings. And, the stone-laid streets are charming! The ceiling fresco is something I would love to see. It’s amazing to think of the neck breaking hours put in to create these type of art works. Another very interesting piece of art is the obelisk. That’s incredible and it so big! Too bad y’all missed seeing the event by a mere day. It’s probably just as well judging by the crowd, it had to be a crazy mess. The scenic snapshots along your drive captured the area and I know it was enthralling to soak up every moment spent taking in the countryside. Thanks for sharing another page in your beautiful trip, Debbie!
Thank you so much Cathy! 🙂 Yes, this one took a couple of weeks to put together, because there was so much ground to cover. Those ceiling frescoes are amazing and the photos don’t do them justice. I didn’t even realize we had missed the straw tower procession by one day until I started researching it for this post. You’re right – it would have been a madhouse! 😆 I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
You have been in so many beautiful places and shot amazing photos. You have worked really much for this post, but it has been worth of it, looks really great. There are many amazing pictures but for some reason ”Through the dirty cabin window” is my favorite, it has that something which attracts me. Very well narrated post, great job Debbie👍
Thank you, Jean! 🙂 Yes, this travelogue was more complicated than some others, and took a long time to complete. I’m glad you enjoyed it and I can see how that dirty window shot would be interesting.
This is a wonderful recap of your time spent in the Region of Campania on your anniversary trip – very memorable I’m sure Debbie. I liked how you showed the photo, gave some history and identified them. This would have been a big project for you to complete here in WP. It is easier to do a big trip like this in various portions. I follow a Canadian blogger and she and her husband travel all over the world. She put her trip to Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries/ports into multiple parts unlike her other trips – I saw while scrolling down in Reader that she is on part 27 tonight.
I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, Linda! 🙂 It is more involved than some of the other travelogues, and took a couple of weeks to complete, but that’s okay. I have plenty of file space to spare and my images are all optimized, so there hopefully aren’t any issues with WordPress. (MInd you, I had some unrelated technical problems recently.) I’ll be sticking to the one post per port formula as it makes for a better presentation. I also plan to turn them all into PDFs at some later date for my personal files.
I did enjoy it Debbie – it was an in-depth tour and very comprehensive. I thought of you earlier today as there was a cable car accident in Naples. Scary. Was it you and I that discussed taking a funicular ride up a mountain once? I am glad you were able to fix your tech problems. At WP’s suggestion, I am turning off the VPN to comment/reply and create posts to see if it stops the quirkiness. So we’ll see how that goes … simple fixes I will try, the others I will think twice before messing with it. Yes, that works well with only one port. I mentioned fellow blogger Susan and her last trip which is in over 25 segments/posts to date. She will leaving for vacation in Paris soon.
I hadn’t heard about the cable car accident. Hope nobody was seriously injured! Don’t recall a conversation about a funicular ride, but we talked about the gondola in Tyrol. From my experience, VPNs can be quirky, so I hope the suggestion to turn yours off worked well! When it comes to fiddling with the inner workings of WordPress, I’m pretty fearless, and that gets me into trouble occasionally. 😆 Fortunately, the hosting company is only a phone call away and they’re able to fix what I messed up. A vacation in Paris would be nice. I haven’t been there since 1966.
Well I just Googled and “The Guardian” says four people were killed and multiple people were critically injured when a cable came loose. It happened on Monte Faito in the town of Castellammare di Stabia, which they said was near Naples. That’s right – it was the gondola ride in Tyrol. I think we were fearless on these rides … now I know I overthink things. I read a lot of comments on “X” after the helicopter crash in the Hudson River a few weeks ago. I don’t think I’d have done a helicopter ride in my youth. A fellow blogger went on a hot air balloon ride last year on her birthday and gave a step-by-step account of the ride … it looked fun, but I don’t know if I would do it.
So far turning the VPN off has been working well for comments and replies to comments … it beats having multiple tabs open to “like”. Fearless is good for computer use. 🙂 Not long after I began blogging I hit a stray key and accidentally turned on italics. I used a quote at the end of a post and italicized it. The next/new post I created had italics. It was not as simple as blocking the text and clicking “control and I” … nope, this was some key combo that created a code and I had to have the WP Happiness engineers find it … I never used italics for the longest times after that.
I’ve never been to Paris. Susan says the weather in Europe, Paris included, is nice now … she lives in Ontario, like you (Trenton) and has mentioned the weather, same as yours – ugly.
Deb, thanks for taking us on this amazing mini tour. I’ve been to Italy twice and hoping to get back. I’d never been to Naples, but I love Tuscany. Thanks for sharing your treasured memories with us. <3
I’ve never been to Naples or Campania. I’ve been to Rome and the Vatican. That was an amazing 40 anniversary trip. Naples seems like a very beautiful city. Your photographs were amazing, as usual.
Rome is magnificent, to be sure, but the rest of Italy is also amazing. 💖 Of course, I’m a little biased, having married into an Italian family. 😀 I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, Thomas! More to come – eventually.
The only place in Italy I have ever been to is Rome. It was truly wonderful, but I am still jealous of the other lovely places featured here, Debbie.
Best wishes, Pete.
Rome is magnificent, for sure, but the rest of Italy is also amazing. 💖 Of course, I’m a little biased, having married into an Italian family. 😀 I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, Pete! More to come – eventually. P.S. I see you have a new serial going on. I’m trying to catch up this week.
Wow, Debbie, …I feel I’ve been on an amazing & adventurous trip without leaving my seat, … I’ll be dropping by again to click some more, …have a fantastic Tuesday, …💫🤗💫💙💫
I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, Penny! 🙂 More to come, but it could be awhile. These travelogues take forever to put together. In the meantime, you’ll find plenty of previous ones on the blog. Thanks for coming by!
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33 thoughts on “REGION OF CAMPANIA | DREAM TRIP PART VII”
Wow! This was lovely. I can’t even begin to imagine how long it took to put this post together.
Thanks, Denise! I’m glad you enjoyed it. 😀 It took me a couple of weeks, but I’m determined to finish recording the entire trip. Something to reminisce about in later years.
Wow, Debbie, this is a fabulous post! I am going to bookmark it so I can spend more time reading it. Thank you for sharing your amazing trip!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Eugi! Thanks for coming by. There will be more to come. 🙂
You’re welcome, Debbie! I enjoy your posts about your travels. 😊
Wow!! Thanks for the tour, Deb! We never went to the south of Italy, only saw Genoa, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Sienna, and Rome. So I’m very curious about this part. Italy is so beautiful, with a lot of interesting historical sites and great culture and architecture. Not to mention, the art…
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it, Barb. 😀 You’ve seen some wonderful places as well, but then, all of Italy is magical! 💖 Of course, I’m a little biased, having married into an Italian family.
What an amazing job you did putting this post together! I know this took hours, days, perhaps weeks. It would me, anyhow. To be greeted by the sight of Castel Nuovo must’ve been amazing. I love seeing old architecture across the ocean. It’s so different from many of our historical buildings. And, the stone-laid streets are charming! The ceiling fresco is something I would love to see. It’s amazing to think of the neck breaking hours put in to create these type of art works. Another very interesting piece of art is the obelisk. That’s incredible and it so big! Too bad y’all missed seeing the event by a mere day. It’s probably just as well judging by the crowd, it had to be a crazy mess. The scenic snapshots along your drive captured the area and I know it was enthralling to soak up every moment spent taking in the countryside. Thanks for sharing another page in your beautiful trip, Debbie!
Thank you so much Cathy! 🙂 Yes, this one took a couple of weeks to put together, because there was so much ground to cover. Those ceiling frescoes are amazing and the photos don’t do them justice. I didn’t even realize we had missed the straw tower procession by one day until I started researching it for this post. You’re right – it would have been a madhouse! 😆 I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
I know what you mean about the frescoes. I can only imagine how amazing they were to see first hand!
You have been in so many beautiful places and shot amazing photos. You have worked really much for this post, but it has been worth of it, looks really great. There are many amazing pictures but for some reason ”Through the dirty cabin window” is my favorite, it has that something which attracts me. Very well narrated post, great job Debbie👍
Thank you, Jean! 🙂 Yes, this travelogue was more complicated than some others, and took a long time to complete. I’m glad you enjoyed it and I can see how that dirty window shot would be interesting.
This is a wonderful recap of your time spent in the Region of Campania on your anniversary trip – very memorable I’m sure Debbie. I liked how you showed the photo, gave some history and identified them. This would have been a big project for you to complete here in WP. It is easier to do a big trip like this in various portions. I follow a Canadian blogger and she and her husband travel all over the world. She put her trip to Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries/ports into multiple parts unlike her other trips – I saw while scrolling down in Reader that she is on part 27 tonight.
I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, Linda! 🙂 It is more involved than some of the other travelogues, and took a couple of weeks to complete, but that’s okay. I have plenty of file space to spare and my images are all optimized, so there hopefully aren’t any issues with WordPress. (MInd you, I had some unrelated technical problems recently.) I’ll be sticking to the one post per port formula as it makes for a better presentation. I also plan to turn them all into PDFs at some later date for my personal files.
I did enjoy it Debbie – it was an in-depth tour and very comprehensive. I thought of you earlier today as there was a cable car accident in Naples. Scary. Was it you and I that discussed taking a funicular ride up a mountain once? I am glad you were able to fix your tech problems. At WP’s suggestion, I am turning off the VPN to comment/reply and create posts to see if it stops the quirkiness. So we’ll see how that goes … simple fixes I will try, the others I will think twice before messing with it. Yes, that works well with only one port. I mentioned fellow blogger Susan and her last trip which is in over 25 segments/posts to date. She will leaving for vacation in Paris soon.
I hadn’t heard about the cable car accident. Hope nobody was seriously injured! Don’t recall a conversation about a funicular ride, but we talked about the gondola in Tyrol. From my experience, VPNs can be quirky, so I hope the suggestion to turn yours off worked well! When it comes to fiddling with the inner workings of WordPress, I’m pretty fearless, and that gets me into trouble occasionally. 😆 Fortunately, the hosting company is only a phone call away and they’re able to fix what I messed up. A vacation in Paris would be nice. I haven’t been there since 1966.
Well I just Googled and “The Guardian” says four people were killed and multiple people were critically injured when a cable came loose. It happened on Monte Faito in the town of Castellammare di Stabia, which they said was near Naples. That’s right – it was the gondola ride in Tyrol. I think we were fearless on these rides … now I know I overthink things. I read a lot of comments on “X” after the helicopter crash in the Hudson River a few weeks ago. I don’t think I’d have done a helicopter ride in my youth. A fellow blogger went on a hot air balloon ride last year on her birthday and gave a step-by-step account of the ride … it looked fun, but I don’t know if I would do it.
So far turning the VPN off has been working well for comments and replies to comments … it beats having multiple tabs open to “like”. Fearless is good for computer use. 🙂 Not long after I began blogging I hit a stray key and accidentally turned on italics. I used a quote at the end of a post and italicized it. The next/new post I created had italics. It was not as simple as blocking the text and clicking “control and I” … nope, this was some key combo that created a code and I had to have the WP Happiness engineers find it … I never used italics for the longest times after that.
I’ve never been to Paris. Susan says the weather in Europe, Paris included, is nice now … she lives in Ontario, like you (Trenton) and has mentioned the weather, same as yours – ugly.
Deb, thanks for taking us on this amazing mini tour. I’ve been to Italy twice and hoping to get back. I’d never been to Naples, but I love Tuscany. Thanks for sharing your treasured memories with us. <3
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Deb! 🙂 IMO, every part of Italy is magical. 💖 Of course, I’m a little biased, having married into an Italian family. 😀
I’m not even Italian and I so agree with you!!! 🙂 Happy Easte <3
Very cool! Thankls for the explanation on Benevento, I’d often seen it on historical maps of the 18th-19th century.
I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, Chris! 🙂 Yes, Benevento is historically significant
I’ve never been to Naples or Campania. I’ve been to Rome and the Vatican. That was an amazing 40 anniversary trip. Naples seems like a very beautiful city. Your photographs were amazing, as usual.
Rome is magnificent, to be sure, but the rest of Italy is also amazing. 💖 Of course, I’m a little biased, having married into an Italian family. 😀 I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, Thomas! More to come – eventually.
The only place in Italy I have ever been to is Rome. It was truly wonderful, but I am still jealous of the other lovely places featured here, Debbie.
Best wishes, Pete.
Rome is magnificent, for sure, but the rest of Italy is also amazing. 💖 Of course, I’m a little biased, having married into an Italian family. 😀 I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, Pete! More to come – eventually. P.S. I see you have a new serial going on. I’m trying to catch up this week.
What a wonderful adventure. Love all the beautiful photography. A trip I’d love to take with hubby.
Have a fabulous day and week, Debbie. Big hug. ♥
Thank you, Sandee! 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed the tour. Hugs back!
What a wealth of information and photos! Thank you for all the work you put into sharing your adventures.
My pleasure, Becky! 🙂 Thank you for taking the tour.
Wow, Debbie, …I feel I’ve been on an amazing & adventurous trip without leaving my seat, … I’ll be dropping by again to click some more, …have a fantastic Tuesday, …💫🤗💫💙💫
I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, Penny! 🙂 More to come, but it could be awhile. These travelogues take forever to put together. In the meantime, you’ll find plenty of previous ones on the blog. Thanks for coming by!
Always a pleasure, Debbie… 💫🤗💫