Show naples M es and I 1 fi ra M i ua M mt vesuvius Ve as ai seen from naples prepa prepared ed by the national geographic society washington D C not t ti the center arf or the to re W centi cent destructive des tru ethel tillian italian earel carlli qualie quake naples and the town i around its beautiful bay sut suf considerable damage from the tremors and that which harms naples nape with its almost into st per perfect fe et ar kaa un of sky sea und and mountains harms one of the principal journeys jour neis ends of the world anything t fig likely to alter this setting Is ol of more than passing concern to thou sands of former visitors as well veil as to residents when the neapolitan advertises with the sloganeers modesty see naples and then die lie he has in mind of course the city and surroundings taken as a whole the city alone although the largest and most pop ulous in the italian peninsula Is a hedge podge of narrow streets and tenement houses lio uses teeming with life and gaiety sordid yet vet possessed with a vast vitality in buildings and monuments of historic and artistic interest however naples cannot vie with the towns of central and north ern italy naples Is comparatively youn boung 9 among cities of the mediterranean in the eighth century B 0 greek colonists from the near nearby by city of kyme recognized the superior edvan of its great halfmoon half halt moon bay and laid the foundations tor for later roman settlements in time the district be came the favorite residence of roman magnates augustus frequently re sided at naples and VII vliga completed some of his bis most beautiful poetry here bere before the days of a united italy naples was vi ns the capital of the king doin of naples A large royal roial palace with white marble stairways and n throne room filled with art treasures bears witness to its former imperial w wealth balth today naples Is italy s most important seaport connected by fast steamship lines with every part of chii globe its streets are arc lined with will factories large and small while the surrounding farm districts me are fertile and productive As a tourist center it Is surpassed probably only by parts paris dirty out but picturesque for all its commercialism dirt and squalor however naples Is extremely picturesque rising in amphitheater fashion on the slopes of the hills bills in ill tile the northeast corner of the bay of naples tho the city Is full of quaint steep streets where broad steps take the place of the blab paying paving of tile the downtown thoroughfares following the cholera epidemic in 1884 many of the narrow streets and high balconied ed tenement houses were replaced with mth broad avenues and standard build ings ing it Is in the remaining canyon streets sheets however that one finds the most typical neapolitan scenes all naples lives outdoors to cook to work to play to gossip and almost to dress I 1 street singers with their mandolins charcoal sellers and vend ers of sweets and drinks md their colorful bits biti to tile daily pageantry yago pago antry macaroni factories line alie i streets or of the eastern part of tile the city i the fringes of inar marcoll coill on racks collecting a little of tho the dust every passing automobile and push cart stirs up for whatever the elty city lacks in neatness and beauty its famous bay more than makes amends the bay of naples Is a yardstick of marine perfection few who have bavo seen tile the bay of naples will grant unit that it Is eclipsed elsewhere for spa spacious clotis and perfect loveliness its dreamy headlands and the lie incomparable contour of ve divius in the enter center at once dis and sublimate it fascinating to visitors many lovers loveis of italy feel that P a country lite like tuscany tuscan with its softer colorings and gentler contours Is more restful and somehow more wholesome to live with and that the neapolitan scenery Is too much like ilka theater curtains cm bains come to life nevertheless every person who arrives nt at naples under fair skies sides and behold this littoral for the first time cannot help being affected by its loveli loveliness fiess many of the visitors feel something deeper than admiration for them all of the coast scenery from alseno to salerno lias has a strange and lasting fascination then there are the siren worshipers worship erp who have heard alie mystic song and are content to let body and soul rest here forever and to such willing victims of the picturesque naples Is not a noisy nerve racking modern city full of beggars and rogues es and fleas it Is the old new ityl Nen polls in the bay of naples the very atmosphere to such neapolitan specialists c cia lists seems deems more bland and limpid than e elsewhere I 1 on the peninsula lending in t to 0 the distances a more magical and haunting charm the curving share Is picked out and decorated with fill countless beauties and nigh mountains descend abruptly to a sea streaked alth with color in which are set ethereal lilac iliac tinted islands from the monastery of san mar tio t io to overlooking naples a picture s spectacle Is spread the great blue halfmoon half moon bay dotted with red and white sails and surrounded by a mountainous coast line which fringes olt off into the mediterranean hean tit at each end in bocky cocky islets looks more like a stage singe curtain than a reality it Is vesuvius that makes the bay ot of naples lovely colors on t the he bay from vesuvius with the talus ruins of 0 pompeii at its base the eye follows the curving ebore line to the mountainous sorrento peninsula purple and hazy in the distance ending with rocky crags of the island or of capri at sunset sunse tithe the colors are so rich and at the samo same time s so 0 soft it seems hardly possible that they are real the bay Is a rip rippling p ling sheet of gray and green and blue the rocky headlands and islands are aio the hottest and most delicate lavender A rolling stream of purple smoke rises from the crater of vesuvius and heats floats across the sky sk while in the background billowy pink clouds catch the last rays 0 of f tile blood red sun as it drops into the mediterranean to many observers the fairest of 0 the neapolitan gems Is the island of 0 capri capil that lies in the blue waters just off the tip of the lna peninsula from high in ili air to below the waterline v tile the island Is scarred and pitted with myriad vast pock marks some pillared with stalactites arid and stalagmites mites some through which the ne never er quiet sea monna and sols with the agonized wall of a hurt monster one white with little pools of pure sweet water on its floor only a few inches above the sea one ona greener than emerald one blue as heaven with row upon row of delicate dell cata pink corals corald and tiny scarlet jelly fish studding the waterline like jewels while abile the refraction of the sunlight tints everything ever thing with the most marvelously diaphanous color through which the silvery ripples of the bottom sand about 40 feet below seem within arms length back on the mainland the traveler can find bad beauties along tills this delightful coast even south of the bay As he drives up over the crest of the Sorren lne peninsula the siren islands loom in the dist fince too far away for even even the echo of the charmers song to be heard at positano tano the road divides into two white ribbons binding tile the town to the life green hlll side scenes along the coast on by the eaves caves of troglodytes who have all the comforts of home little patches of girden arden diri amiable lable goats olive gloves and frarie g ape arbors the toad road winds in and out up and down the stern face of the cliffs rising ant and sinking in great billowy sweeps plunging hastily through short black tunnels racing around big and little bends now it skirts the shoulder of 0 a cliff with only an 18 inch wall between the wheels and the boulders hundreds of feet below picturesque n watch atch towers ton ers stud the shoie bore an ancient clent defenses against the alie barbary corsairs cor and then presently one once the brave little maritime republic that maintained its independence so long in de defiance flance of princes and ana emperors in a low cleft of the hills bills tile tho houses fairly pile upon one another as though there were not room for them all on the hillside bijack on the mist veiled crags loom other towns and all day long down the road that winds dizzily among the peaks come old women and young girls staggering under tinder heavy loads of fagots fagons gathered in the woods above the clouds and when they are not carrying carril ng fagons fagots they are always alwais knitting even when there Is no warl on the streets in shops gardens fl fishing h boats on tho the beach gossiping by the fountain before the long stair that leads to the stately black and white tini and mosaic cathedral of st andrew |