Naples, the ember under the ashes

July 17 2013

by Laurence Ogiela / TÊTU

Baroque and popular, joyful and noisy, dirty and violent: Naples attracts and worries at the same time. It is not easy for the first person to discover it. You have to discover it step by step. Please don't stop at the overflowing garbage cans and the piles of garbage that litter its streets every time the State and the mafia fight over the lucrative waste market.

Naples is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Castles, baroque palaces, and covered passageways dot the historic center, a Unesco World Heritage Site. Built-in an arena along a magnificent bay, which shelters pearls like the islands of Capri, Ischia, and Procida, the imposing silhouette of Vesuvius dominates it. It is the alliance of water and fire. A giant labyrinth of streets and a tangle of hills that stretch out to the sea.

The Sant'Elmo Castle and the San Martino Carthusian monastery, on the heights of the Vomero hill, offer an impressive view of the sprawling city. In the streets, altars are decorated with pious images of faded Madonnas. It must be said that the city has an incredible number of churches, proof of the religious fervor of the Neapolitans. And of the influence of the Vatican, it's not gay-friendly. The website Gay-Friendly Italy has ranked Naples at level 5 for homophobia (... out of 6), far behind Milan or Rome. However, there is an LGBT community, and if gays live hidden to be happy, you have to knock on the right doors to meet them.

A discreet community
Carlo and Marco, a couple for sixteen years and leaders of the gay association I Ken explain: "In Naples, as in most of Italy, you don't say you're gay, neither in your family nor at work. Here, all gay life is more or less hidden: bars, clubs, as well as specialized stores. But it's no worse than in the country's north where the particularly homophobic Northern League political party won the last elections."

If the local LGBT associations organized a gay pride every year, this Neapolitan pride march would be better followed and more visible recently. "This year, we would like to organize a Mediterranean gay pride, but as with everything here, the internal political dissensions do not help to realize such events."But, for the first time in October 2010, Naples still organized a gay and lesbian film festival.

In general, Neapolitan gays gather in the piccolo ghetto, the nickname given to the pretty piazza Bellini in the historic center. The community takes refuge under the arbors of the café terraces and rubs shoulders with the literary community and students who stroll the stalls of antique book dealers and shops around the square. It is an ideal place to spot beautiful Neapolitans with dark eyes. And a relatively safe place where one does not fear homophobic attacks in a city where any sign of intimacy in public is discouraged.

There are other places to pick up women, such as Piazza del Municipio, Piazza Carlo III, Corso Meridionale, or the Agnano racetrack, but you must be careful. It is better to go out in the discreet but well-established gay bars and clubs such as Macho Lato, Depot (here too!), or The Basement. And get information from local associations for the regularly organized gay parties like Reinas.

Above, the "Campania Pride" in the streets of Naples

Many LGBT establishments ask for the Arcigay membership card. It is valid for one year and costs 15 euros for Italians and 7 euros for foreigners. It is a way to control access to gay establishments and finance the national gay association of the same name, the most important in the fight to defend LGBT rights.

But don't think that Naples has more homophobic attacks than other cities. It is not valid. And above all, let yourself appreciate its beauty even if it is sometimes hidden.

Of course, the elaborate decorations of the Duomo, the Cathedral of Naples, the Palazzo Reale, and the covered gallery Umberto I are worth a visit. But you have to get lost in the streets of Naples to feel its soul. You can't help but appreciate the palazzi, some renovated and others abandoned like endangered masterpieces, testimonies of the city's past splendor.

If Naples is not rich, it is exuberant and full of life. It is a life-size Comedia dell'Arte!