Diego Ottaviano of The Cult of Calcio, currently residing in the Netherlands, returned home to take in the sights and sounds of Napoli ahead of the Partenopei’s clash with. Forza Napoli Press joined Diego for a stroll through the historic Quartieri Spagnoli.
Our journey begins at the Osteria Atri, about 15 minutes (by foot) north of the Quartieri Spagnoli. After a hearty plate of pasta e patate con provola – we need to carb-up for the long day ahead – we get our first sighting of El Diego, omnipresent in the City of Napoli. A few more sightings of Maradona (along with some friends) are just next door at the Portico 340. Indeed, Diego will accompany us throughout this journey.
A minute walk to the east along Via dei Tribunali would take us to the Santuario Di San Gaetano da Thiene, the resting place of San Gaetano. Two minutes east of that is the famous Madonna con la pistola (Madonna with a gun) by Bansky in the Piazza dei Gerolomini. As you will see, street art is both encouraged and embraced in the Spanish Quarters, as it is in all of Naples. But we’re not heading east. We’re heading west towards Via Toledo and then south to the Quartieri.
As our journey has only just begun, we have time for our first detour of the day – a winding fifteen minute taxi ride to Vomero. The uphill trek to the Castel Sant’Elmo is well worth the effort. The air is brisk as we take in the breath-taking views of Mount Vesuvius across the Gulf of Naples.
After taking in the sights, we descend to reality and return to Via Toledo. For many, the Quartieri Spagnoli is synonymous with the Murales Diego Armando Maradona. In actuality, it is significantly larger, spanning 800,000 square meters, with pleasant surprises waiting around its many, many corners.
If you’re looking to shop, then Via Toledo is the way to go. If you’re looking for culture, as we are, it’s best to go off the beaten path. Laid out in a grid, the options are endless. We head south on Via Speranzella, where we catch a glimpse of days past.
This small Scudetto mural, at the corner of Via Speranzella and Via Montecalvario, looks like it might have been painted in 1987 – shortly after Diego first delivered glory to this wonderful city. We later found a tribute to Napoli’s second Scudetto, hanging on a wall at Vico 2° Montecalvario. With Napoli currently 18 points clears of their nearest rival, many are planning festivities for the highly anticipated third Scudetto. Patrick Kendrick, conference interpreter and football commentator on the English world feed, recently visited the Quartieri Spagnoli, snapping a picture of some new flags to complete the set.
A few steps south, at Via Speranzella and Vico Teatro Nuovo, we find, side-by-side, Neapolitans’ two favourite, international icons: Diego Maradona and Sophia Loren. In 2021, while on board the inaugural sailing of the MSC Seashore, Loren described her favourite place to travel to Travel + Leisure.
“I am very close to where I was born so for me it’s always Naples. Even though I’ve seen it so many times, it’s incredible. Each time I pretend it’s the first time because you discover things that maybe sometimes you didn’t know exist. It’s not where I was born, but it’s where I was living all of my childhood.”
Loren, who was born in Rome but was raised by her grandmother in Pozzuoli, has been the godmother of MSC Cruises since 2003; the same MSC Cruises on the front of the SSC Napoli shirt.
We need to head west, as a visit to the Murales Diego Armando Maradona is a must when in the Spanish Quarters. There’s no better route than Via Portacarrese in Montecalvario, where we’re served an antipasto of murals. Born in the district of Sanità, Antonio “Totò” De Curtis was one of Italy’s most famous comedians, but he was also an actor, screenwriter, poet and songwriter. This 100 meter stretch on Portacarrese, which has been transformed into an open-air museum, showcases Totò’s flexibility as an actor through the variety of roles he portrayed over his 100-film career.
Vico Totò (Totò’s alley) begins at the intersection of Portacarrese and Vico Lungo, where we find the first of Luca Carnevale’s Humanhero series: Totò as Superman. Further down the alley, Carnevale portrays Peppino De Filippo as Batman, Titina De Filippo as a member of the Fantastic Four and Nino Taranto as the Flash.
Immediately adjacent to Carnevale’s Superman is Lino Ozon’s Lola. Totò dressed in drag to play Lolita, one of his many disguises in Totofraffa ’62 (Toto Scam ’62), featuring Nino Taranto. Ozon spray-painted another character from Totofraffa ’62 further down the way: l’ambrasciatore di Catonga (the ambassador of Catonga).
Next to Lolita is Stefano Gallucci’s Le mille facce di Totò su vinile (The many faces of Totò on vinyl) – a silhouette of Totò, infilled with a variety of the actor’s movie posters. On the opposite side is Mario Castri Farina’s Poesia alla madre – a murales that best captures Encyclopedia Britannica’s description of Totò as “an unsmiling but sympathetic bourgeois figure”. Next to it is a quote:
“The most sincere thing is that I have a girl who my whole life. Now she’s seventy years old, my poor mother! With that waxen face, under her yellowing hair, she looks like St. Anne with sad and tired eyes. She reads my thoughts, looks at me and guesses if I have a pain or if I have some thorn…”
After we walk past Brasiliano’s Totò sulla Luna (Totò on the Moon) – a depiction of the film Totò nella Luna (Totò in the moon) – we come upon the famous lettera al minatore (letter to the miner) from “Totò, Peppino e i fuori legge” (“Totò, Peppino and the Outlaws) featuring Peppino De Filippo. Just above it is Truccio’s Totò in blu e nero (Totò in blue and black).
“Madam, you are almost a widow and you truly will be one if you do not bring five million in cash to the well of toads tonight. No jokes. When you arrive, blindfold your face as the less you see, the better!”
Next to the letter is Carletto Formisano’s Totò a colori fluo (Totò in fluorescent colors), a nod to the first Italian film shot with the Ferraniacolor system, Totò a colori (Totò in colour).
Adjacent to the colours is Nicola Masuottolo’s Totò “forza Napoli” pazzariello from the six-part episodic film L’Oro di Napoli (The gold of Naples), with a modified sash. Beyond that is Michele Wuk’s Totò con la papalina: “L’educazione non passa mai di moda” (Totò with the skullcap: “Education never goes out of style”), across from Demon’s Uno stradario di Totò (A street directory of Totò).
We could spend an entire day in Totò alley, but we’ll have to quickly stroll past the many works of art, including:
- Genny Spray’s Stemma de Curtis (De Curtis coat of arms);
- Cinese/Mario Art’s Il capitalismo spiegato da Totò e Peppino (Capitalism explained by Totò and Peppino);
- Massi Elle’s Totò Picassiano (Totò a la Picasso);
- Genny Spray’s Totò Beige;
- Pasquale Manzo’s Totò guarrattella con la palla rossa (Totò guards with the red ball);
- Giacomo Barone’s Totò in poliuretano espanso (Totò in polyurethane foam) and Stefano Gallucci’s Tipografia Lo Turco (The Turk Typography);
- Michele Wuk’s E’ meglio o cane ca tu
- Davide Zeka’s Totò Iettatore (Totò Jinx);
- 3SHA’s Totò Turco (Totò Turk);
- Lino Raimondi’s Totò Dalì; and
- Salvatore Iodice’s Tutte le strade portano a Totò (All roads lead to Totò)
We do have time to stop and appreciate a few more works though. As we approach the end of the alley, we come upon Massi Elle’s Gigantografie Totò, Peppino e Nino (Blowups of Totò, Peppino and Nino) and Giovanni Lucarelli’s Lucarè Ink – Cuore analfabeta (Lucarè Ink – Illiterate heart). Lucarelli’s work features a lyric from a song by the same title. Though sung by Claudio Villa, Illiterate Heart was written by Totò, who never graduated from high school.
Next to that is Davide Zeka’s Totò prete (Totò the priest). Finally, as we arrive at the end of the alley, we find Mr. Pencil’s ‘A matt’!!, depicting Totò as the King of Suns; fittingly, a card to which any value can be attributed depending on the players’ needs.
We come out of the Vico Totò only a minute walk away (south via Via Concordia) from the shrine of all murals in the city. The Murales Diego Armando Maradona is at the heart of the Quartieri Spagnoli (both literally and figuratively). The murales was originally painted by Mario Filardi in 1990 to honour Napoli’s second Scudetto. After years of deterioration, it was restored by Argentine artist Francisco Bosoletti. Since the passing of Maradona in 2020, the Murales has become a literal shrine for the Napoli legend.
Though Maradona is the grandest, three other Napoli greats are painted along the walls of Via Emanuele de Deo, all works of Leone Peretti. Heading east, we first pass Dries ‘Ciruzzz’ Mertens with the caption, “Il miglior goleador della storia del Napoli, GRANDE” (“The best goal-scorer in the history of Naples, GREAT”. Next is former club captain Lorenzo ‘il magnifico’ Insigne who, having been born in Naples, bears the caption, “Sei uno di noi” (“You are one of us”). Finally, we find another former captain, Marek ‘Marechiaro’ Hamsik, who, having made the most appearances in the history of the club, bears the caption, “sei la storia del Napoli, GRAZIE” (you are the history of Naples, THANK YOU”).
On the wall opposite of Diego’s mural, Peretti has depicted three more Napoli legends off the pitch: Pino Daniele – Napoli’s most revered musician – and actors Massimo Troisi and Totò (who we’re already quite familiar with). The captions are a creative extension of Pino Daniele’s song I say ‘i’ sto ccà’.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen some of these faces. In the area immediately surrounding the Murales Maradonda, we’ve spotted more of their murals, both individually and altogether. This entranceway also features Eduardo De Filippo, brother of Peppino, and a few sites we’ll visit later on our journey.
As we exit the Murales Maradona, there are plenty of tributes to the current Napoli squad, who are on the verge of delivering to the city its first Scudetto in 33 years. Even club president Aurelio De Laurentiis, often despised by the locals, is getting some love. This plaque is proudly posted outside a Tabacchi & Lotto shop on Via Emanuele de Deo.
“Thank you! Thank you for believing in a unique dream that only a farsighted man like you could see. Thank you for putting up with so many Neapolitans whose only escape was to win, and who have never watched the growth of a sporting reality that is always growing and spreading its wings as a great entrepreneur. Thanks again for talking about Naples around the world. Thank you President Aurelio de Laurentiis, you will always be my president. Thank you!”
Like the hanging Buitoni shirts we spotted at Via Speranzella, arranged as a starting XI, the shirts of the current squad are hanging at Vico Canale a Taverna Penta, along with a variety of scarves.
After a long afternoon of site-seeing, we head south to Cor’E Napule Pizzeria & Friggitoria for lunch. With bellies full, it’s time for a little fun, rearranging the lifesize cutouts of the Napoli players which have appeared on the stairs of Vico Colonne in Cariati.
Though there’s plenty more we have yet to see, we return to Via Toledo and exit the Quartieri Spagnoli. Looking back a Vico Tofa, we are reminded time and time again who reigns supreme in the Spanish Quarters.
We have a few more stops before today’s journey draws to an end. First, we visit the luxurious Gran Caffè Gambrinus for an espresso and sfogliatella frolla. Indeed, with La Festa di San Giuseppe approaching, the zeppole are tempting.
The menu also features a Caffè Totò: a 50’s and 60’s style Scarffariello “which, as the name implies, must be rigorously heated with the steamer, as well as being “scrambled” by the bartender with sugar and cocoa. All decorated with the “Cappello di Totò” (a chocolate prepared with the dough of caprese cake covered with chocolate)”. Curiously, the menu does not feature a Caffè De Filippo – Eduardo loved his coffee.
On our way out, we drop our receipts into the open lid of the large, brass Neapolitan coffee pot sitting in the corner. Of course, that’s because we each ordered a sospeso – a Neapolitan tradition that dates back to the 1800’s. That is, we ordered two coffees, consumed one and suspended the other, to be consumed later by someone who could use a little help.
As Neapolitan writer, actor, director and engineer Luciano De Crescenzo once wrote, “When a Neapolitan is happy, for some reason he decides to offer a coffee to a stranger because it is like offering a coffee to the rest of the world.”
Around the corner from Gambrinus is the Piazza del Plebiscito. The square is full of history and art, from Don Pedro de Toledo to the Spanish Habsburgs, before being inhabited by the Bourbons. Finally, upon the unification of Italy, it came into the possession of the royal princes of the House of Savoy. The 25,000 square meter piazza was renovated and pedestrianized in 1994 in anticipation of the G7 summit. It is now the perfect place to kick around a Super Santos ball with the little ones.
If we had time, we would visit the nearby Galleria Borbonica – a vast series of underground tunnels originally constructed, at the request of King Ferdinand II of Bourbon, to connect the Royal Palace of Naples with the military barracks in Naples. Alas, we’ll have to save that for our next visit. Instead, we’ll head west on Via Chiaia to take in some very recent history.
Maradona’s former agent, Stefano Ceci, is at the Napoli shop on Via Chiaia, showcasing a limited edition sculpture of El Pibe D’oro’s famous left foot.
A few meters beyond the shop is the Chiaia bridge at Ponte di Chiaia, constructed in 1836 to connect the San Carlo area to the hill of Pizzofalcone.
If we head south towards the shore we’d find a gorgeous view of the Castel dell’Ovo. Instead, we’ve got another castle in our sights. We head back east Via Gennaro Serra, past the Piazza del Plebiscito, towards Via Vittorio Emanuele III. We pass the famous Teatro San Carlo – the oldest continuously active opera venue in the world, having opened in 1737 – and arrive at our final destination: the Castel Nuovo.
Often called the Maschio Angioino, the Castel Nuovo was first constructed in 1279, shortly after Charles I of Anjou came into power and moved the capital of Sicily from Palermo to Naples. The castle was later renovated and expanded by King Charles II of Naples, and then again by Robert of Anjou, King of Naples.
However, the Castel Nuovo didn’t take its current form, including its large courtyard and five round towers, until 1443, when Alfonzo V of Aragorn conquered the throne of Naples. The castle was renovated for a final time by Ferdinand I of Two Sicilies, after it was proclaimed the birthplace of the Parthenopean Republic. Rich in history, just about every royal family of Naples has passed through this castle at some point since its construction.
Alas, our journey comes to an end. We’ve covered 7 kms, and yet it feels like we’ve only just scratched the surface. As Sophia said, each visit feels like a first; there’s always something new to discover!
This is the wonderful città that is Napoli. Locals hold its history in high regard and deeply respect icons from all walks of life who have made it grand. Napoli is life- it is culture and it is depth. Long live all things Napoli, sempre! 💙