San Lorenzo Quarter, Naples

We can't leave our memories of Naples without a stroll through the astonishing San Lorenzo Quarter.

Unlike the Spanish Quarter, it has few tourists, though the teeming Via Tribunali is just a few blocks away.

Streets are narrow

and dense with residential dwellings.

The Neapolitan sun with its sharp contrasts,

dramatizes the textures of the centuries old walls.

You will find family life here, not other tourists.

As photographers, Bill and I found much to treasure.

This is a poster for the nearby Neapolitan Sacred Art shop.

It is possible that San Lorenzo has more street shrines than any other area of Naples. Bill has a large shrine above

and at eye level a small shrine depicting the Holy Souls in Purgatory roasting in their purifying flames.

The Quarter is dotted with small, independant workshops,

with their street doors welcomingly open.

We watched as locals festooned the streets for the upcoming Serie A soccer championship.

Much to fall in love with in the San Lorenzo Quarter.

A barber pole painted on this glass shop front put diagonal lines on the customer within who had taken off his shirt to brush himself off. Thank you, Photo Gods!

The busy Via Duomo caught us up once more in the thrilling noise and crush of Naples once again.

Some Neapolitan Shops

Dispaccio is Naples' best art book store (33 via Luigi Settembrini, near MADRE, the contemporary art museum).

Ivano Bove opened the shop in 2025. He has a stunning collection and he knows his books.

Happily, Dispaccio was minutes from our apartment.

We dropped in every evening, and came home with great books and good local sightseeing suggestions.

Just down the street from Dispaccio we found this elegant dog on guard in front of his master's fabric shop.

Bill and I keep our hair short so our cuts need attention every three weeks.

We like our barber shops cheap and cheerful. Bill is getting exactly the haircut he asked for at this via del Zita shop.

And he looks terrific springing out of the chair.

Another Neapolitan barber shop featured the heads of soccer players: anyone for a Dybala?

On the Spaccanapoli at via San Gregorio Armeno, we found a Tombola shop. Tombola, similar to our bingo, is a popular Neapolitan Christmas game.

Nearby, this pop up shop was selling soccer merch for the upcoming Serie A championship (which Naples won).

Maradona is still the ultimate Neapolitan soccer hero. Maradona merchandise is everywhere.

I had not known that I needed Elizabeth II and Pope Francis action figures until I visited Naples. Now I know.

We were charmed by the antiques at the Neapolitan Sacred Art shop in the San Lorenzo Quarter.

Look at this amazing shop window!

Steps away was this old-fashioned print shop.

At the end of the day we always made our way home past a thicket of wedding shops around the Duomo.

Neapolitan Religious Sculpture

Neapolitan religious sculpture begins at home.

In the hall leading to our rented apartment in Naples Bill and I found a Pieta and a Madonna on duty.

I will say that our electronics functioned flawlessly.

The domestic religious impulse also puts statues, like this exuberant Mary, Queen of Heaven, on the street.

In the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie on via Toledo we found two images of Mary in vitrines. Here is the ever popular Mary as the Madonna with child.

Nearby we find the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Each of the swords represents a painful scene in the life of her Son. The theatricality of her suffering feels Spanish to me.

We found another suffering figure in a vitrine in SS Filippo e Giacomo. We could classify this statue as Christ Mocked.

Spanish religious artists always emphasize the suffering of the figures. Spain ruled Naples throughout the Baroque.

Also behind glass, in San Nicola alla Carita', an enormous reliquary, resting place for two saints, both with skulls and bones on display to inspire pious reflection.

We found this window full of votive offerings in the church of Gesù Nuovo: each acknowledges an answered prayer. 

Bill and I found reliquaries in the Cloister Museum of Santa Chiara: Santa Thegla (above)  and Santa Fortunata (below).

Their eyes and hands invite us to venerate the relics that were once held in their hearts.

Bill and I love the use of a starburst behind a saint. Here's a nice one in the ambulatory of San Lorenzo Maggiore

Bill noticed that the starburst is not attached to the saint but is separate and has its own stand

This clunky freestanding starburst is in San Domenico Maggiore. And here is San Domenico below.

He has a dog at his feet. I looked up St Domenic in The Golden Legend, the 13th C. standard reference on the lives of the saints. Bill persuaded me to quote in full:

"Before he was born, his mother dreamed that she carried in her womb a little dog which held a lighted torch in his mouth, and when the dog came forth from her womb, he set fire to the whole fabric of the world." Welcome to Naples.

Neapolitan Courtyards

The historic centre of Naples is densely populated.

and has been for 3,000 years. The locals adapted by designing their apartment blocks with central courtyards.

In the grandest buildings the courtyards are gated like this one on Via Foria near the Botanical Gardens.

But most are open like this one off the Spaccanapoli.

This courtyard of shops is off the street of Christmas creches (via San Gregorio Armeno).

Here is a private courtyard glimpsed from the same street.

This elegant courtyard is in the San Lorenzo Quarter.

John and I returned to this neighbourhood often. San Lorenzo felt like a personal discovery.

The streets are narrow,

but regularly open onto light-filled courtyards.

Laundry and parked motorbikes are standard features. Notice the exit onto a parallel street in the distance.

Some courtyards are more colourful than others.

But every courtyard is unique and always worth a look.