A Walk Along Via dei Tribunali

Via dei Tribunali was our main street in Naples.

Laid out by the Greeks 3,000 years ago, it was an immediate success and is still thronged daily with visitors.

Bill and I needed apartment basics: scissors, sponges, cutting board. The friendly staff of the Euro Casa Casalinghi (household items shop) had it all.

I liked to put my hand on the skull outside the church of Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio (St Mary of the Souls in Purgatory).

This memento mori reminds us that we must die.

The skull is steps away from this exuberant portrait of Sophia Loren. Naples makes room for both.

Across the street, under a line of arcades, we passed a handsome octopus. On the card is written Pozzuoli Polpo (octopus from Pozzuoli).

We shopped regularly for dairy and canned beer at Quari Qualità and Risparmio (quality and savings), happy to have this shop 15 minutes from our apartment.

This shrine to what I would call the Queen of Heaven was been mounted on a pillar in front of the shop. We enjoyed a sprinkling of blessing every day.

Trattoria da Carmine is a favourite restaurant for Bill and me from previous trips. It was nice to see again the family that run the place.

Via Tribunali ends at the gate of Via Port'Alba. Beyond this arch is a warren of new and second hand bookstores. They were often an evening destination for us.

We always had a browse in the Libreria Antiquaria Colonnese. Great book jacket designs for "Brief History of How I Became Normal" and this Italian translation of the "Thousand Nights and a Night."

We entered Enoteca Scagliola looking for some wine for Bill. We were greeted by the wineshop dog and left with an excellent Primitivo.

At the eastern end of Via dei Tribunali we found Caravaggio's "Seven Acts of Mercy" in Pio Monte della Miseracordia. Ticket includes an art museum upstairs.

The Basilica San Paolo Maggiore stands near the agora of the original Greek Naples. The pillar on the right is 3,000 years old, displayed for all to see.

We're looking down from San Paolo at San Lorenzo Maggiore and the heart of the Greek agora. Someone has dressed up for his Roman Catholic First Communion.

We bought so many household goods from the Cassalinga that the proprietors became friends. Neapolitans love their city and they want you to love it too.