Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Christmas in Naples - Guess who's coming to the Manger?

You gotta hand it to the Neopolitans...centuries of subjugation from foreign overlords, drug lords, and local kings has imbued them with a terrific modus vivenda: a strong sense of humor in the face of so much adversity.  Now I'm not sure how many residents are truly laughing about the garbage crisis redux (excepting the dirty contractors laughing all the way to the banks), but here's the Best of the famed Neopolitan Nativity Scenes has on offer -- even Julian Assange - pc in hand -- has made the grade:

The Magi bringing trash to lay at the feet of Bambin Jesù

Julian, not yet handcuffed, alongside Hilary & Barry

The Holy Family stops for air on the flight from Egypt (clearly, the oxygen masks have dropped due to low cabin pressure)     


Some have commented that perhaps it's all a bit blasphemous, but the fabricators on via San Gregorio Armeno say in their defense that forcing this situation on the residents is altogether blasphemous.  As for me, I like the ones depicting Berlusconi in any number of positions; not that I'd put him in my manger scene, however.


Let's hope that as we celebrate Natale, it's a Rebirth or Renaissance for Bella Napoli.
To read more about via San Gregorio Armeno, click here

1 comments:

  1. Certainly, the Manger scenes are the pride of that street in Naples. One of the places to see such scenes is in the Regia di Caserta. This magnificent Kings palace of 1500 rooms and fantastic gardens is matched by a display of 1500 figurines in their Manger display. Each figure is about 18 inches high.

    It's a place that few Italians visit and even fewer Americans. It all can be seen on one of my HD DVDs of my several trips to Europe.

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