)(( hannah mello ))(

(a buon natale in napoli )

here are some sneak peaks into napoli's natale...













inside a chiesa's (church's) entrance -- i love the artistic representation-- the dark skin! true to the culture.


















everyday going to the train station, this sight brought me joy.


















piazza martiri -- and a TIM mobile phone company christmas tree. love it. >>> i love the four lions surrounding this monument... (the first day i stumbed across them, i spent 5 minutes in front of each lion, walking around the monument-- spellbound by the character of each completely different animal. so powerful. so beautiful.)















in piazza san martiri is this bookstore-- reminiscent of the us of a's borders and barnes and noble. look to the far right of this photograph to see my housemate peter reading a book. :) i love this place. i got caught copying information down from a italy guide book though. :) so funny.


















via roma. the spot where naples loves to shop. an outside mall with every kind of store in the world. i love this little statue thingy outside of a gelato shoppe. it's a little character in the classic napolitan oufitting...


















i stumbled across this precepe viviante (living nativity) in a piazza outside an elementary school a few nights before christmas eve. in the napolitan way, jesus is illustrated as being born in the midst of classic napolitan life bustle-- alongside the baker and pizzaria and shoeshop and fishmarket, etc.

this boy was my favorite.


















i laughed outloud at these magi for a solid minute. :) they looked bored beyond belief--- sitting floorside against the wall with all kinds of black, brown, and orange-ish gunk on their faces. so adorable. couldn't handle it.














this was the crowd there in the square. you can get a sense of how it was set up-- you see only one of the four sides here... SO MANY PEOPLE. (i love too how it really WAS a LIVING nativity. the kids DID NOT stand still. :) there were constantly kids weaving in and out of the sets-- interacting with mary and joseph-- interacting with the baker, the spagetti restaurant set, etc. the kids were even eating the very foods they were 'shop owners of'. amazing.)

















here's the pizzaria. :)














i stumbled across this musical in piazza de gesu the first week of december-- in front of santa chiara monastery.














the actors were singing with such passion-- and always moving and interacting with each other. (that's why the photo's so blurry here...)

















the onlookers...














my train station.















a PACKED bus-- very typical of naples-- in the region of mergellina...





i never want to forget. this poster found me moments after i was talking with the gazette della sport journalist maurizio about the organization 'medical without frontiers' --- and here in the mergellina metro station was a poster for that very same organization. i never want to forget the too often forgotten of the world. i care so much. especially this time of the year.






















this man was walking in piazza amadeo. his way was so perfect.

















night-time napoli. i tresspassed on a dock in the port to be speechless under vesuvius and castel dell'ovo. some fishermen-- not far from the dock-- bobbed on the sea also starring in the same direction.














via chiaia. where the real ritsy shops are. however, there's a warmth of lighting created with these natale lights that can't be bought. unbelievable.



















a 'hannah-the-teacher-of-bambini-face'. a photo taken thanks to little 8 year old mario in a home in mergellina.














my favorite little ones in acerra the morning before christmas eve. elainia, veronica, giovanni (the one with the glasses... my favorite), dominico & dominico, and nello. they BELTED 'oh happy day' that morning while we did our little christmas craft with SUCH passion and life-- i couldn't handle it.



















struffoli with honey. a classic christmas treat. this photo was from a house where i teach in afragola. -- one of my teenager-age students told me about it initially and gave me some of my very own on our last class. so cool!

















via chiaia near castel nuovo... walking with peter one sunday after christmas shopping...


















one of my favorite small little streets parallel to the sea...

some moments of christmas art. i did all kinds of art projects this week. so much fun. even with the older adults. later, i'll write about the come-back of the 'cootie-pincher'. it's ground-breaking news of great proportions.

posted by )(( hannah mello ))( @ 9:31 AM