Elsien's Traveblogue

Saw my first Caravaggio this afternoon. It was in a bank. The Martyrdom of St Ursula, Caravaggio's last painting, painted here in Naples for a patron in Genoa. The painting duly went to Genoa in 1610, came back to Naples due to complicated hereditary circumstances and ended up in this bank. Now it's the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio's death the bank is displaying it to the public, have cleaned and restored it beautifully; the painting is now absolutely glowing. Some interesting details have literally come to light now as well, like a protective hand in the middle of the painting, trying to shield St Ursula from death by piercing (by Attila the Hun's arrow as she wouldn't marry him because he wasn't a Christian). The bank building itself was rather stunning too, in a former palazzzo, close to the one where I am currently residing (my apartment on the fifth floor is sweet, but very simple and basic, not at all splendid! I don't think Rossini lived in this one, but he did live in this building, which is also a palazzo.)
The painting was the last bit of art I saw today. I'd been to the Museo Archeologico first where I saw the amazing Farnese collection of Roman sculptures. The famous Farnese Bull, an enormous piece made out of one gigantic block of marble, mind-blowing. The bull is in the centre, having a woman called Dirce tied to it by two brutes, because she's insulted their Mum. Poor innocent bull. Makes for great art though.
The museum also has the most beautiful colourful frescoes from villas in Pompei which is near here. I'll try and get there this week. The ones with red backgrounds are my favourites, although there are some other stunning ones (I'm going to have to think of synonyms for 'stunning' this week, aren't I?)
I walked along the Via Toledo, with little detours via the Spanish Quarter on the left and the odd church in the Old Centre, on the right. Lots more churches: apparently Naples has more than Rome!