Naples

Since 1882… Guy de Maupassant, Oscar Wilde, Enrico Caruso, the Aga Khan, Pablo Picasso, Rita Hayworth, Grace…

I’ve been visiting Naples for the past few days. I am totally overwhelmed by all the holiday lunches and dinners, Christmas concerts, rich Presepi, crucifixes, antique markets, old churches, hand-crafted nativity figurines, internal cloisters, hyper-caloric, delicious traditional pastries and delicacies…

Most commonly known as the Reggia di Caserta, this Unesco-listed pad is considered one of the greatest and last-achievements of Italian Baroque architecture. It also where Tom Cruise shot scenes for Mission Impossible 3 and where George Lucas filmed the interior shots of Queen Amidala’s royal residence in Star Wars Episode 1.

Napoli called me back! After being in rainy and humid Brussels for only a few days, I got invited to stay with a friend in Capri at his small penthouse with a view of the romantic Mount Vesuvius in the Posillipo quarter.