Pompeii and Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius towers over the Bay of Naples.  It is visible most of the time from Napoli to Sorrento.  But, I was having a hard time getting a good photo of Vesuvius 

until I visited Pompeii (about half way between Napoli and Sorrento).

This poor Pompeiian never knew what hit him in 79 A.D.

He just thought it was a good day to visit the public baths.

A Saturday Night in Sorrento

Sorrento's main streets are closed to traffic on Saturday night.  

People stroll, to shop, to dine, and to see and be seen.

The police band performed in Piazza Tasso, the city's center.
The seats were full.  People stood and filled the piazza.

Villa Cimbrone

The impressive bust-lined terrace of Villa Cimbrone in Ravello is high on a mountaintop

overlooking the Bay of Salerno and the Amalfi Coast.  At mid-day,
it is impossible to frame an image without other tourists.
(She was posing for the guy standing next to me.)

I went back in the early evening, after the tourists went home, but the light wasn't as good.

And I beat the tourists back to the terrace in the morning, when it was cloudy.

Positano

Sure, you have seen many photographs of the Amalfi Coast before,
but it is my blog, so I am going to show a photograph of Positano, too.

Nah.  I will show two.

Villa San Michele

There is a wonderful 1927 Capri travel poster by Mario Bognoni.  I think it was painted from the gardens of Villa San Michele, home of a late 19th century Swedish doctor -- Axel Munthe -- who came to Naples to work with cholera patients.  

While in Naples, Munthe became familiar with Capri and bought land at a high point in Anacapri, overlooking the harbor and Capri town.   He adorned his villa with relics from Egypt, Greece and Rome.

Munthe was the personal doctor of Queen Victoria of Sweden.  One of the informational displays in Villa San Michele says, quite delicately, that Munthe and Queen Victoria developed a relationship that was considerably more intimate than was contemplated by the physician's oath.

I tried to match the Bognoni poster, but I am afraid that the score is Bognoni 1, Jack 0.

Heaven

"Heaven" is a graffiti-covered skateboard park at the edge of Hartford's downtown.  To show movement, I focused on the wall, slowed my shutter to blur the action, then waited for the skaters
to jump into the gray sky.  It took about 20 shots, but I am happy with this one.

City Daily Photo bloggers are showing photos with the theme of

"movement" today.  Click here to see them.

(Back to southern Italy tomorrow.)

Capri

Hotel Caesar Augustus is in Anacapri, at the edge of the cliffs, high above the Gulf of Naples.

It offers spectacular views back over Marina Grande, Capri town, 

the west end of the island of Capri, and the Sorrentine peninsula in the distance.

As the sun begins to set, people wander out to the terrace

to wait for the sunset.  Last night the sky was unusually

clear, so there were not enough clouds to provide a gaudy sunset.