Seconda patria mia, dolce Sirena,
Parthenope gentil, casta cittade
Nida di leggiadria & nobilitade,
D’ogni vertute & di delicie piena.
‘My second fatherland, sweet Siren,
gentle Parthenope, virtuous city,
nest of loveliness and nobility,
full of every virtue and delight’.
Benedetto Cariteo, Endimione. 1450 – 1514
Picture: Anton Sminck van Pitloo, Castel dell’Ovo dalla spiaggia. Via Wiki.
Castel dell’Ovo (in Italian, Egg Castle) is a seaside castle located on the former island of Megaride, now a peninsula, on the Gulf of Naples in Italy. The castle’s name comes from a legend about the Roman poet Virgil, who had a reputation in medieval times as a great sorcerer and predictor of the future. In the legend, Virgil put a magical egg into the foundations to support the fortifications. Had this egg been broken, the castle would have been destroyed and a series of disastrous events would have involved the city of Naples. The castle is located between the districts of San Ferdinando and Chiaia, opposite the zone Mergellina.
Source: Wiki.
The Grotto of Thunder, looking out over Nisida island.
Here the slayer of Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus, plotted with Cassius and, after the assassination, walked with Cicero who ‘apud illum multas horas in Néside’ – spent many hours in Nisida – to discuss the future of Rome.
Photo via Napoli Underground, a website dedicated to exploration of subterranean Naples.
Sunday boating in Megaride harbour, Naples.
The little fishing harbour at Pozzuoli today.
Broken Columns 
