Naples, San Gennaro and Football

Historic inner city Naples is a city almost covered by graffiti, very little of it of any artistic value. Amongst this overwhelming sight are a couple of street art treasures, and that was our goal this morning.

First on our list was San Gennaro by the artist Jorit, painted in 2015. This painting is fifteen metres high and has gained a huge following amongst the locals because San Gennaro is the patron saint of Naples and the locals are very devoted to him. They attribute many things to his care of them, most famously from the eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in 1647 and the plague in 1669.

The next work was by Banksy which was stencilled onto the wall of a pizza shop in Pza. Girolamini in 2010. Entitled Madonna with a Pistol, it has ironic meanings between ecstacy, apparitions and a gun being held over your head. Another interpretation concerns organised crime and religion, however no specific meaning has been proven.

It has been protected under plexiglass since 2016 and many people came by while we were there as it is the only known Banksy still in Italy. A couple of others were painted over (which is the nature of street art) before his work was recognised,

It was impossible to photograph the work because of the reflections on the glass.

Last year our host in Naples told us that we must learn about San Gennaro because to understand him was to understand the Neapolitan people. All people from Naples have two passions,  San Gennaro and football. Today we saw that.

On May 4th the SSC Napoli football team won its first A Series title for 33 years, and only their third ever. To say they are estatic to be the Italian champions would be an understatement. Maradona has been their hero all those years but now they have a new one.  Victor Osimhen, a Nigerian with a bleach blonde top to his dark hair kicked the goal that sealed the win.

Almost two months on the decorations are still everywhere, and to prove their great passions those decorations are a mix of azzurro (light bue) and white, Maradona, Osimhen and Saint Gennaro.

The decorations don't look like coming down soon.