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lights for LNG and men work the jams selling Kleenex or pirated cassettes.
Poverty and the all-pervasiveness ofthe Camorra. the Neapolitan Mafia. makes thousands dependent on the trade in smuggled goods. Old ladies set up orange boxes by the roadside to sell contraband cigarettes. African immigrants selling fake designer-label sunglasses are under Camorra control as are the many sweatshops faking clothes or Gucci handbags. Even in the broiling heat ofSeptember last year many shops were still displaying the tacky ‘Christmas trees' bought at extortionate prices from their gangster protectors. The city is poised between 3's Communist administration and the shadow ‘municipio' oforganised crime. The problems of an overcrowded sclerotic centre and the dubious alternative ofslummy suburbs seem insoluble.
This city. that speaks a separate language from the rest of Italy. is full ofidiosyncracies: chairs hanging off nails on walls for street vendors to use when required. chickens roosting beneath an egg-seller‘s stall. a fish market full ofoctopus. swordfish and monstrous angler fish where the water in enamel pans acts as air-conditioning. Lotteria kiosks display the winning numbers — which all have sexual connotations as well as being connected with everyday occurences: what you see in the street on the way to make your bet (a hunchback. a bearded lady) will determine your choice of numbers. Bomboniere shops sell porcelain figures — a mermaid on a half-shell pulled by golden dolphins — for flashy gifts: religious ‘bomboniere' sell 3D photos of a handsome Christ on the Cross whose eyes open and shut as you sway in front of him in the
Getting There
I BY PLANE: Students can
midday heat.
There are almost forgotten old fashioned sounds in Naples— the reassuring rhythym ofa letterpress machine in a Tipografia, the squeal ofpipistrelle bats at twilight. Handcarts are pushed around the city. garlanded with plastic lemons. selling granita. On Saturdays the old men of Naples who are still given the Spanish courtesy title of ‘Don‘. gather in the cool of the Galleria Umberto to walk and talk. arm-in-arm. Beneath the superficial buzz of Naples is a rather worn. sedate reality. During the long siesta of a summer afternoon the city seems exhausted by its millennia; many of its buildings are still shored-up after the 1980earthquake.
Young Neapolitans have an unreal air — as if made from mid-tan rubber — and seem inseparable from their Vespas. Girls in orange face-packs dress like flamenco cowgirls — in
sequinned T-shirts. lace. mini-skirts.
fake diamonds and rodeo boots. Boys with brilliantined hair do spectacular wheelies at intersections and dodge the traffic to play football in the piazzas.
This year the Azzuri (Napoli FC) were overtaken in the last weeks of the championship by AC Milan and the sky-blue carnival of last year — wasn‘t repeated. A year ago. in the same crucial weeks. the dried blood ofSan Gennaro liquefied in the Duomo reliquary. The miracle confirmed the Maradona magic and the football flags showing Diego (‘From God') erupting from Vesuvius were joined by a new one showing the Saint looming over his city. bottles of blood in hand — ‘San Gennaro has Blessed Us with His Grace — Champion of Italy" - and the eruption of local pride was summed up in one gleeful banner: ‘Napoli - Champions of Soccer. Culture and Civilisation.‘
:TBAVELLERS CHECKLIST
and ‘pensionil' around ‘ Piazza Garibaldi and the
Garibaldi). (tel. 26 87 79). It’s open Mon-Satlrom
FREELAD
ON THE
FESTIVAL
You may claim as many ditlerent offers as you wish, but please take the whole magazine with you each time. All otters are strictly subject to availability and the individual management’s decisions are linal. Only one ticket otter ior each voucher. First come, lirst served. Enjoy the show!
A8 5 IE Ml! LY
Free tickets to see GEORGIAN FILM ACTORS' STUDIO on Mon 22 (6.30pm) orTue 23 (3.45pm) (up to 20 pairs available per show); AMAMPONDO on Mon 22 (11.45pm) (upto 20 pairs available); PAUL MERTON on Mon 22 (midnight) (up to 10 single tickets available); GRAND MAGIC on Mon 22 (12.30pm) (up to 50 pairs available); or CHINESE THEATRE CIRCLE on Thurs 18 (1 pm) (up to 20 pairs available). Exchange this voucher at Assembly Rooms Box Office.
[SPRINGBOARD I
A pair oi tickets to see HANDLE WITH CARE on Mon 22, Tue 23 or Wed 24 (8.45pm). Exchange this voucher at Southside international Box
Office. Show runs until 3 Sept. Up to 10 pairs of tickets available per show.
BETTY
A pair 01 tickets to see BETTY on Mon 22 (12.15am). Exchange this voucherat
Heriot-Watt Theatre. Show runs until 3 Sept. Up to 10 pairs of tickets available.
get cheap charterilights from London. costing about £143 return. and sometimes less. Obviously these are subject to availability. Contact your local student travel specialist ior details (see below). Otherwise. a standard British Airways Apex tare out 01 London is £197 return. For stays at a week or more. Thomsons do a charterilight out 01 Glasgow at £199 return.
I BY TRAIN: ATransalpino tare is £143 return and the Eurotrain ticket undercuts that at £142.70. Both are ex London. The journey takes about 30 hours.
Where to Stay
I THE ITALIAN TOURIST BOARD in London can provide you with inlormation and some guidance (see below). Otherwise. you‘ll Iind plenty ot inexpensive hotels
train station. Always check
security measures in hotels and look at the room beiore
you book it.
How to Get Around
I BUS. TRAM. UNDERGROUND orTRAIN give you every option.
. although the buses can get
over-crowded and unpleasant.
Whatto See
I OUT-OF-NAPLES excursions should include a
. visit to Pompeii. a climb up
Vesuvius and a trip to one at the islands which lie oltthe coast oi Naples.
Useiul Addresses
I THE ITALIAN TOURIST BOARD in London is at1 Princes Street. W1 (01408 1254). One at the main Neapolitan tourist offices is located in the central train station (in Piazza
8.30am to 8pm. Student travel centres in Scotland include the EDINBURGH TRAVEL CENTRE. Bristo Square (031 668 2162)and CAMPUS Travel at Hillhead Street. Glasgow (041 357 0608) and Strathclyde University. 90 John Street (041 552 2867).
Useful Pubncahons
I THE INSIGHT GUIDETO ITALY gives good. all-round cultural. historical and tourist inlormation. Published by APA at £9.95. LET'S GO: THE BUDGET GUIDE TO ITALY is essential reading lor lacts. tips. maps. and all the rest. Published by Harrap Columbus at £9.95. THE ITALIAN TRAVELMATE is a pocket-sized book which lists some basic Italian words and expressions. Published by Richard Drew
at £1.50.
GILDED BALLOON
THEATRE
A pair of tickets to see AN AUDIENCE WITH THE HAMMER (2.45pm), THE MUSIC OF TIMBILA (12.30pm) or SVINURAI (noon) on Fri 19, Sat 20 or Sun 21. Exchange this voucher at the Gilded Balloon Box OItice. All shows run until 3 Sept. Up to 5 pairs 01 tickets available per show.
42nd ED‘iNBu GH NAI. M FESTIVAL. 13-28 AUG 88
A pair oi tree tickets to see DREAM DEMON on Fri 26 (11pm) at the Cameo Cinema or ZELLY AND ME on Sun 28 (2.30pm) at the Filmhouse. Exchange this voucher at the Fiimhouse. Up to 2 pairs of tickets available per show.
A tree ticket to the Iirst 10 people and a hall price ticket to the next 25 people to turn up at DAN
KAMIKAZE at Holy Rood High School on Thurs 18 or Fri 19 at10.30am or2.30pm.
l9—25 August 1988 81