Spring in Naples

I had breakfast in Titograd, dinner in Los Angeles! All in one day. It was that time Tito's of Yugoslavia, when Yugoslav Air Transport (JAT) flew across the continents with ease.

People travel, of course, even today, most often from neighboring Tirana by flight low cost company.

Montenegrins are great travelers. As far back as 1777, the Montenegrin leaders wrote to the Venetian providur: "Don't even fence the roads."

He was a great traveler Njegos.

How did young Rade Tomov feel, what did he think about, when he longingly watched Boka and the ships sailing out into the big, wide world from the heights of Lovcen?

Njegoš said, those who don't travel don't know what life is, what a human mixture is.

He loved Italy. He stayed in Trieste about twenty times. He visited Rome, Naples, Pompeii... He spent, in Naples, as he called it, the winter, but also the spring, during March and April 1851; and "the unfortunate cough often makes him vomit"; he would sit on the balcony with a view of the sea and the promenade of Kjaja. The mild Neapolitan climate favored his aching lungs.

Naples, a large port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, with a university founded in 1224. Full of architectural monuments, galleries, museums, libraries... With a developed industry, especially the food industry; birthplace of macaroni and Neapolitan pizza... Also known for the production of top-quality violins...

Smoldering Vesuvius.

Pompeii and Herculaneum were covered by tourists, but also volcanic lava. When "fire broke out" from the ravaged Mount Vesuvius, beautiful Herculaneum, a city on the very coast of the sea, between Pompeii and Naples, was buried in ashes and gravel...

The Bonvivan island of Capri is whitewashed offshore, and the picturesque town of Salerno is being planned fifty kilometers below Naples.

And Salerno awakens in me the memory of a hard-working and highly respected Montenegrin in Italy, the "prince of graphics", with whom "newspapers never grew old".

- I am the only art director of "Espresso Group", which has eighteen dailies all over Italy, from Trieste to Salerno - Vaktile told me. Stefano Petrovich (Stevo Petrović Njegoš) descendant of the Montenegrin royal family, nephew of Queen Jelena, architect, top graphic designer and journalist of "Espresso Group", my friend.

Born in Podgorica in 1929, descended from the Petrović family from Nikšić. (His relatives still live today in Nikšić, "under the Ramparts"). He came to Italy as a fourteen-year-old and lived with his aunt, Queen Jelena, in the Quirinal Palace in Rome. He spoke several languages; his Italian was perfect. He knew all the Italian dialects well. He trained several generations of journalists, some of whom were creators of the birth of the Roman "Republic". Working for "Espresso Group", he lived in Pescara. I collaborated with him and visited him in Pescara, where he had an apartment in the newspaper "Il Centro" in addition to his office.

His heart failed him in his sleep, in 2013 at the age of eighty-four. He had some new book in his arms; always with an inexhaustible desire for knowledge.

Italian newspapers reported: "Newspapers with Petrović never got old." He was a prince for us, because even in the most difficult moments, he carried within himself the nobility. Stefano meant a lot to the 'Espresso Group'. Thanks to him, the 'Espresso Group' newspaper got a soul. He was not only a top journalist and prince of graphics, he was a man of great culture and innate curiosity".

...The Tyrrhenian Sea shimmers. Slender sailing cruisers.

The sun spills over the gorgeous Bay of Naples. Travels, travels... As the famous Montenegrin poet and journalist would say, Ratko Vujosevic, the sun travels full of itself...

I'm staring at the sea, shouldn't I, like Risto Ratković, saw Lim.

Hordes of tourists. A brigade of Japanese men and women passes by; before them a guide with a flag held high; lest they be executed! Even if they get lost, everyone will recognize them.

In Piazza del Plebiscito, Cafe "Gambrinus". They visited him Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Sigmund Freud... I stopped by to drink a cappuccino in a cult cafe.

And in Piazza Giovanni Bovio, on a high pedestal, a bronze horseman shines, Vittorio Emanuele II.

Graffiti and posters of the football god, Maradona; especially in the old part of Naples. The Argentine left his heart playing for Napoli. (And "Budućnost" had its own Maradona, a football player Burzanović. The fans chanted: Burzo Maradona!).

Diego is still popular and unforgettable in Naples.

Naples is graduation! With numerous ornate palaces from the nineteenth and earlier centuries.

On the imposing building of the University, a large blue canvas with the number "800" on it, and above: "1224-2024". Eight hundred years of the University! On the staircase, in front of the massive, colossal wrought iron door, students are tapping away at their phones.

In Naples, he graduated from the Fine Arts Academy of Cetinje. Pero Poček, (1878-1963), the first trained Montenegrin painter.

Pero Ilijin Poček. One of the most interesting phenomena in Montenegrin modern art - claim art critics.

Poček's works with the theme of "Mountain Wreath" are especially valuable, as well as numerous landscapes from Naples and its surroundings...

Traffic in Naples is very busy. They promote "Mercedes", "Porsche", "Audi", "Maserati", "Ferrari", but also small, lovely "Fiats", "chains" and "Alfas" in pastel colors. And only motorcycles!? Numerous Vespas. (In Italian, or). They are just wasps. They are everywhere.

Trams, trolleybuses and buses exist equally in Naples city traffic. There is order, thanks to the police and carabinieri, who are visibly present on the busy streets. And the army is there. In front of the jeep stands a soldier in a camouflage uniform with her hair neatly gathered in a bun, and an automatic weapon on her chest! A surreal picture!

Ambulance sirens wail.

Two police officers rumble by on fast "ducati" motorcycles.

- Don't look at the traffic lights, look with your eyes! - a friend advises me Francesco!

On Garibaldi Square, some "merchants" displayed their "goods". The police came and ordered them to get out of there. He picked up his rags and rags as quickly as possible; they ran away without a word.

There must be order.

A Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), Italian revolutionary and democrat, former sailor and warrior, was very popular among the people. In the fall of 1860, he triumphantly entered Naples; introduces political reforms, distributes land to peasants...

It's evening. Via Toledo crowded with pedestrians. Montenegrin bishop and lord Njegoš passed through this cobbled, always lively street, dressed in "Montenegrin robes", which shone more brightly than the generous sun of Naples. He was followed, also in Montenegrin costume, by a mountain wolf, a stout plume Vukalo, girt with a saber, with two holsters on his belt, studded with silver. There was a Vukalo plume and a code Saint Peter of Cetinje.

During his stay in Naples, Njegoš aroused great interest, especially among graceful Neapolitan women, who admired his appearance. He could talk beautifully. Witty. He looked carefully at the sights of Naples. In the Neapolitan museums he admired the works Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Rubens...

He only watched what he liked. And where he stopped, there, as he noted Ljuba Nenadović, many viewers pause. When he likes a picture, he takes a chair, sits in front of the picture and looks at it for a long time.

He responded to numerous calls for receptions. He was also received by the King of Naples.

He climbed Vesuvius; visited Pompeii several times.

I: recalling Njegoš's "Departure of Pompey" ...Puffing Vesuvius spews out thick wisps of dark smoke, a terrible stream of embers flies from its mouths with an echo, and clouds of ash fall on the sunny face. The unique climate of Neapolitan gizdavogo suddenly turned into a Tartar death color. Above him the sun weeps bitterly under a mourning curtain: below him the earth groans, frightened by the destructive force. Uh, scary scarecrow! Everything shuddered with deathly shudder: the sea trembles, the mountains tremble, the sad man freezes! Has the infernal devil's force confused the evil element? Will the vaults of the dark empire crack? Will the earth fly into the clouds with comets? Is this the last day and it's pouring into the dark night? Does a ray of light burn on the hill of eternal night? If the sky erases the earth from its calendar... The night is long - the day does not dawn, Vesuvius is terrible, Vesuvius is angry!

The Serbian travel writer was especially impressed by Njegoš Ljuba Nenadović. He ended up in Naples on his way from Paris and stayed with Njegoš until they left Naples together. Writer and diplomat, Ljuba Nenadović (1826-1895), one of the first Serbian writers of recent times with a broad European education; he also wrote poems, and he mostly dealt with travelogues that far exceeded the literature of that time. Son protege Matej Nenadović. He published travelogues in the form of letters: "Letters from Switzerland", "Letters from Italy", "Letters from Germany", "Letters from Cetinje".

He titles his perhaps best book, "Letters from Italy". However, it is a book about Njegoš and Montenegro, in which he paints Njegoš's poetic and human character.

Njegoš, while they were staying in Italy, presented him as his secretary.

- Alas, we Slavs enslaved ourselves! - said Njegoš at the first meeting with Ljubo Nenadović. Then he continued - But we Montenegrins, we are not God! We can look every free man in the eye. We don't have to be ashamed of anyone...

...The house on the corner of the street, just towards the big hotel called "Rim"... On the first floor is the bishop. From there, a wonderful view of the sea and the famous Neapolitan promenade Chiaja.

It was Sunday when I walked around Kjaja, looking for the "house on the corner of the street". In vain. Hotel "Rim" no longer exists... I found cafe "Roma", but that's not it.

The promenade is full of both young and old. All nicely dressed. Mothers with babies in prams... The late cyclist, but also two taxi drivers, if you like.

Naples is in sneakers. Even older gentlemen, with suits and ties, have sneakers, of course in the color of their suits. A number of restaurants along the promenade with imaginatively arranged tables await guests for lunch. Italians have lunch earlier and already around noon there were no free seats in the restaurants. In front, these others, patiently waiting for their turn, when they finish their lunch first. I barely found a chair in front of the "Parthenope bar", to drink a beer...

Spring is in the sky and on the streets of Naples.