Marechiaro is a small village located in the

Posillipo Posillipo (; nap, Pusilleco ) is an affluent residential quarter of Naples, southern Italy, located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples. From the 1st century BC the Bay of Naples witnessed the rise of villas constructed by elite Roma ...

quarter in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Historical Background

In ancient times the village, developed around via Marechiaro, took its name from the church of Santa Maria del Faro. The name ''Marechiaro'' does not come, as is commonly thought, from the transparency of the waters of the sea of Posillipo, but from their quietness. Already in some documents of the Kingdom of Sicily is mentioned ''mare planum'' translated into Neapolitan ''mare chianu'' from which today's ''Marechiaro.''Gino Doria, Le strade di Napoli - Saggio di toponomastica storica, Cremona Ricciardi, November 1982 p. 286 It was in the 1960s one of the symbols of the dolce vita in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, becoming famous for its Hollywood frequentations, for its typical restaurants overlooking the splendid panorama of the

gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...

and for the characteristic "Scoglione".{{Cite web, title=Marechiaro, url=http://www.napolimisteriosa.it/marechiaro/, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322072943/http://www.napolimisteriosa.it/marechiaro/, archive-date=22 March 2012, publisher=Napoli Misteriosa, publication-date=27 June 2010 From Marechiaro you can also admire the panoramic view of the entire city of Naples, of the

Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma- stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...

, up to the

Sorrento Peninsula The Sorrento Peninsula or Sorrentine Peninsula is a peninsula located in southern Italy which separates the Gulf of Naples to the north from the Gulf of Salerno to the south. Geography Overview The peninsula is named after its main town, Sorr ...

and the island of Capri that appears exactly in front of the typical little beach of the village. Scoglione1

The ''Fenestella''

The detail that has contributed the most to the mythification of this little village is the so-called ''Fenestella'' (in Italian ''finestrella''). The legend tells that the Neapolitan poet and writer

Salvatore Di Giacomo Salvatore Di Giacomo (12 March 1860 – 5 April 1934) was an Italian poet, songwriter, playwright and fascist, one of the signatories to the Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals. Di Giacomo is credited as being one of those responsible for ...

, seeing a small window on whose sill there was a

carnation ''Dianthus caryophyllus'' (), commonly known as the carnation or clove pink, is a species of ''Dianthus''. It is likely native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years.Med ...

, had the inspiration for one of the most famous Neapolitan songs: ''Marechiare''. Today the window still exists, and there is always a fresh carnation on the windowsill, as well as a celebratory plaque in white marble engraved with some notes of the score of the song and the names of the authors. The ''Archivio della Canzone Napoletana'' (Archive of Neapolitan Songs) bears witness to the existence of almost two hundred classic songs dedicated to this small area of Posillipo, or that only mention it, and a large number of poems.

Picture gallery

File:Marechiaro.jpg File:Scoglione2.jpg File:Marechiaro1.jpg File:Scalemarechiaro.jpg File:Scalemarechiaro2.jpg

References

Posillipo