A Warm Welcome

San Gennaro of Napoli

Arrival in Via Bernini in Vomero, a hilly area in the center of Napoli. My arrival coincided with the feast day of St. Gennaro (or S. Januarius), who is the patron saint of Napoli, and whose festival is one of faith and redemption, a time for remembrance and celebration. As if to salute the feast day, the moon shone full from a starlit sky over Napoli that evening when I arrived.

It turned out that my kind hosts –Marisa and Giustino– had visited Trondheim one fair summer in 1981. And since Giustino was a passionate music lover, he also had a collection of Norwegian music, classical as well as contemporary. And while I was unpacking my backpack and humble belongings in my fine guestroom, I was greeted with familiar tunes from the living-room where “Nidelven stille” and other Norwegian evergreens were played in my honour.

Later that evening we went down memory lane and saw real old-fashioned slides from Marisa’s and Giustino’s visit to Trondheim some three decades ago. I will always remember that warm welcome, a fine prelude to my adventures in Napoli and Campania, a region rich in cultural heritage, gastronomy, music, architecture and ancient sites; all of which I had the privilege to enjoy during three intense weeks in the autumn of 2013.