Categories: Podcast

The Journey Home – Day 3 – Naples

San Gennaro

Our first full day in Naples began with a walking tour of the streets of Naples where my Sorrentino, Princi, Piromallo and Caracciolo lived. Our guide Vincenzo D’Onofrio, was great and explained various landmarks along the way. The current Hotel Caracciolo, on via Carbonara was the home of my Caracciolo ancestors and quite an impressive building inside and out. I could just imagine the parties held there over the course of several centuries. Across from the palazzo were apartments of the Caracciolo family and where my great grandmother Emilia Caracciolo di Torchiarolo was born and died. From what I can surmise, the entire family lived there at one point during their lives. My dad’s grandparent’s lived not to far away on Vico Longo, however, as we were short on time we could not visit that area.

At the Duomo, we had a very special surprise in that we were met by Don Agostino Caracciolo di Torchiarolo, a distant cousin of my great grandmother. Don Agostino gave us a tour of the Duomo and the history of not only our family’s role, but how the Duomo is owned by both Rome and Naples. San Gennaro’s Chapel is located in the part owned by Naples and there are markers on the floor that shows where Rome ends and Naples begins. Don Agostino also pointed out the statue of San Francesco Caracciolo and presented us with a book about the family in Naples.

One final surprise was the chapel in the Duomo financed by my 3rd Great grandmother Duchess Beatrice Capece Piscicelli. Letizia from Italy Rooting happened to find this by accident ( actually I believe that it was not and accident ) when visiting the Duomo. The Stemma is that of the combined families Piromallo Capece Piscicelli.

Our next stop was the State Archives of Naples. We were met by the director Candida Carrino who provided us with a personal tour due to my connection to the Caracciolo Princes. It goes without saying that the archives are amazing with over 1000 years of historical documents. Originally a Benedictine Monastery there is still a tree planted by St. Benedict. In this courtyard you can close your eyes and not hear any noise from the busy Neapolitan streets.

The archive is in the process of restoring many of the frescos and is looking for patrons of the arts to assist. During our visit we were able to view several select documents from the Caracciolo family including one document that was over 1100 years old!

After our visit to the archives, we set off to have lunch at the beautiful and impressive Villa Egea in Massa di Somma just outside of Naples. Here we were to meet my cousin Cinzia Piromallo, who has been instrumental in helping me to find family for the past four or five years, her sister and my second cousin Nicola di Paolo, who, up until a few months ago I did not know. Nicola, is my father’s first cousin and lives in Torre Del Greco. In a few days, I will recount the amazing visit with him. It was very emotional to meet Cinzia for the first time, as we mostly corresponded via Facebook messaging.

Letizia from Italy Rooting set up a perfect afternoon with period music and costumes and a great meal, not to mention the pastries. The view from the villa is spectacular and over looks Cercola and Massa di Somma, two areas once part of the Piromallo family domain.

The incredible food at Villa Egea

Our final stop of the day was at one of the homes of my ancestor Count Giacomo Piromallo outside of Naples and apparently a working farm several hundred years ago. Now apartments, it was a palazzo in the old days.

My cousin told me that the count would roast a pig on his birthday at this home for the serfs. That’s the good part, the rest of the story is that he would get them drunk and then throw coins out of the window below to watch the people fight over it.