Ossigeno

151 s e n s e s a n d t h e c i t y Don't shout this from the rooftops, but one of the places where you’ll really want to stretch your hands are chur- ches and museums. The Archaeological, for example. Who would not give a grope to Venus Callipigia’s perfect buttocks, or would not touch the sweet and nervous bodies of the Corridors in Villa dei Papiri? Deep down, woul- dn't you like to kiss and caress the beautiful Antinous, Eros or Dionysus? Here, the stones loaded with centuries are flesh, living matter, as the great photographer Mimmo Jodice knows, having resurrected the remote past in a series of memorable shots because in yesterday’s statues lie today’s Neapolitan faces, squeezed in crowded vehi- cles, on you during the one on one at markets and strolling, throwing you the ball while they play on the street. Collision and continuous contact of bodies, looks and attitudes, revealing a mestiza truth that neither trends of the moment can manage to eradicate. What then is the body of Naples? Nilo’s mute and solemn one at the homonymous Largo, or the still ancient faces of its inhabitants? Is it in the little wire and tow bodies of the shepherds for the crib , to assemble, dress, make pose? Is it perhaps the dead body of the Veiled Christ , lying abandoned under the liquid ripples of the shroud admirably sculpted by Sammartino in a last, dangerously sensual, spasm? Sansevero Chapel , temple of Virtue, especially that of the human hand holding chisel and mallet and removing, smoothing, defining, making both net, broken tombstone, thin clothing from a block of marble. From chapel to chapel, in San Giovanni a Carbonara the Caracciolos from Vico, life-size carved, stand at eye level. We can look them in the eye: how impertinent! They compete with King Ladislaus who, at the top of his grave, boldly defies death by drawing his sword. In the competition of the most spectacular presbytery, the city derby is played between this and the Santa Maria alla Sanità one: a pincer double ramp, main altar almost su- spended in the sky. Stairs, more stairs. To cling to elegant handrails or cool palms on sumptuous balustrades: Royal Palace, Spagnuolo Palace, Sanfelice Palace, Albertini di Cimitile Palace, Mannajuolo Palace . And still the tuff and lava pores, giving you back the heat absorbed during the day while you're sitting on it, to grease you and get you dirty with fried cuoppi , tripe, ' o pere e 'o musso ³, pizzas and mini pizzas. How much stuff, here, to eat with your hands! And how much you communicate with your hands, too. Gesture accompanies the voice or replaces it completely, in a hugely rich mimicry, elevated to art and language. Because words are often useless. Capisce a mme 4 . ³ Tr. pork’s paw and snout . 4 Tr. mind you .