Naples - some final observations
Lava
Every thing I've ever read about Vesuvius has said that it is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world .
It has erupted 22 times since 1660. That's about seven eruptions every century for the last three centuries. The last major eruption was in 1944 destroying four nearby villages. Vesuvius is very much alive and it 's due.
Over the years urban development has crept ever closer, with the most recent, mostly illegal constructions, on the volcano's slopes (see arrows on pic). Fatalistic, in denial or plain stupid, Vesuvius will ultimately decide these people’s fate and maybe all of Naples.
Sanguinaccio roughly translates as blood pudding. It is a Neapolitan dish served during Carnivale which is coming up very soon. It used to be a very rich dish made with pig’s blood and chocolate. The pig’s blood version is hard to find now. It has been replaced by an equally rich chocolate only version that is a chocoholic’s wet dream.
Basically you get a bowl of rich, hot chocolate pudding. It’s eaten by dipping sweet biscuits and eating them. When you run out of biscuits you use a spoon. Think of it as an over the top chocolate fondue.
Bullshit
Apparently the official population of Naples as of January 1st 2010 was 963,717 which would make it smaller than Adelaide. If you believe that you would believe that Silvio Berlusconi is misunderstood and is really a sensitive new age guy.
There is a huge underclass of people in Naples such as illegal immigrants and homeless people that would be very difficult to count and highly unlikely to be included in that total. The real figure is likely to be much higher. How much higher no one knows.
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