The Serpent Coiled in Naples

A travelogue revealing the hidden stories of Naples.   In recent years Naples has become, for better or worse, the new destination in Italy. While many of its more unusual features are on display for all to see, the stories behind them remain largely hidden. In Marius Kociejowski’s portrait of this baffling city, the serpent can be many things: Vesuvius, the mafia-like Camorra, the outlying Phlegrean Fields (which, geologically speaking, constitute the second most dangerous area on the planet). It is all these things that have, at one time or another, put paid to the higher aspirations of Neapolitans themselves. Naples is simultaneously the city of light, sometimes blindingly so, and the city of darkness, although often the stuff of cliché. The boundary that separates death from life is porous in the extreme: the dead inhabit the world of the living and vice versa. The Serpent Coiled in Naples is a travelogue, a meditation on mortality, and much else besides.  

Table of Contents:
1. The Serpent Coiled in Naples // 1 2. An Octopus in Forcella // 28 3. Street of the Solitary Women // 60 4. The Man Who Watches the Waters // 92 5. Street Music // 121 6. Leopardi's Stomach // 150 7. Raimando di Sangro & the Veil of Knowledge // 181 8. Olde Bones // 210 9. The Devil at Play in the Quartieri Spagnoli // 264 10. Signor Volcano // 294 11. The Life and Death (and life) of Pulcinella // 329 12. Boom // 375 13. The Intimate Lives of Things Inanimate // 402 14. The Ghost Palace of Roberto De Simone // 428 15. An Infinitesimal Particle of the Vegetal Universe // 454 Notes // 489 Acknowledgements // 497

About the Author :
MARIUS KOCIEJOWSKI is a poet, essayist and travel writer. Among his books are The Street Philosopher and the Holy Fool: A Syrian Journey and its sequel, The Pigeon Wars of Damascus. He lives in London where, until recently, he worked as an antiquarian bookseller.

Review :
‘To write about Naples, you really need to be a poet – or, even better, an antiquarian bookseller. Mr Kociejowski is both and has produced a delightful work that is as eclectic, labyrinthine, ironic and shocking as the city itself.’ ‘Kociejowski’s book (which takes its title from the Sicilian proverb ‘Never fear Rome ― the serpent lies coiled in Naples) is one of the best I have read on the ramshackle Mediterranean outpost (and I have read a few). In pages of scholarly but engagingly droll prose, Kociejowski conjures a death-haunted city, where the meaning of life is everywhere connected to what it is to die.’ ‘[A] sprawling, labyrinthine, exuberantly discursive book … to be dipped into at leisure (whether in an armchair at home or on a terrace overlooking the Bay of Naples). And it is a holiday in itself, with all the ingredients of a first-rate one: natural wonders, the evocative remnants of a many-layered ancient culture, unfamiliar food, haunting music and an edge of scary strangeness, all of it explored in excellent company.’ ‘Marius Kociejowski is one of life’s great questioners [and] The Serpent Coiled in Naples takes on some of the largest questions that come with searching for this stupendous city’s soul…The experience is more of an intellectual joyride than a standard history.’ Certain books may be likened to monuments. Just such a one is The Serpent Coiled in Naples by Marius Kociejowski. The Serpent Coiled in Naples makes for excellent armchair travelling. And it may well tempt one to visit this effervescent if dangerous hive of the South of Italy.’ ‘Kociejowski offers up 15 discrete, thoughtful, copiously researched essays on the most consequential aspects of Neapolitan life, from its vibrant musical heritage and literary traditions to its deep culinary history, intimacy with crime, and complicated ties to the Catholic Church.’ ‘The Serpent Coiled in Naples is the perfect read for those who wonder why Naples is so full of ambiguity and contradiction.’ ‘Exceptionally well-written, organised and presented’