July 24

Naples is extraordinary in every way. At the end of the last century, Scarfoglio, leading italian journalist of his day, wrote, 'This is the only Eastern city where there is no residential European quarter', and the witticism still seems to hold good.

Last week a nobleman in our street was lifted by his servants from his deathbed, dressed in his evening clothes, then carried to be propped up at the head of the staircase over the courtyard of his palazzo. Here with a bouquet of roses thrust into his arms he stood for a moment to take leave of his friends and neighbours gathered in the courtyard below, before being carried back to receive the last rites. Where else but in Naples could a sense of occasion be carried to such lengths?

pp.142-143 "Naples '44, a World War II diary of occupied Italy" Norman Lewis, Carroll & Graf Publishers.