below: Let’s make peace with this nightmare – “Facciamo pace con glu incubi”. She is one of a few paper paste-ups that appear together on a section of wall in Naples (via Santa Maria di Constantinopoli)
below: This is that wall
below: This purple and black watercolour portrait is also included.
below: As are these women and their big yellow flower.
below: Immediately beside the above wall is this little Exit Enter figure and its bright red heart.
below: More red – this time on the other side of the wall.
There was far too much interesting graffiti and urban art seen in Naples to squeeze it all into one post. I have posted some previously and this post attempts to “finish” what I have from February 2024 – before I go back to Naples. Most of these images were taken while exploring the streets of the Spanish Quarter (Quartieri Spagnoli)
below: Electric! … but unplugged.
below: La Ditta Fortunato (The Lucky Company)
below: Zelda enshrined
below: Dancing in the dark
below: Superwomen sharing a pizza, street art by LiDieSis
below: Couple, staring into each other’s eyes.
below: A street scene in the Spanish Quarter
below: Graffiti paper wheatpaste by Lingual (I think that’s what it says), a man’s portrait in grey tones, with two small green snakes slithering out of his mouth. Is this a political statement? He’s designed like an antique stone bust and carefully positioned on top of a real stone plaque on a wall in Naples
below: Graffiti cat
below: Like the image above, here is another strange woman sniffing flower parts
below: More than one person has left their shoes here…. A runner with a stopwatch in lieu of a head.
below: Very big hands, skinny arms and legs, and a puffball rabbit tail?
below: A small section of Vico Toto where there are some paintings that pay tribute to Totò, the stage name of an Italian actor Antonio “Totò” De Curtis (1898-1967). You can see more of the works here, Toto and friends, an earlier blog post.
below: Life is short
below: Maradona (1960-2020) was a football hero to many and references to him are all over Naples. For more Maradona and football graffiti in Naples see “Football and the ‘cult’ of Maradona“
below: Let your phone blind you and suck your brains out! Graffiti by Inserra.
below: “Sempre la… stressa… cosa” or, in English, “Always there….stress… what” as he tries to balance a precarious load of chair, tire, fan, wine bottle, and more.
below: Punk chicken – except, don’t those feet look like a humn hand??
below: Outstretched hands encircle a shiny orb in a paper wheatpaste by Vivia Cirillo.
below: “mmm”Il faccio mordere” or “I’ll make him bite”
below: Monochrome portrait of a local rapper, Geolier (Emanuele Palumbo), who is from the Gescal neighborhood of Naples. It was painted by Salvatore Iodice.
below: Sophia Loren serves up a pizza and on the right is, apparently, San Gennaro – On September 19, 305 AD, the Bishop of Benevento, Gennaro, died in Pozzuoli, martyred along with 6 others. As for the fellow in the middle – I don’t know!
below: Cartoonish interaction between telephone and eyepiece, only a fragment remains.
below: Keyboard player
below: Cyop and Kaf painting high up on a wall. There are many examples of their work on the walls of Napoli! For more images, see Cyop & Kaf in Naples blogpost
Stickers, paste-ups and posters seen around Naples.
below: Love letters pasted to the wall, each decorated with a little red or pink heart. So many words and expressions such as – “Dillo con volo fiori” (Say it with flying flowers), “Non ti ho detto mai quello. Che me fai.” (I never told you that, what are you doing to me?)
below: “Yes I know My Way” by Renzo Mezzetti on the right and a blue woman smelling a blue flower on the left.
below: Someone’s not happy ….
below: On the left is an old cyop & kaf face – there are a lot of paintings by Cyop & Kaf and I blogged about them previously (Cyop & Kaf in Naples)
below: With a red heart in its mouth, by RNZ aka Zenro. Also, in the top left corner, the faceless photographer, “the photographer all over”, this is mrbt62
below: Here stands Viracocha, the supreme creator deity in pre-Incan Andean mythology.
below: Surrealism? Or just a bizarre imagination?
below: Completely covered
below: Words around a door
Lady, [words behind air conditioner] .. veramente stassera in connanti niente appena arrivate bendalevi visivede which google translate says in English, “Actually tonight in cash nothing as soon as you arrive blindfolded you will see”.
signora siete 9 uasi e lo sarete senon portate stassa….. The bottom part is illegible so the fact that google translate says the first part means, “Madam, you are almost 9 and you will be if you don’t bring this” is also meaningless….Maybe the picture of the man with a gun to his head is part of it all!
below: Playing card graffiti by Francesco Di Martino, and a melting globe head by Lumen.
below: Trallalla’s drawing of a Bishop wearing a pirate hat and eye patch.
below: Trallalla is also responsible for the “Save the Mermaids” paste-ups.
below: Another heavy (pregnant?) mermaid, this time with drawings that look like they have been done by children.
If you walk around the old part of Naples (particularly the Quartieri Spagnoli), you will see many murals and paintings by the Italian duo Cyop & Kaf. Many of them are weathered and faded or written over but they are still hard to miss. This is a selection of the ones that I saw in Naples one wet spring day.
References to Diego Maradona are everywhere in Naples! Maradona (1960-2020) was a football hero to many. He joined Napoli’s football team (Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, or SSC Napoli) in 1984 and took a lacklustre team and made them winners. During the seven years that Maradona led the Naples team they won two Series A titles – the first southern Italian team to do so. His influence on Naples lives on.
below: This forty foot high mural is the center of all things Maradona. There are direction signs all over the old part of the city (Quartieri Spagnoli) showing the way to this small square. If you visit, expect to find it full of fans!
Also, expect to find all kinds of tributes to Napoli’s favorite footballer all over the city.
below: Maradona is not the only player celebrated here. This mural is a tribute to Dries Mertens, “il miglior goleador” [= the best goal scorer] and “148 gol, 9 anni, di storia amore”
below: Maradona as king, artwork by Mr. Pencil
below: Number 9 is not Maradona. The little band of yellow hair on top gives it away as Victor Osimhen, originally from Nigeria.
below: Nicely placed women beside Franco Martinez’s portrait of Maradona.
below: Another portrait of Naples most famous #10, this one by Yessica Garcia.
In the Quartieri Spagnoli (Spanish Quarter) of Naples there is an alley, Vico Totò, with many portraits that pay tribute to Totò, the stage name of an Italian actor Antonio “Totò” De Curtis (1898-1967). There are several paintings of him in some of his acting roles; He appeared in 97 films in a career that spanned three decades. There are also some other actors represented here.
below: Only the top part remains – including his black bowler hat.
below: A couple stands in front of Davide Zeka’s painting ofTotò in the role of a priest.
below: “Stu core analfabeta” This illiterate heart….
below: Michele Wuk’s ‘Totò con la papalina’ where the words say “L’educazione non passa mai di moda” (Totò with the skullcap: “Education never goes out of style”),
Eyes on the Streets 