On the island of Procida is a village that still uses its fishing boats when so many other little towns on Capri and Ischia have surrendered entirely to ice cream, mud treatments and disco tourism.
But tourists, Grand and not-so-Grand, still come to Corricella to explore the alleyways because this is a positive paint box of a town where everyday objects are drenched in colour. It must be the light. Any surprise so much of Il Postino, (The Postman), Massimo Troisi’s poignant last role, was filmed here?
However, the locals are bemused. Once, while taking a photograph of a door with a complex history of layered paint, I heard a voice behind me ask why I was bothering with that porta bruttissima (terribly ugly door) at which she had to stare every day.
Her laughter pursued me all the way down the steps to the harbour. Where I just had to take some more pictures…
– Written by Penny Ewles-Bergeron (see bio), writer, artist, … finding the many good things in Naples.
