Today is January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. This is the official end of Christmastide in the liturgical calendar, when the Magi or Three Kings were supposed to have visited the baby Jesus. Back in November in Naples, we saw a lot of nativity scenes just starting to be prepared in churches. The one [ ] The post An Italian Nativity Scene for Epiphany appeared first on CassandraPages .
It’s pretty simple. One resists evil by doing good, and by being good. This is a choice open to every one of us. A while ago, Peter Michael Gratton wrote about Hannah Arendt’s essay “Personal Responsibility Under a Dictatorship”. He said “What makes her essay so profound is that she locates resistance not in grand [ ] The post How Does One Resist Evil? appeared first on CassandraPages .
Books read in 2025, most recent first. # indicates books read with my book group Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf# Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan Terra Nostra, Carlos Fuentes (partial; postponed until later)# Pompeii, Robert Harris The Moment of Caravaggio, Michael Fried For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway (in progress) To Have and Have [ ] The post Books of 2025 appeared first on…
Duccio, Nativity, 1308-1311, tempera. (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) I’m responsible for the “prayers of the people” at tonight’s midnight mass, and I spent much of the morning writing, and rewriting them. Some of these intercessions follow a standard form, where we insert the names of people who are sick, the recently deceased, the [ ] The post Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All People…
Pompeii Monday, November 10, 2025 I had always wanted to go, and I didn’t know what to expect. Would Pompeii be as astounding as the National Geographic photos that fascinated me as a child? Would I be able to envision Pliny trying to come here on the night of the eruption in 79 AD; would [ ] The post Italian Journal. 7. appeared first on CassandraPages .
Market Day, and a visit to the Galerie d Italia and Caravaggio. November 11, 2025 I only managed to keep up the detailed journal for five days or so. I think it was functioning as a way of acclimatizing to the disorientation of jetlag and being in such a different place, as well as all we’d been [ ] The post Italian Journal. 6. appeared first on CassandraPages .
The National Archaeological Museum of Naples Beth Adams Dec 08, 2025 Friday, November 7 We went to the National Archaeological Museum today. It’s nearby, an easy walk. And it’s vast. Too much. The building itself is large and really beautiful, with lovely courtyards where we sat when we needed to take a break. There are [ ] The post Italian Journal. 4. appeared first on CassandraPages .
Herculaneum Beth Adams Dec 11, 2025 Saturday, November 8 Another difficult night last night. Maybe too much caffeine, maybe just the cumulative effect of the noise and crowdedness of this city; the motorbike traffic is constant and unpredictable, and you really have to pay attention. We received my brother-in-law’s obituary in the evening, which certainly [ ] The post Italian Journal. 5. appeared…
Naples. Art at the Royal Palace of Capodimonte. Beth Adams Dec 05, 2025 Capodimonte in late afternoon. The Palazzina dei Principi and palm trees, seen from the side of the Royal Palace. (A watercolor in my sketchbook, done the next day.) Thursday November 6, 2025 After a truly terrible night in a too-hot apartment [ ] The post Italian Journal. 3. appeared first on CassandraPages .
Naples. Wednesday, November 5, 2025. Above, the bedroom of our apartment. We actually slept well, and for nearly nine hours, according to my new $39 Chinese smartwatch, which also keeps track of body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen, steps, calories, and other things I haven’t explored, as well as being waterproof, which is [ ] The post Italian Journal. 2. appeared first on…