April 02, 2006
The charm of Ravello
Founded in the 6th century by the poshest of refugees, it has never lost its upper-crust charm, says Frederic Raphael
No wonder Gore Vidal made his home in Ravello: from its eyrie in the mountains, you can look down on everybody.
After landing at Naples, we rented a car for what should have been an easy run, south and west, up and over the Monti Lattari (the Milk Mountains) to Ravello. Instead, we were fed into a new and elaborate road system so clever that before we knew where we were, we didn’t. The elaboration is due, in good part, to the fact that the Camorra — the Neapolitan criminal conglomerate — is big in the cement business. The fancier the new roads, especially the elevated sections, the bigger the budget, and the bungs.
The Camorra used to be more disorganised than the Mafia. It was based less on “families” and pyramidical discipline than on individual enterprise: smuggling tobacco and drugs always beats being unemployed. Crookery became epidemic, and big, big business, only after the violent earthquake of 1980. The disaster was an ill wind that blew bundles of cash southwards from Rome for “reconstruction”. As an ongoing result, enough concrete has been mixed to make ring roads around the ring roads. http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,10318-2090521,00.html to read more
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