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In WWII, as allied bombers approached Naples, residents of the sprawling, densely packed "Spanish Quarter" which rises up the sloping embankment above Naples' chic central business district, raced down stairwells into hastily excavated "ricoveri" or air raid shelters. Hundreds were built down in existing quarried caverns beneath the city. Some of the shelters, however, were no more than large, wide excavated corridors just a few meters beneath the surface. And this was the case in the ancient "Largo Baracche" district, a huge and ancient warren of long, narrow alleyways and thoroughfares that intersect through the ancient poorer underclass section of Naples. Beneath largo Barrache, a long ring shaped corridor with arched ceiling and connecting passageways could be accessed from several stairwells when the air raid alarms sounded.
After being forgotten and walled off in the years following WWII, many of the shelters and entryways were filled in with debris and rubble from allied bombing. About six years ago, Napoliunderground speleologists located one of the long buried and forgotten stairway entrances in the largo Baracche quarter and managed to get the city to participate in opening it back up for exploration. NUg recommended at that time that it could be used for several purposes including a badly needed community center in the densely populated urban quarter. But the city lost interest and homeless people eventually took up residence creating another problem certainly not needed in the already down at the heels neighborhood.
Then the story took a new and positive turn as a group of determined young people, self-made community activists, SABU, got the place cleaned up and secured and turned it into a cultural and artistic center. Small private studio space was offered to striving artists in the old quarter; the tall arched wide passageways were given a new coat of whitewash and became a large art gallery.
The old air raid shelter soon became a social center for art and culture and recently has attracted growing attention in the Naples art community. The 17th of January 2009, up to the end of the month marks a move of local artist's work from the largo Barrache underground gallery to the glittering glass-domed galleria "Principe di Napoli" and the respected "Sala Vinvenzo Gemito" located there.
Another experiment connected with the SABU group has been undertaken with the guidance of a French photographer, Nicholas Pascarel, who has gathered up street kids from the old Quarter, armed them each with new digital cameras and giving them the challenge of photographing hidden, telling glimpses of their daily lives as well as photos that represent their dreams and hopes to better their lives. The thousands of photos will be collected, edited and selected for a huge photographic exhibition.
The call for art continues with an Australian, Virginia Ryan, calling for female artists to come forth in a "Terremotus Femminile" or "Feminine Earthquake" who will gather from across the Quarter to prepare a textile exhibit featuring centuries old fancy embroidery and stitching work.
In an ancient city plagued with pockets of poverty and unemployment in the city, this awakening of the soul in a part of the old largo Baracche alleyways is sounding a note of hope and excitement. There well may be a chance at international fame for these new artists and participants as their work comes up into the daylight.
Keep your eyes open in coming years for works of, Krzysztof Bednarki,Enzo Cucchi, Baldo Diodato, Roberto Paci Dalo, Nino Longobardi, Janiss Kounellis, Francesca Magniani, Annalisa Pintucci, Pino Pipoli, Virginai Ryan, ErnestoTatafiore, along with the young Neapolitans, Davide Arpaia, Celesta Bufano, Corrado LaMattina, Kaf, and Elpidio Ziello.
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