"El Oro de Napoles" – a great work by Pio Caro-Baroja

Personally, I did not read neither the book before nor watched the movie, but I loved this collection, as it represents effectively a social portrait of Naples after the World War II, especially that social environment of those alleys that are not even reached by the sun.

All the characters carry their own vision of life, but carry also an extraordinary vitality and deepness: you can find in this world the “iettatore” ( literally the carrier of bad luck), a beggar, a former nobleman, a sort of lawyer, a priest, a shopkeeper, a writer and so on.

As Pio says in his presentation, El oro de Nápoles is “an heroic and someway comic poem about a city, Naples, abandoned to a fate marked by the terrible war scars. It is an enormous open-air theatre, where you can hear the actors crying and complaining ( in a comic way), happy and melancholic songs, but most of all it is an autobiography of Giuseppe Marotta, about this generation and his family on this big stage”.

It represents also the love of the author, Giuseppe Marotta, for his city, as he moved to Milan at the age of 25 years old, for and that environment where he grew up. This could be the history of each person that moves to another city: it can happen in fact that when you live in your hometown, you could even hate it, but when you leave it, you realize that you love it.

I would recommend you to buy this book as it provides you a real picture of a big city like Naples during a difficult period like it was after the World War II: it is a pleasure to read it and not absolutely boring. Then, if you speak or understand Spanish, this could be even a good exercise for you to improve your Spanish skills! 🙂 You can purchase the book via Amazon or via the publisher Editorial Caro Raggio.

I wanna also thank Pio Caro-Baroja for his wonderful work, for having chosen my picture and for making me discover a masterpiece and a great poem and collection! Can’t wait to watch the movie now!

ABOUT THE EDITOR
There’s nothing better than using the own words of Pio about himself:

“I was born in 45 years ago in Madrid, even if I don’t feel so much madrileño. In fact, my roots are Italian ( the Raggio family comes from Genoa), my mother comes from Itzea and the Baroja family from the Navarra region.

I grew up in a family of eccentric people and artists like writers, painters, historians, cinema directors: some of them have been really important ( Pio Baroja, Julio Caro-Baroja).
In all this confusion and this messy environment, I grew up with some confused ideas, mostly as a “amateur; this has been a problem for a long time, but now it is not a problem anymore: I live my life by following my great passions, such as books, photography and hiking in the countryside. I’m a free bird and I feel like an independent anarchist.

I’m half editor and half farmer. I love being a farmer, but a bit less an editor. I don´t need too much from life, professionally I’m not that ambitious, I spend my life protecting the heritage of my ancestors and taking care of the closest people around me. I’ve just translated and published a book about a forgotten Neapolitan ( Naples is the city I love the most), I’m writing a book about familiar memories and I’m preparing a photography exposition. I don’t have much more to say”.

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