A Daughter of Ancient Etruria

Terracotta statue of a young woman,
Etruscan, late 4th-early 3rd century B.C.

It was during a recent visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in a woefully neglected corner of the museum, that I encountered her. Half hidden in a quiet mezzanine above the Greek and Roman galleries, the terracotta figure stood in solemn isolation. There was something haunting about her presence, as though this daughter of ancient Etruria had emerged momentarily from the underworld.

Fashioned in the late fourth or early third century B.C., the life-sized young woman once stood in a sanctuary. Her elaborate necklaces, armband, and grape-cluster earrings closely resemble those found at Lavinium, the city traditionally founded by King Aeneas, father of the Latin race, after he wandered from fallen Troy. Some of her pendants even bear Etruscan gods and heroes.

She belongs to that mysterious twilight when the old Italic world was slowly yielding to Rome. Yet standing there in the dim and forgotten gallery, she seemed less an archaeological object than an apparition, a solitary remnant of a vanished people whose gods, rites, and sanctuaries have long since disappeared, but who, through her, still whisper to us.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, September 9th, Feast of San Gorgonio

More Postcards from Napoli (Part 1)

My friend’s journey through Napoli continues, and so do the photographs arriving from his travels. This latest collection includes the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, the Cappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro, and a journey along the Costiera Amalfitana.

There were too many good photographs for a single post, so here is the first of two more little collections from Napoli.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, September 9th, Feast of San Gorgonio 

100th Annual Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy, NY

Remembering Il Vate

One of my earliest memories of flight. As a young boy at the historic Ward’s Kiddie Park in Coney Island, I was endlessly drawn to the little fighter planes. My parents often recalled that I preferred this ride to almost any other. In my imagination, I was a great flying ace, soaring above the clouds in pursuit of the coveted Pour le Mérite—the legendary “Blue Max”

As a boy, I was fascinated by war and the great flying aces of the First World War, particularly the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, René Fonck, and Fulco Ruffo di Calabria. Yet few figures stirred my imagination more than Gabriele D’Annunzio, the legendary Il Vate. Long before I read his works or understood the complexities of his life, I was captivated by his audacity, aesthetic vision, and martial spirit. To my youthful imagination, he seemed to embody the rare union of the poet and the warrior.

Postage stamp from the Regency of Fiume
featuring Gabriele D’Annunzio. Issued in
1920 during his occupation of the city,
it stands as a small but evocative relic of
one of the most remarkable episodes of
twentieth-century Italian history.

Today, my admiration for D’Annunzio extends beyond the man of action to the symbolic world he created. As the foremost voice of Italian decadentismo, he embraced estetismo, the conviction that beauty stands among life’s highest ideals, while his engagement with Nietzsche inspired superomismo, an ideal of heroic self-fashioning and the cultivation of exceptional character. He rejected the complacency of bourgeois life, aspiring instead to shape his own existence into a work of art.

To me, Il Vate remains a powerful reminder that literature can speak not only to the intellect, but also to the archetypal depths of the human psyche.

For that reason, I continue to return to D’Annunzio’s corpus. He was among the first writers to awaken in me a sense that literature could aspire to something greater than entertainment or instruction. At its highest, it can become an encounter with beauty, symbol, memory, and the enduring mysteries of the human spirit.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, September 8th, Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi at the Basilica of St. Stanislaus in Chicopee, Massachusetts

Remembering Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily

13 August, 1752 — 8 September, 1814

In memory of Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily, we pray for the happy repose of her soul. Viva ‘a Reggina!

Eternal rest grant unto Her Majesty, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Among the Ancients at the Met

Marble bust of Herodotos

A recent visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art offered an opportunity to linger among the antiquities of ancient Greece and Rome and contemplate the faces of men whose words and deeds have endured for millennia. Standing before their portraits made me think about how empires disappear, temples fall, and centuries pass, yet the questions that occupied the ancients are still very much our own.

Herodotos

“This is the bitterest pain among men, to have much knowledge but no power.” ~ Herodotos, The Histories

Marble bust of Herodotos, the “Father of History”
Roman, Imperial period, 2nd century A.D.
Copy of a Greek bronze statue of the first half of the 4th century B.C.
Found in Benha, ancient Athribis, Lower Egypt.
Inscribed HERODOTOS.

Homer

Homer

“Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man.” ~ Homer, The Odyssey

Marble head of Homer, the “Educator of Greece”
Roman, Imperial period, ca. 1st–2nd century A.D.
Copy of a Greek statue of the 2nd century B.C.

Socrates

Socrates

“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.” ~ Traditionally attributed to Socrates

Marble head of Socrates, the “wisest of all men”
Roman, Imperial period, 1st–2nd century A.D.
Copy of a Greek bronze statue of ca. 350 B.C., often attributed to Lysippos.

Epikouros

Epikouros

“Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.” ~ Epikouros, Letter to Menoeceus

Marble head of Epikouros
Roman, Imperial period, 2nd century A.D.
Copy of a Greek statue of the first half of the 3rd century B.C.

Caligula

Caligula

“Let them hate me, so long as they fear me!” ~ Attributed to Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus by Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars

Marble portrait bust of the Emperor Gaius, known as Caligula, or “Little Boots”
Roman, Julio-Claudian period, A.D. 37–41.

Marcus Aurelius

Young Marcus Aurelius

“The best way of avenging oneself is not to become like the wrongdoer.” ~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Marble portrait of a young Marcus Aurelius, called Verissimus, meaning “Most True”
Roman, Antonine period, ca. A.D. 138.

Antoninus Pius

Emperor Antoninus Pius

“Blessed is the age that has no history.” ~ Traditional proverb, popularized by Thomas Carlyle; a fitting reflection on the remarkably tranquil reign of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius.

Marble portrait of the Emperor Antoninus Pius, the “Dutiful”
Roman, Antonine period, A.D. 138–161.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, September 7th Feast of Santa Regina

25th Anniversary of 9/11 at St. Margaret of Cortona Church in the Bronx, New York

Frank Frazetta Takes His Place at the Lucas Museum

A selection of Frank Frazetta collectible cards from my personal
collection, featuring several works that will be on display
at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

For admirers of Frank Frazetta, there is another reason to look forward to the opening of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles this September.

When the long-awaited museum opens its doors on September 22nd, Frazetta will be among a select group of illustrators honored with individual galleries. His gallery will showcase a selection of illustrations and book covers from the museum’s collection.

It is a fitting tribute to an artist whose influence extends far beyond the fantasy genre. With his brooding warriors, fearsome monsters, strange worlds, and voluptuous women, Frazetta helped define the visual language of modern fantasy and inspired generations of illustrators, filmmakers, comic artists, and designers.

Among the Frazetta works in the Lucas Museum collection are his magnificent 1970 cover for Edgar Rice Burroughs’s A Princess of Mars, depicting John Carter and Dejah Thoris, as well as his eerie 1980 painting Mothman.

For those of us who have long regarded his work as something more than commercial illustration, seeing Frank Frazetta given a gallery of his own in a major museum feels long overdue.

Reinstating Comic Book Night

As a kid, buying a new comic book was one of those little pleasures I always looked forward to. Once my chores were done, I’d collect my allowance and run to John’s Sweet Shop, Blondie’s, or Brain Damage Comics to buy the latest issue of my favorite series (Conan, Kull, Red Sonja). It was a simple ritual that made an ordinary day feel like an occasion.

Attending New York Comic Con with friends over the last couple of years rekindled some of that old enthusiasm, and the anticipation of this year’s convention in October has only added to it. In the mood to indulge myself, I’ve decided to reinstate comic book night.

Once a month, I visit my local comic shop and flip through the bins in hopes of completing the runs I collected as a child and still own today. Not much of a fan of modern comics, I’m more interested in finding those elusive back issues. I could easily hunt them down online, but I’d rather support a mom-and-pop shop. Besides, discovering something interesting and unexpected is part of the fun, as is talking to the other collectors.

Unfortunately, much of what interests me isn’t particularly popular or readily available on the shelves. The upside is that, when I do find something, it usually isn’t terribly expensive. I’ve also developed a good rapport with the proprietors, who put aside things they think I might like. This month, I came home with a decent copy of issue no. 22 of Creatures on the Loose, featuring the first appearance of Thongor, Warrior of Lost Lemuria, penciled by Val Mayerik and inked by Vince Colletta.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, September 6th, Feast of San Fausto di Siracusa

Brief Excerpt from The Worker: Dominion and Form by Ernst Jünger

For Labor Day, some reflections from Ernst Jünger’s The Worker: Dominion and Form * on the worker, the economic world, and the question of power.

“Idealism or materialism—this is a contradiction for impure spirits, whose power of imagination can cope with neither the idea nor the material. The harshness of the world can only be met by hardness, not by trickery.

“Let us be clear: it is not a matter of economic neutrality, nor that the spirit be turned away from all economic battles; on the contrary, it is rather a matter of fighting these battles as fiercely as possible. However, this does not happen if the economy determines the rules of combat, but only if a higher law of battle rules over the economy.

“This is why it is so important for the worker to reject every explanation that seeks to interpret his appearance as an economic phenomenon, even as a product of economic processes, thus, basically, as a kind of industrial product, and for him to see through the bourgeois origin of these explanations. No action can cut through these fateful bonds more effectively than a declaration of independence of the worker from the economic world. This does not mean abandoning this world, but rather that it is subjected to a claim to a more comprehensive kind of dominion. This means that the pivotal point of insurrection is not economic freedom and economic power, but power alone.”

* Excerpted from The Worker: Dominion and Form by Ernst Jünger (Northwestern University Press, 2019), p. 16

Photo of the Week: Roman Sarcophagus with Griffins & Erotes Drinking from a Kantharos, Vatican Museums

Photo by New York Scugnizzo

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Wash., D.C.

Limited-Edition San Gennaro Statuettes Now Available at the Italian American Emporium

Just in time for the Feast of San Gennaro, the Italian American Emporium in Little Italy, New York, has introduced beautiful new statuettes of the beloved patron saint of Naples.

These miniature figures are faithful copies of the statue of San Gennaro venerated at Most Precious Blood Church, offering devotees a small piece of Little Italy’s religious and cultural heritage to bring into their homes.

Alongside the traditional version is a special gilded edition, limited to just 100 statuettes. With the feast approaching and only a small number available, they are a fitting keepsake of San Gennaro, Most Precious Blood Church, and the enduring traditions of Little Italy.

Italian American Emporium/Red Sauce Studio
155 Mulberry Street
New York, NY 10013

Simple Pleasures — More Stickers on the Italian American Emporium's Bar

The growing collection of stickers on the bar at the Italian American Emporium in Little Italy, New York, continues to catch my eye. Here are two small additions, each carrying a reminder of where so many of our roots began.

Four Books on St. Januarius, in Time for the Feast of San Gennaro

New titles that may be of interest to our readers. Available at Amazon.com

• The Treasure of San Gennaro: Gold, Silver, and Sacred Relics inside the Duomo di Napoli by Bernard de Clare

Publisher: Bernard de Clare Publishing
Pub. Date: July 21, 2026
Paperback: $12.99
Language: English
Pages: 108

Read description

• St. Januarius: The Blood of Naples that Refuses to Die by Rev. Dominic Ashford

Publisher: Independently published
Pub. Date: August 17, 2026
Paperback: $11.99
Kindle: $4.99
Language: English
Pages: 126

Read description

• St. Januarius: The Miracle of the Blood — The Life, Martyrdom, and Lasting Mystery of the Patron Saint of Naples by Rev. Gideon Black

Publisher: Independently published
Pub. Date: May 28, 2026
Paperback: $11.50
Kindle: $4.99
Language: English
Pages: 150

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• Saint Januarius of Naples: The Inspiring Story, Daily Novena Prayers, and Catholic Devotional for Courage in Chaos, Protection, and Unshakable Faith by Rev. Elias Thorn

Publisher: Independently published
Pub. Date: August 5, 2026
Paperback: $15.99
Kindle: $5.99
Language: English
Pages: 266

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Month Mind Requiem Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City, New Jersey

Postcards from Napoli

One of the pleasures of the past few days has been receiving photographs from a friend traveling through Naples with his family. Each new picture has offered a brief glimpse into their journey, from the colorful shores of Procida and the treasures of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte to the old volumes lining the shelves of the Libreria Antiquaria Colonnese.

Most memorable were the photographs from the Chiesa di San Gregorio Armeno, where the relics of Santa Patrizia are venerated. On her feast day, my friend attended Mass and witnessed the miraculous liquefaction of her blood, one of those ancient Neapolitan devotions in which the sacred remains a living presence.

I have greatly enjoyed these little postcards from Napoli and the chance to share in their journey from afar. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, September 4th, Feasts of Santa Rosalia and Santa Candida di Napoli