{"id":15879,"date":"2022-04-25T12:50:27","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T12:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/?p=15879"},"modified":"2023-04-05T15:32:50","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T15:32:50","slug":"naples-city-of-a-football-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/naples-city-of-a-football-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Naples – City of a Football God"},"content":{"rendered":"Approx read: <\/span> 3<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>

Diego Maradona loved Naples \u2013 and Naples loved him back<\/h2>\n

\u201cNaples was a crazy city \u2013 they were as crazy as me \u2013 soccer was life itself\u201d <\/em><\/h3>\n

In terms of paganism, myth and religiosity, Naples is a city unlike any other. It hosts a Catholic basilica built on the ruins of a temple to a Roman goddess<\/a> , a chapel where a saint\u2019s blood is said to have liquefied<\/a> three times, a subterranean cemetery<\/a> occupied solely by spirits, and was once called home by a man with the hand of God<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"It should come as no surprise that adulation of Diego Armando Maradona could never die in Naples.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In a city where the past and present are in constant communion via a heady mix of religion, imagery and legend, his face adorns architecture, while shrines shout tributes to his everlasting stardom.<\/p>\n

\"\"The number 10 sky-blue shirt of Napoli with \u2018Maradona\u2019 is still the club\u2019s most popular piece of merchandise 31 years after his turbulent time with them ended.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cNaples was a crazy city \u2013 they were as crazy as me \u2013 soccer was life itself\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In Quartieri Spagnoli<\/a> graffiti and murals give visitors a glimpse of Naples\u2019 ancient and contemporary history.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Spanish Quarter \u2013 named after the 16th<\/sup> century occupying force – consists of three small areas:\u00a0San Ferdinando,\u00a0Avvocata\u00a0and\u00a0Montecalvario.<\/p>\n

Once considered notorious and a no-go zone for tourists, Quartieri Spagnoli has not been gentrified as much as accepted as an essential part of Naples.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Its colourful, crumbling and crowded streets make up the most densely populated part of the city and draw in thousands of pilgrims to the hotchpotch tributes to Diego: who taught a whole city to be proud of its downtrodden reputation and fight back in the arena where they all could excel.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cDiego, facci ancora sognare<\/em>\u201d \u2013 Diego, make us dream again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

All images \u00a9 r\/Sandertjjj<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diego Maradona loved Naples \u2013 and Naples loved him back \u201cNaples was a crazy city \u2013 they were as crazy as me \u2013 soccer was life itself\u201d In terms of paganism, myth and religiosity, Naples is a city unlike any other. It hosts a Catholic basilica built on the ruins of a temple to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":15880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1536,298],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-travel-tips"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15879"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15895,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15879\/revisions\/15895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}